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He and Luke made eye contact. “We’ll talk more tomorrow, but I doubt I’ll change my mind.”
“Sure.” Tom shrugged in a way that said it was more important than he tried to pass off. “See you guys.”
Coury waved lazily. “Liam’s waiting,” he said to Luke.
Luke packed quickly, doing a bad job of hiding a smirk.
Shaking his head, Coury slung his bag over his shoulder. “Go ahead. Call me dick whipped.”
“Nope.” Luke hooked the straps of his carrier and nodded toward Liam. “I know how it feels when your guy watches. I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks. It is nice.”
Liam clanked down the aluminum steps and waited for them. He smiled and kept his gaze on Coury. “Hey. You looked good.”
“I looked good or my throwing looked good?”
Liam rolled his eyes. “Considering I wouldn’t know good pitching from bad, my comment referred to you. And your ass in those pants.”
“La la la. Not listening.” Luke covered his ears.
“Really?” Coury gave him the stink eye. “You and Nico can be all Hallmark Christmas movie twenty-four seven when I’m there, but a hot guy can’t comment on my butt?”
Luke turned to Liam. “I think he snuck in he thinks you’re hot.”
“He’s good like that.” Liam leaned in for a quick kiss.
Laughing, Luke started walking.
Coury grabbed Liam’s hand. It had been weird the first time, but the guys had seen Luke and Nico kiss enough that it passed quickly.
“Can you believe Tom?” Luke asked.
Coury almost stopped walking. Luke’s attempt to move the conversation along had landed on a terrible topic.
“It happens.”
“He’s a bit dense. He forgets he can talk to his dad, but we can’t.” Luke shrugged. “I told him Nico and I have plans to move to Philly. I don’t need an agent.”
Liam’s hand twitched and Coury refused to look over. Luke should have known not to talk about agents in front of Liam.
“Did he ask you?” Liam’s voice was tight.
At the edge of his peripheral vision, Luke dipped his head.
“Yeah.”
Coury took a moment to consider his response.
“I told him my dad is handling finding an agent. If it looks like I have a shot, I promised to send Dad Tom’s father’s info.”
“That was a good way to handle it.” Luke kept his eyes on the ground.
“If I get there.” Coury bumped shoulders with Luke. “We’re going back to Liam’s. His grandfather promised to watch me pitch and give me his opinion.”
“Do you need me to catch?”
Coury shook his head. “Liam’s going to catch for me.”
“Because I’m trying to commit suicide and I wanted to make it a spectacular show.”
“I told you, I won’t hit you.” He pulled Liam closer and looked at Luke. “I promised Liam we’d go out to eat somewhere nicer than the Hoagie Shop before we study. Got any good ideas?”
Luke perked up. “Nico made me promise not to ever answer that question without his help. Let me call him.”
Coury finally dared a look at Liam. Deep in thought, Liam didn’t notice for a few seconds. When he did, he forced himself to smile.
“Nico,” Luke waved them over. “Liam and Coury need a good place to eat tonight.”
* * *
Liam
“Didn’t you throw enough during practice?” Liam asked. Trying to catch for Coury was a bad idea. At least they were in Pop’s backyard where no one could see them.
“This is nothing,” Coury said. The ball hit Liam in the glove, but he didn’t catch it. “Pop’s just checking my form.”
Liam glared at his grandfather. He could have said no when Coury asked. Better still, he could have offered to catch instead of suggesting Liam do it. He picked up the ball and cringed at how badly he threw it back. It might have been better to toss it underhand or roll it on the ground.
Coury wound up and the ball came at Liam faster than before. He ducked and the ball hit the back of the house.
“You break my grandson and you’re going to have to work for more than a summer.” Pop’s half growl didn’t hide his amusement.
“I promise not to hurt him. That would put a crimp in our plans.”
Liam walked back to get the ball from the empty flower bed. Good thing the bulbs hadn’t started to grow. Pop wouldn’t think it so funny if they broke his daffodils.
“In that case, Liam, you need to try to catch the ball. If you duck, you’re more likely to get hurt.”
“Funny guy.” He did a better job throwing it back this time. “I suck at catching when it’s just tossing it back and forth. Coury’s pitches come at me like they’re fired from a cannon or something.”
Pop laughed. “These are warm-ups. Wait until he really throws hard.”
Coury shook his head. “I promised I wouldn’t do that.” He motioned for Liam to squat. “I’ll throw just fast enough that I can maintain the right form.”
