“It’s my job to make you uncomfortable. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t ask the difficult questions?”
Dean slapped Colton on his shoulder, then leveled him with a serious gaze. “But promise me you’ll think about it.”
“I promise.” Colton smiled sheepishly.
The next day, Colton reached out to Dean…
Colton: heading to L.A. to have a talk with Sophie. Wish me luck!
Chapter 20
Colton
BREAKING NEWS: Colton Merrick and fiancé split. NFL running back Colton Merrick and supermodel Sophie Carroll announced today they are ending their three-month engagement. The pair announced the split was amicable, citing their busy careers as the reason for the split. The pair had been dating for two years prior to their engagement. They both claim to remain very good friends.
Colton finished his bicep curls, re-racked the dumbbells, and looked around. With practice over for the day, the weight room was pretty much cleared out. Bryce was across the aisle on the hack squat, and one defensive lineman sat at the far end of the weight room, swiping through his phone.
He needed to talk to someone about what was going on in his head, and more and more, in his pants. Dean’s pretty face and perfect body filled his thoughts constantly. Colton was openlyflirting with him at the golf simulator, and clearly Dean had enjoyed it. The man had a hard-on that had been pretty difficult to miss and it was all because of Colton. And Colton liked it.
The fact that he'd triggered that type of response in Dean had his own cock stretching his pants to the limit.
As soon as he'd gotten home from the simulator, he dropped his pants, leaned against his front door, and jacked his cock until he shot across the room. Dean had him feeling like a horny teenager again, but what the hell did any of it mean? Was he gay? Bisexual? Had he always been? Why was he only feeling these things now and for Dean, specifically? When he looked around at other guys, those feelings didn’t surface. Only Dean stirred his cock and increased his pulse.
Colton and Bryce were close, and they'd had some deep conversations in their time as teammates, but could Colton talk to Bryce about this? Could he explain what he was feeling without alienating a teammate?
Colton took a deep breath.No time like the present, he thought, and walked over to Bryce.
“Bro, can I talk to you for a sec?”
Bryce finished his set, locked out the machine, and leaned forward, “Sure, man. That was my last set, so I got nothin’ but time.” He stood and grabbed his water bottle. “What’s up?”
Colton nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, you know I just broke things off with Sophie…”
“Dude, she wasn’t right for you.” Bryce huffed. “I know she’s hot as fuck, but you hate shopping and clubbing. That would have been a miserable marriage.”
“Thanks, Bryce.” Colton cracked a half smile. “That’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.” He shifted his stance. “I mean, with Chrissy…how did you know she was 'the one'?” Colton made air quotes. “Did you have trouble breathing, or didyour stomach go all flippy? Did you feel things in your body that told you she was the one for you?”
Bryce studied Colton for a moment with a look of curiosity, then his eyes widened. “Bro! Did you meet another girl?”
Colton snapped his eyes to Bryce in surprise. Although he said girl, Bryce was close to the mark on what was happening.
Could he tell him? He didn’t even know what the fuck he was feeling. But maybe he could be honest about what was going on and see what happened.
Colton took a deep breath before he spoke, but chickened out at the last minute. “No. I just never felt any of those things with Sophie and I was curious to know how you knew Chrissy was your perfect match.”
Bryce seemed to buy that response and tilted his head side to side. “I mean, it was all those things you said. The first time I saw Chrissy, my stomach flipped like I’d eaten a bad burrito.”
Colton chuckled at that. He knew that feeling, all too well.
“When we’re not together, I miss her and count the minutes until we’re together again,” Bryce continued with a fond, faraway look in his eyes. “Her laugh, her smile, her eyes, her smell. All those things fill my soul and make every day worth living. She makes me a better person.”
Colton smiled, listening to Bryce’s fondness for his fiancée. He was immediately jarred with the memory of the song he heard at the club with Sophie and her awful friends, the words that embedded themselves deep in Colton’s mind…’I like me better when I’m with you’.
Colton’s mind swirled.
Everything Bryce just described was everything Colton had been feeling for Dean. But it couldn’t be what he thought. Bryce had described his love for Chrissy, but his depiction was spot on to how Colton felt around Dean. Was Colton developing feelings for Dean?
It wasn’t love, or even very strong affection. Was it? It couldn’t be.
