Bonus Epilogue

"Fuck!"

The tires squeal as our rental car jerks and then hydroplanes on the road in the dark Texas night.

"Fuck!" Bryant barks again. "Quit that shit, or you"ll get us both killed!"

I stifle the chuckle that tries to escape my throat, but holding it back only makes it come out as a snort. Bryant scowls over at me, absolutely at his wit's end with my bullshit, and my grin grows wider.

"You should really keep your eyes on the road in this weather," I say, lifting an eyebrow.

The redder he turns, the more my dick perks up.

He"s on edge. Being back here is stressing him out more than he cares to admit. Ever since the press conference today, his usual surly demeanor is edged with nerves. Having to shake hands with his old boss without telling him off in front of a room full of reporters seemed to take a lot out of him. And while I"ve gotten used to the snap of cameras and attention whenever I go out in public, he"s been able to escape most of the media"s scrutiny over the past year. Not now though. Today kicked off what I"m sure will be a media frenzy that will likely follow us wherever we go now. Bryant"s phone app for the security cameras around our house is already showing paparazzi and news vans surrounding our property, despite knowing full well we aren"t home.

Speaking of phone apps…

Bryant flinches and growls. "Jack, I swear to fuck I"m gonna?—"

"Gonna what, Coach?" I sass, increasing the intensity of the butt plug a few times before giving him a brief reprieve before he really does run us off the road.

"I knew letting you talk me into this thing was a bad idea," he mutters.

"You fucking like it," I say with a smirk, holding my thumb over the screen. I bite my lip, challenging him with a pointed glare.

"I like it when we"re at home and I can take my frustration out on your ass," he snaps.

"I"m sure Troy will let us use the apartment," I say, ignoring the tightening in my pants at the mere thought of how hard he comes when he"s pounding into me while the butt plug vibrates against his prostate.

"The new manager lives there," he says, sounding dejected. "I hate this." He hisses when I finger the control, rolling the intensity of the vibration up and down, before leaving it on the lowest setting. I know from experience that it"s just enough sensation to make you ache, but not quite enough to send the electric spikes of pleasure that nearly had us in a ditch a few minutes ago.

"I know you don"t love being back here, but it"s just for the night. We"ll be on our flight home tomorrow afternoon, and then we can spend the rest of the night fucking each other senseless in the hot tub."

"Assuming we don"t have photographers climbing the fence."

I shrug. "If they"re stupid enough to work that hard for a shot of me riding your big dick…"

Bryant groans as he pulls into the parking lot. "Will you behave? I need to get this thing to go down before we go inside," he says, gesturing to the appendage in question that"s currently straining against the zipper of his jeans.

My eyes are drawn to his crotch. I lick my lips, pressing my palm against my own erection. I can only imagine how much he"s hurting right now. Hell, it"s starting to hurt me, and I haven"t been sitting on a vibrating prostate massager for nearly half an hour. After the whirlwind of a press conference, we didn't have much time to get ready before we had to leave to make it to Tony"s bar on time. We stripped and showered together, jerking each other until we were both painted in each other"s cum. Wanting to distract Bryant from overthinking everything that happened today, I lubed up one of our favorite toys and sweet-talked him into letting me slip it into his ass, promising to be good for him.

I lied, of course. But damn if the punishment isn"t going to be worth it later when we get back to the hotel.

"Stop looking at it, Ja—Fuuuck." He moans out several expletives as I turn the vibration higher. "Goddamn it, Jack!" he shouts as he turns the engine off. He turns and glares at me, jaw ticking until I turn it off again. "I"m going straight to the bathroom to get this thing out of me," he says, reaching for the handle.

"Aww, come on now. Don"t be mad." Taking off my seatbelt, I lean over the center console, running my nose up the column of his throat before nipping at his earlobe. My hand slides up the inside of his thigh and squeezes his thick cock through the rough denim. "I"ll make it all better," I whisper as I kiss a line down his jaw. Bryant"s chest rumbles with a soft growl. I smirk against the stubble on his neck as I slowly undo the buttons of his jeans. My fingers tease over the large bulge of his boxer briefs, fingering the wet spot where his cock has been weeping, the pre-cum soaked through his underwear.

"Jack…" Bryant says, a warning in his tone that makes my ass clench in the most delicious way.

His fingers thread into my hair, which has grown longer than I normally keep it. The grip of his strong hand makes my scalp prickle with goosebumps. He pulls me farther over the console and takes my mouth in a punishing kiss. His tongue fucks into my mouth as he jostles to reposition us in the too-small rental vehicle. The rain falls harder, the dull roar of the water pelting against the roof competing with the sounds of our moans and heavy breaths.

Bryant pulls my head back, and my eyes cut to his lap, where he"s released himself from the confines of his jeans. The thick vein that runs up the bottom of his shaft, arguably my favorite part of his body, pulses. His thick head is angry and red, glistening with a sheen of pre-cum that continuously drips from the slit. My mouth waters, and I swallow, preparing for what I know will come next.

Pulling me closer to him again, Bryant growls softly against my lips. "You should know better than to play with me, Jack."

"Or what?" I challenge, breathlessly. I feel Bryant"s lips twitch against mine, just before his grip tightens and the world tilts.

My mouth opens wide as my face is forced into Bryant"s lap, his thick cock pushing past my lips and thrusting all the way into the back of my throat. It takes a lot to make me gag these days, as conditioned as I"ve become to taking him, but I cough and choke at the onslaught. I relax into it, letting him use me until the pattern of his breaths changes. My hand surreptitiously inches to where my phone is sitting in the cup holder of the center console. Blindly, I touch the screen, swiping up, hoping that it"ll move the control for the butt plug.

I end up turning it so high, I can feel the intensity of the vibrations through his pelvis. Bryant chokes out a curse and bucks roughly into my mouth, spraying hot cum down my throat with the force of a firehose. I push my hand beneath his tight balls, pressing on the plug until he makes a high-pitched keening sound that nearly has me coming in my pants. I slurp up every drop of his cum, sucking on the head of his cock until he has to throw me off him. He reaches for my phone and shuts the plug off, closing out of the app before leaning back against the headrest to catch his breath.

"Fuck," he says under his breath.

My tongue darts out to lick an errant drop of cum from the corner of my mouth, and I make a show out of savoring the taste of him. Bryant stares at my mouth for a moment before remembering where we are or what we"re supposed to be here for. My phone buzzes in his hand, Luke"s name flashing on the screen. I reach for it, swiping up on the screen to answer it.

"Yeah, yeah, we"re outside. Just waiting for the downpour to slow down. We"ll be right in."

Giving Bryant a knowing look, I lean over and press a short, sweet kiss to his full lips before giving the bottom one a little nip.

"You"re going to get it," he growls.

"Oh, I"m counting on that," I say, gesturing towards the building with a nod. "But for now, I suppose we should go inside. Don"t want to miss the going away party."

I smile at the familiar bar, and wonder how much Troy is going to miss being here every day. He seems genuinely excited to move in with Luke, and Luke is more than thrilled about not having to travel back and forth as much. Charlotte is a bit more progressive than Groveton, that's for sure. And Troy is all in. He's obviously head over heels with Luke, even flying to North Carolina whenever Luke has come up to help us out with Bryant"s agency business.

"I can"t believe we"re really going to be living next to these yahoos."

"Not like they"re going to be next door," I laugh. He'd never admit it out loud, but he loves Troy's rowdy, obnoxious ass, and he's always liked Luke.

Bryant hums. "Close enough," he says, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

We open our doors at the same time, ducking out into the rain that doesn"t show any signs of slowing down. My t-shirt is plastered to my skin by the time we make it through the small parking lot, and I"m regretting not wearing a jacket. I don"t have too much time to overthink it, though, because the moment we open the door, the bar explodes into a loud chorus of, "Surprise!"

"What the?—"

My eyes widen in shock as I look around the bar, full of people that we know and were definitely not expecting to see tonight. This was supposed to be a going away party for Luke and Troy, not a?—

I bark out a laugh when I register what"s happening. Bryant looks at me, unamused confusion furrowing his brow. I point at the large banner hanging over the bar.

It says "Happy Coming Out!" and there are rainbows and footballs all over the room.

It"s a coming out party. For us.

"It looks like a unicorn threw up at a Super Bowl party," Bryant grouses, rolling his eyes as he accepts a handshake from Luke before Troy wraps him in a tight hug. He pats his back, frowning and trying to wipe the body oil off on Troy"s jeans.

"Don"t go getting handsy there, Daddy. I know you"re all out and proud now, but I"m taken." Troy winks at me and Luke, who chuckles and shakes his head at his boyfriend"s antics.

"Is this… glitter?" Bryant looks down at his shirt and hands in appalled disgust. "What the fuck, Troy?"

"What the fuck, indeed! You wiped half of it off. Now you"re gonna have to come to the back with me and grease me up all over again," Troy says, in a mock offended tone, leading Bryant to what used to be his usual table. There"s a gaudy rainbow centerpiece on the table with a sign that says, "Hip Hip Hooray! You"re Really Fucking Gay!"

Bryant gestures to the display as if to ask, "What the fuck is this shit?"

"You like it?" Troy asks with a grin. "Made it myself, just for you."

I chuckle and accept the beer that Luke hands me. "It"s gonna be fun having you both around more often," I tell him, holding the bottle up to clink against his. Luke smiles tightly and raises his drink.

"What"s on your mind, Luke?"

"What? Nothing."

My eyebrow quirks up and I give Luke a serious look. "Dude. You"re tense as fuck. Something"s going on. Spill it."

Luke"s eyes roll to the ceiling before he blows out a breath of air. His shoulders drop a little. "I"m really proud of what you did today. You know that, right?"

"Yeah man, I know. And I also know I should have given you more heads up, but it was all kinda thrown at us and I was thinking on the fly."

"You made the right call. Really. I"m just worried about how it"s going to affect the firm. It"s selfish of me, but?—"

"But you"re moving halfway across the country to work for Bryant full time and you"re worried that all of this bullshit is going to tank the business?"

"Well…Yeah, that pretty much covers it."

I grip his shoulder and pull him closer to my side in a half hug. "It"s gonna be alright, man. One way or another, it"ll all work out. We"ve come this far, and the firm has been really successful, even more so since you started working with him behind the scenes. If anyone can turn this around, it"s Bryant"s new VP of marketing."

"And if I can"t?"

"You can. And you will. You"re the smartest guy I know."

He gives me a thankful smile. "I"m sure it"ll all be fine eventually, but it"s going to take some time for the media frenzy to die out. There's a good chance that all this attention is going to work against us. The NFL isn"t exactly known for being the most open-minded organization. There"s too much testosterone and not enough brains—" Luke pauses and flits his eyes up to mine. "No offense."

"None taken," I say with a laugh.

I know he"s right, and it"s not that I"m not worried, too. Bryant and I haven"t hidden our relationship, but we haven't exactly flaunted it either. Until today, when I came out on national television during an impromptu press conference on the steps of the county courthouse.

We were in town to testify against Aniyah, who is being sued by Groveton College for breach of contract. Predictably, she's been a thorn in our sides for the past year, always trying to get in touch or cause drama somehow. I just want to play football and go home to my man, and the only thing I want to see printed next to my name is how many touchdowns I run into the end-zone.

Instead, we got caught up in the media circus that landed at our front door when she announced to the world that she was pregnant with my baby. It was laughable until it became obvious that the media was taking her side, and I became a target for negative attention. Eventually, her lies got out, seeing as she was never pregnant—and certainly not with my baby. Rather than sinking back into the hell pit she rose out of, Aniyah basked in any attention she could get, good or bad, until the negativity became too much to handle. To try to save face, she ended up violating the NDA she signed with Groveton College and told her version of my relationship with Bryant to the press.

We thought that the media might ignore her claims, considering her other lies had been exposed, and she was clearly digging for whatever attention she could bring herself. But since we"re not hiding that we live together and are seen together in public often, it wasn"t too hard for them to put the pieces together, proving that at least part of Aniyah"s story was truthful. After that, the dean went after her for breach of contract, further cementing that something did happen my last year in school when Bryant was the football coach. Add to that his abrupt departure after the championship game, and all the other little clues were easy to piece together.

I decided, and Bryant agreed, that we should just get ahead of it. Aniyah can"t use our relationship against us, trying to portray it like it"s some sordid case of molestation, if we just tell the truth. We"re two adults in love. We make each other happy, and we don"t bother anyone.

So that"s what I did, only giving Luke about a thirty-second heads' up before I walked down the steps of the courthouse holding Bryant"s hand.

Everything"s happened so fast, we haven"t had time to think too much about the repercussions or pay attention to what the media is saying about us right now. It doesn"t matter. We"re living our truth, and we"re happy. Fuck everyone else.

My phone vibrates in my back pocket, breaking me out of my thoughts before I can start worrying, too. I check the screen to see who"s calling, and swipe to answer.

"Hey Mama," I answer. "Everything alright?"

"Oh, everything"s fine. Just wanted to tell you I saw the news. Not sure if I should congratulate you or not." I hear the tinkle of ice against glass in the background. She still drinks too much, but she keeps busy with her job at the diner and doesn"t make it anyone else"s problem, so I don"t figure it"s my place to say anything. We talk now and then. Usually I"m the one to reach out to her, like I did after getting signed to the NFL, but she"s started calling me more often, usually after she"s seen me on tv or heard someone at the diner boasting about having a famous person from our little backwoods town. She"s proud, I think, even if she doesn"t put it into words. And she never asks for anything. She was actually pissed when I bought her a house, but eventually accepted and moved in. It"s a modest little two-bedroom place in town, close enough to the diner that she can walk to work, and since it"s paid for, she doesn"t have to kill herself to keep the lights on. I don"t think we"ll ever hug and cry into each other"s arms about all the things in our pasts that hurt us. That"s just not who we are as people. But we"re healing and growing day by day, and I think that"s pretty damn awesome.

"Yeah, I"m not really sure either, if I"m being honest. But it"ll be alright."

"Bryant okay with it?"

My lips quirk. Mama seems to like Bryant, for whatever reason. I think his surly nature appeals to her inner grouch.

"We both agreed it was time."

"Well, I hope that little bitch falls face first into some hot tar. Maybe when her outsides are as ugly as her insides, she"ll keep her mouth to herself."

That has me laughing into the phone. If that"s not support, I don"t know what is. "Thanks, Mama."

"Enjoy your party," she says before hanging up.

It takes me a few seconds to catch on to her mentioning the party. I cut my eyes over at Luke and find him watching Troy, who is sitting on the edge of the bar, animatedly telling a story that has everyone around him laughing. Luke is still just as infatuated with him as the night we walked in this very bar, looking for Bryant. That night changed both our lives.

"Did you invite my mother to this mess?"

"Of course I did," he says plainly. "Why wouldn"t I? I invited everyone. Millie is in the middle of exams, otherwise she"d be here. She told me to let you know she"s crashing at your place for a few days during spring break so you two can catch up."

Finally, I look around the room at everyone that"s gathered, and realize he"s right. Practically everyone we know is here. Some of my teammates, my coach, and a few of the Carolina Panthers' staff are here. There are even a handful of my old team members from Groveton, and a very select few staff members that Bryant didn"t hate. A wide grin crosses my face when I see Tuck Sanders walk up and shake Bryant"s hand, and I excuse myself to go join them.

"Coach Sanders, how are you?"

He grabs my hand in a tight shake and thumps me on the shoulder. "Real good, son. Real good. I was just telling Bryant I"ve been following your rookie season, and how impressed I am. You"ve made us all real proud."

Aw, hell. I almost want to blush. "Thanks, Coach."

"I think you can call me Tuck now," he corrects me before looking back at Bryant. "I, uh, actually have a bit of a favor to ask you."

Bryant"s demeanor melts back into his usual serious tone, his brow furrowing. "What"s up, Tuck?"

"Well, I"ve got this player, Michael Ramy?—"

"The kicker?" Bryant asks, because of course he still follows every moment of college football. He knows exactly who Michael Ramy is and what a phenomenal kicker he is. "He"s got the best conversion rate in the NCAA."

"In the last four years, yeah. He"s a damn good player, and a good kid."

"He looking for representation?" I ask, assuming this is where the conversation is headed. I can tell by the way Bryant"s shoulders are set that he"s hoping for that very thing. I grin, watching him light up, and I know he"s already brainstorming how to help Michael get the best placement for the draft. He really loves his job.

"He might be," Tuck says. "He loves football more than life itself, but he"s been apprehensive about whether the NFL is the right place for him. After your press conference today, he"s changed his mind. He wants to go for it."

"What changed his mind?" Bryant asks.

"You did," Tuck answers. "You both did. When you stood up and came out in front of everyone today. Seeing the two of you on the news made him believe he could pursue his dreams without having to hide who he is. So, now the Groveton College Jackals has its first ever openly gay player, hoping to enter the draft next year."

Bryant and I both look at each other, and a tingle of awareness that something big and important is brewing prickles the hairs on the back of my neck.

We didn"t come out because we"re brave or because we want to be made an example of, for good or bad. We just want to be left the hell alone. We did it because we"re tired of the bullshit and knew that if we didn"t get ahead of Aniyah"s stories, it would just keep feeding her drama. It was the strongest move we could make to put her in our past, to turn her negative campaign for attention into something positive that we could both live with. Hopefully, it will blow over so we can go back to living the life we"ve been building together. But now, after hearing Tuck"s words, I"m realizing that we have an opportunity to make a difference.

I make eye contact with Bryant, and see the same realization painted across his astonished expression. It isn"t until my face is aching that I realize how widely I"m smiling.

Luke and Troy join our circle, having overheard part of the conversation. One by one, we each make eye contact and nod at each other.

"We're in," Luke tells Tuck, pulling him to the side to discuss specifics.

"I better go with them, make sure Luke still remembers this is a party," Troy says, patting each of our shoulders before following after his boyfriend.

"Goddamn, you're sexy when you're flustered," I tell Bryan, who is still looking a bit shell-shocked.

"I am not flustered."

"Are too, you don't know what to fucking do with yourself after that. You're an inspiration, Bryant Nicks," I tell him teasingly.

He pulls me roughly against his chest, bending to scrape his teeth along my jaw. "I'm about to inspire you to bend over the nearest flat surface."

"I dare you," I taunt in a low voice, slowly reaching inside my pocket to grip my phone. I'm not sure what buttons I'm hitting, but I know the moment the plug starts up, because Bryant nearly goes limp against me before righting himself. He clears his throat, looming over me menacingly. "Jack," he growls.

"Yes, Coach?"