Chapter 27

27

Joey

The day after the heroes party was rough for almost everyone. Honestly, I was surprised to see Riggs outside of his room, but he made it to practice. Maybe there’s hope for him, after all.

Since we’re almost to our last two games of the season, we’re all exhausted. Everyone but Preston anyway. He did nothing but yell at everyone today and I’m so tired of hearing his mouth. If it wasn’t for Nick, I would probably be ready to beat him with my hockey stick.

The locker room is chaotic as always as we get changed. While we’re exhausted from the season, we’re excited for the game tomorrow too.

“Hey!” Brendon yells. “I’m bi or whatever. I like holes and poles. Anyone got a problem with that?”

Everyone stops talking and turns to look at him and Paul who’s standing next to him, a little wide-eyed.

From the back of the room, Riggs yells, “Are we supposed to be surprised?”

Everyone laughs, me included. Riggs has a point. Brendon flirts with everyone. Even Jeremy and Preston, which is a death sentence if you ask me.

Paul says something to Brendon and backhands his stomach before getting changed. Conversations continue and once I’m clean, I hustle back to my room to wait for Nick and look for a hoodie. Now I’m cold and we need to go get dinner. I don’t know what we’re doing exactly since we don’t have labels, but knowing I’m going to see him makes me stupid happy.

A knock on my door has me smiling like an idiot.

“Come in,” I holler since I know it’s Nick.

The cocky man strides in and leans against the door, watching me pull a hoodie on.

When I walk up to him, he doesn’t straighten up, so I press myself against him. His dick thickens against my thigh and I bite his lip.

“You’re a horndog.”

“You’re the one rubbing your cock against me. What do you expect?” He grabs my ass and thrusts against me.

I nip his lip again before sucking on it then finally kissing him. Nick groans low in his throat. That sound does tingly things to me. It’s hot as fuck knowing I made him make that sound.

“Iwanttotellpeopleaboutyou.” I rush the words but Nick smiles at me.

“I mean, I am pretty awesome. I can see why.” He kisses the tip of my nose. “You should just rip the Band-Aid off. Get it over with so you can stop stressing over it.”

He’s probably right. Just drop it in passing, don’t make a big deal out of it. Like, half the team is dating each other, so really, what’s one more player who isn’t straight?

“And if anyone is a dick, punch them.” Nick shrugs.

I grab his hand and lead him to dinner. The entire way, I hold his hand. It’s terrifying but amazing. I find myself relaxing after a few minutes when nothing happens. Did I really think something was going to? Not really but fear is rarely rational.

Nick and I sit at a table in the dining hall with Willis. Everyone is tense with finals next week but spring interterm is coming up and I’m hoping Nick is still planning to stay for it.

“You going home for break, Willis?” Nick asks, shoving a dinner roll in his mouth.

“Nah, I’m staying. You?”

“Same.”

Paul and Brendon sit at our table. Brendon is digging through a grocery bag, shoving snacks into his mouth despite having a tray of food.

“You guys going to be ready for finals?” I ask the group, and everyone groans.

“Shhh, we don’t use those types of words.” Brendon throws a cherry tomato at me.

“What words?” Nick smirks.

“Finals, tests, midterms, lima beans, burpees, Brussels sprouts, surprise anal.” Brendon ticks them off on his fingers.

Paul chokes on his water and ends up having a coughing fit. Nick and Willis laugh while I shake my head at him. Brendon is a strange dude but it’s never boring with him around.

“The fuck, dude? What kind of list is that?” Paul wheezes.

“It’s the naughty word list,” he says, rolling his eyes.

“I swear, your brain is a weird place sometimes.” Paul shakes his head.

I smirk and flick my gaze to Nick who is watching me back. Damn it. My foot starts bouncing. I want to blurt out that Nick and I are a thing or whatever, but I don’t want it to be a big deal. It’s driving me nuts.

“Surprise anal is never a good time,” Nick agrees, shoving a fry in his mouth. “But I like Brussels sprouts and burpees.”

“Excuse me?” Brendon sputters. “You can’t sit with us if you like burpees. I can almost excuse the Brussels sprouts, but not burpees. Get out.” He points away from the table, and Nick laughs but stands up.

No, no, no, don’t leave yet.

“That’s fine, I was done anyway. Gotta go study.” Nick says study but I’m pretty sure he means jack off. I force myself not to watch him leave but his hand appears on my throat and before I can think, his lips are on mine.

Oh fuck.

Well. That was one way to get it over with.

Someone shouts, “I fucking knew it!” and I can feel my face heat, all the way down my neck.

I duck my head for a second, waiting for the ribbing to start, and Nick kisses the top of my head before walking away. Bastard.

“Dude, this team has more than its fair share of queers.” Brendon shoves another bite into his mouth. “We should start a queer league in the off-season.”

“Do you have to be queer to join, or can we just be supportive?” Willis asks.

“I guess that would depend on how many people sign up.” Brendon shrugs.

“If you need players, I’m in,” Jeremy adds as he sits down next to his boyfriend. “And Preston will play too.”

Preston sighs. “Good, you’ll keep in shape during off-season.”

Paul rolls his eyes and sighs.

“Paul, make notes. You’re going to have to organize this.” I point at him. Brendon is a cool dude but he’s got the memory of a sieve.

“I will help if he asks for it, but he can do it himself if he wants to.” Paul is clearly unhappy with me. I really didn’t mean any offense.

Brendon smiles and hides his face from the table, almost like he’s embarrassed.

I raise my hands, palms up, and dip my head. “I’m sorry, you’re right.”

The conversation flows again as we finish eating, then clean up. I have to go kick Nick’s ass.