The Island's Secret - 7. Tuesday

I woke up at seven to my phone buzzing, and I saw that Asher had texted, asking me to pick him up ASAP. I threw on some shorts and ran down to the jetskis, grabbing mine and heading out. I knew it wasn’t an emergency, and Asher probably just wanted to work on the island, but I’d never say no to an excuse to spend more time with him. I pulled up at the dock, where he was waiting, and let myself fall sideways into the water while he got on, hopefully cleaning off a bit.

“Hey!” he said. “You splashed me!”

“Yes, I did,” I agreed, splashing him again as I climbed onto the jetski behind him.

“You know, I wanted to stay dry,” he informed me.

“Oh,” I said, as if I hadn’t known. “Let me give you a hug to say sorry, then,” I said, wrapping my soaking wet arms around him.

“No!” he protested, trying to get away so I wouldn’t drip on him, but I hugged tighter, laughing as I got him all wet. “You’re an asshole,” he told me as I reluctantly let go of him.

“Yep,” I said, grinning, and he grinned back.

“I’ll get you back for that eventually,” he warned, but I just smiled. A hug from Asher would never be a punishment, no matter how wet he was. He turned on the motor, interrupting my thoughts, and we drove back to my house. We decided to work out for an hour before working, and when we were done, we were both all sweaty. Asher let me have the first shower, and I realized too late that I didn’t have any clothes or a towel. I stuck my head out from behind the curtain, and saw Asher had taken my shorts away, and was in the process of carrying off all the towels.

“Oh come on,” I said. “All I did was splash you a bit. Don’t you think you’re being a little harsh?”

He turned, and grinned. “I might have forgotten to mention,” he said, his grin turning mischievous. “I’m an asshole too.”

“Shit,” I said nervously as I watched him carry out the last towel. “I’m assuming pleading wouldn’t do any good?”

“Nope,” he laughed. “I’ll be waiting in your room. Take your time,” he said, grinning evilly.

Fuck, I thought, washing myself off. When I was done, I stepped out of the shower and walked over to the door to my room. I opened it and stuck my head through, careful to keep the rest of me out of sight. Asher was laying on my bed, toying with my camera. He grinned smugly when he saw me.

“You’re an asshole,” I told him, and he raised the camera and took a picture of me hiding behind the door.

“Remember to smile,” he told me, adjusting the focus and taking another picture. My blood couldn’t figure out if it wanted to rush to my face or my dick, and I decided to run for it before it could.

“Fuck you,” I said, and ran, covering my crotch with both hands. I heard the clicking of the camera, and Asher’s delighted laughter, but I made it into the closet and shut the door. I quickly threw on some shorts and stormed out.

“You really are an asshole,” I told him again, in case it hadn’t sunk in the first few times.

He grinned lazily, and I blushed as he held out the camera.

“At least I learned something from your photography lesson,” he joked. “These pictures might be good enough to go on your wall.”

I blushed even harder. “They’ll look perfect right next to the ones I take of you when I get my revenge,” I said. “And unlike you, I know how to use burst mode.”

Asher’s grin died down a little bit, and I could feel my blush fading.

“So?” I asked, grinning at him. “What are you waiting for? Go have a shower!”

“Shit,” he said. “I really didn’t think this through.”

I laughed. “Yep, but you made your bed, and now you have to lie in it.”

“Yours is so much more comfortable,” he said, hitting it to make the water move. “But while we’re talking pronouns, I think I heard one that said something about not throwing rocks when you live in a glass house,” he said, gesturing upstairs to where all the walls were glass.

I grinned. “You started this,” I said. “It’s a bit late to want out now.”

“Actually, you started this when you got me all wet,” he said.

“Whatever,” I said, grinning. “You took it to this level.”

He frowned, but walked towards the bathroom. I took my camera and followed, grinning as I watched his ass.

I can’t wait to see that ass naked, I thought. I imagined how it would move as he ran, and I tried not to drool. He pulled off his shirt and threw it at me, and it was quickly followed by his shorts and boxers as he stepped into the shower. I didn’t manage to get a glimpse of anything yet, but it was just a matter of time, now.

“So,” I said, leaning against the wall right outside the shower. “Regretting anything yet?”

He stuck his hand out and splashed me with a handful of water. I laughed and moved to the opposite wall, where he couldn’t splash me.

“I guess that makes us even,” I said.

“Good,” he said eagerly. “So you can hand me a towel.”

I laughed again. “It makes us even for splashing each other,” I clarified. “You still owe me one walk of shame.”

“Fuck,” he said. “What if I told you that you’d be the nicest best friend ever if you let this go?”

I pretended to think about it. “Hmm…” I said. “No.”

“Then at least go wait in your room,” he begged. “I gave you time to prepare.”

“Fine,” I said. “It’ll be a better angle anyway.”

I heard him sigh, defeated, and I laughed again as I walked out. I closed the door so he couldn’t make a dash for it before I was ready, and then waited on the bed where he’d been. I was so eager that I couldn’t contain my grin, and when I heard the water turn off, I raised the camera.

Asher opened the door, hiding behind it, and I took a picture to match the one he had of me.

“Please?” he begged, one last time, and I grinned, turning the camera on ten-second burst mode.

“I hate you,” he informed me, and threw the door open. I pressed the button, and the camera snapped over and over again, capturing every second of this beautiful moment. His ass looked perfect as he ran, and I grinned to myself as he reached the closet and closed the door. I looked at the pictures, and I was disappointed to see that he’d hidden his crotch well. His hands obscured anything tasty from view, although I did note that he shaved his pubes, like me. I went back to looking at his ass, watching how it moved as I went from picture to picture. I walked over and stepped into the closet, getting another eyeful as I saw he was only wearing boxers.

He glared at me, and I grinned. “Don’t worry,” I told him. “You’re photogenic."

I showed him my favorite picture, and I glanced down as he looked at it, admiring the large bulge in his boxers. He certainly had nothing to be ashamed of.

“Fine,” he said. “We’re even now.”

I nodded, but I couldn’t resist teasing him a bit more. “I’d send you these pictures, but I’m pretty sure that’s illegal,” I said, grinning.

“If you’re keeping them, I’m getting a copy,” he told me. “It’s illegal to have them in the first place, so what’s one more law broken?”

“That kind of reasoning is what gets you into jail,” I laughed.

Asher grinned, and turned to grab a pair of shorts off the ground. I admired his tight ass while he bent over, and managed to keep my eyes above the waist when he looked back at me.

“What’s with that?” I asked, pointing to the five dots in a circle on his shoulder.

“It’s a birthmark,” he told me. “I’ve always had it.”

“It looks like a pentagram,” I laughed.

He grinned. “I get that a lot,” he said, pulling up his shorts and starting to tie the laces.

“Aren’t those supposed to protect you from demons?” I asked, and he grinned.

“Yeah,” he said. “Apparently it doesn’t do anything against assholes, though. You seem to be fine.”

I grinned. “I’m pretty sure that if it protected against assholes, you wouldn’t have been born with it.”

He laughed, and we picked shirts.

“If I keep having to borrow your clothes, I might as well leave some of mine here,” he laughed.

I grinned. “Sure, if you want to,” I said. “It’s not like I don’t have enough room!” I gestured to the empty half of the closet. “It might not be worth the effort, though,” I said. “We’re the same sizes and we wear the same stuff."

He nodded. “I just don’t want to steal all your clothes,” he said.

I shrugged. “I don’t mind,” I told him. “Electricity is free for us, so it doesn’t matter how often I have to wash things.”

He grinned. “Then it doesn’t matter if we get these clothes all sweaty,” he said. “Let’s go work on the house!”

We ran outside and got on the jetskis, getting to our island as fast as we could. We got there and spent the day working, and we finished the outer walls before we needed to go eat.

“It looks good, from the outside,” I remarked, taking a picture. “We can probably get all the insulation and stuff done before you leave tomorrow,” I said. “Then we’ll just have to paint and add furniture.”

Asher nodded, and we drove back to the house to make pizza. We made another for Tommy, but he was out somewhere so we left it in the fridge before going back to the island to work some more. We worked until twelve so we could finish it, and at the end we had a white room, ready to be painted.

“Perfect,” I said, and Asher nodded.

“It’s hard to believe we did this all ourselves,” he said, and I grinned.

“Maybe Tommy should hire us,” I joked.

Asher laughed, and I took more pictures before we went for a swim. We plunged off the cliff, streaking through the water to the cave, and went in to check it out. The lights flicked on as we swam, and we grinned at each other, proud of what we’d done with it. We climbed into the main chamber, and then checked out the window. We could see into the bay with surprising clarity, and Asher laughed with delight.

“This has turned out so well,” he commented.

I nodded. “We should put furniture in here, too,” I suggested. “We could disassemble it and bring the pieces in waterproof bags.”

Asher grinned. “I can’t wait,” he said. “When we’re all done, let’s live here for a while.”

I grinned back. “That’d be so cool,” I said. “This could be our cottage from the cottage!”

We laughed, and went back into the water. We swam to the beach to grab the jetskis, and Asher decided it was too late to go back to his house. We put the jetskis away and walked up to the house, where we could see Tommy sitting in the living room. He waved at us, and we walked in.
“Hey,” I said. “We made pizza, but we couldn’t find you so we left it in the fridge.”

He grinned. “Thanks,” he said. “I found it.” He indicated an empty plate next to him.

We laughed, and went downstairs. I grabbed some blankets and pillows so we could sleep on the couches, and feeling brave, I stripped down to my boxers in front of Asher before climbing into bed.

“Somebody’s not shy anymore,” he joked.

I laughed. “I figure it’s a bit late for that,” I said. “You’ve seen a lot more of me than this.”

He shrugged, and followed my example. My eyes followed his glorious bubble butt, hugged tightly by his boxers, as he crawled under the blankets.

“Shit,” I said. “We should probably do a load of wash. I don’t have many more clothes for tomorrow.”

I got out of the blankets, feeling self-conscious, and I was pleasantly surprised when Asher followed. I waited at the door as an excuse to look at him, and we walked into my room, carrying our clothes. I put all the dirty clothes into the washing machine while Asher added the detergent, and then we closed the door and pressed start. I let Asher walk out of the closet first, so I could admire his ass, and we went back to the couches.

“I think this is the first time I’ve ever walked around a house in my boxers,” Asher said. “It’s nice.”

I laughed. “Technically, you’re in my boxers,” I said. “I know what you mean, though. I’d never done it either, until I came here and got my own floor.”

He laughed. “Why even wear boxers, if you were alone?” he joked.

“I didn’t,” I admitted, blushing.

Asher grinned. “That’s the real advantage to having your own floor,” he laughed.

We got back into our couches, and I turned on the TV to review the day’s pictures. We looked at the pictures I’d taken of the inside of our house, and discussed what we should add. We decided on a bed and a couch, since it was too small for two beds. We’d also add a dresser for clothes, and a sink. We didn’t have room for a shower, so we decided we’d bathe in the lake, using biodegradable shampoo. We moved on to the pictures of the outside, and talked about what we wanted to add. We considered a slide going off the cliff, and a patio swing so we could comfortably sit outside. We moved on to the next pictures, which were of Asher naked. I laughed, and went to the next picture, taking my time to taunt Asher. We went through about thirty pictures, and Asher’s face was fire hydrant red by the time we reached the pictures of me. This time, it was Asher’s turn to tease me as I scrolled past as quickly as I could. There were only four of me, to my relief, and when we reached the end, Asher laughed.

“I didn’t know about burst mode,” he complained. “I want a redo.”

I laughed. “No fucking way,” I told him, looking at a few more pictures from Sunday before I turned it off.

“Fine,” he said. “I’ll just come over when you don’t expect it and catch you walking around naked.”

“Don’t you dare,” I warned. I was more nervous about him hearing a conversation between Fiona and me than I was that he’d see me naked.

His laugh was interrupted by a yawn, and he snuggled into the couch.

Holy shit he’s cute, I thought. I heard his breathing deepen, and I watched his face as he slept. He turned a little bit, and the blanket exposed some of his chest. His skin was so flawless. I could see his nipple, and even in the dark, its light pink color was apparent. I wondered at how such a strong, independent guy could seem so defenseless in his sleep. It made me want to lie down behind him and protect him from the world, and I turned over so he’d stop distracting me from sleep. I drifted off slowly, haunted by the knowledge that he was so close and yet so far away, but eventually I did get to sleep.