Liam

by Candice Blake

  “No worries,” Shawn said, smiling tightly. “What do you say we head back to my place? If you’re not busy, of course. I know you guys probably want to get home to your kids.”

  “They’re with the babysitter tonight,” Damon said. “I think it’d be fun to see your place. What do you think, Liam?”

  I thought for a moment.

  “Let’s do it,” I said.

  5

  Shawn

  Present Day

  “Is it cool if Jesse comes to your place tonight?” Damon asked. “I just talked to him on the phone and found out he’s finished work a bit earlier than expected. The restaurant he works at is actually pretty close to where you live.”

  “Of course,” I said. “It’ll give me the chance to meet him.”

  “Perfect,” Damon said. “I can go pick him up and meet you guys back at yours.”

  “That sounds good,” I said.

  “Liam, do you want to go with Shawn, so you don’t have to come with me to collect Jesse?”

  Liam looked a bit hesitant. “Sure.”

  Damon left to go and fetch Jesse, so it was just me and Liam in the locker room. Without Damon there, Liam seemed a bit quieter, but I was used to his quiet side from being around him in college.

  “I’m ready to leave when you are,” I said.

  “I guess we can go now,” Liam said.

  I cleaned up all the empty beer bottles on the table, then grabbed my keys. We left the changing room and went in the elevator down to the private garage where my car was parked.

  “This is your car?” Liam asked, as we approached my Lamborghini.

  I smiled and nodded. “I bought it not too long ago.”

  “Fuck, it’s gorgeous,” Liam said. “Wish I could have one too.”

  “Why don’t you get one?” I asked. “I’m sure you can afford it since your business is doing so well.”

  “I could... but since it doesn’t have back seats, I can’t put Hayden’s car seat in. Even if I could, I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking Hayden in such a fast car. I feel much safer driving an SUV.”

  “Dad life,” I said with a smile. “It must take getting used to.”

  “Having a baby limits a lot of things I want to do, but it’s still good, because Hayden keeps me grounded. I’m so much more responsible now that I’m a dad.”

  I unlocked the doors and we climbed inside my car.

  I looked over at Liam and saw the slight fine lines on his face. It reminded me that we weren’t so young anymore, even though I was still living the same life.

  I backed out of my spot and drove through the parking lot and out onto the street.

  I lived fairly close to the stadium in a penthouse which was given to me as an incentive to renew my contract with the team. I didn’t think I’d live in this cold city otherwise. I preferred a place with a lot of beaches and sun like Los Angeles, where I’d been playing for the past few years.

  “Do you get along with everyone on your team?” Liam asked.

  I could tell he was starting to open up a little to me again. It was either that, or he was just trying to make some conversation to make it less awkward.

  “I get along with almost everyone,” I said. “The guys on the team are great this season. But it changes so often that I try not to rely on having a good team to play well. As much as basketball is a team sport, I always feel the need to carry the team by scoring as many points as I can.”

  Liam smiled. “You’ve always been kind of like that. Our varsity coach once said that you’d never make it big if you played so selfishly.”

  “And look where I am now,” I said. “It’s difficult, because sometimes guys on the team don’t like me stealing the spotlight from them, but I always wonder whether they want to win, or just want screen time for the sake of it.”

  “When we played together, I always passed the ball to you, because I was more confident in your abilities than my own.”

  “You must be pretty confident now that your company is so successful. You built it from scratch.”

  Liam shrugged, looking out the window. “I still rely on Damon for a lot of things for our company. He’s much more decisive than I am. When it comes to taking risks, I’m always the one who plays it safe, whereas Damon is more of a high roller.”

  “I think you’ve always taken the safer route. That’s just the way you are.”

  “Do you think people can change?”

  “I think in small ways they can.”

  We arrived at my condominium, and I drove down to the underground parking lot.

  “This is beautiful. Did they really offer you this place in your contract?” Liam asked.

  “It was thanks to my manager. They knew if they had not given me everything I wanted, I could go play for any other team, so I had all the power in the contract negotiations.”

  “Sounds like a dream to me. Your life must feel quite surreal.”

  I arrived at my parking spot. “It’s surreal in some ways, but when my private life is open to the public for criticism, it almost makes me wish I’d chosen a different career. One of the reasons why I’m still single is because I can’t go anywhere without being noticed. It’s hard enough trying to get to know a girl without having a crowd of paparazzi taking photos of me as soon as I step outside.”

  “I remembered you to be a pretty open person though, at least a lot more open than me.”

  “I am. I’ve always been an open book, but this is on a different level, especially because a lot of things people say about me aren’t true.”

  I sighed, thinking of how nice it would be to have no one know who I was, but it was too late for regrets now. I was already nearing the end of my basketball career.

  We got out of the Lambo, and walked to the private elevator that went directly up to my penthouse suite. The elevator was only big enough to fit a few people. With two men well over six-feet tall standing inside, it felt a bit cramped.

  We were standing close together, so close that I could smell Liam’s scent of body wash and pine. When I closed my eyes and breathed in, I remembered the distinct smell from when we were dormmates in college. His smell was comforting, but I didn’t want to tell him that, because we were seeing each other for the first time in twenty-seven years.

  There was only one button in the elevator which was for the penthouse.

  When the elevator door closed, I could feel the heat of Liam’s body against me. He was turned away from me to make things less awkward in the cramped space. I could see how tense his shoulders and neck were. Liam had always been a bit tense though. He’d been like this ever since I’d met him.

  The elevator door opened and we stepped out and into my suite.

  “Welcome,” I said.

  Liam looked around with wide eyes. “It’s two levels?” he asked.

  “Three actually,” I said. “The master bedroom is on the third floor.

  I loved seeing a person’s reaction to my home for the first time, but it was especially exciting to see Liam’s reaction.

  Liam walked right to the floor-to-ceiling windows that wrapped the entire penthouse suite.

  “You can see everything,” he said.

  I walked up behind him and looked out at the gorgeous view. “I’m still getting used to it. Sometimes, it feels like I’m just floating in the sky, especially during the day when the apartment fills with light. It’s almost heavenly and it’s the only place where I can be completely detached from the world.”

  I went to the kitchen to get Liam something to drink. I had a collection of different kinds of beers, liquor, and wines. I opened the fridge and grabbed a craft beer for Liam because I knew he’d prefer that over everything else.

  I handed him the cold beer.

  “Cheers,” I said.

  His smile lit up the room. “Thank you.”

  We opened the beers and took a sip.

  “There’s one thing I have to show you,” I said.

  “What is it?”


  “The basketball court.”

  “You have one in this building? Which floor is it on?”

  “Even better, it’s here in my suite.”

  “What? There’s no way you can fit a full-sized court here.”

  “It’s just a half-court. But it’s a good way to get some practice in the mornings without having to leave the house.”

  I led Liam down to another part of the condo, then opened the door to the court.

  “Fuck,” Liam said, widening his bright-green eyes that were illuminated by the florescent lights.

  I smiled at his excitement.

  Liam set his beer down and picked up the ball off the floor, dribbling it down the court.

  “You’ve still got moves,” I said.

  Liam looked down modestly. “I haven’t played in years.”

  “Why not?” I asked. “Don’t you enjoy the game still?”

  Liam aimed the ball at the basket and took a shot. He missed.

  “Ever since I stopped playing in college, I haven’t really wanted to play. I’ve also been so focused on the business, and then Hayden, I don’t have that kind of time anymore.

  Liam passed the ball to me, and I dribbled it a few times. I still had a beer in one of my hands so I had to take a shot with one hand. Swish.

  “Show off,” Liam said, with a slight grin.

  “You know me... I never miss.”

  “Why don’t we play a game of one-on-one while we wait for Damon and Jesse to get here?” he asked.

  I raised my brows. “Is that a challenge?”

  Liam nodded. “Are you scared?”

  “Let me get this straight. You’re challenging the best basketball player in the NBA to a game of one-on-one?”

  “Are you scared?” Liam asked again, taking off his blazer and tossing it to the side of the court.

  I put my beer down and took off my hoodie, wearing just my t-shirt.

  “Let’s go,” I said.

  I was so confident that I let Liam have first possession of the ball.

  “First to five points,” he said.

  “You know the drill.”

  He dribbled the ball between his legs and tried to run past me. I blocked his path, so he couldn’t just lay it up into the basket, but Liam spun around and it caught me off guard. He shot the ball into the net and it went in.

  I looked over at him and saw he had a huge smile on his face.

  “If I beat you in this game, wouldn’t it make me the best player in the NBA?” he asked.

  “First of all, you’re not going to win. Second of all, I was going easy on you. Don’t get cocky so fast.”

  Liam and I both had competitive spirits. I was way more overt about it, while Liam was always quietly combative.

  I had possession of the ball now that Liam had scored, and I dribbled it while looking into his eyes. A bead of sweat rolled down his temple. I took that chance to look at him, to study the slight fine lines on his face that I’d never seen before. He was so fucking handsome even now at forty-five, though he looked like he could pass for mid or even early thirties. His blond hair was still so thick and luscious. His green eyes pierced through me. Liam had these pouty pink lips that I knew he was once self-conscious of, but I thought they were one of his best features.

  I dribbled the ball past him and he shoved into me. If it was a real game, it’d definitely be a foul, but I let it slide since we were only playing for fun.

  He didn’t give me any opportunity to score. His body was pressed right against me and his hands hovered around me. I could feel his cock rub against the side of my leg. Liam continued to put defensive pressure on me. I put one arm against his chest to shield him away from the ball. I could feel how fast his heart was beating and how warm he was.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket and Liam looked down for a split second. I used the distraction to my advantage and shot the ball. Swish.

  “That wasn’t fair,” Liam said. “Your phone distracted me.”

  “Well, maybe you shouldn’t have been distracted,” I said, loving how competitive he was being.

  I pulled out my phone and saw it was a text from Damon, asking me what my buzzer code was and which unit I lived in. I messaged him back to give him my information.

  “Damon’s here,” I said.

  “Already?” Liam said it like he didn’t want the game to end.

  “Why don’t we call this game a tie for now and have a rematch later,” I said.

  “I know you’re only saying that because you’re scared I just might beat you.”

  “You wish,” I said. “Keep in mind that I just played a game so my body’s all sore right now.”

  “Do you still have that shoulder injury?”

  “I do. It never went away. But I learned not to let it affect me too much.”

  I remembered when I used to ask Liam to massage my shoulder after the game to ease the pain of the injury. His strong, yet delicate hands always made me feel so much better. Of course, I couldn’t ask him to do that now—we weren’t really close like that anymore—but when I looked down at his hands, all I wanted was to feel them against my bare skin again. Just the thought of it made my aching body slightly more bearable.

  I turned off the lights in the court and we went back out to the living room, waiting for Damon and his new beau to arrive.

  6

  Shawn

  Twenty-seven years ago

  Sometime between playing Nintendo 64 and talking about the date we had with Casey later that evening, Liam and I both passed out on my bed. He was still holding onto the controller and I’d been spooning him.

  Liam had a habit of sleeping in my bed more than he liked to admit. I guessed it was because he had the top bunk and it was too much of a hassle for him to climb up to it. When I looked down, I realized I had my arm around him and I noticed my hard-on was pressed right up against his ass.

  It wasn’t unusual for me to wake up with a hard-on, but I didn’t know why I was throbbing so hard. I’d never woken up this horny before.

  If I ignored the fact that Liam was a guy, his ass was a huge turn on for me. I guessed I had a thing for nice asses, and because Liam played so many sports, his ass was sculpted and toned to perfection. He was also a lot smoother than I was—that was something I noticed in the locker room. Liam was a couple of inches shorter than me too, but he wasn’t nearly as muscular as I was. He was built more like a swimmer, with long, lean muscles.

  Liam shifted closer to me in his sleep. His ass rubbed up against my cock. I saw a stain on my sweatpants where the tip of my cock was. I couldn’t believe I was leaking precome. I was incredibly horny. It had been a few days since I’d jerked off, because I was busy studying for my midterms. I also wasn’t in a relationship or sleeping with anyone at the moment.

  It was hard being in the same room as two other guys, because it wasn’t like I could just whip my cock out and jerk off whenever I wanted. I actually didn’t think Damon or Liam would mind, but I still wasn’t comfortable doing it. I always did it in the shower. People always wondered why I was taking such long showers. It was because I was jerking off in there, sometimes as often as three times a day. I was eighteen, with a lot of testosterone, and a high libido.

  Liam’s body shifted even closer. He was taking up almost three-quarters of the bed, while I was sandwiched between him and the wall. For the second, I was going to wake him up to tell him to move over, but the warmth of his body felt too good. I lay there looking at his medium-length blond hair. Liam had a distinct scent to him that seemed so good to me. I couldn’t quite pinpoint exactly what it was, and I didn’t want to ask what shampoo or body wash he used. In that quiet moment, I could just take in his nice smell.

  I looked in front of Liam and could see he was hard. His bulge looked big in his sweatpants.

  My older brother, Westley, had told me college was a time to explore, but I wondered if he had ever explored his sexuality.

  For all I knew, Liam an
d I were both straight. I had a strange thought of what it’d be like to do something with Liam, but I wasn’t sure if I was just enamored by Liam’s quiet mysterious nature, or if it was because I was actually interested in him sexually.

  With his thick, plump ass rubbing against me, I didn’t know what to do.

  I rocked my hips back and forth gently and rubbed my cock against his ass. The feeling was incredible, and even though we were both fully clothed, it felt like I was actually penetrating him. My heart raced in my chest from what I was doing. It was wrong because he was sleeping, but at the same time, he was the one who was in my bed with his ass pushed up right against my dick.

  I wondered where Damon was. If Damon came in, I’d definitely stop what I was doing. It was almost six in the evening and he still hadn’t come back after his midterm. Maybe he was at the gym or the library. Damon studied the hardest out of all of us. He had been admitted to this school on a sports scholarship, and so he always felt like he had to prove he was just as smart as everyone else here.

  I looked at my alarm clock. The dining hall was opened for dinner, and I was hungry since I’d only had brunch that day. I knew Liam hadn’t eaten anything else except for brunch too. I wanted to wake him up and go and eat with him, but I was also feeling too relaxed at that moment to wake him.

  As I continued to rub my cock against his ass, I watched the precome stain on my sweatpants grow bigger. When I swiped my finger on it, I felt the sticky clear substance. I was surprised that I was leaking so much that it went through both my briefs and sweatpants.

  I wanted to pull my cock out and rub one out so badly, but I hesitated because Liam was in my bed. If he woke now, he’d probably freak.

  We were on the same basketball team, and everyone on it was incredibly homophobic, to the point where I’d feel bad if one of us was actually gay. I would never make such rude comments, but I wasn’t exactly standing up for what was right either. It had to do with the fact that I wanted to fit in with the team, and also because I didn’t want anyone to think I was gay—because I wasn’t. Every time I heard a homophobic comment made by my teammates, I would try to ignore it. I’d instantly feel regret in the pit of my stomach for not standing up for what was right.