Benny wasn’t sure why he asked. Helio never got in the water with him. Or played video games with him. Or did much with him at all, other than eat their meals together, when he watched Benny with an intensity that might have been creepy had he been any less attractive, and occasionally say something weird and mysterious.
All that money and still so shy, the poor guy.
Benny really didn’t mind though. In spite of Helio’s intensity, Benny found his company pretty pleasant. And honestly, it was kind of flattering being stared at all the time by someone so attractive.
Helio was staring now, in fact, definitely in one of his moods again. “Four nights you’ve spent here,” he said.
“Have I? Guess so.” Benny’s flight had come and gone, then. Was Helio gonna ask him to skedaddle?
“You have no one at home to miss you?”
Benny flopped onto his back, scratching his chest. “I guess Seth might worry. My cousin. But I can’t find my phone to let him know.” Benny must have dropped it at some point, that night in Miami.
“This phone?”
Helio was standing in front of him all of a sudden, close enough for Benny to smell his floral cologne, holding out the very phone Benny was missing.
“Oh, sweet!” Benny reached for it, but Helio held it back.
“And if I refuse?”
“Um…refuse?”
“If I refuse to let you contact your loved ones? If you’re trapped here with no link to the outside world?”
“Oh.” Benny considered. “Um, well I guess they’d stress about it. Which would kind of be a bummer.”
He left it at that. Really, it was Helio’s island, so it was Helio’s rules. If he had some “no outside contact” policy, who was Benny to argue?
But then Helio was dropping Benny’s phone onto his stomach with a heavy sigh.
Benny caught it before it fell onto the sand. “Thanks, man.”
He typed out a quick message to Seth.Met a cool rich dude. Living it up this summer. Pass the word around.
He received an instant response scolding him for missing his flight without letting anyone know.
But now that he had his phone…
Benny sat up, almost smacking into Helio. “Hey, you know what would be super cool?”
“What?” Helio had his fingers on the bridge of his nose, pinching there. Maybe he had a headache.
“If I filmed some workout videos on the beach. Like body-weight stuff? Stuff that’s easy to do on a vacation. I’ve never had a backdrop as nice as this.” Benny waved to encompass all the gorgeousness surrounding them. “Would that be cool with you?”
Helio stared at him, his fingers still pinching his nose. He still did that sometimes—took a minute to process things. It was probably tough being so smart, having to consider so many different angles all the time. Eventually he sighed. “Of course, Benny. Why not?”
Benny grinned at him. “Thanks, man. You’re the best.”
Benny fellinto a fantastic routine after that.
He’d wake up early, always refreshed after sleeping in the most comfortable bed in the world. He’d film a short workout video just after sunrise, easy body-weight exercises anyone could do even while on vacation. He was naming the series “Beach Bod with Benny,” and he thought it was pretty decent, if he did say so himself.
His rising YouTube views seemed to agree.
After that, he’d have his breakfast in the inner courtyard with Helio. And then Benny would spend the day swimming or lying around in the sun. Sometimes he’d get a jog in around the perimeter of the little island. He’d play video games in the afternoon while Helio lurked in the doorway, then get his night swim on, then jack off furiously in the shower, then fall into an exhausted sleep.
He passed two more weeks easily like that. Maybe Helio was going to let him spend the whole summer here? That would be A-OK with Benny.
