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A Straight To Gay Bi Awakening Steamy MM Short Story
(First Time for Everything Series)
By B.T. Haiyes
Chapter 1
CASE
“Alright, Everyone gather round! Come on, I know you can all hear me, lets group up!”
I cringed, slowly turning to face Evan, as the man bellowed for everyone’s attention.
“Yes, Casey, even you too!”
This time I made no effort to hide my annoyance, as Evan singled me out of the group.
“OK, now that I have all your attention,” Evan continued, ignoring the low groans and mutters of my co-workers. “I just want to say that I really appreciate that you’re all here. And we are all going to have a great time!” Evan’s voice up-ticked with forced enthusiasm, reminding me of an aerobics instructor inspiring a club of gym-goers.
A group of twenty or so of us were crammed into the summer-camp styled eating area. And the log cabin cafeteria had a few long wooden tables, with rustic benches set either side of each table.
I shifted around on the hard wooden bench, as I folded my arms. And what little hope I had for getting through this mandatory team building weekend, quietly drained away.
I was not designed for the great outdoors. I liked to do my exercising indoors, in well air-conditioned bug-free gyms. Ideally one with a WI-FI connection and other civilized amenities.
But, none of those things where available here in this log cabin village nestled deep in a forest.
‘There are horror movies written about this kind of place,’ I thought to myself.
As Evan began what I could tell was an over-rehearsed speech about teamwork, I felt someone gently bump my shoulder.
Turning, I found Janet sidling up, moving to take up the empty seat beside me. I smiled as I took in her lightly flushed cheeks, and her blond hair pulled back into a tight ponytail.
My cubicle neighbor—or cubicle cellmate as Janet liked to call it—was one of the few people I felt comfortable chatting with at work. And she was cute too. But, something always held me back from taking the plunge and asking her out on a date.
“God,” Janet whispered, just low enough to be heard by me alone, “he’s going to be like this all weekend isn’t he,” she continued, jutting a chin at the wildly gesticulating Evan.
I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. “Maybe a bear will eat him, and we can go back home early.”
Janet snorted at that, drawing the attention of Evan who paused mid-speech.
“Excuse me, guys?” Evan waved his clipboard in our direction. “We need to stay on track here. Got a lot on the itinerary today.”
A chorus of groans rose from around the room.
"Look," Evan sighed, as he took in the twenty person sales team. "I don't want to pull rank, but I'm the boss here."
“No, you’re not!” One of our group yelled out, their voice clear over everyone else's low chatter.
And, they were absolutely right.
Evan was just another sales subordinate, like the rest of us. The only reason he was even heading the team this weekend was because he volunteered. Our boss had asked if someone could take over leading this weekend retreat, and Evan had jumped at the chance.
Still, it made sense Evan would volunteer, as this whole thing was his idea in the first place.
A few months back, the company sent out a memo asking for team building suggestions. And during one of our weekly sales meetings, the topic of the memo came up.
I suggested giving us a pay rise. While, Evan suggested a one-off outdoor team building weekend.
And Evan’s stupid idea won out.
Still, it turns out that even our esteemed boss didn’t want to muddy his expensive shoes humping up hillsides.
So, of course, our boss did what all great bosses do. He passed the buck — sorry, I mean delegated — to someone else.
And, unfortunately, that buck was picked up by Evan...who was a man who thought that 6am was a Saturday morning lie-in.
“Okay, okay. Settle down,” Evan waved away the complaints. “I know some of you didn’t want to be here,” Evan said, giving me a pointed frown.
It was a look I did not appreciate, and I mimed my own mocking look of surprise. Although I barely managed to keep myself from giving Evan the finger as well.
I’d made no secret about the fact that I too wanted to duck out of this weekend. As had many of my co-workers. But, the company emphasized that we would all be evaluated on our level of participation this weekend.
“Regardless,” Evan continued, giving me a half-raised brow in warning, “we are going to have a great time, because we are all being guided this weekend by...” Evan then tucked his clipboard underneath one arm, and crouched to do a thigh-slapping drum roll.
I didn’t hold back my eye-roll at Evan’s theatrics, but my curiosity peeked when Evan straightened up to indicate off to the side.
“Benjamin!” Evan declared, and I started when I noticed a man stood in the corner, leaning against the wall.
I didn’t recognize him from work. And I certainly hadn’t noticed when he’d entered the room.
“Who is he?” Janet whispered, and I shrugged with a helpless shake of my head. “Did you even see him come in here,” Janet asked with a look of curiosity that matched my own.
“Nope,” I answered, as I watched Benjamin move to the front of the room. And as he did, I got a better look at him.
And, my God, how did I not notice him earlier!
This guy was tall, and broad with it too. His black fitted short-sleeve teeshirt stretched over his huge traps and impossibly broad shoulders. And his biceps where all taut muscle, as he eased to a standstill at the front of the room.
I’d always felt self-conscious about my 5’9’’ frame. And I knew Evan stood at around 5’11’’ — a fact that he liked to frequently point out to me.
However, Benjamin easily stood over half a foot taller than Evan.
Yet, as impressive as his body was, it was Benjamin's eyes that grabbed my attention. Those deep hazel orbs calmly scanned the room.
And once Benjamin’s gaze drifted over to meet my own, I could feel a blush begin from the base of my neck, crawling its way up to my cheeks. I held the large man's attention for a moment, before he broke off our stare to take in the others.
“Wow,” Janet's whisper startled me. I’d forgotten she was there. “He is so hot,” Janet said, all but moaning out the words. “I would totally do him. I’d climb that man like a tree.”
I began to nod in agreement, before catching myself.
‘Get it together,’ I silently scolded myself, pointedly ignoring the peculiar look Janet turned my way.
This wasn’t the first time I’d caught myself slipping in my appreciation of a good looking man. But, there’s nothing wrong in appreciating beauty, in all of its forms. Right?
That doesn’t mean I’m gay, it just means I have a good eye. Right?
“Yes, well...” Evan began awkwardly, drawing my own (and everyone else's) attention back his way.
From the look on his face, it seemed as though Evan thought Benjamin would jump at the chance to introduce himself to the group. Instead, Benjamin stood silently, looking as though he were more than done with Evan’s theatrics. “Anyway, this is Benjamin,” Evan continued, turning back to the group, “and he will be leading us on our first team building exercise...”
“Ben.”
My mouth quirked into a small smile when Benjamin — or rather Ben — neatly interrupted Evan. Ben’s voice was rich and deep, his singular word carrying authority.
‘And it seems like he’s a man of few words as well,’ I thought to myself.
Meanwhile, Evan turned a look of surprise over at Ben. “I’m sorry?”
Ben stared down — way down — to look Evan in the eye. “My name’s Ben. Benjamin is my father,” he replied, his answer concise and to the point.
The quirk on my lips broadened into a grin when I noticed how intimidated Evan was by Ben.
“Of course,” Evan said hesitantly, before clearing his throat with a brief nod. “Yes, well, Ben here is our guide for the weekend. He has years of knowledge about the forest around us. He even grew up around here, isn’t that right Ben?” Evan asked him.
Ben said nothing.
Evan cleared his throat again before plowing on, pointedly turning his attention onto his clip board. “And first thing on the team building menu, is a seven mile hike on the Teriann Trail beside this village.”
“Seven miles! Seriously!? You can’t be serious!” Janet said, loud enough to make me cringe as she yelled out in surprise, right beside my ear.
A few of us in the room — myself included — let loose a few noises of agreement with Janet.
I spoke up, backing her up. “Come on Evan,” I began, as I made a show of glancing at my watch. “Seven miles at 6:15am? We haven’t even had breakfast yet.”
“Breakfast comes after hiking.” The reply didn’t come from Evan. Instead, Ben had moved half a step forward, pinning me with the most intimidating glare I’d ever seen in my life. It was even more intimidating than the one my former soccer coach gave me, when he said he’d never known anyone less athletic than me.
The memory of my coach calling me out in front of my high school gym class stung a little.
But, Ben's glare did something altogether different to me. Instead, his eyes seemed to send a flash of heat through my body that felt nothing like shame or embarrassment.
“The fresh air will do you all good.” Ben told us, his words holding a sense of finality on the subject.
To Be Continued...
To read the rest of ‘Hard Case’ you can purchase it right now here: https://books2read.com/u/b5WO96