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His thoughts scrambled, and while he was drowning in her potency, Bryce nudged his shoulder and beelined for the exit of the crowded carriage.
Three
Bryce
I
n the space of ten minutes, his day had been turned on its head. But Bryce didn’t care. He was on holidays and about to head up the coast to see his family.
Uni had been good. He’d managed half-decent marks for each of his subjects and had killed it on the field. He loved playing rugby league. Bryce was going to play professionally. There was no doubt in his mind, but he appreciated being forced to have a fallback. He’d chosen property because flipping houses or developing new ones seemed like something Bryce could do no matter where in his football career he was. He hadn’t in his wildest dreams thought it would give him something in common with the beautiful woman walking next to him, though. How good was his luck?
It was even better now that they were getting started on their road trip. Bryce grinned, his cheeks hurting with how wide his smile stretched. He’d have the whole day to get to know both Cole and Ava, if the surly bloke actually decided to speak. It didn’t matter, though. Bryce could admire him while he seethed quietly in the passenger seat.
Thankfully the train ride had been a quick one. Every carriage was full to brimming with people leaving the airport—there was no point sticking around when all flights were cancelled for the morning.
But it was pure torture too. The doors had opened at Central Station and Bryce launched himself out, pushing past people with their luggage until the three of them were standing on the crowded platform. He wasn’t claustrophobic. But he was human. He was also a twenty-one-year-old dude whose dick stood at attention from a light breeze. With Ava pressed to his front, her subtle perfume winding its way into his senses, his brain had short-circuited. His hands had itched to grasp her waist, to see how big they looked on her slim but supple frame. The ghost of her body against his was electrifying.
Then there was Cole pressed to his back, with barely a sliver of space between them. Never mind short-circuiting. His brain had completely melted when Cole had hauled Bryce against him to stop him tripping. The press of his hard-as-nails dick between his arse cheeks had made his own throb, pre-cum leaking into his underwear. His body knew what it wanted, all but throwing out the welcome mats.
A split second into their ride and Bryce had worked out exactly what his ultimate fantasy was—a man behind him and a woman in front of him, connected as deep as they could go.
His balls drew up close to his body as he held onto the memory of being plastered between them only a few minutes earlier. It was sweet torture, and it had taken every ounce of self-control to avoid coming in his shorts like a randy teenager. Then the train started moving and all Bryce could do was hold on, squeeze his eyes closed, and pray to the rugby gods that he didn’t humiliate himself. The rocking of the train was reminiscent of being on a boat, the pull and push of their bodies as the train slowed and sped up with each station, moving them as one.
Bryce inhaled deeply, taking in the stale city air filled with smog and exhaust fumes. It was a sure-fire way to pull him back from the edge. He’d come damn close to the point of no return on the train, and he could still clearly see the outline of his semi against his tight rugby shorts. His pressing issue was still there for everyone to see. Bryce untucked the front of his singlet, covering the unmistakeable bulge at his groin and hoped that no one else noticed.
Ava hadn’t missed it. They came to a stop at the intersection near his apartment building and he watched as she blushed and flicked her gaze away. Ava was focussing on anything but him, but Bryce was patient. He wanted her eyes on him. It wasn’t long before she gave in, letting herself look. She stared at his legs, her stare holding there. His thighs were one of his best assets, thick and powerful after he focussed so much time on building the muscle there. Bryce flexed, his imagination running wild as he pictured Ava’s legs wrapped around him, or Cole’s bracketing his.
“Where to?” Cole snapped, making Ava jerk in surprise. Colour rose in her cheeks, and she fanned her face before pushing her dark sunglasses up her nose. Bryce wanted to hate on the dude, but Cole was right. He just didn’t need to get all shitty. He could definitely lose the haughty tone. He did a great job acting all growly. The perpetual scowl Cole wore was a nice touch too, but Bryce had a feeling that once Cole let go of the prickly attitude he wore like an armour, he’d be a different man. Bryce would love to see the tiger purr.
He’d be first in line to put his hand up to try to make it happen. Not that he really knew anything about looking after a bloke. While he wasn’t a stranger to being attracted to men, he hadn’t had much experience. Any if he was honest. Uni was supposed to be the place where people could finally try out new things, experiment to find themselves. But Bryce’s experience was a little different. He had to stay quiet. He couldn’t risk his secret becoming common knowledge.
His parents and brothers wanted him to be himself, but he couldn’t risk it. Bryce wasn’t stupid—his chances of getting signed to a professional team were better if he was thought of as straight. So he’d done what he had to do, and he’d keep doing it until his professional career was over. And all he had to do was ignore the pull he experienced around anyone but women. They were safe. No whispered rumours would accidentally get leaked to the media about a footballer being with a woman. No one would give him a second glance with a woman on his arm.
He felt like a fraud forcing himself to concentrate on only one of the genders he was attracted to, but it was the price he had to pay. He had ten, maybe fifteen years of professional football in him if he could make the cut. He just had to wait to experience what it was like until after he finished playing professionally.
Simple.
So far it had been… okay. Beauty was easy to find. It came in so many different forms. Strength, no matter what that looked like, was such a turn on and he thrived on finding the element of uniqueness in people. For him, attraction was all about the click. The moment where he felt the pull.
Funny that he’d experienced it within moments of meeting both Ava and Cole.
Bryce bounced on the balls of his feet and smiled his happy-go-lucky, eye-crinkling smile, his belly flip-flopping at the possibility of getting to spend more time with them. It had absolutely nothing to do with those perfect bowtie lips or her generous boobs he wanted to bury his face into. Or even her long legs he desperately wanted hooked over his shoulders. Or maybe Cole’s shoulders while Bryce licked his way down the other man’s body. Absolutely nothing at all.
Bryce bit his tongue, trying to rein in his wayward thoughts. This wasn’t the time to be breaking promises to himself. Zero controversy. No hook-ups coming out of the woodwork. He wanted to be one of those dream rookies that teams fought over, not the one constantly looking over his shoulder.
Cole raised his eyebrow at Bryce’s silence and his smile turned embarrassed. Bryce pointed the way across the road to the corner apartment. It was literally a stone’s throw from the train station, but it was nothing to write home about. The six-storey red brick building was built in the 1970s and had seen better days. Its two tiny bedrooms meant that he could share the astronomical rent with a flatmate, and the fact that it didn’t smell and was close enough to everything made the expense worth it. Every cent he got from playing in the reserves went to rent, and his parents transferred an allowance to him to cover the balance and live on.
He’d wanted to get a job and pay his own way, but his mum had refused. She was his biggest cheerleader, convinced he’d turn pro. He loved her for it too. Leaving his old teammates and everything he knew back on the Coast had been hard; without them, loneliness had hit Bryce like a sucker punch to the gut. But meeting new people was his jam, and after a not-so-subtle reminder from his mum that he was being a stick-in-the-mud, he’d woken up and gotten on with it.
“We can get to the car park from the lift,” Bryce explained when they reached the building. He took them downstairs and unlocked his truck. It was as old as him, the colour a faded red between the patches of bog where he’d cut out the rust, but the CD player still worked, and the bench seat was comfortable. Shelby was reliable too, the old girl never missing a beat in the entire time his dad and older brothers had driven it.
Cole’s poker face was once again fixed in place but his flinch when Bryce dropped the tailgate with a loud squeak was enough. Bryce couldn’t help his laughter, a carefree chuckle breaking loose at the other man’s reaction. Would he get in the car? Or would he walk away? Bryce shifted his weight from side to side, waiting on tenterhooks for Cole’s verdict.
The frown that had only momentarily left Cole’s face didn’t budge as he looked between them. Bryce could tell Cole was analyzing him as much has his truck. He was probably trying to figure out whether Bryce had this much energy all the time. He knew he was a lot to take, but the fact that Cole hadn’t walked away yet made Bryce even happier. Until he did, they were in with an even chance he’d say yes.
If toning down his enthusiasm would help their case, Bryce was all for it. He pressed his fingertips to his thumbs in succession, using the techniques he’d been taught as an overactive kid to focus his energy. Bryce held his breath too.
Would Cole take the leap?
