“Then we don’t?—”
“Stop. I’m not saying I don’t want to. I’m just saying I don’t have an answer for you right now. That’s all. You haven’t pressured me, and I hope I haven’t pressured you. This has been fun. Amazing. Everything about it.”
His arms come around me more firmly and for several long minutes, we remain wrapped around each other. Until I hear my phone ring and realize we’re going to miss food if we don’t hurry the fuck up.
“We should make some time for more of this,” Lo says as he takes a step back and I step out of the shower. “I’m totally a touched starved boy.”
I laugh, glancing at him over my shoulder. His playful smirk is back in place, but my heart twinges. “Yeah, I am too.”
“Byproduct of hiding.”
I nod. Yes, it is. The lack of touch in my life is going to feel very loud when we leave here. When this ends.
“There’s a lot of freedom in not telling people too,” Lo continues as he turns off the water and joins me. I hand him a towel. “In anonymous hookups. No expectations on you. No strings. No complicated feelings. No worrying about whether they’re interested in you or your money.”
“Tell me about it,” I mutter. Not because I share that experience, but because I agree either way. The embodiment of that last concern is puck bunnies and other jersey chasers. You know damn well they’re there because of your career. Your fame and fortune. How can it be any other reason when that is the very thing that’s made them look at you to begin with?
I toss the towel over the top frame of the shower and turn to leave. Lo wraps his arm around my stomach and pulls my back to his chest. His lips press against my neck. I lean back into him, letting him take some of my weight. “We can fuck around tonight, but let’s make some time for this too. I forgot how much I miss having someone hold me until I get a taste of it again.”
“That’s why you were staring at Ethan, Creed, and Jakub last night,” I say.
“Mmm,” he agrees. “Exactly. I was longing for a hug like that.”
My phone rings again and I sigh. “We’ll have to hug later or someone’s going to be busting up in here if I don’t answer.”
Lo laughs and lets me go. I catch the phone right before the call ends. “Yeah?”
“Dude, you going to eat before we have to leave or what? You’ve got like twenty minutes,” Creed says without a greeting.
I pull my phone away and look at the time. It’s an hour later than I thought. “Fuck. Order us something?”
“Yep. What do you want?”
“Any allergies, Lo?” I call.
“No.”
“Anything fast. Don’t care. On our way down.”
“Hurry your asses up,” he says and hangs up.
I toss my phone aside and then wince, hoping it didn’t just land in cum. I dress quickly and strip the bed while Lo dresses. It’s less than ten minutes later that we’re walking into the restaurant, just as a waitress is bringing over two sandwiches. I pull up the card app on my phone, but Creed waves me off.
“Already paid. You can buy lunch when we get back home. You fall back asleep?”
Lo glances at me as I sit in the chair beside Creed. Lo takes a chair on the opposite side, a few guys down.
“Watching movies,” I say, shrugging. “Honestly, I thought the clock said an hour earlier than it did. Thanks for the call.”
Creed nods and starts talking about the upcoming games. The first is between the Central and Metropolitan divisions, which means we’re just going to be hanging out in the locker room for a bit. Which is fine.
I’m not in a seat with Creed on the bus today. He’s sitting with Ethan and Jakub is with Azure as they continue a conversation they were having during lunch. That means Lo sits beside me, moving in a little closer than what’s necessary, but I don’t slide away.
He takes a deep breath and lets it out. I look at him and he smirks. “Good movie, no?”
I roll my eyes and kick him before turning my attention out the window. We don’t speak on the ride. His hand drops onto the seat next to mine. Our fingers brush and I glance at him, raising a brow. Lo sits forward and pulls his hoodie off, dropping it into his lap. He shoves it over so it’s covering both of our legs and then takes my hand under it.
It’s a struggle not to smile. His fingers twist with mine and I lean my head back and close my eyes. Honestly, I’m fucking wiped. Did we sleep at all last night?
