Chapter 1

I had been in the Army for 8 years when I decided that I wanted a life away from the regiment, and I decided to buy my first house. My parents had passed away, and I decided I would have a fresh start and found myself a lovely little 2-bedroom house on a new build estate. There wasn’t much around, and you needed a car to go shopping or work as no trains, or other public transport options were available. A young couple was living next door; they were both police officers. They worked different shifts, so I didn’t often see them together unless they were on leave. Still, we were on casual speaking terms, and I managed to get a few drinks with them when they had barbecues in the garden.

On the other side were an older couple, Ray and Pam; I guessed they were nearly 50 years old, but as I was only in my late twenties, I didn’t feel it was polite to ask. Pam was a bit of a grumpy bitch, to be honest, she was courteous enough to me, but I often heard her shouting at Ray, who seemed to be quite meek, and I often felt sorry for him. Ray was some kind of accountant; he didn’t wear a suit to work but dressed in the sensible trousers and shirt that are commonplace in offices around the UK. I liked Ray as he had a decent sense of humour when his wife wasn’t around. We struck up a bit of a friendship. Although he was much more intelligent than me regarding academics, he couldn’t do anything DIY related. Ray was absolutely useless when it came to practical things and would often ask me to help him fix things.

I decided that now I was my own boss. My new job as a mobile security consultant gave me plenty of freedom compared to the Army, and I took full advantage; I tried various hobbies, but my main love was still my weightlifting. I fancied trying my hand at natural bodybuilding. I never intended to reach the level of standing on stage in my underpants. Still, I was curious about how far I could transform my body. I didn’t want a commercial gym’s hustle and bustle, so I built a chalet-style gym in my back garden. I selected what I needed. It was really just a sizeable fancy shed, but it was long enough for me to fit all the equipment I required.

I hadn’t fully appreciated how big a task I had taken on when the parts arrived for me to build it, and I realised there was no way I could do everything by myself. I had already prepared the concrete base but needed an extra pair of hands.

I asked Ray if he would help me from time to time, and although I knew he wouldn’t have the skills, he seemed excited about helping, and a willing pair of hands would be way better than nothing. We did bits and pieces as we were both working. Still, the weekends were free, and he didn’t have anything to do, so we spent hours together on the first Saturday getting everything ready.

It was a relatively warm and sunny day, and I stripped to my shorts and trainers, enjoying the warmth on my body. Ray didn’t strip off and was soon sweating as we laboured together. I told him he should take off his shirt, but he said he was embarrassed about his body. I told him in no uncertain terms to fuck off and get his T-shirt off, which he did; Ray was quite skinny and, I guess, a bit soft, not in a fat way, just like he didn’t have any muscles. We worked hard that day, and by early evening we were both knackered, and Ray collapsed into one of my garden chairs while I got us some beers from the kitchen.

We sat together, enjoying the cold beers and resting our aching bodies. Although tired, I could see Ray had enjoyed himself and seemed more animated and alive than I had seen him before. We had a few more cold ones, and soon afterwards, Pam called over the fence, and Ray said he had to go. The following day Ray knocked on my door and came in for coffee before we were due to finish off the gym. We looked at each other and laughed as we were both bright red from the previous day’s sun.

I was dressed in boxer shorts as the heat radiated from my skin. I had some after-sun lotion in the house and applied it that morning, which helped a lot. I told Ray to show me his burns, and he stripped off his T-shirt gingerly, he was worse than me, and although it wasn’t a bad sunburn, I thought it might be sore. I asked him if he had put anything on it, and he told me that he never really went out shirtless, so he didn’t have anything. I put my coffee down, got the after-sun lotion out, and told him to turn around. Ray tensed as I squirted the cool lotion on his back and spread it over his skin. I could feel the heat against my hands as I massaged it in for him, enjoying the fragrance; it always reminded me of holidays.

When I had done his back, I instructed him to turn around, and I squirted another dollop onto his chest and started to spread it around. Ray watched me as my big hands spread the lotion over his shoulders, chest and down to his belly. It seemed a bit weird to me that I was applying it to him as if I was the one in charge when he was so much older than me, but he just stood there with his hands by his sides as I continued. Similar to me, there was a line at the top of his shorts, and I suddenly felt weird as I found myself rubbing the lotion on his lower belly, close to his hips, but I had put lotion on plenty of my mates when we were on deployment and just got on with it.

As I washed my hands, Ray thanked me and said that he had not slept so well due to the heat, and I confessed that I hadn’t either. I told Ray that we should maybe skip the garden for today and try again next weekend as it wouldn’t do us any good to burn again, and the forecast was for more sun. Ray looked disappointed and told me he was looking forward to spending the day out of the house again. I knew he meant away from his wife. I suddenly felt very sorry for him.

I suggested that we chill out and relax, Ray looked shocked, like a naughty schoolboy, and I wondered how much of a hold Pam actually had over him. I had just received a DVD box set of comedy classics and told ray to stick one in the machine while I got a sheet out of the airing cupboard and spread it over the sofa so we wouldn’t get lotion all over it and we relaxed for the morning watching TV and generally bullshitting with each other.

We got dressed before lunch and went to town to get some fish and chips for lunch, and I grabbed some extra cases of beer too. After lunch, we were both feeling the effects of the sun again, and I told Ray to strip again as I slapped lotion all over his hot skin. This time I asked Ray to do me, too, and I enjoyed the cooling sensation as he rubbed the stuff into my back, I was going to do my own front, but Ray carried on by himself, and it felt good. I didn’t even flinch when the tips of his fingers went slightly inside my shorts’ waistband, but I made a joke and told him my dick wasn’t burned.

After lunch, we got stuck into the beers, both in only our shorts, lounging about on the sofa, it was very nice, and Ray started to open up as we talked about Pam. Apparently, she was quite the catch when she was younger, but after she hit 40, he said she had just become miserable and sucked the life out of him. I made sympathetic noises. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like living like that.

By dinner time, we were both a bit pissed, and Ray said he had better go, but he told me he had really enjoyed himself, and I said I had too. We made a pact to finish the gym the following week, and I told him he should go before he got in trouble. I went to shake his hand, but he pulled me into a friendly hug, it felt a bit strange, hugging a man as we were both semi-naked, but it didn’t mean anything, and he dressed and left.

The following Saturday, we had the structure finished by late afternoon and stood admiring our work. There was still a bit to do, and I still had to put the equipment inside, but it looked good, and we had beers, two labourers feeling like men. Ray said he had enjoyed the time with me and would be sad when it was over, I told him he could come and hang out any time, and he nodded as if he would like to when I had an idea. I asked Ray if he would like to exercise with me, and he laughed; Ray had never lifted a weight in his life and said he was clueless. I told him it was easy and that I would show him how if he wanted to. After a minute of hesitation, he said he would like to give it a go, and we shook hands on it before having another beer.

Gradually I installed all the benches and equipment I needed and started to work out in my new gym. Ray popped around occasionally and started to learn the ropes, but he wasn’t as consistent as me.

Over the next year, I made tremendous gains in strength and muscle. I would be in my gym, stripped down and sweating like a pig as I pushed and pulled, determined to build more muscle. I had full-length mirrors and was proud to see how good I was starting to look as my physique took shape. One day I was walking back to the house in my shorts when Ray popped his head over the fence. It had been a while since he had seen my body unclothed, and he gasped as he told me how big I looked. He seemed genuinely impressed. I was highly flattered, of course, but even more so when he enthusiastically said he wanted to train with me again.

We started to train together regularly after that as Ray was determined to look and feel better about himself, spurred on by my example. One Friday evening, we had a couple of beers after work, and I told Ray I was dragging my bench outside the next day as the weather was good. I had a concrete slab outside, and he said he would help me shift the gear.

Ray turned up around ten, and we expended plenty of energy as we hauled the bars, weights and benches outside; we both had a sweat on, and I stripped off my shirt to get some sun. Ray followed me, and I laid a towel on the bench as I started a chest workout. I liked teaching Ray, and he was coming on nicely, despite the fact we kept swapping the weight around as he wasn’t as strong as me yet. We had a good workout together and were both pretty fucked by the time we had finished.

It was lunchtime, and we went inside to get out of the sun. Pam was out for the day, shopping with her friends, and I asked Ray if he wanted to stay the afternoon. He said yes, and I told him he could wash off the sweat and we would make lunch. I went to the bathroom first and stripped off for a quick shower. I suddenly realised Ray didn’t know where the towels were, so I went out to get him one. Ray was standing outside the bathroom as I passed him to grab one from the airing cupboard and turned to give it to him. Ray had a startled look on his face; he was bright red and staring at me like he had seen a ghost. For a second, I wondered what had gotten into him, and then it dawned on me, I was stark naked, and he was looking at my dick in disbelief. All my years using communal bathrooms had made it second nature to me, and I was pretty comfortable being naked around other men. Still, poor old Ray looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

‘Oh, shit Ray, I’m sorry, I forgot,’ I laughed as I explained to him why it was normal for me. I should have covered up, but what was done was done, and I took my shower and let him pass me as I let him in afterwards. Ray looked hesitant as I stood there drying myself, and I teased him, ‘go on then, Ray, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.’ Ray looked mortified, but in defiance, he whipped off his towel and stepped into the bath. Now it was me who was speechless, I had seen my fair share of cocks before, but Ray had a very large one, and I couldn’t help but stare. ‘Jesus Ray, what the hell do you feed that thing?’ I joked as he soaped himself, seemingly relaxing now I had broken the ice.

I grabbed the after-sun and rubbed it on my muscular chest, enjoying the feeling and the look as I watched my pec muscles involuntarily flexing in the mirror. Ray had finished and was next to me, drying himself. | I caught another glimpse of his swinging dick in the mirror and wondered what Pam thought about the beast.

‘Here, let me,’ Ray said as he took the bottle and put some lotion on his hand. He put the bottle down, rubbed his palms together and then gently massaged it into the hot skin of my back. I enjoyed the cooling sensation as Ray’s hands slid over my back and down as far as my arse cheeks, I was pretty sure I hadn’t caught the sun there, but it felt good.

Too soon, it was over, and I took up the bottle, and Ray turned his back to me as I squirted a line down his back and ran my hands over his hot skin from his neck to his butt. As I took up the bottle again, Ray turned to face me, and I applied some lotion to his chest. Ray’s muscles had developed quite a bit as he had obviously never lifted before, and he tensed them as I rubbed my hands over his slick skin. I smiled and complimented his progress, jokingly telling him he wasn’t bad for an old man. It lightened the mood and detracted from the fact that we were both naked and standing so close our cocks were almost touching.

After we were both oiled up, I grabbed my towel and headed downstairs, I had my towel around my waist and flopped on the couch, and Ray joined me. I realised we had nothing to drink and jumped up to get us a beer. I returned from the kitchen with two cold ones, and as I reached the sofa, my towel slipped and left me standing butt naked in front of Ray again, and I couldn’t do anything as I had a bottle in each hand. Ray laughed as I handed him the beer and said, ‘I suppose you really are comfortable being naked around other people.’ I clinked my bottle with his and winked, ‘well, it’s only natural, and anyway, it does kind of feel good because society doesn’t really approve.’ In that instant, I gasped inwardly as Ray lifted his buttocks, whipped his towel open and said with uncharacteristic vulgarity, ‘Fuck society.’ and sat back down with his big cock lying between his legs. We both laughed as I sat beside him and sipped a long slug of beer.