“Of course I fucking did! The carpet is fucking cream, dipshit. Took me forever to get it out,” Danny said, fondly shoving his friend’s arm. “I pity Amanda having to live with your filthy arse.”
“I’m getting better,” Charlie said. “I fold my towels now. And I put underwear on when I make her coffee in the morning.”
“Mate, that is like bar on the floor level shit, especially with the towel folding,” Danny said, looking up at Mason and West to agree with him.
West nodded and grinned over at Mason. “Exactly.”
“We don’t even live together anymore,” Mason said in exasperation, and I bit back a laugh. Clearly, this was an issue they’d had before.
“So? You still leave your wet towels all over the locker room,” West said teasingly.
“I pick them up when I’m dressed.”
My eyes slowly drifted down to Danny as they bickered, cataloguing all the little details of him. He’d styled his mullet this morning and smoothed out his moustache, the rest of his face carefully shaved to make it stand out. He was wearing a slim-fitting Knights T-shirt and a pair of joggers that highlighted how toned his thighs were and the roundness of his arse.
He wasn’t as big as the two men stood next to him, but he didn’t need to be. Danny had to be fast and nippy, and what I’d seen during last season and his most recent training—when he wasn’t throwing a strop—was impressive.
He caught me looking and smiled casually, hooking his thumb into the waistband of his joggers and pulling them down a tiny bit to reveal a thin strip of skin. The brat knew exactly what he was doing, and he also knew I couldn’t do anything without arousing suspicion.
But it was good that he felt confident enough to tease me here, especially in front of his teammates. It might have only been something subtle that none of them would notice, but it was a huge step.
One I’d be happy to reward him for.
“Are any of you going to get me anything from your locker?” I asked, looking around at them. “If not, you won’t get any sweets.”
“Oh shit, I forgot we were meant to be doing that,” Mason said. He tapped West’s chest. “Come on, we can find you something.”
“What about you and Charlie?” I asked Danny as Mason dragged West into the locker room.
“I can think of something,” Danny said, his mouth curling into a mischievous smile.
“Something suitable for work, please. This has to go on social media,” I called after him as he and Charlie disappeared. I had no idea if he’d listen to me, but hopefully he wouldn’t turn up with something dick shaped. I’d already had to tell Ollie that he couldn’t use a pair of stress boobs as his offering.
But if Danny was looking to push my buttons, then who knew what he’d turn up with.
Two minutes later Mason returned with a few large plastic gems, which apparently his boyfriend used all the time for drag and had an annoying habit of ending up everywhere, and West handed me a couple of flat metal screws.
I frowned as I took them and held out the box of sweets. “Do I want to know where these came from?”
“Probably not,” West said with a worryingly serene smile. “But I will need them back at some point.”
“Why? Actually, you know what, I’m not going to ask.”
“Good idea.”
West took his sweets, moving slightly to the side as Danny and Charlie emerged through the dressing room door. Danny was holding a pot of what looked like hair pomade or wax.
And Charlie was holding Danny’s arm.
“Here you go,” Charlie said with a wry smile as he pushed Danny towards me. “A present for you.”
“Er, no,” I said with a snort. “You can’t give me your teammate. I’m pretty sure he didn’t come from your locker.” As much as I wanted to keep him, I couldn’t. Not in public at least.
“I mean, he sits in my spot half the time. Doesn’t that count?”
“Sorry, no. Go and find me something else.”
“I told you,” Danny said.
