Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“Good job,” Coach said to Robbie, then turned to me with a hard stare. “Sanocki, what’s the problem?”
“Won’t happen again,” I told him.
“Enough. Pack it up,” Coach said, waving us off and getting other guys on the ice.
I sighed, shoving off my helmet and cursing under my breath. Elliot was sitting at the bench near the exit and as I skated past, he gave me a look.
“Pretty bad out there, Jesse,” he said.
“You want to talk to me?” I said, rounding out and tossing my gear to the side. “Talk.”
Elliot held up his hands. “Just sayin’. You’re usually better. Where were you last night, before poker?”
Wouldn’t you like to know.
It was the first time I’d been confrontational with him since the breakup. Usually I just let it simmer, but something about it felt different today.
Almost like last night with Mason had made me even more angry about the treatment I’d taken from Elliot. A random cowboy stranger had shown me more desire and enthusiasm in one night than Elliot had in our entire shitty relationship.
“Mind your own business,” I told him.
“Something missing in your life lately, Jesse?” he asked, and a bitter feeling landed in my stomach.
Asshole.
He’d dropped me in an instant, weeks and weeks ago, but I knew Elliot. Now, he was getting bored, hoping to keep me interested in him anyway.
He wanted to be in the position of power, over everyone, all the time.
He was never going to get that from me again.
I was a moment away from punching him when Robbie popped off the ice next to me, clapping me on the back. “Jesse’s just slow today because he was up late last night, past his bedtime.”
I rolled my eyes, but I was glad that Robbie was here to defuse the situation and make me think about anything else.
“Getting home around midnight is hardly past my bedtime,” I said.
“You’re right, Robbie,” Elliot said. “In fact, I was just asking him where the fuck he was ‘til midnight.”
“Out,” I said with finality in my voice.
“Said he was at some guy’s house,” Robbie continued, waggling his eyebrows.
Shit.
Robbie had no idea I had any history with Elliot beyond just being players on the same team. People had noticed that we hung out a lot less now, but everyone on the Talons just assumed we were growing apart as friends and had mostly stayed out of it. I’d been out as gay for a long time, but the whole team thought Elliot was completely straight.
They had no clue what he had kept hidden.
How much pain he’d caused me.
Elliot gave me a glance. He was thirsty for gossip and I wasn’t going to give him a single goddamn morsel of information.
“Catch you at the game tomorrow, Robbie,” I said, nodding at him and walking off.
“Heading over to some guy’s house, I assume?” Elliot called after me, proving he had the maturity level of a prepubescent middle schooler.
Ignore him. Just keep fucking ignoring.
I was out of the locker room in record time, itching to get the fuck out of here.
My phone buzzed against my leg as I sat down at the front of my first summer class. I slid it out, my eyes dancing over the screen.
>>Mason: I want your tongue in my mouth again.
“Jesus,” I muttered under my breath, setting my phone down on top of the desk with a little clatter. Everything went molten hot in my chest.
Goddamn. Hadn’t expected that, cowboy.
I shifted on my chair as my cock started to chub up. I was the first person in class, but students were filing by the open classroom door out in the adjacent hallway.
I’d been convinced I might never hear from Mason again. Last night, I’d felt a strange click when our lips had finally met, like kissing him was a puzzle piece my body had been missing. It was purely physical—I was aware I barely knew the man, but there was no denying that we’d turned each other the fuck on.
This morning, I figured it might have been just the heat of the moment. A feverish night and a kiss that was more intimate than it had any right to be.
But I felt it in my body again now. I could picture Mason sending the text, second-guessing himself, knowing he was making a bad decision but doing it anyway.
And fuck, that was hot.
You want to be bad for me, don’t you?
I bit down on the inside of my cheek, looking at the blank whiteboards, the windows at the edge of the room, or anything that could potentially bring me back down to Earth quickly.
Class was set to start soon.
My mind spiraled on all of the different ways I could respond to Mason. I had a sudden, terrible urge to tease him into a lust-drunk frenzy like the one he’d been in last night. I knew the right thing for me to do was probably to ignore his text, or to say something like it was a good time, but we shouldn’t.