We needed a subject change.
“But yeah, that’s been my bye week. Tell me about your trip.”
That did it. Liam’s eyes lit up, and he started talking about the island paradise where he and Jonesy had spent bye week. The food arrived as they told me all about the food they’d eaten, the beaches, the villa they stayed in, and everything they’d done. It sounded like the best bye week ever, and I was happy for them.
Happy and jealous.
When we returned to practice the next day, it was like nothing had changed.
Rowan and I didn’t exchange any secret smiles or stolen touches at practice. We didn’t ride to and from practice together anymore either, not now that he had a car. If it weren’t for thefact that we still spent time together in our condos, I might have thought I’d imagined the entire bye week happening. Even as it was, we were both too tired after practices and preparing for the upcoming Louisville Lions game to do more than exchange the occasional lazy blowjob before we retreated to our own apartments.
We hadn’t shared a bed since bye week ended, and I missed him.
I knew I’d miss him more when we were in Louisville. We weren’t Liam and Jonesy, and people might give us funny looks if we were caught going into one another’s hotel room the night before the game. Besides, I knew that Rowan had his pregame rituals, and they were sacred to him. I didn’t want to be the person to throw him off his game.
So, of course, the universe decided to be extra cruel. There was an adjoining door in my room, and Rowan was on the other side. It took every ounce of my limited self-control not to knock on that door after I ordered room service for dinner. It took every ounce of willpower I possessed not to text him and invite him over when I saw that one of the movies available on the television was a movie he’d mentioned loving when he was a child.
I didn’t break until I saw how big the hotel room showers were. The normal hotels we stayed in had fairly standard showers, but this hotel? The showers were glass monstrosities with double waterfall heads. I snapped a picture of the shower and sent it to Rowan in a text.
Milo:Is your shower this big?
I didn’t expect to get an answer, but one came minutes later. It was a picture of a normal hotel shower.
Rowan:No.
Rowan:That’s not really your shower.
Milo:Yeah it is.
Rowan:Prove it.
Rowan:Take a picture in the shower.
I thought about it. It would be easy to take a picture of me in the shower. I could send him something teasing and sexy. Or I could do one better.
Screw superstition.
Milo:Come see for yourself. I’ll let you in.
Less than a minute later, Rowan knocked on the adjoining door. I opened it and led him to the bathroom where I proved that not only was my shower that big, but the water pressure was great. We jacked each other off under the spray of the water, and I felt a strange sense of pride when he left my room an hour later smelling of my apple body wash.
“Stay.” My voice still sounded wrecked from the way Rowan had me crying out in pleasure fifteen minutes before. We’d gone straight back to my condo after we got back to Tucson.
We’d won our game against Louisville, but we’d had to delay any private celebrations we might have wanted to have in our hotel room. Liam and Jonesy dragged me to some restaurant downtown, and by the time I got back to the hotel, I was too tired to do anything other than collapse into my bed alone. We hadn’t sat together on the plane back to Arizona. He’d chosen to sit with some other defensive players, and I bounced around between groups like I always did, always finding my way back to Liam and Jonesy.
Just like with practice the week before, nothing had changed since we started to hook up.
Except for the way he lingered at my door instead of walking on to his.
Except for the way I grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss.
Except for the way he pushed me the rest of the way into my apartment and pinned me to a wall.
Except for the way we spent hours taking each other apart and recovering in one another’s arms just to do it all over again.
Except for the way that I didn’t want him to leave now, even though I knew I had nothing left in me.
I wasn’t ready to say good night.
