Our captain raised his eyebrow, clearly not sure whether to be worried. “What is it?”
“Would you like to be in an awesome queer players group chat with us?” Mason asked, waving his hands as he continued his sales pitch. I half listened as I strapped my ankle up and pulled my socks on. My ankle had been fine since I twisted it, but I wasn’t taking any risks. The last thing I wanted was a serious injury that would put me out for months.
I grabbed my phone out of my bag and tapped the screen, half checking the time and half making sure Aiden hadn’t been kidnapped by drag queens.
Aiden
[Link attached] Btw went to see this on my way up. Think I’m going to apply for it
“Did you see this?” I asked, leaning over to show Hunter while Mason and Matty chatted away in front of us.
“No. What is it?”
I tapped the link, a smile instantly bursting onto my face when I realised what it was. “It’s a commercial kitchen share. In North Hykeham. Looks like it might be sharing with another catering business, maybe different hours? I’ll read it later.”
“Seriously? That’s awesome,” Hunter said, lighting up so beautifully all I wanted was to lean over and kiss him. But I was trying to keep things professional. We already had one badly behaved couple in the dressing room. I wasn’t going to add another.
“Yeah. And he could live… Well, that’s what, fifteen minutes from us? Twenty?”
“Exactly! We could see him… I mean, maybe not every day but…”
“Most days.” Hunter’s voice was quiet and there was a hopefulness to it that reflected the emotion building in my chest. “I know he usually gets up at four, and we have training, and he goes to bed early, but maybe. I mean, we can drive to him. Or he can stay over. If he wants a separate bed, he can have my room. I mean I barely use it. I know it’s a bit of a squish for three of us in one bed, especially since I?—”
“Sprawl?”
“I was going to say starfish.”
“Is that any better?”
“It sounds nicer,” Hunter said, poking me in the thigh. “Starfish are cute.”
I smiled and shook my head fondly, locking my phone and putting it back in my bag. “We can talk to him about it later.”
Hunter smirked. “Before or after our other plans?”
“Before. Because we’re not going to have the words to do it afterwards.”
Hunter flushed and the temptation to kiss him again rose up inside me, stronger than ever. Aiden and I had so many plans for him later—whether that was tonight or tomorrow—and I couldn’t wait to watch him fall apart under our touch, on the end of the selection of Aiden’s monster cocks he’d picked out when we visited. I wanted to see Hunter beg and squirm and whine, with tears in his eyes and cum splattered across his skin, gasping as we wrung another orgasm out of him.
“I think you’re going to kill me,” Hunter murmured under his breath.
“No, I love you too much,” I said quietly, watching his blush deepen.
He smiled sweetly, voice low as he spoke, keeping his words just for me. “I love you too.”
My heart soared as I reached for my boots, almost giddy that we could say that to each other now, and those words were fast becoming my favourite thing to say. But as delighted as I was, now wasn’t the time to get lost in my emotions. As I loosened my laces, I let out a slow breath, putting my feelings carefully to one side and focusing on the task in front of me.
We had a rugby match to win.
Aiden was chatting to Ryan and Rory when we found him standing outside under the darkening sky, the cool October breeze rustling his hair. He was wearing wide-legged jeans anda Knights hoodie he’d pinched from me, the sleeves pushed up around his elbows. He looked totally at ease, talking animatedly like he’d known the others for years, the three of them laughing at something he said.
I stood and watched them for a second while I waited for Hunter to finish chatting to Ezra and Danny. Just seeing Aiden again made my heart feel ready to burst, but there was an easy comfortableness to the feeling as well. Almost as if it wasn’t new, but more like coming back to a place I’d known and loved for a long time.
I couldn’t think of the words to explain it. Not properly.
The one thing I did know was Aiden was choosing us, and I didn’t take that lightly. He was even going as far as looking at moving cities to be nearer to us, and considering how close he’d come to running, that was something I’d never imagined. Maybe he wouldn’t have if his kitchen hadn’t been flooded, or maybe it would have just taken months or years instead of weeks. But he was, and I wasn’t going to take it for granted.
Jonny had told us that once Aiden was in, he’d make us the centre of his universe. At the time, I hadn’t been sure I’d believed it, but now I was watching it unfold in real time, our worlds pivoting as we slowly began to orbit each other. Hunter and I had to do the same and make sure we showed Aiden how much we appreciated the incredible gift he’d given us.
