Page 14 of Off Sides

I roll my eyes, wanting to be annoyed, but as I pull open the locker-room door to walk away, I find myself doing something I don’t do very often at all . . .

I smile.

CHAPTER SEVEN

jonah

So this week has gone way better than expected. Calvin and I are gelling well on the field. He blocks well for me, and I have no doubt when our first game comes next week, we’ll be unstoppable.

Off the field? Yeah, that’s nonexistent. And I should be okay with that. Sure, I used to hang out with my teammates quite a bit in Texas, and if I’m being honest, I miss that. I’m a social guy. I thrive on being around others.

The problem is I couldn’t give a fuck about the rest of the team. My mind seems to be firmly planted on only one of my teammates, and he doesn’t want anything to do with me.

Our last conversation about anything other than a play on the football field was in the locker room when he told me not to push the bullies. I’m tempted to pick a fight with Shields and Adler just to get Calvin to talk to me, but they’ve been fairly quiet this week, and I’m enjoying that too much.

Still, I can’t get him out of my head. Thinking about that day in the locker room, him still sopping wet and dressed only in a towel, trying to lecture me on not taunting the bullies and then they’ll go away—as if that’s really how bullies work. It’s amazing I managed any words at all.

I’m almost positive he was hard beneath that towel of his, but I forced myself not to look. To not offer to help him out with that. Because even if he was interested, with the amount of repression this guy is dealing with, there was a fifty-fifty chance between him accepting or me getting knocked out.

Well honestly, with this one . . . probably about thirty-seventy.

Every night since, though, has been spent with my hand wrapped around my stiff cock, replaying the way his muscles rippled, all wet and sexy and begging to be licked until I come with his name only a whisper on my lips.

It’s becoming a problem.

One I should probably try to rid myself of, but me being me, I can’t seem to do that. I finish dressing just in time to see Calvin buttoning his jeans, still shirtless as he shuffles through his bag trying to find a shirt to cover that delicious chest. He stops, catching me ogling him and raises a suspicious brow in my direction. “What?”

Okay, dummy. Look away. Walk away. Do something other than saying what’s on your mind right now.

“What are you doing now?”

His brow is permanently furrowed in my direction now. “Getting dressed?”

He finds a shirt and pulls it on, while I silently mourn all that nakedness and snort. “I mean after you get dressed.”

Some of the guys are still around, but I don’t think anyone is paying attention to our conversation. I wouldn’t care if they were though—but I know Calvin would. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?” I ask, not surprised, honestly, but wanting to know more. “It’s Friday night. We don’t have a game.”

“So?” he asks, his face scrunched in annoyance.

“So.” I stand up confidently, wanting him to trust me, and sling my gym bag and backpack over my shoulder. “We should hang out.”

He looks horrified. Definitely not how I wanted him to look when I asked him to hang out with me, but it’s fine. “What? No,” he says, grabbing his own bag and pulling the strap over his shoulder, then heading for the door.

Too bad for him, I’m really fast and catch up with him just as he pushes through the heavy metal doors of the gym. I fall into step next to him as we walk toward the parking lot. “Why not?”

“What do you mean? Why would we hang out?”

I shrug. “Why not?”

He stops walking and turns to look at me as I do the same. “We aren’t friends. This isn’t a thing.”

The right side of my mouth ticks upward in a flirty grin—and yes, I know that’s dangerous and reckless—but I can’t help it. He looks so cute, all big and flustered. “Why not?”

His mouth is stuck in a scowl, but I think he’s thinking about it. Perhaps wondering why he’s fighting me so hard, just like I am. He needs a friend. That much is clear. Everyone needs a friend, and I can be that for him.

Sure, I wouldn’t mind licking him, but that’s . . . totally fine. I can take it or leave it. Although I much prefer taking it, if I’m honest. It doesn’t change the fact that I’m drawn to him. That I want to be his friend and get to know him, despite not understanding why that is.