Brad just turned and walked away from me when we got off the USS
Wyoming
Ohio-class ballistic nuclear sub when it returned to its Kings Bay base in Georgia, just north of Jacksonville, Florida. First Class Petty Officer Brad, who had fucked me whenever we could get away with it during a month's cruise, just turned and walked away. I was released on a long-weekend pass. I thought Brad was going with me, but he just told me he was transferring to the USS
Alaska
and walked away. I shouldn't have been surprised or shouldn't resent him. He'd told me from the top that it was just for the boredom-relieving ride. But I'd grown to think that maybe...
So, what? I, a mere submarine sailor ten years his junior, was just a convenient lay for him for a month? I had gotten to thinking we had something going. I thought we were off for a wild long weekend on the Florida beaches. I'd rented a car--a red Camaro. I thought he was arranging a beach hotel. Ten minutes after we got off the
Wyoming
he was telling me of his transfer. And he just turned and walked away.
He'd popped my male cherry. He'd taught me how to take it from a man. He'd given me favors, watched out for me on my maiden cruise. He'd made me trust him and he'd sweet talked me. He got my sailor's pants off me, taught me how to suck him off, and he'd put it in me. We did it enough to be a well-oiled fucking machine. We learned to come off at the same time. He'd let other guys mess with me--I was short, slim, and boyish looking, almost effeminate--but he didn't let them give it to me up the ass. Only he did that.
And there he was, just walking away from me, down the line, to a new assignment on the
Alaska
.
In shock and not knowing what else to do, I took a taxi to the car rental place, and, without much of any notion where I'd be staying, I pointed the Camaro's nose south on I-95. I'd heard of a couple of bars in Jacksonville and had talked to Brad about them. I said I wanted to go on the beach, further south into Florida, though. It had never been this warm during the Christmas season, even in Florida. I thought he'd gotten us a place.
There was a gay bar in Jacksonville, the Park Place Lounge, where I heard Navy guys went. I found it.
It was afternoon, so there wasn't much going on in there yet. The bartender was nice, though, and good to look at. Late thirties, tall, but well-muscled and good-looking without being an overdone hunk, like some of the sailors on the sub were. There wasn't much to do on a sub when you weren't on duty, at the mess, or sleeping, and they liked us to be in shape. So, the sub had good gym equipment and all the guys used it. It was where they could get a good look at each other nearly bare and where hookups were arranged.
His name--the name of the bartender--was Beau. Another guy was sitting at the bar when I bellied up to it and was talking to Beau. His name was Andy, and he looked much the same as Beau--good-looking, trim, but well-muscled. A good smile. They both had good smiles. They both showed interest in me, which was what I was looking for in my vulnerable, suddenly let loose, condition. There wasn't much of any anyone else in the bar who wanted to talk to someone new. These guys did, so we talked.
"I'm Paul," I said, since they'd both given me their names. "I just came off a month on a submarine. The USS
Wyoming
," I said, as if that would mean anything to them. It was a matter of pride to me. I was still wet behind the ears but had been off cruising the world already. "I didn't think it would be warm enough down here in Florida in December to still be using the beaches, but I guess it was."
"Yes, it isn't," they both agreed, almost in unison. They were so much in unison that I wondered if they were a pair. They included me in their discussion and when they found out I'd just come off a cruise on a ballistic nuclear SSBN submarine up in Georgia, they were all kinds of friendly. They surprised me by knowing what kind of boat the USS
Wyoming
was.
"That's how Andy here and me met," Beau said. "We're both retired Navy. We sailed the USS
Leyte Gulf
cruiser together out of Norfolk. We left the Navy together and settled down near St. Augustine, where we run tourist boat cruises together. We do photography too--specialty stuff."
The together part was coming across. It was increasingly certain the two of them were a pair.
"So, you're not a full-time bartender?" I asked.
"He's just filling in for a friend for a couple of shifts," Andy said. "And I decided to come up and give him company. The lounge can be pretty dead on Friday afternoons before Happy Hour hits and some of the dancers start coming in. When you came in I thought maybe you were a new dancer here. You've got the body and the face for it."
I probably blushed. I was wounded enough by Brad to really appreciate the compliment.
As we talked, Beau spent more time behind the bar leaning on it and making eyes with me from the other side of the counter. For his part, Andy leaned into me from the neighboring stool and touched me here and there, and when I didn't shrink away from him, the touches became more intimate and prolonged. I couldn't be surprised; it was a gay bar.
I wondered which one I'd go with. I was here on the rebound from Brad. I wanted to show him--to show him that he wasn't the only one who could have me--to show him that he couldn't tell anyone else they couldn't give it to me in the ass anymore.
I was new to this, but I was hurt. My ego had been wounded--shattered. Was there something about me--something lacking--that made Brad discard me so readily? Gauging the interest of Beau and Andy in me, the compliment Andy gave me, and Andy being touchy feely, I didn't think so. Which one would I want to go with? They were so similar I didn't have a preference. They were both hunks for their ages. Neither of them was intimidating.
Was there somewhere here to get this on? I looked around the room. Was there somewhere guys went right here? The was a doorway in the back covered by a beaded curtain. What was beyond that?
Which one would step up to the plate? Would I carry through and be a player if they did? All I'd known--anally--was Brad. I didn't know if I had the courage to carry through with anyone else. I gave both the once-over look again. Which would I prefer given the choice? The part of them being a pair had already floated through my brain and gone away.
"So, where are you headed this weekend, Paul?" Beau asked. "Jacksonville isn't that far from Kings Bay. I would have thought you'd head for the Florida beaches since they're still open. Looking for action out on the beach, maybe."
"That's what I planned, yes," I answered. "I don't have any place set up, though. Are there good beaches down where you guys have your boat operation? Was that in St. Augustine, did you say?"
"Yeah, we got pretty good beaches," Andy said. "You looking for one with action on it?"
"Yeah, I guess," I said. Was that signaling availability, I wondered.
"Beau and I live on the beach. A small place in Crescent Beach, just south of St. Augustine. We're right on the ocean. It's a real cubbyhole, but we fixed it up nautical style. Navy guys are real comfortable there. We get some good action on that beach."
"Nautical style?"