Nate
I’m out back with a hottie.
Micky
How much longer on the timer? You didn’t turn it off, did you?
Chuckling, I tuck my phone back into my pocket and look up to find Marcos’ dark eyes on me. He’s turning his own phone over in his hand, flipping it around and around and around.
“Just checking in with Micky,” I explain. “He’s allergic to fun, so I wanted to make sure he was doing all right on his own.”
“Micky,” Marcos repeats, asking a question without actually asking one.
“Jack McIntire. Goaltender. Kuemper might have mentioned him.”
“Mm,” he hums noncommittally. A man of few words, this Marcos. I take a measured step toward him.
“So, how do you feel about receiving a very sloppy, and probably not very skilled blowjob against that shed?” I ask, nodding toward the darkest corner of the lawn. Thank God for those two shots of whiskey, providing me with just enough confidence to say that without wavering. Marcos doesn’t even glance over.
“We can’t,” he says, which seems to be plenty far from “no” to me.
“Sure we can. I’m offering, aren’t I? Unless I’m not your type, which would be devastating, but understandable.”
“You’re everyone’s type,” he mumbles, looking away from me and over at the shed. He taps his phone on his leg, shoulders tight beneath his white shirt. The man is tense as shit—if anyone is in need of a stress reliever against a shed, it’s this guy.
2
Marcos
I haveno idea what to make of Nate.
I stare at him, unable to think of a single reason beyond inebriation that someone would proposition me so blatantly.Me, of all people. I don’t have Max’s unique coloring or gentle personality; don’t even have the devil-may-care attitude and playful smirk of my teammate Luke. I’m just Marcos—plain, unexciting features, and a resting bitch face that keeps the majority of people away. I’m easy to look past, and most do. It doesn’t bother me.
What does bother me is being the recipient of the sudden and unexpected attention of a man so pretty it should be criminal. If the Greek gods did exist, one of them would have scooped up Nate the moment he angled his summer-green eyes in their direction. He’s beautiful.
So beautiful, in fact, that he’s honestly a little hard to look at. His eyes are an impossible shade of green, made more vivid by the rich brown of his hair. The light layer of fiveo’clock shadow on his jaw catches the light from the house, and I notice a small scar on his otherwise perfect cheekbones. He makes me a little uncomfortable. That lovely face does nothing to make me feel better about my own.
And here he is, offering to blow me in the backyard of my teammate’s house; telling me I’m pretty, and that he’s never been interested in another guy before. Maybe he’s not inebriated, but blind.
“You look like you’re having a bad night,” he says softly, which is the understatement of the fucking year. Every night is a bad night for me these days.
“I hate coming to parties like this,” I admit, looking toward the house and watching the shadows of people move through the window.
“Why are you here, then?”
“Because… I guess because my friends invited me, and if I didn’t come with them, I’d just sit at home and worry that one of them was going to get hurt.”
I clamp my mouth shut, teeth grinding together audibly. That was far more truth than I had been meaning to part with. I don’t even know this guy.
Nate squints at me, a cute little pull between his brows as he thinks about what I said. I’m still having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that one, people that look like him exist off a movie screen, and two, that he apparently wants to suck my dick.
“Going above and beyond on the designated driver duties, huh?”
I shrug, because I can’t explain this to him. I can’t explain the unbearable pull between taking care of Max at home, and taking care of my friends here. I can’t explain how sick I feel when I think about whatmighthappen to Vince, my friendand the pitcher on our team, if I’m not here to make sure he gets home okay. Of course, I can hardly take care of them standing out here, either, but I just can’t walk away from the incredible appeal of Nate. Not yet. He’s got a gravitational pull that could rival a black hole.
Besides, my life right now is so full of misery and shit. Maybe this one moment, tonight, I can have just a little something for myself.
“Is your friend going to be fine on his own for a bit longer?” I ask quietly.
