Bait and Switch - Chapter Six (Patreon)

The bitter cold hit Colin immediately as he pushed through the door, and he shivered.

“Grant, take your coat back…”

As much as Colin didn’t want to take off the oversized coat in this weather, he felt incredibly guilty. Grant was only wearing a t-shirt. It was annoying that the cold barely seemed to bother him.

“Nah, you wear it, man. I’m fine.”

The wind picked up, whipping the cold air against them. Colin shivered, pulling up the hood of Grant’s coat. It made him feel even smaller and more enveloped. It was hard to ignore Grant’s scent with the hood around his head. It wasn’t unpleasant—just an unfamiliar masculine smell enveloping him.

“Where the hell did this cold come from?”

Colin hated the cold. It wouldn’t be so bad if not for the biting wind.

“It’s winter, moron. That’s when it gets cold.” Grant chuckled, hands in his pockets as he pushed forward into the wind, leading them back to the apartment.

“…Yeah, yeah, yeah…”

Colin muttered it, but it was good to see Grant chuckle. Maybe the little outing had helped, even if just a little.

They walked in silence for a while, winding down the path through campus toward their apartment complex just on the other side.

It was weird.

Grant was normally the talker, with Colin throwing in the occasional snarky comment or thought…but tonight it felt like Colin had to carry the conversation…or walk in silence. It felt awkward.

He looked down at the to-go container in his cold, red hands. He wished he didn’t have to carry it in this weather and could stick his hands in his pockets. But later him would thank him for keeping it. Food wasn’t cheap these days.

“…Brah, I’m stuffed…that burger was the size of my head.”

“What’d you eat? Like two bites?” Grant smirked at him over his shoulder. Colin scowled. Grant had seemingly eaten his entire meal in three quick bites and then topped it off with a free piece of cake the waitress had “snuck” him.

It had not gone unnoticed that there was no “free cake” offer for Colin.

“Whatever…you’re just jealous ’cause I’m hooked up for later.”

Grant chuckled again, but it was a performative one. He was back in his head.

Thinking about her.

They were nearing the girls’ dorm. Grant’s eyes lingered on it, knowing Brielle was in there.

Colin didn’t know what to say. The sadness was radiating off Grant in waves. They stopped walking, Grant just staring up at the golden-lit windows of the dorm.

Colin stood with him, holding the stupid to-go container in the biting cold.

“I’m really sorry, man. It sucks.”

Grant nodded.

“Yeah…it does. It does suck.”

Grant shook his head, as if trying to shake himself out of it. He looked at Colin and smirked.

“We gotta get you a real coat, man. You look ridiculous.”

With a friendly hand on Colin’s shoulder, he pulled him back into a walk.

Together they walked in silence back to the apartment, letting the wind whip and dance around them, not knowing how metaphorical that was.

Colin burst through the door first, trying to shake the cold out of him. He tossed the to-go container on the counter and tucked his hands into the pockets of the coat as fast as he could. They felt like they were about to fall off.

Grant headed straight to the fridge for a beer.

“How the fuck are you not cold?” Colin asked, trying to get feeling back in his hands.

“’Cause I’m not a pussy,” Grant said, raising his bottle in a toast before popping the top.

“Fuck you. It’s colder than shit out there.” Colin pulled off the coat and tossed it at the taller man. Grant caught it with a casual hand and tossed it onto the sofa before plopping down on the couch himself.

Colin was still trying to get feeling back into his fingers when he saw his roommate stand quickly back up.

“Oh, fuck no…”

Grant was staring at his phone.

“What?” Colin already knew. It was Bri. It was always Bri…

“She’s at the fucking Thirst! What the fuck…?”

Grant sat back down on the sofa hard. Thirst Trap was one of the local dance clubs. Colin had only been once, but it was one-hundred-percent Brielle. Dark with pulsing lights, thumping bass, and perfect for attracting the male gaze.

Colin grabbed his phone, swiping.

…must be a snap because I don’t…

He swiped to Instagram. The story was the first on his list.

Bri, in the middle of the club, gyrating and bouncing to the dance beat, surrounded by guys who were all gazing at her, cheering her on…

“Guess she rebounded pretty quick…” Colin muttered to himself, regretting it instantly. Grant was back up on his feet, coming toward him.

“How are you…” Grant grabbed Colin’s phone, staring at the screen. For a minute Colin was afraid his phone was about to fly across the room and shatter. Grant only stared at it.

“She fucking posted this…I thought it was just the snap…”

Grant’s shoulders slumped. He looked defeated.

Colin sighed and picked up the barely touched beer from the coffee table and handed it over, his phone handed back to him in abject misery.

Grant didn’t drink the beer. He just stood there, broken.

Colin didn’t know what to do other than just stand there with him.

“I’m really sorry…”

“She’s…she’s the fucking worst…” Grant said, his voice dripping with jealous resentment.

“Yeah.” Bri was the worst. It was also virtually impossible to erase the image of her tight body in that skin-tight outfit gyrating around the guys from his brain. Why did she have to be so fucking sexy on top of everything?

Grant was chugging the beer. Colin kind of regretted handing it to him, but knew he would have found it on his own.

Colin’s eyes drifted back to his phone and the looping clip of Brielle gyrating in the club. He knew he was going to look at it again later after he got into bed. He was not going to feel good about doing it, but he knew he would anyway.

His phone dinged, dragging him out of his aroused shame spiral.

“spill the t col. whos the chick hanging with G outside the dorms tonight”

Colin stared at the message from Maya, trying to comprehend it. He felt the same repressed resentment that Maya had the hots for Grant and didn’t see him at all.

‘What chick?’ His message had barely sent when he saw the triple dots of Maya’s reply queuing. He did not expect the photo.

It took him a minute to figure out what he was looking at. A dark, blurry shot of two people looking up from a distant street. He pinched to zoom in and shook his head…

The picture was definitely Grant, staring up at the camera, and next to him…

…the smaller figure, bundled up in Grant’s coat…

…it was him. But because the coat was so big and he was standing next to Grant, it looked like he was small…and bundled in Grant’s coat.

…Maya thinks that I…

A second photo filled his screen. Grant putting his hand on Colin’s shoulder. Colin’s face wasn’t visible, but it looked for all the world like a boyfriend trying to warm his cold date.

Colin shook his head.

…For fuck’s sake…

He looked over at Grant, who was staring despondently at his phone, finishing off the beer in his hand. Colin did not want to share this with him. It was embarrassing enough that only he knew.

‘no idea.’ He texted back.

The three little dots queued.

‘Find out for me—whole dorm wants to know.’

Colin grimaced as the alert popped. The whole girls’ dorm was obsessing over who Grant was with…

The embarrassment filled his face, and he left the message unanswered, a bad feeling in his chest. He didn’t know why he was worried exactly, but it was like a sore tooth…and even after he consoled Grant and headed to bed to jerk off to the Brielle video, he still had this nagging worry that something was about to happen.