Long Time Coming

La Playita-2

I slept terribly that night. There was a scraping, clicking sound in my room, and I was paranoid enough to think it was a scorpion. In the morning, I found the noise was only a small white crab hiding behind my suitcase. I nudged it out the door with my notebook, and it rolled into the sand where it promptly buried itself.

We’d forgotten to arrange a meeting time or place, so I planned to head for the restaurant before it became too hot and see if they were around. I wanted to write on the porch for a while first. A half hour later, a pair of hands yanked my notebook away. I’d been so busy writing, I didn’t see Rudiger sneak up on me.

“Always reading. Always writing. Always so serious,” Rudiger said, shaking his head at me. “Let’s see what you have.”

I was beyond embarrassed as I watched him read. I’d been writing some of my most private fantasies. The newest ones involved him, Luis, and others.

“Wow,” he said after a minute. He licked his lips and looked me closely in the eye. “You know, this could happen,” he said. “We’ve been waiting for someone like you.” He squeezed my thigh. “A muscular young man who is sweet. And shy. And wild.”

“That could be nice,” I said, unable to look at him but feeling aroused at the same time. “Can I think about it?”

Rudiger flashed me a lascivious grin. “I don’t believe you want to think about it. I think you want us to decide what happens to you.” He ran his fingers up my leg until he practically grabbed my crotch.

I felt my face flush. “I…need some time,” I said, my breathing heavy as I stood.

I wore boots and long pants to walk through the jungle, but Luis and Rudiger were in shorts and sneakers. We trekked uphill, and I perspired so much that when a downpour came, it was a relief. Neither of them seemed to notice we were getting soaked. As the rain cleared up, the animals became noisier. Rudiger would get my attention by grabbing at my ass and then point out a bird or monkey.

We arrived at the top of what must have been a small mountain and stopped at a grassy clearing. We could see the ocean, sparkling in the sunlight, and tiny, rocky islands covered with trees. I walked away a few steps, looking for the best angle to take a picture.

“Hi! Hi! Stop!” shouted Luis. Rudiger grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back.

Luis pointed out a brown shape moving in the grass. “Terciopelo,” he said.

“A viper,” Rudiger said. “Very bad.”

I swallowed and began trembling. “Thanks,” I managed to say.

“Okay?” Luis gripped my arm.

“Yes.” But I couldn’t stop shaking. I hadn’t realized I was so afraid of snakes.

Luis said something to Rudiger in Spanish.

“He wants to know if you’d rather go home than continue to the park,” Rudiger said.

“Please,” I said.

Luis ruffled my hair, which made me feel like a little kid. The feeling was enhanced by the fact that they were both about half a foot taller than me.

“Good,” Rudiger said with a grin. “Now we have time to take you to Playita.”

I hesitated.

“Yes, yes,” said Rudiger. “Now we know what you like.”

They stopped at my room to let me get a towel and bathing suit. They were outside talking, but I could see them watching me change through the screen door.

“Bring your shoes,” said Rudiger. “There are sharp rocks that separate Playita from the main beach.”

The whole way back from the jungle I had been considering which swimsuit to put on. I decided to be brave and emerged from my room in a tight blue Speedo.

Rudiger wolf-whistled and ran his fingers down my abs. “Almost naked,” he said, laughing. “Getting closer.”

As we walked, Luis held my hand to help me navigate the rocks. Rudiger asked why my friend had cancelled.

“He was my boyfriend,” I said with a sad sigh. “He broke up with me.”

Rudiger translated for Luis and Luis responded. Rudiger said, “Luis can’t understand why anyone would break up with you.”

“After we graduate, we’ll be on opposite sides of the country. He says it’s for the best.” There was more to it than that. When we met, I had been as conservative as he, but after being out a couple years, I was no longer the blue-eyed blond College Republican poster boy. I now liked dancing at Pittsburgh clubs and looking at porn or the nude men in Mandate magazine. I even tried to write a story for them. He had always loved f*****g me, but outside of that, there’d been a growing distance. He no longer liked my politics nor my fantasies, even if he read them eagerly. Maybe the breakup was for the best, but it had only been a month, and I already ached for affection and intimacy.

“Your boyfriend is a fool,” Rudiger said, smiling at me. I smiled back. To be honest, being in Costa Rica alone suited me. I was too embarrassed to ask for what I truly wanted at Slippery Rock. Now that I’d found the gay community the Spartacus guide said thrived on the beaches of Manuel Antonio, perhaps I had a chance.

When we arrived, several men were neck deep in the water, and they shouted greetings to Rudiger and Luis. The two of them removed their shoes and dropped their shorts without hesitation and headed for the water. I set my towel down in the shade of some low-growing trees and fussed with my sun block until I heard Rudiger yell, “Jamie! Come here right now!”

There were sighs of disappointment as I walked into the ocean with my Speedo still on.

“Look,” said Rudiger when I reached him, “they all have their suits around their necks. You do it, too.”

I thought for a moment. What the hell. I moved into shallower water, so I could strip. The sea pulled back, revealing my ass and d**k for all to see, and I almost lost my nerve. It didn’t help that the guys were hooting at me, but I merely swam back toward them as the strong tide rushed in.

In less than a minute, Luis was behind my back, tickling me. While I was distracted, Rudiger pulled my swimsuit over my head and held it up in triumph. Luis laughed. His smile was so beautiful.

“Now you have to be our naked slave forever!” said Rudiger as he merrily tossed my Speedo to the other guys. Underneath the water, he groped my ass and fondled me while Luis more politely hugged me around my shoulders and stroked my wet hair. He even kissed my cheek once. I felt a flutter of pure happiness in my stomach and spine.

“Your ass is amazing,” Rudiger whispered into my ear. “I hope you let us have fun with it.”

“Maybe,” I said, wishing I had the guts to simply say “yes.”

We stayed in the water for perhaps half an hour, the men throwing my swimsuit from one to another and laughing while Luis held me in a gentle embrace. Eventually, someone lobbed my swimsuit back to Rudiger, and I lunged for it. At the same time, a strong undertow knocked me off my feet. I fell headfirst into the waves.

I struggled under the surface and spluttered, trying in vain not to breathe in water. Strong hands pulled me upright. It was Luis.

“Okay?” he asked me for the second time that day while I coughed out water.

“I’m fine,” I said, although I was unnerved. “Maybe I should get out for a little while.”

“Bad news,” said Rudiger. “We lost your swimsuit.” He had a twinkle in his eye.

“I’m so sure. Come on, give it to me.”

“It’s not here,” he insisted. “It’s halfway to China already.” He groped between my legs again.

“Right,” I said. I walked out of the water and hopped over the hot sand to Rudiger’s shorts.

“Hey!” he shouted as I started to put them on. He headed for shore as fast as he could.

“And you don’t have a towel either,” I said, “so you’ll be going back to the main beach naked I guess.”

As I reached for my towel and sneakers, Rudiger playfully tackled me. His shorts were too big, and he easily slipped them off me. He lifted me up and threw me over his shoulder, spanking me once. Then, with a bump, he placed me on my towel. He pinned my hands behind my head and grinned.

“May I take you now?” he said.

“We’re covered in wet sand,” I said. A breeze blew over us. Feeling the wind touch parts of me that had never been exposed to the elements before was slightly shocking.

He let go of my left hand so he could trace the contours of my chest with his fingers. “We could rinse off first,” he said.

I closed my eyes. Did I want it? I did. I wanted to surrender to him in the same way that I had written in my journal.

When I opened my eyes again, most of the men were coming out of the water to watch us. In my fantasies that Rudiger had read I’d wanted an audience, but now I wasn’t certain.

“I’m not ready,” I told my captor.

“Are you sure?” he asked, stroking my d**k.

I nodded. He gently brushed the back of his hand against my cheek.

Luis called out to Rudiger and tapped an imaginary watch on his wrist in a gesture that said, “We’re going to be late.”

“I forgot. We have to go to the market for vegetables before we go to the restaurant this afternoon,” Rudiger said. “How about a deal? If you come back to Playita tomorrow, then we know you’re ready. Then we all have fun.”

One of the men, short and muscular with jet black hair and a mustache, tossed my swimsuit onto my chest amidst gales of laughter. I put it around my neck.

“Deal,” I told Rudiger.