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Disappointment hit like a flood, extinguishing the fireworks, and Eli took his hand back. “Right. Sure.” Of course, Nolan hadn’t meant it. What was Eli thinking? Nolan probably thought he was a child. Maybe even thought of him as a little brother.

Fuck, he hoped not. Besides, he could’ve sworn there’d been interest in his gaze in the storage room. And the way he’d held Eli’s hand so gently . . .

So, okay. Maybe Nolan really did need to work.

But he could do that sitting next to Eli.

Ugh. Whatever. He didn’t have it in him to psychoanalyze Nolan this early in the morning. If Nolan didn’t want to sit with him, fine. “See you when we land then.”

“Wait, Eli⁠—”

“Eli, my man.” Deeley swung an arm around Eli’s shoulders and led him away. “I hope you brought your game face because I brought—” He held up a deck of Five Crowns, possibly the most boring card game in existence.

In his peripheral, Eli noted Nolan heading for the plane. “Sorry,” Eli said. “I have class readings to do.”

Class reading. A nap. Sometimes, they were more or less the same thing.

Deeley groaned. “Again?”

“No, it’s fascinating,” Eli said as Sandbaker joined them. “This week’s reading is about the role gender plays in sports and⁠—”

“Yeah, yeah.” Deeley waved a hand. “I don’t care. What was happening over here?” More waving, this time at the spot where Eli had been speaking with Nolan. “Looked like you wanted to be anywhere else.”

Yeah, because he was embarrassed that he’d thought Nolan wanted to sit with⁠—

Wait. Had Deeley interrupted on purpose? Like the friend who called while their bestie was on a date to give them a fake emergency if they needed an out?

That was sweet.

Intrusive, but sweet.

“He was just checking on my hand,” Eli said. “We were on the phone when I tripped. He heard it when it happened.”

Sandbaker crunched on a kettle chip—yes, at seven in the morning. “You were on the phone with the coach’s son?”

“Why do you say that like it’s taboo? We’re friends. We’ve known each other for years.”

Of course, there was a decade where they hadn’t seen each other, but who cared about that?

“Yeah,” Deeley said. “You’ve mentioned that before.”

He and Sandbaker stared at him as though waiting for Eli to say more.

“Sooooo,” Eli eventually said. “How do you tell a boy you like him?”

Deeley’s gaze strayed to the plane, where Nolan had disappeared a moment ago. “That boy?”

“Not necessarily that boy.” Eli tried to evade. “Just a boy.”

“Have you tried propositioning him?” Sandbaker asked.

“What? No. I said I want to tell him I like him, not that I want to do him. You know what? Never mind. I’ll ask Zanetti.”

Once he was on the plane, he bypassed the pre-packaged breakfast buffet the team’s chef had prepared for them and found Zanetti in his usual seat. He sat in an aisle seat about halfway back, dipping a spoon into a bowl of oatmeal with berries and nuts. Eli hopped over him and plonked into the window seat.

“Jesus, Eli,” Zanetti grumbled. “Warn a guy.”

“Sorry, but I need your advice.”