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My blanket cocoon didn’t erase my mistakes, and I fell asleep replaying my kiss with Kingston over and over again in my head.
Chapter 9
I prayed that I would wake up with the worst hangover known to mankind. I wanted a brain-bursting, vomiting-inducing pounding in my head that would knock out a fully grown elephant. Because then I could say that I was drunk off my ass last night. I had no such luck. There wasn’t so much as a twinge of pain behind my eyes. Turns out I wasn’t a drunken idiot, I was just a regular idiot. Fuck.
I groaned and rolled around in bed for a minute, wallowing, before I forced myself up and into the shower. Once dressed in one of my game-day pantsuits and rocking some confidence-boosting heels, I packed in five seconds, grabbed my luggage, and left for what was sure to be an awkward day.
I strode to Mason’s room to retrieve him, and we quickly headed out, suitcases rollingbehind us.
“So, how was your date with Drew?” I asked him when we were in the elevator. This damn elevator! I stayed to the left as we descended, away from the spot on the wall I had been pressed against the night before and the memory of soft lips and hard hands that it brought. My fingers twitched as if they could still feel Kingston’s rough stubble underneath them. I needed to get out of here. Thankfully, the team was leaving straight from the arena to the airport after the game, so we weren’t coming back tothe hotel.
“It wasn’t a date,” Mason protested, but his smile gavehim away.
Despite my internal turmoil, I bumped him with my hip. At least one of our love lives wasn’t a completedisaster.
But any joy I felt for my best friend and brother was immediately crushed by overwhelming anxiety as we stepped off the elevator. I instinctively grabbed onto Mason’s arm and squeezed. As subtly as I could, I looked around the busy lobby to see if Kingston was there. He wasn’t, but I didn’t relax as Mason and I headed toward the bus that was going to take us to the arena. It was only a matter of time before I raninto him.
“What’s up, Riles?” Mason asked.
“Nothing. What’s up with you? Tell me everything about your not-date. Well, not everything. I don’t need to hear about my brother having phone sex.”
“There was no phone sex,” Mason whisper-shouted into my ear as we passed a group of businessmen. I chuckled under my breath. “Especially not with my roommate sleeping five feet from me,” he continued. “We just talked.”
“About?”I hedged.
Mason shrugged. “I don’t know. Everything? About the game. About life. About his work. He’s reconnecting with a lot of his old classmates.” He paused, and I looked up at him. He was chewing on his lip. He met my eyes for a second then looked forward, something weird swirling in his eyes. “He’s thinking about moving back toNew York.”
My mouth dropped open, and I wanted to question him, but we had reached the bus.
Drew hadn’t mentioned anything about relocating. Hell, it had only been a few years since he moved to Los Angeles. With a few strings pulled through connections he had made at NYU, he got a job at one of the most prestigious finance companies on the west coast. Last we spoke about his work, he seemed to be enjoying the company and was climbing the corporate ladder fast. I could only think of a couple reasons why he would want to move back to New York, the main one being the man next to me.
Mason and I threw our suitcases into the bus storage area then boarded and took our seats in the middle of the bus. Mason, as usual, took the window seat, and I quickly searched the bus. Kingston hadn’t boarded yet.
Careful of the ears around us, I ducked my head as close to Mason as could with being on top of him. “When did he start thinking about this?”
Mason shrugged and curled into his coat, burying his fists into the pockets. As out of the blue as this news was, I would have thought Mason would be over the moon. He had been in love with Drew forever. I didn’t understand why he wasn’t bouncing offthe walls.
“Excuse me, Warren.”
Ethan Jones’ voice whipped my head up. Jones was working his big body through the aisle. I squeezed my legs farther into my row to let him pass, then found myself looking up into the narrowed eyes of SebastianKingston.
Kingston’s eye twitched as he looked suspiciously between me and Mason, still cuddled together. His thoughts were clear on his face, and I almost flinched back in disgust.
Oh, God no. Ughh.I was quick to silently shake my head at Kingston, hoping my near-vomit expression conveyed to him just hownottogether Mason and I were.
Thankfully, Kingston seemed to get the message. His face smoothed out, and he moved past us, not sayinganything.
“I’m not sure about this, Riles.” Mason’s whisper brought me back to our conversation.
“About what, Mase?”
His lips were pursed as he glared at his lap. The man that was practically busting with love a day ago was the very antithesis of happiness now.
He sighed and finally looked up. His usually soft, blue eyes were terrified. “About everything. We haven’t even gone on a date yet, but Drew’s ready to move back across the country.” Suddenly, Mason peeked his head over our seats and checked up and down the bus as the last of the players boarded. Then he ducked back down and lowered his voice until it was nearly inaudible. “You know what he told me last night? He told me he’s been in love with me for years. Years!” he hissed incredulously. “Did you know that, Riles?”
I hesitated for a minute then nodded. Mason reared back, a look of betrayal coming over his face. I grabbed his arm desperately. “I’m sorry, Mase,” I whispered. “He told me not to tell you about his feelings years ago. Just like you told me not to tell him. But I don’t see what the problem is. Now you both know, so shouldn’t yoube happy?”
Mason’s mouth dropped open. “Happy? I’m scared as fuck. It’s one thing to have feelings, but love doesn’t mean a relationship is going to work out. Honestly, I kind of want him to stay in California. At least that way, with all the long distance, we could see what this thing is instead of jumping into the deep end with no backup plan. This is just moving quickly. It’s going to fuck up our family if it ends badly.”
