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“Do you think they got that when they came out to their friends and family?” Tyler asked, leaning close to my ear.
I shook my head. If my family was anything to go by, I doubted it. “I think they’re doing it for all of us.” Beers were spread around the basement and Gray was in charge of music. A few other guys joined us downstairs and Sawyer invited Noah to the party. What was a little slip of our guard in one moment became the biggest party this house had seen in years.
I enjoyed it as much as any of them even if my heart trembled every time I remembered that we were out as a couple now. I could hardly make sense of what attracted me so much to Tyler after all the years of not even considering that as a possibility, yet I gave up thinking about it. If all of them cared so little about the details, why should I? It was confusing, messy, and weird, but it felt so much better than all the years of chasing something that only existed in my head. And that ideal I had built up in my mind was nothing compared to what I felt when I kissed Tyler. Especially when I kissed him in front of all our friends.
FOURTEEN
Tyler
“All packed?” I asked.
Sebastian shrugged. “Not much there to bring.”
I glanced from my duffel to his. He was right. It was the dreaded week-long trip home. We would be back in no time. I only had to keep telling myself that. We would be back before we knew it.
I tossed my duffel by the sofa facing the wall-mounted TV, then lay down with my hands tucked under my head. The move dragged my T-shirt up my abs a little and Sebastian looked at it shamelessly. “Nobody’s ever turned me on as often as you,” he said in a sexy, low tone. I loved his deep voice. It felt incredible when he moaned against my lips or, even better, around my dick. In all this time, I had only gotten hotter for him.
Sebastian crossed the room in three big paces and crashed on top of me, making me yelp with surprise and momentary fear. It was always scary having a guy of his size crash onto my torso. But as he landed, we pressed together like two halves of one being, blending, melting into one another.
The noose of melancholy had been tightening around our necks almost invisibly. It wasn’t until this moment, when I looked into his big, brown eyes, that I realized I was even feeling it. It itched where it touched me. Like it would help me sever it, I wrapped my arms tightly around Sebastian and held him on top of myself.
I knew Sebastian was looking forward to seeing Eryn, and I also knew he wasn’t looking forward to seeing his brothers. As to spending time with his parents, I had no clue what he felt. I was pretty sure Sebastian didn’t know either. But they were the root of my worries. Their increasing concern with our team and the relationship gossip that reached their ears meant I wasn’t eager to see either of them. And by that logic, I wouldn’t see much of my boyfriend, either.
But he would be there. He would hear their nonsense. He would have to keep quiet and put up with it.
I felt like such a traitor, plotting to leave him hanging in that pit of judgment and sneering. But if I had to sit with his father and listen to the eternal damnation that awaited my teammates, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from exploding and telling everyone that I, too, had booked a ticket on hell express.
Sebastian pressed his lips against mine and I managed to forget about the gloomy cloud that hovered above my head. The anticipation of the trip, however short it would be, subsided its pattering and drumming against my heart.
I loved what we were building together. Every game we played and every kiss we shared and every aspiration we had that aligned so perfectly felt natural.
Playfully, Sebastian pulled his head away from me. “One last match before spring break?” he suggested.
I knew exactly what he meant.
We scrambled up and out of the room. The house was oddly quiet, as it always was around breaks, with only a handful of guys staying behind rather than traveling. Beckett and Caden had left this morning to enjoy Nate Partridge’s mountain home. Jordan had gone to visit his dad and stepmother before joining Beckett and Caden for the last three days of the break. Asher, pointedly, stayed behind, saying he wanted to experience the city. “I’ll have to suffer through the summer with the family,” he’d said. He and Phoenix were diving into the city explorations already. Sawyer had moved in with Noah already last year, so he only visited the old team house occasionally. Avery had taken Grayson to meet the parents. Paxton remained, chasing hookups in his downtime.
Sebastian and I entered the basement and flicked the lights on. He hooked up his phone to the speaker to play us some background music while I brought us a couple of cans of beer. By the time I had my first sip, Sebastian was holding the little ball for table soccer, eyebrows lifted as if daring me.
It was a mind-numbing thing we did and as fun as anything other than sex. It was like meditating but not calming at all. We joked, we laughed, and we set up walls against all external intrusion on our time when we played. It was an escape.
On the wall behind Sebastian was the small, square canvas with my finger-painted nude portrait from behind. It set fire to my cheeks the first time I spotted it. Beckett had found it in our room two days after the coming out party when he was looking for Sebastian. When he saw it, he insisted it needed a place of honor. Sebastian was way too happy to make Beckett’s wish come true. They had put the small painting up without telling me and waited until the evening round of table soccer for me to notice.
“Are you checking out your ass?” Sebastian scolded me now after scoring a point.
I snorted. “I’d rather be looking at your ass.”
He shot me a naughty look that pulled my attention away from the painting. Luckily, it was done as a riff on the post-impressionist style, the colors bright and the strokes bold. The entire thing was messy and striking. It was very obviously my figure, even if the depiction hinted at many more hours spent doing hip thrusts and squats than I could prove. My real ass was nowhere near as round as that. Still, the fact that the guys put it up was almost touching. Almost. They were starting to use it as an icon after Sawyer once made the sign of the cross before it and asked Avery if he was supposed to kiss it.
“You know, I was afraid it was gonna pass,” Sebastian said, sitting on the edge of the table. He wore a pair of knee-length shorts, his leg dangling off the side of the soccer table. He lifted the can and sipped his cold beer. “For you or for me. Or both of us at the same time.”
“It crossed my mind, too,” I admitted. “I still catch myself not totally believing this is real.” I moved closer to him until I stood at a single pace of distance away.
Sebastian cocked one side of his mouth into a smile. “It’s the realest thing I ever felt.”
Whenever he spoke like this, my heart hammered faster. Taking the final step, I stood inches away from his body. As Sebastian slid off the edge of the table and stood on his feet, our chests touched.
“We’re not letting anyone come between us,” I said firmly. It was a decision and a non-negotiable one.
