Page 96 of The Forever Vault

“My sister liked you too.”

“Your sister liked me coming out of the shower.”

“You guys coming to watch the women’s qualifications with us?” Luke changed the subject.

“Oh, of course,” Colton answered. “Gotta show ‘em all we’re united. One team, one dream.”

“That’s right,” Ty said. “By showing up to watch the women together, it sends a message.”

“That we’re fans of women’s gymnastics?” Zeph asked, a little too playfully.

“Are they going to boo us?” Ezra was fidgeting.

“They’re not going to boo us.” I offered him a reassuring shoulder squeeze.

We were outside the arena, waiting on Miles.

“So, do y’all think Miles has a secret boyfriend, or is it just me?” Colton asked.

“Nah, he was all over me at dinner.” Zeph practically preened.

I didn’t want to feed into the gossip, but I agreed with Colton. As someone who had hid a relationship from his teammates, it was fairly obvious. Miles was seeing somebody.

Through gritted teeth, Colton said, “No teammates, darlin’, remember?”

“Oh, put your dick away, babe. We only flirtin’.”

“I think you were the one flirtin’,” Luke said. “Miles just likes football.”

“Amen, Luke.” Colton gave Zeph’s massive bicep a little slap. “You behave when he gets here.”

We didn’t have to wait much longer. Miles ran up to us, sex hair and all. He looked like he had been utterly used, but he gave us all a big smile.

“Hey, guys. Sorry if you’ve been waiting long.”

Colton practically leapt onto Zeph to cover his mouth, and kept him from saying something to embarrass Miles.

I could see at least two hickeys on Miles’ neck, and no one needed to point that out to him right now. I’d find time later to make sure he got some concealer for the competition tomorrow. Under the bright lights of the arena and with the zoom capabilities of the cameras nowadays, the bruises would likely go viral.

“Let’s head in, gentlemen,” Ty said, leading the way.

Luke grabbed my hand and we brought up the rear of the group. I could tell Miles knew the hickeys were there. His hands kept touching them, absentmindedly, and then as if they were on fire, he’d drop his hand away and try to keep them occupied with something else.

When no one said anything to him, I spoke up. “We weren’t waiting too long.”

“Oh good, we, I mean, I, yeah, I lost track of time.”

“Last minute training?” Zeph teased.

“Ju-just took a nap. Forgot to set an alarm.”

Thankfully, Zeph let that slide. Likely because Colton was flicking his nipple or pinching his butt as a distraction.

We were, in fact, not booed, but welcomed by many fans. It took us so long to get to our seats that we missed the first event, not that I needed to pay much attention to the women. Despite the lack of Olympic experience on the team, the other countries didn’t have a chance at overtaking them. They would definitely finish the qualifying round in first place.

I took advantage of our seating arrangement to chat up Orion, to see how he was coping with Austin’s situation.

After I was met with a heavy sigh, I quickly apologized. “If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to. I’m sorry I said anything.”