One of the perks of the job is full access to the facilities. The Thrasher Springs Hot Springs and Spa is really open to everyone always, really, considering how understaffed it is. Notah’s sure someone could park their car in the lot, walk around back, climb in through the natural hot springs, and get a massage for free without anyone noticing. He knows that because he used to do it back in his teenage days. Him and Al would come here and raid the fridge and go skinny dipping and the Siyuja family would be none the wiser. Now that he works here, he knows that there are no security cameras and no locks, but he didn’t even know that then!

Regardless, he gets full, legal access to the spa now. That includes the locker rooms, the sauna, the indoor pool, the hot springs, and even the massages at a reduced price. As much as he’d love Douglas Siyuja’s big paws pressing into his back, there’s no way he would ever do that. Everything else is enough.

The day is winding down. The hawk takes a deep breath.

It’s amazing the way a low level of anxiety underlies his every action, even in the middle of the desert that has nothing in it and in a genuinely very beautiful and relaxing spa. Before this, his life was so chaotic. With Al, there was new shit to deal with every day. New girlfriends and drugs to pick up and endlessly menial fights to have. Now there’s nothing at all, and he’s still anxious.

He stands at the counter all day waiting for new customers to arrive, which they never do, tapping his feathered fingers to his head and trying to stay calm. Every time someone does come in, they always know who he is. Even here he’s done something wrong.

Doesn’t matter. He steps towards the locker room with a towel under his arm. At least he can take solace in this.

Notah really didn’t appreciate it back then. He wasn’t going to the spa to go to the spa, he was going to the spa to do some stupid shit that would leave him with a criminal record. It’s not as nice when you’re working and on edge the whole time, but at least now the crowd has thinned out completely and he can just be by himself. Wes might walk in to fix something but he can handle the rabbit.

He takes a second to appreciate this moment. The tiled floor, the humid air, the sound of the steam going in the sauna. It’s lovely in here, no light but the little ones facing towards the ceiling to keep the room dark. He unbuttons his work shirt as he stares dead forward at the locker, then strips his pants off. He looks at himself in the mirror in just his briefs. Lean and tall — maybe someone would want him if he wasn’t such a fuck up. He can force abs if he really tries. He has a nice dick, at least.

Notah wraps the towel around his waist and lets the underwear drop to the floor, then stuffs it all in a random locker. If the spa doesn’t believe in locks, he doesn’t either.

He opens the sauna door and lets the heat hit him. Now this is a good sauna. The room is so small that a single light tints the entire room orange. It’s all made of wood. He sits down on the first layer, then decides to take the second one when the first isn’t enough.

Notah closes his eyes and breathes. He counts to four, like his mother taught him all those years ago, holds it for four, and breathes out for four. A bit of sweat rolls off of his brow.

He keeps going like that. In for four, hold for four, out for four. Breathe in, breathe out. Peace and calm.

Then the door opens and he practically caws out in surprise.

It’s just Jack.

Oh shit. It’s Jack.

The older coyote stands there wrapped in a towel, his stomach fat bounding over. He gives Notah a quick smile and then takes a seat on the first layer below Notah.

He instantly looks down towards the floor, leaning his elbows on his knees and clasping his paws. At first Notah is relieved that they aren’t going to talk, but then it’s suddenly weirder like that. He doesn’t want to say anything but he still finds himself squawking something out.

“Hey, Jack,” he tries.

Jack looks at him like he just did something incredibly inappropriate, then does a little shush.

“Sorry.”

He smiles. “Just kidding. Ha! Imagine if I was that much of an asshole?”

“Oh,” Notah says, embarrassed now. “Yeah.”

“No, sorry, kid. Didn’t mean to scare you. If you’re fine with talking in here…”

“Right, right. Against the rules.”

Jack grins.

“It’s not my job to police!”

“Yeah, yeah. Lots of other rules too.” Whatever that’s supposed to mean. “You enjoying the sauna? Haven’t seen you in here before.”

“It’s hot.” Notah stares at the coyote’s crotch. The Speedo was certainly more revealing but the towel threatens to give way at any moment and show off his junk. And if his dick was already that big flaccid in the Speedo, he must be packing something pretty nice right now. “It’s hot.”

What the hell is he thinking? Notah grinds his teeth. He has no fucking reason to be thinking like that. Notah goes right back to staring at the floor.

“That’s for sure!” Jack responds. “I love it in here. Most of the time I’m nude, actually, since there’s no one else in here, but…” When he looks back up, he notices Jack’s paw placed in such a way on his towel that it’s opening up to more of his thigh. If he was sitting on the lower level right now, he’d probably have a pretty good view of the coyote’s dick. His dick pulses under his own towel. Clearly the heat is getting to him. When he looks at Jack’s face, it’s like he knows something. “You’re lucky to be working here.”

“It empties out near the end of the day. You’d think people would wanna stay for the sunset…” He wipes the sweat from his forehead. “Nope. Pretty consistently. I didn’t think you’d be here, either.”

“I don’t know what it was!” he says. It’s such an innocent line, but he opens his legs as he does it and Notah can definitely see his dick now. It’s hard. It’s hard and it’s large. That coyote dick is biiig. Emerging from a bush of pubic hair, there are maybe seven or eight inches between it and a thick head. “Something just drew me in, you know.” He leans back onto the seat behind him.

Notah doesn’t know what in the world compels him to do it, but he makes eye contact and opens his legs too. The coyote can for sure see all of his business.

And the two sit there, staring at each other’s dicks. They both grow harder with each passing second. And a smile creeps onto Jack’s face.

“Hey, kid,” he says.

And Notah wraps up his towel and stands up. “I gotta… go.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I gotta go. Sorry.”

Jack closes up, moving his arms back over his body so everything is hidden once again. “Alright. It was nice seeing you, kid.”

“You too, Jack.”

He hurries out of the sauna. Catching another look at himself in the mirror, he is drenched in sweat and has an obvious massive erection under his towel. He doesn’t even bother showering. He just throws his shorts on and rushes to his car.

Driving 20 over the speed limit with no one to see, Notah practices his breathing again. He will not let himself think about that again. In and out. In and out. In and out. All the way home.