13
Jake
It became clear as soon as Reyes tried to stand that he wouldn’t be able to put much weight on his leg. I swung an arm around his back, while he lifted one arm around my shoulders for support. It was awkward at best, trying to maneuver a man my size into the bathroom, but we managed. He sat on the edge of the bathtub and kept his eyes on me while I pulled down two of the oversized bath towels from the shelf and set them on the stool.
“You don’t need to stay."
I gave him the same look my mother gave me every time she thought I was being ridiculous. “I know I don’tneedto, but I want to.”
I turned the water off and slid in before he could say another word. The water was freezing, instantly making my balls draw up into my body, and I gasped.
“Fuck, that’s cold. Get in. We’ll keep each other warm.”
“I’m kind of used to cold baths.”
“Well, I’m not! Get your ass in here.”
He chuckled and swung his legs over before carefully sliding in next to me. I motioned for him to scoot forward so I could move in behind him, then slipped my arms around his strong shoulders and encouraged him to lie back against my chest. He didn’t relax into my embrace like I’d hoped, making me think he wasn’t used to being cared for. And wasn’t that ironic? I wasn’t used to beingthe caretaker either. We both were on uneven ground, yet I wasn’t about to walk away… even if I still had no fucking clue why.
I kissed his neck and settled my chin on his shoulder. We were quiet for a long time, his hand occasionally kneading the muscles around his knee. It wasn’t horribly swollen, but the fact that it was even a little had me concerned.
“How long ago did you hurt it?”
I tried not to get frustrated when Rey didn’t respond right away. I didn’t want to have to push this. I wanted him to trust me enough to tell me on his own.
“It was about a year ago during the world championships in Spain,” he finally said in a quiet voice.
I shifted so I could see his face, making him wince. “Are you shitting me? You played in theworld championships?”
He carefully avoided my eyes. “Not the finals, but my team made it to the semis.”
I sputtered something unintelligible. “Shit, Rey! You just said you were onateam, not that you were on thenational team!”
I stared in complete disbelief, only now beginning to realize how big of a soccer player he was. I’d been tempted to search his name on the Internet, just to learn more about him, but couldn’t bring myself to. I told myself it was because I wanted to respect his privacy, but… really, I just wasn’t ready to admit that I had been thinking about Reythatmuch. But now I had to wonder, maybe if I kept up with soccer, I would have recognized him or at least heard his name. I barely even kept up with football, let alone anything else though. I could enjoy a good game every now and then, but I didn’t live for sports the way some people did.
Clearly, Rey did though.
Soccer was a much bigger part of Rey’s life than I’d realized.
“You could have told me!”
I felt guilty for my tone when he flinched. In truth, I was more shocked than upset with him. I’d been spending my time with a celebrity and didn’t even know it.
I tweaked his nipple. “That’s for an unfair advantage during our littlelessontoday! I didn’t even get to collect my prize.”
Reyes burst out laughing, rubbing his chest. “Jerk. That hurt.”
He shifted to reposition in the tub so I loosened my hold, but Rey quickly gripped my arm, all humor gone. “Don’t go.”
“I’m not,” I reassured, moving my arm under the cold water to wrap around his stomach. Reyes settled back against me, keeping one hand on me as if he still thought I might pull away.
“How is it you play for Mexico when you’re a U.S. citizen?” I asked. “Isn’t there some sort of citizenship rule on the team?”
“I have dual citizenship, since my family is from Mexico.”
“Oh. Well, that makes sense I guess. How’d you get the chance to try out though? Isn’t soccer pretty big in Mexico?”
“It is, but Rome was on the team, so he got me on the roster for tryouts.”
