The Wingman by A. Poland

Chapter Ten

Once Jordie set her eyes on Nathan—and wow, she had an intense gaze—he remembered her words of wisdom in the tent. That now was the opportune time to try something with Lorcan.

But he didn’t think Jordie had considered how difficult it would be with both her and Miles swimming nearby. Nathan couldn’t even put the moves on Lorcan when they were alone; how on earth was he supposed to do it with an audience?

But he had to do something.

As Nathan waded farther out into the water, he considered that maybe Jordie had suggested now for a reason. Maybe it would work as a repellent for Miles, who was leisurely doing the backstroke farther out without a care in the world.

The refreshing water soothed the ache in Nathan’s lower back more than the cooling pad had. Nathan idly wondered if the lake had some healing qualities and figured he’d ask Lorcan later on. Whatever it was, he wouldn’t question why his back felt a lot better; he’d enjoy it while it lasted.

Psyching himself up, Nathan considered how he would approach this. He could swim up to Lorcan and rub his foot against his under the water. Like a sexy eel.

Nathan quickly disregarded the thought. No one wanted a sexy eel. That wasn’t a thing.

It turned out there was no need to overthink his approach as Lorcan swam his way over to where Nathan waded in. His hair was slicked back and water droplets rolled over his collarbones. Not that Nathan noticed. Because he wasn’t staring. He wasn’t. (He was.)

“Nate, do you think you can do me a favor?” Lorcan asked, voice hushed and conspiratorial.

“Sure, yeah,” Nathan promised before he heard what the favor was, which was something he really needed to stop doing.

“Great. Can you bring Jordie for a swim or something?”

“But she’s already swimming,” Nathan replied, blinking.

“I know,” Lorcan huffed with an impatient eye roll. “But away from here. So Miles and I can…y’know.”

Oh. Oh.

Now Nathan got it.

He stuttered for a few seconds, trying to conjure up some kind of excuse about why that was definitely a bad idea. But it wasn’t a bad idea, not in the slightest.

It was such a good idea that Nathan was in the middle of trying to enact it himself.

“You’ll have plenty of time to do that,” Nathan lied as smoothly as he was able to. “C’mon, we haven’t hung out much this entire trip.”

“We slept in the same tent last night,” Lorcan pointed out, as though that counted as great one-on-one time.

“Oh yeah, because listening to you snoring was real good quality time,” Nathan said scathingly with a pointed look. He shuffled toward Lorcan, the water just reaching his clavicle. “Seriously, Lor. I might start getting jealous.”

Nathan dropped his voice a little, which he’d failed to do the night before. Maybe that was where it had gone wrong. He hadn’t done the voice right.

Lorcan pulled a face as if it was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard. “You can hang out with me after. This is about me getting with Miles, right?”

Nathan couldn’t dispute that. It was the point of the entire trip—so Lorcan could woo Miles.

Nathan frowned. Did he just think the word “woo”?

“Listen, Lor, I don’t know if that’s gonna work out.” Maybe a different approach would work, a more direct one.

“What? Why? We’re getting on great.” Lorcan’s voice deflated as he huddled in closer to Nathan.

Oh god. Nathan couldn’t do this. He couldn’t make Lorcan have that look on his face.

He just couldn’t.

“You are!” Nathan exclaimed, a frenzied smile on his face. “So great, you’re doing great.” Okay, simmer it down a little. “I just mean…that maybe he isn’t emotionally ready for something like that?”

Lorcan frowned, a questioning look urging Nathan to continue.

“Jordie just happened to mention he’s been with some asshole guys in the past, and I think maybe–—”

“He’s into guys?”

Nathan realized his mistake too late.

Lorcan’s face broke into a wide, uncontrolled grin, new hope ignited within him at Nathan’s confirmation.

“I… Yep.” Nathan sighed and pursed his lips together.

“You’re amazing, Nate. I can’t believe you thought I wouldn’t need you here.” Lorcan shook his head, patting Nathan once on the back before diving back into the water and swimming toward where Jordie and Miles were playfully splashing each other.

Nathan really wasn’t cut out for this whole seduction thing, was he?

Under the heat of the late May sun, they were in the water for most of the afternoon. Swimming around at their leisure, working the kinks out of joints they’d steadily collected over the last day and a half of walking.

They were all hanging out near the lakeshore when Jordie commented conversationally, “I’m surprised we haven’t seen any water snakes yet. Aren’t they known around these parts?”

Nathan’s blood ran cold, and he leapt to the nearest person, clambering onto them in a frantic attempt to get out of the water.

“Water snakes?” he exclaimed, clinging onto Lorcan’s shoulders for dear life. Shit, his foot was still in the water.

“Nate, calm down.” Lorcan tried his best to get a solid grip on his friend. Which was difficult, considering he was wet and slippery, and Nathan was determined not to get back into the water if there was a chance of there being water snakes.

Regular snakes? He could just imagine the thought of.

Water snakes? He would rather die on the spot.

Apparently on board with that option, Lorcan tossed Nathan off his shoulders with little effort. He floundered for a few seconds before hitting the lake with a loud splash. Even from under the water, he could hear the garbled chorus of laughter that rang out. He was more concerned about the prospect of water snakes than people being amused by his fear.

But when Nathan emerged with a gasp, his eyes locked on Lorcan, and he saw red.

As with all friends, they’d had their disagreements from time to time. Nothing serious, and they usually sorted it out within a day or two with one of them texting to ask if the other wanted to come over for a movie, after which they carried on as though the argument never happened.

But right now? Nathan was heavily considering strangling Lorcan, who was laughing with Jordie, who giggled in turn.

Caught in his fury, Nathan didn’t notice Miles swimming up beside him until he spoke.

“Want to help me get some firewood for later?” he asked, and Nathan would have had to be incredibly dense to miss that he was being offered an out.

If Nathan didn’t take it, there was a big chance he’d try to drown Lorcan. So he nodded, shooting a glare once more at Lorcan before following Miles back out to where they’d left their bags.

After tossing Nathan a small towel, Miles wiped down his own feet before sliding his shoes back on, Nathan following suit. They headed back into the fringe of trees, still soaking wet and Nathan’s hair sticking to his forehead like he’d decided to revisit his emo years.

Miles’s longer hair was slicked back artfully, as if he’d spent hours styling it that way, even though Nathan knew for a fact it just happened naturally for him. As if he didn’t have enough reasons not to like this guy.

“Jordie was just messing with you. There are no water snakes around these parts,” Miles told him after they’d trudged silently for a few minutes, during which Nathan quietly seethed.

“Oh yeah?” Nathan replied, tone curt.

“I never said I thought it was funny,” Miles assured him.

And…okay, that was fair. Nathan couldn’t remember Miles laughing, although it wasn’t something he could blame any of them for, on reflection. He knew it had probably looked hilarious.

Even if it felt the furthest thing from funny.

Miles changed the subject. “Did you get any sleep after last night?”

“Hah. Very funny.” Nathan picked up a stick, twirling it around as they walked. “Lorcan snores.”

“You can take my tent tonight, if you think that’ll help?” Miles offered, picking up a few small twigs and tucking them securely under his arm.

Oh. Was he trying to be alone with Lorcan too? If Nathan accepted Miles’s offer, it made sense he’d bunk with Lorcan, and that was decidedly against the plan.

“Thanks for the offer, but no.” Nathan tried to politely decline without seeming suspicious. “I’d just freak out if I was in the tent alone, and I’ve already done that enough. I’ll just brave Lorcan’s snores again. People can survive on an hour’s sleep every two days, right?”

Miles didn’t look convinced, running his eyes over the dark bags beneath Nathan’s with palpable concern.

“You can bunk with me.”

Nathan could what?

Nathan blinked owlishly at him, running his words around in his head as though that would unlock their true meaning.

“My tent isn’t as big as Lorcan’s, but two people have slept in it before. Bit cozy, but it does the job.” Miles paused, flicking his eyes up to look at Nathan briefly before returning his attention to picking up more sticks. “Only if you think you’ll sleep better, that is.”

Nathan took a breath, thoughts jumbled.

“I… Yeah,” he agreed, nodding. “Sure, that’d be great. Thank you.”

Miles and Lorcan couldn’t get frisky in a tent if Nathan was Miles’s bunk buddy for the night. Sure, this had taken a bit of a twist, but Nathan had no problem using Miles’s niceness to his advantage.

They continued walking until they’d collected enough firewood to last them the night, then carried it back to camp and dumped it where Miles decided they’d start the fire. Jordie and Lorcan, in the meantime, had taken a break from the water and cracked into the lukewarm beers Nathan had thoughtfully packed.

Grabbing two, Nathan offered a can to Miles.

“No thanks.” Miles shook his head with a polite smile.

“He doesn’t drink,” Jordie tossed over her shoulder without looking at them.

“Huh. Okay, suit yourself.” Nathan shrugged and put the beer back in his bag, then cracked open his can and took a sip. It was warm and tasted pretty awful, but Nathan was a college student on a limited budget and did what he could.

“Why don’t you drink?” Lorcan asked, glancing over to Miles as he searched around in his bag for a bottle of water.

“He doesn’t have to drink if he doesn’t want to,” Jordie shot back, immediately standing in Miles’s defense.

Lorcan raised his hands in mock surrender. “Just curious.”

“Hey, it’s fine.” Miles chuckled nervously with the slight mood shift. “Just not my thing.”

“Totally cool,” Nathan said cheerfully, eager to get the hype back up. “We all have our things.”

Miles caught Nathan’s eye and smiled softly as he took a sip of his water. A silent thanks.