AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nah,” a voice came from behind Alex. “That’s just the crazy passed down from his dad.”
“Like he’d touch something as common as beer.” Alex laughed, making space for Marco to join their group. “Marco, this is Lee and Jeff, which you probably know. Lee, Lewis—this is Marco, Jeff’s baby brother.”
“Oh, screw you, Alex,” Marco said with a light jab of his elbow to Alex’s side. “I’m a year younger than you. There is nothing ‘baby’ about me.”
“Once a baby, always a baby.”
“Stop quoting my brother.”
“So tell me, are you old enough now to need a shave?” Alex asked with faux interest. “Or are your cheeks just naturally smooth like that?”
“Mycheeks, huh,” Marco said with a wink. “Well, wouldn’t you like to know?”
It was testimony to how well Jeff had trained Alex’s immunity to this sort of innuendo because Alex didn’t even pause. “Show me yours and I’ll show you mine.”
“Not in public, baby,” Marco tutted, and Alex was about to respond when he caught Lee looking at him with a strange weight to his regard—not amused like Lewis but something else, something Alex couldn’t place. He met Lee’s eyes with demonstrative ease, ignoring the vague twist of apprehension in his gut.
Lee lowered his gaze, and Alex felt cold all of a sudden. It was nothing. Probably.
Since the moment for a smart retort had come and gone, Alex settled for a chuckle and changed the topic to Marco’s plans for hiking around Spain with some friends over the coming week. Lewis drifted off at some point while Lee hung around, seeming genuinely interested in the multi-day route Marco had picked that partially intersected with a well-known pilgrimage trail.
Jeff wandered over soon after, quieter now than he’d been on the bus, manic energy faded to a happy glow. He slung one arm around Marco’s shoulders and the other around Alex’s, muttering about how it was a great night when he had two of his favourite people right by his side. Jeff limited declarations of affection to when he was either drunk or bone-deep tired, so Alex nudged their feet together and made cooing noises at him until Jeff batted at Alex’s face and called him an insufferable prat.
“But you love me anyway,” Alex stated, and Jeff frowned.
“Nah, you’re my charity case.”
“Mean,” Alex told him, but they were both grinning, the day’s win still shimmering in the air. Tired, yes, but happy.
“Top of the fucking group,” Jeff said apropos of nothing, and Alex hugged first him and then Marco, and then Lee too because it would have been odd to leave him out. One of Lee’s arms curved around the small of Alex’s back, cheeks pressed together for a second before they separated, something hot and heavy slithering up Alex’s spine that he ignored.
He’d already hugged Lee twice today, after Lee’s goals. This third time was no different.
Not long after that, Jeff and Marco trundled off to the room they shared, and then it was just Alex and Lee. Side by side, they gazed at the dwindling party for a minute, most of their teammates already gone to spend time with their loved ones. The sea provided a steady rhythm to the comfortable silence, no stars visible in the overcast sky, and Alex finished off his beer before he cut Lee a glance. “Guess we should call it a night too, huh?”
“Yeah.”
Neither of them moved.
“It’ll be strange to have a room to myself for tonight.” Alex tagged a chuckle onto the end of the statement. “Like, it’ll be weirdly quiet, especially after this, and winning the match earlier.”
“You calling me noisy?” Lee asked with a hint of humour shining through his voice, and Alex could have taken the easy way out, made a joke about snoring or sleepwalking, and gone off to the room where he’d ditched his bag earlier in the day.
“You’re not,” he said instead. “But there’s just something about having someone else there, you know? Some kind of resonance instead of empty air. I’m starting to see the appeal of white noise machines.”
Lee turned his head to give Alex a slow look, the night robbing his eyes of all colour. “Is this your roundabout way of asking whether we can share like usual?” He didn’t sound opposed to the idea, more curious, even a tinge intrigued.
The question pulled Alex up short because yeah, he kind of was asking, wasn’t he? He sure didn’t need someone to hold his hand so he could fall asleep, but he’d grown kind of used to having Lee settle down next to him.
“I mean … well.” Alex met Lee’s eyes and lifted one shoulder. “You probably like the quiet, I guess?”
Silence reigned for the gap between one wave and the next. “There’s only one bed,” Lee said then.
“Right, yeah.” Alex nodded and looked away. “Of course, never mind.”
Another beat of silence.
Lee cleared his throat. “It’s huge, though. I don’t mind if you don’t.”
