One MonthLater
September in Floridawas a special sort of hell.
The air felt like hot soup, the mosquitoes were trying to suck the life out of me, and the sun felt like it had a personal vendetta against me.
Thanks to the ridiculous heat index in Florida, by the time we wrapped up conditioning, my shirt was plastered to me and my socks were soaked. I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked toward the locker room, dreaming of a shower.
Still, I wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything.
Mainly because I wasn’t doing it alone.
“Yo, Statler! You heading into enemy territory, or are you chilling at our apartment?” Fuller called out behind me.
I didn’t turn around. “If by enemy territory you mean my brother’s place, then yes.”
Fuller jogged up beside me, sweat dripping from his face. “What are you going to do this spring when you guys aren’t in the same place?”
That eventuality was something I tried hard not to think about. I’d told myself that Jase and me going our separate ways wouldn’t be any different from when Tyler had left for Boston or when Jase and I had left Cammie behind and headed for UCLA, but deep down, it wasn’t the same because Jase and I shared a different dynamic with each other than we did with Tyler and Cammie.
We had started off as best friends, then our dads fell in love and made us a family. We’d shared a home, holidays, friends, sports, and every milestone since we were eleven years old.
Now it felt like we were speeding toward a fork in the road—one where we would head in different directions.
I forced a shrug. “It’ll be fine.”
He followed me to my locker. “Look, I get that you’re tight with your stepbrother, but you two act like you’re attached at the hip. Every night it’s ‘I’m heading to Jase’s’ or ‘Jase is coming over.’ Dude, you even grocery shop together.”
“Yeah, and? He picks better shit than the kale you try to sneak into the cart.”
Fuller placed a hand over his chest in mock offense. “Kale is good for you.”
“So is minding your own business.”
He laughed and shoved my shoulder. “Just saying, y’all are weirdly loyal. It’s kinda cute.”
“Don’t ever call me cute,” I shot back playfully, then pulled my sweaty shirt over my head.
I headed for the shower, and the second the water hit my skin, I groaned. Some of the day’s tension washed away, but Fuller’s question kept replaying in my mind.
Jase and I had always been close, but lately it felt different.
Maybe it was because of Faye.
We hadn’t seen her since she’d flown down to Florida almost a month earlier. Her schedule was packed, and we were busy with all things baseball. Besides, Faye had said it was risky for her to fly to Florida too often, given the constant attention she received. She worried that if she were seen in the same place multiple times without an official reason, the tabloids might start digging, and word that she had been visiting two MLB rookies every weekend would set off a media circus.
We kept texting every day, and it seemed hardly an hour went by without me thinking about her. Nights were the worst. I’d lay in bed alone, staring at the ceiling, remembering her between us at the wedding, in the hotel room, the way her voice sounded when she moaned. But as soon as my hand wrapped around my cock, Jase forced himself into my fantasies. I’d imagine him looking at me over Faye’s shoulder, or our hands brushing against one another, and it wasn’t just an occasional slip. Ever since that moment in the hotel in Cape Cod when he’d walked in on me when I was jerking off, I hadn’t been able to come without him making at least a small appearance in my mind.
When I was done in the shower, I got dressed, then grabbed my phone from my locker. I wasn’t surprised to see a text from Jase:
You heading over soon?
Just finished showering. Be there in 20
Any ideas for dinner?
Wings?
Any special requests?
