The breakup happened on a Tuesday.
There was no dramatic screaming match, no shattered dishes, and no single moment either of them could point to and say, That was when everything ended. After nine years together, it was somehow quieter than that. A long conversation, a lot of silence, a few tears, and the realization that the life they had built together no longer felt like a life either of them could continue living.
At thirty-four, Rusty suddenly found himself single for the first time since his twenties. He had been a college gymnast, disciplined and competitive, the kind of person who had spent years learning how to control every movement of his body. He liked knowing where his feet were supposed to land.
The breakup left him with no idea where he was supposed to land next.
A few weeks later, Rusty moved into the 20th floor of a high-rise apartment in Fort Lauderdale. The apartment was everything he had wanted when he signed the lease: floor-to-ceiling windows, polished floors, a modern kitchen, and a balcony overlooking the lights of the city. On clear nights, he could see the dark stretch of the ocean beyond the buildings.
The first few nights, Rusty kept catching himself turning toward the other side of the bed before remembering there was nobody there. He would reach for his phone whenever something funny happened, instinctively preparing to send a message to the person who had been his first call for nearly a decade.
Then he'd remember.
Instead, he started going out more.
He discovered that Fort Lauderdale had plenty of places where a thirty-four-year-old newly single man could have a drink, listen to music, and convince himself that he was perfectly comfortable being alone.
Eventually, one night, while sitting on his couch with a drink in his hand, Rusty downloaded Grindr. He stared at the app for several seconds after it appeared on his screen.
"Well," he muttered to himself. "I guess we're doing this."
Creating the profile was harder than he expected. He spent far too long deciding which pictures to use and even longer staring at the blank space where the profile description was supposed to go. He finally settled on something simple.
34. Fort Lauderdale. Former college gymnast. New to the dating scene.
He read it several times.
It seemed harmless enough.
Within minutes, messages started appearing.
Some were friendly.
Some were surprisingly forward.
Some were so strange that Rusty wasn't entirely sure they were real.
He chatted with a few guys over the next several days, usually in short bursts. Sometimes there was flirting. Sometimes there was enough chemistry on the screen to make Rusty wonder whether he might actually meet someone.
But he never did.
Every time a conversation seemed to be heading toward an actual meeting, something happened. One guy became far too aggressive. Another seemed to think sending unsolicited pictures was an acceptable introduction. Someone else asked Rusty for money within twenty minutes of saying hello. That one earned an immediate block. By the end of the week, Rusty had become surprisingly efficient with the blocking feature.
Swipe. Chat. Laugh. Question someone's sanity. Block.
It was strange, but somehow reassuring. He was discovering that he could talk to people without owing them anything. He could walk away from a conversation whenever he wanted. Still, he hadn't actually met anyone. By Saturday night, Rusty had almost convinced himself that Grindr was simply another form of entertainment. He went out that evening with a couple of friends, telling himself he would only have a few drinks. He lied to himself. By the time he got home, it was well after midnight. His cheeks were warm from the alcohol, his shirt was slightly wrinkled, and he had that loose, careless feeling that came from having had just a few too many drinks. He kicked off his shoes near the door and wandered into the living room. The city stretched out beyond his windows, all shimmering lights and distant traffic. From thirty-two floors up, Fort Lauderdale looked almost peaceful. Rusty dropped onto the couch. For a few minutes, he simply sat there. Then he remembered his phone. He pulled it from his pocket, unlocked the screen, and stared at the familiar yellow-and-black icon. He hesitated. Then he opened Grindr.
He scrolled through the messages. Then scrolled through the pics. He was still drunk and horny from the bars and as the dick pics popped up in message after message - his dick started to pop up too. He never shared any nudes on the app. After what happened to his buddy Tom last year. Tom had been chatting with a dude online and ended up not only sharing nude pics with the guy, but also sharing some videos of him playing with himself and even let the guy video himself fucking Tom in his backyard pool. Things didn't work out and the guy turned into a crazy psycho. He wouldn't stop messaging Tom, trying to talk to him out at the bars and texting him. Next thing you know, one of our friends found the video of Tom getting fucked. The guy had blurred out his own face, but tilted the video "Slutty Tom from Fort Lauderdale" and posted it in all the local Reddit gay forums. Tom got it removed, but he was embarrassed for a while. So - lesson learned - do not send nudes.
Rusty's dick was half hard from the hot pics on Grindr. It was late and he was nearing the point in the evening when he would just jerk off in the shower and go to bed. Just as he was about to close the app he got a message that said. "Hey. I think I met you earlier at the bar with your friends. My name is Max and I was having out with Dustin." Rusty instantly perked up. He HAD met Max earlier in the evening. It was a passing hello as two groups of friends crossed paths as they were leaving one bar and headed to the other. Rusty had noticed the massive hunk instantly and tried to start up a conversation but the two groups had taken off to different bars.
Rusty said "Oh yea! Nice to meet you earlier. How was the rest of your night?" Max said "It was fine. Just got home and having another beer. Looks like we might live in the same building.." Rusty's eye go a bit wider. 250 feet?!?! "Oh man..I didn't even notice! I guess so. Surprised I haven't bumped into you." Max said "Wanna join me for a beer?"
Rusty was still kinda drunk. REALLY horny. And just desperate enough for a hook up. He thought about it for a minute and before he could respond, Max said "No pressure. Only if you want to. I'm gonna sit by the pool. Just text me if you decide you want to come up." And the he sent Rusty his phone number in the last message. Rusty thought about what he had said about "coming up" and sitting by the pool. That meant he must be in the penthouse. There wasn't any other pools in the building other than the building pool at the ground level. Damn! This guy must be rich or something! That's like a multi-million dollar unit!
Now his curiosity was getting the better of him and he was dying to know what the view looked like from up there. So he responded back "Sure. Send me your unit number and I'll be up in a few minutes."
Rust jumped up and rushed into his bathroom to brush his teeth, check his hair in the mirror and then darted into the bedroom to change his shirt and shorts. As soon as he was changed he realized the guy had seen him earlier, and saw what he was wearing. If he changed now would the look weird. Like he was trying to hard? He quickly stripped again and put back on the clothes he had worn out. Now he was regretting the skimpy tank top and shorts he had worn out to the bars. He was looking for attention and the barely there tank top usually did the trick when he was showing off his muscles. The shorts were new and this was the first time he had worn them out. They were basically thin white gauzy material that clung to his body and showed off his ass and package in an almost vulgar way. He had even chosen to go commando so he had a clearly VPL. He had been blessed as a 'shower' and a 'grower'. He had a fat dick that was pretty big even when it was soft and his big balls kept it pushed forward so it showed a nice line in the shorts as he walked. He topped off the outfit with some thin white flip-flops like you would wear to the beach. That was the perfect outfit for a hot Florida night and it had indeed got him the attention he had been looking for.
He took one last look in the mirror, turned and headed back to the kitchen. He grabbed a six pack out of the fridge and then zoomed out into the hallway. He pressed the button for the top floor and a moment later the elevator open to a quiet hallway with only one door. Did the penthouse take up the whole top floor?!?!
Rusty took a breath to calm his nerves and then rang the doorbell. He couldn't actually hear anything and wondered if it even worked. The silence stretched and then he jumped a little when the door opened and Max stood before him, still in the jeans, boots and black t-shirt from earlier in the night.
"Come on in.." Rusty entered what looked like an Architectural Digest special feature. Everything was perfect. And HUGE. It looked more like a hotel than an house.
Max shut the door and said "Oh, you brought beer. You didn't need to do that. I have plenty. Come on, we can put it in the fridge to keep it cold." Max turned and took off deeper into the massive space. Rusty took in the floor to roof glass. It had to be twice the height of his floor. Max led them into the kitchen and put the beer in the fridge after opening one and handing it to Rusty.
Max leaned back against the kitchen counter and made no attempt to hide the fact that he was looking Rusty over from head to toe. Rusty smiled knowing the outfit had worked again and before he could speak Max said "You look really good in those shorts." Rusty felt himself blush a little "Thanks..." Max said "I'm sure you got a lot of attention tonight" Rusty admitted "Yeah, a little.."
" Oh come on.."Max let a sly grin pull up one side of his mouth "I'm guessing you got more than a little. What am I, the fourth maybe fifth guy tonight that is trying to get you out of those shorts?"
Rusty's mind stumbled a little. "Um, nah..just hanging with friends. I mean I wasn't out looking for anything. I mean.. You know, it's just so damn hot here..." Rusty was stumbling to come up with something that didn't make him look like some whore out trying to get fucked by anyone who would pay him attention. Max grinned wider "Oh, well, lucky me then." The men had locked eyes and Rusty was unsure what to say next so he took a drink of his beer and looked around the kitchen
Max took a drink of his beer and brought the attention back to Rusty. "You must hit the gym twice a day to stay in that kind of shape." Max reach over and lifted up the front of Rusty's tank top to reveal his washboard abs. "Yep, just as I suspected. Damn." Then he lifted the shirt higher with his one finger to exposed Rusty's pecs. "And not a hair on you. Do you shave it off?" Rusty blushed again and stammered " Ah no, just naturally smooth. Like a dolphin." Max checked and Rusty kicked himself on the inside 'A dolphin??!?' what a fucking stupid thing to say!!! Oh god. Rusty's face turned more red.
Max said " A dolphin huh? hmm, that is interesting..." He let his finger lower the shirt back down to Rusty's waist. As he did he randomly his fingertip down Rusty's abdomen slowly until he touched the waistband of the loose thin shorts. Instead of stopping he kept the slow motion going down as he hooked his finger in the top of Rusty's waistband and pulled it lower. Rusty looked down and watched as his shorts were pulled lower in the front until the root of his dick was exposed, true to his word, not a hair in sight. That small patch he actually did shave to keep his whole body smooth. Max's pulled the shorts lower and as he did his finger tip traced the top of Rusty's dick and then ran slowly down the side of the shaft as the shorts were pulled lower and lower. The shorts were so thin and stretchy that it took hardly any effort before only the tip of his dick was still tucked behind the waistband.
Then Max reversed direction and let the waist band move back up to cover Rusty's now thickening dick. He was totally caught off guard and his mind was racing to come up with something to say. Or figure out what to do. Should he just go with it and whip his dick out. Should he get on his knees and give this dude a blow job? Was this a hook up? Was he gonna get fucked? Max interrupted his thoughts with "Turn around and let me see if the back is just as hairless. Rusty complied and turned toward the large granite counter. He sat his beer down and rested his hands on the cold countertop. He thought for sure that Max would pull the waist band down in the back of his shorts, just like the front. So he was a bit surprised when he felt the leg of his shorts raised up from mid-thigh. Max slowly pulled the thin fabric up. This time he let his finger tip move up between Rusty's ass cheeks. Rusty took a deep breath as Max's finger started at the bottom of his cheeks and then as it traced the crevice it went deeper until Max paused. Rusty felt Max's free hand touch his shoulder and a slight push forward had Rusty bending at the hip over the counter. The movement mad hit easier for Max to push his finger deeper until Rusty felt the tip of his finger graze his sensitive hole and the come to a stop.
His mind was racing. His dick was getting hard. He felt Max's finger tip start to add pressure at his hole and start a little gentle probing rhythm. Max leaned forward until his chest pressed against Rusty's back and his mouth was next to Rusty's ear. "You're right. Not a hair anywhere. Does that feel good?" Rusty took another deep breath and nodded his head yes.
Max kept his chest pressed against Rusty's back and added a little pressure until Rusty bent forward more and pressed his pecs into the cold counter top in front of him. He felt Max's hand move from his shoulder
