Adonis swallowed.
“I will not be offended,” Bash said. When Adonis still didn’t answer, Bash patted his shoulder. “I’ll be in my room at 8:00 p.m. Robbie won’t be there. You are welcome to stop by. If you don’t, it is okay.”
And then he walked into the conference center, joining Weston and Robbie, who were waiting for him at the doors.
Clarisse came up beside Adonis. “What did Bash say?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Adonis said. Clarisse shrugged and led the way into the conference center. While he walked, Adonis dug his phone out of his pocket and fired off a text to Byron.
Hey, I’m so sorry, but I can’t meet tonight. Something came up with the team xx.
Chapter 9
Bash
The conference center’s hotel rooms were nothing fancy. Bash had stayed in some of the best hotels in the world during family vacations; he had also stayed in some real seedy places as an athlete. This place was somewhere in the middle, but it leaned seedy.
It, like most basic hotel rooms, was aggressively committed to having no personality in its design or décor, as if it were afraid that anything resembling a “choice” risked offending someone.
The walls were a dull cream, the flat carpet the color of sand. There was art on the walls, but it looked like it had been printed at an office store and hung in discount frames. There were two beds, both doubles, with flat quilts and thin pillows. One of the lamps didn’t work. The air was dry and cold, and the windows were covered with thick, stiff curtains.
Robbie had dropped his stuff on one of the beds, took a quick shower in the cramped bathroom, lit with bright hospital-like lights, and skipped out of the room, telling Bash for the fifth time that he wouldn’t be back tonight after dinner.
Bash chose to order dinner in instead of going down to the conference center’s restaurant or to one of the many spots listed in the brochure that all athletes had been given. He ate while sitting on the bed, and then took a cold shower. He combed his hair, dried off, and put on only a pair of black boxer briefs.
He opened his suitcase and put his folded clothes in two of the drawers of the hotel room bureau. He shoved his hockey bag into one corner of the room and hoped it wouldn’t get in the way or smell.
On his bed, he laid out a foil pack of condoms, a butt plug, an eight-inch dildo, a rubber cock ring, a travel-sized bottle of lube, and a small glass bottle of poppers (all of which he had packed in his toiletries bag).
Then, he sat on the bed. He had not thought to get Adonis’s number. He was glad he hadn’t. If he had, he would’ve been tempted to text.
Years ago, Bash learned a breathing technique from an old coach that helped him steady his heart rate and nervous system before a hockey game. He did it now, gently rolling his shoulders, envisioning the stress melting from his body, and the tangle of his thoughts trickling from his head to his chest.
He didn’t know when he’d decided that he wanted to fuck Adonis. It wasn’t something he had realized gradually but was instead a sudden, fundamental truth of his personal universe.
At exactly 8:00 p.m., Bash checked his phone. He glanced at the door to the hotel room. There was no noise on the other side.
He touched his cock through his underwear. Maybe he had read the signals wrong, and Adonis didn’t want to fuck.
The time on his phone changed to 8:01, and Bash stood, reaching for the condoms. He wouldn’t need those.
There was a knock on the door, and Bash smiled.
He set the condoms back on the bed, went to the door, and looked through the peephole. Adonis stood outside, his hands deep in his pockets, looking down the hall.
Bash opened the door and leaned casually against it. “Hallo,” he said, speaking Dutch instead of English. He’d noticed that guys seemed to melt when he spoke Dutch.
“Oh, you’re in your underwear,” Adonis said.
Bash looked down at his bare torso, his tight briefs. “I am. I figure you are here to fuck. It will be hard to fuck with my clothes on.”
A small smile flickered on Adonis’s lips. “You don’t waste time.”
“No, I don’t. Do you want to come in?”
“Nice place you have,” Adonis said when he was inside the room.
“It’s very boring,” Bash said.
