by Andy Gallo
Jack subtly leaned toward Ed. “You don’t want to get on her bad side.”
Brittany snorted. “He speaks from experience.”
Ed shuffled another notch closer. Brittany’s presence seemed to calm him, and Jack could’ve honestly kissed her.
Jack planted his hands on the lip of the bench an inch from Ed’s. An invitation if he wanted it.
“What colors are we rooting for?” Ed asked, and Jack launched into a quick rundown of the two teams. He kept his tone light, informative. Like he was politely answering the questions of a stranger.
Inside, though. Fuck, inside Jack was grinning like a fool.
At half time, Ed left the stands to get them all drinks, and when he came back, sat nearer. Shoulders more relaxed. Smiles flashing in higher frequency.
Brittany switched seats to sit on Ed’s other side, and Jack admired Ed’s silver tongue. It almost matched Brit’s.
Marcus’s team was getting a flogging from the refs, and Jack hurled insults with the rest of the Harrison crowd. When his brother got slashed and the ref overlooked it, Jack was on his feet. “What are you on?” Fuck, Marcus would have some bruise on his gut tomorrow.
He grumpily sat back down, elbow knocking against Ed. He immediately started to put space between them, but Ed clasped his pinkie and pinned it to the bench.
Jack’s anger at the game dissipated. Suddenly he needed it to be over. Needed to get Ed somewhere he could show him how much it meant that Ed had risked coming out to the game with him.
Jack messaged Ed.
Jack: Thank you.
Ed looked at him and smiled.
Jack: Is it presumptuous if I plan to spend the night?
Ed shook his head. “I’m counting on it.”
Jack shook his head, while Brittany sat with a slackened mouth. Ed winced as Harrison fans slowly filtered out of the stands, dragging their feet to the exits. The rows behind them roared in cheers.
“Worst refereed game ever,” Brittany said. “No way Marcus and Triston deserved twenty-five penalties in the first half.” A whistling wind whipped through the stands, adding to the noise around them. Brittany raised her voice. “How the ref missed that foul against Marcus, I’ll never get. I’m surprised there wasn’t a riot.”
“I’ve never watched a lacrosse game before,” Ed said, “but it seemed to me like Harrison was clearly the better team.”
“Hands down.”
Jack stepped back to let two guys pass, and his gaze landed on a girl a set of stands across from them. Not just any girl, this one wore a knee-length skirt, slightly higher up on one side than the other, matching her slanting hair, and she stood staring out at the field. Little Miss Nessa. Alone.
Little bells went off in Jack’s head, and his annoyance at the game faded beneath a small grin. No one who wasn’t a hard-core fan went to games alone. Nessa wasn’t even in the right colors.
Brittany reached around Ed and poked him in the arm.
“Huh?”
“I’m gonna push my way to the ladies’ room. Meet you at the Jeep, yeah?” She thumped Ed on the back and darted into the crowd.
Ed glanced at him, rolling on the balls of his feet, thumbs hooked into the loops of his jeans. “Think I’ll head back to the truck. I’ll catch you later.”
Jack nicked his chin, keeping it as low-key as he could. “Sure.”
“Tell Marcus better luck next time.” Ed whisked himself down the aisle, rubbing the back of his flushed neck.
He let out a soft sigh and slunk toward Nessa. “Well, surprise, surprise.”
She jumped. “What—?” Her gaze latched on to him, and a pink blush crept over her cheeks. “Oh.” She smoothed her skirt with the back of her hand and straightened her composure. “Fancy seeing you here.”
Jack laughed. “Actually, no. Fancy seeing you here.”
Her blush darkened a shade and she whipped her head to the side, toward the field. “Crappy game, huh?”
“Yeah, very. What brings you here? Do you often come to lacrosse games?”
She tried for a confident smile, but it faltered. “I’ve watched a few.”
Did they all have Marcus playing?
They both stared at the field for a while longer. Marcus’s team had finally gone inside, and only two refs and Marcus’s coach were left on the sideline, red-faced, hands gesturing wildly.
He looked at Nessa out of the corner of his eye, then back toward the field. “Marcus got hassled big time out there today.”
“No kidding.” She shuffled toward the nearest aisle, and Jack tagged along. “That was a hard foul,” she said, and then quieter, “Hope he’ll be all right.”
He grinned. Outside the exit of the stands, he met Nessa’s gaze. “I’m glad, you know.”
“Glad of what?”
“That you came here to watch Marcus play.”
“No, I—” She gave up on what they both knew would have been a lie. “Why are you glad?”
“You’re good people. Marcus would be lucky to have you.”
Twisting the end of her hair, she didn’t look convinced. “He doesn’t think so.”
“Yes, he does, believe it or not. He’s just shy around girls. Thinks none of the pretty girls will go out with him.” Had he said too much?
“Did you just slip in you think I’m pretty?”
Jack laughed. Figured that’s what she heard. “For a girl.”
“Why is he always so snippy around me?”
“You know, if you act like you don’t like him, he thinks you don’t, so he won’t ask you out and then you can’t say no.”
“What?”
Jack fixed her a look. “C’mon. You hassle him as much as he needles you. A man can only pine for so long before moving on.”
“And I thought us girls were complicated.”
“Hey, hey.” Winking, he pointed a finger at her. “I’m not arguing against that.”
Nessa had a sweet ring to her laugh when she wasn’t being sarcastic.
“I’m sure the two of you will be seeing each other soon, so be nice.”
She chewed her bottom lip. “Thanks, Jack. You’re sweet to do this.”
“Nah, Marcus can be slow sometimes. I’m just speeding things along.” He winked again and set out to find Brittany. He zigzagged his way across the parking, finally ending up at the Jeep. With the top down, Brittany sat in the back, hand on the roll bar, soaking up the sun.
“Man, I love your car,” she said as he approached and climbed into the front.
“It’s a Jeep, Brit, not a car.”
“Whatever, Jackie boy.” She moved to the front and buckled her seat belt without looking over. “Don’t make me hurt you.”
Jack seated himself and turned the key.
Brittany tuned in the radio. “Your lover boy is a charmer, Jackie. You did good.”
“You’re not going to complain about him not being out?”
She laughed. “The boy sat there like it was hardest thing he’d ever had to do. And he was totally doing it because of you.”
Jack’s chest fluttered. “Really?”
“He might have barely touched you, but his eyes lit up every time he glanced your way.” Brittany opened and closed the glove box. “You know what would make this car perfect? If you had some chocolate.”
Jack’s phone beeped and he pulled it out. A tingle rushed through him when he opened the text message.
Ed: You look so hot in your jeep.
He looked around for Ed’s truck and saw it three cars ahead. Shifting into first gear, he inched along with traffic, trying to stifle his excitement. Half focused on driving, he didn’t realize they were almost out of the lot until he heard Brittany’s voice.
“Isn’t that Marcus’s crush?” Nessa followed the pack who walked back to campus.
Angling over a bit to get closer but not lose his place, Jack shifted to neutral. “Call her.”
Brittany stood up and started waving her over. Then she glared at him. “You don’t s
eem surprised. You knew she was here.”
“I ran into her when you went to the ladies’ room.”
Brittany shook her head. “Those are the kind of details a girl wants to know.”
Nessa reached the Jeep.
“Hop in. We’ll take you back.” Jack watched her struggle, as if she thought she should say no.
“Get in or he’ll go all caveman on you and throw you in.” Brittany climbed into the back, stepping on the front seat to get there.
Jack dusted off the seat. “No respect for a man’s baby.” He opened the door for Nessa.
“You and this Jeep of yours,” Brittany muttered from the back. “You’d think it was a Rolls or something.”
“It is to me,” he said. Brittany should have known better, but she was clearly putting on her show for Nessa. Glaring at her in the rearview mirror, he hated when she did this. “You know why.”
“Oh, my bad.”
“What?” Nessa looked at him, then Brittany, then back to him. “What’s up with the Jeep?”
“This was the car my dad, my birth dad, promised to buy me when I graduated high school. Mr. Reynolds knew about that promise and let me use my trust fund to buy it. Only time they’ve let me tap into it.”
“Mr. R totally got the better of the salesman too.” Brittany’s comment lightened the mood, and Nessa didn’t press him for more details.
His pocket buzzed just as he turned onto the road. Fortunately there was so much traffic, he had time to check it.
Ed: Already miss you.
Another jolt of excitement raced through him.
“Aw, hell.” In the mirror he caught Brittany shaking her head. “Jack got another message from his boyfriend. Look at him blushing.”
“You’re so dead, Brit.”
Nessa laughed at their exchange. “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.”
“He’s got it bad.” Brittany laughed at her joke, and Jack growled.
“Brit, let it go before I start to drop nuggets about you and….” He raised an eyebrow, daring her to tease on.
Finally the congestion broke and he stepped on the gas, making it windy as hell in the back seat.
He had a guy to get to.
Ducking into their room to get some things, Jack bumped into a red-seething Marcus.
“Wasn’t that just a load of crap?” Marcus shut their door and tossed his stuff on the floor. “Gonna have a couple nasty bruises tomorrow.”
“We were all shocked,” Jack said, dropping his bathroom bag on top of the dresser.
Marcus stomped the length of the room. “Man, Coach looked like he was about to blow a fuse.”
“I think he did,” Jack said, stuffing a clean T-shirt into his bag. “I saw him go at it with the refs.”
“Don’t know how I’m supposed to study right now,” Marcus said. “I’m all wound up.”
“Maybe take a walk or something. Get some coffee.”
“Coffee.” Marcus sure perked up quick. “That might be a good idea. Guess I could copy and drop off Loch Ness’s notes while I’m at it.”
Jack suppressed a grin and hitched his overnight bag onto his shoulder. “Didn’t she say you could chuck them?”
“Yeah, but, well you know, these are the originals. She said she wrote all the notes out again, but I can’t believe she did it to the same detail.”
“That’s… good of you.”
Marcus shrugged. “If I’m going to beat her in this test, I want the playing field to be even.”
Jack grabbed his wallet and keys and turned to Marcus. “Do yourself a favor, Marc. Go see her, drop off the notes. Be nice.”
Ed shut the front door behind him as Jack toed off his shoes and shrugged off his bag. “You were quick.”
“I was.” Jack gripped Ed by the bicep and nonchalantly steered him down the hall and into Ed’s bedroom. He kicked the door shut out of habit and shoved Ed against it. “But now I won’t be.”
It was all Jack could do not to burst out how happy he was. How his belly had filled with fluttering tenderness the moment Jack had seen him at Marcus’s game.
He kept his mouth shut, fearing the admission would come out too intense, too saccharine. He would show it, though. Would channel this deep-rooted elation into every touch.
A soft breeze drifted around them from a cracked window, and afternoon light filtered through the tree, pocketing the room with sunlight.
One pocket kissed the side of Ed’s face. Jack swept a thumb through it and over the freckle under his eye. He caressed Ed’s check, fine stubble rubbing over his palm.
Ed licked his lips, and Jack pressed the pad of his thumb over the moist seam. Heat encased the tip of his thumb, and Jack groaned when Ed sucked him in past the knuckle, tongue stroking his skin.
Jack skidded his thumb over Ed’s teeth to the edge of his mouth and pulled until his mouth parted. “Your mouth does crazy things to me.” He leaned in and flicked his tongue against Ed’s. “Just thinking about it around my cock makes me insanely fucking hard.”
Ed made a noise at the back of his throat, hands snaking under the waistband of Jack’s jeans. He pushed Jack’s ass until their cocks aligned.
Green eyes blazed with barely contained impatience.
It would be too easy to shove down their pants, suit and lube up, and pound home while Ed rutted into his quilted bedspread. Quickies could come later.
This time Jack wanted to explore. Wanted to have Ed in a way they’d remember for a long time. Jack rocked against Ed’s tilted hips, drawing his hands to his shirt. Muscles flexed under his knuckles as he unbuttoned.
He shoved the soft material down Ed’s arms to his elbows. Goose bumps pebbled his flat stomach, nipples stiff. Jack skated his mouth over Ed’s throat, tongued his clavicle, and lip-pinched the ends of his chest hair as he explored his pecs. He tasted lightly of salt edged with something sweet. Like he showered with vanilla soap.
Ed trembled under his wet kisses. His body strained forward when Jack dropped his knees to the springy carpet and nipped the hard flesh and treasure trail under Ed’s belly button. “Fuck, Jack. I’m so hard it hurts.”
Jack teasingly drew his nose over the hard outline of Ed’s cock.
Ed growled, fingers jerking to undo his button. A palm pushed Jack’s forehead back, fingers splayed tight through his hair. Ed looked down at him with lust that waked electricity between them. With his free hand, Ed shoved his jeans and boxers to his thighs. His cock sprung free, hard, head purple, vein bulging down his shaft.
Jack’s mouth watered, and he raced his tongue over his bottom lip. Ed canted his hips and steered the tip of his hard cock to Jack’s mouth. The blunt weight probed Jack’s slickened lip, and he relaxed his jaw and held Ed’s gaze, demanding he use his mouth.
Ed’s hand loosened, slid farther around Jack’s head and tightened again, pulling at his roots. Just enough yank to ratchet desire to another, high-inducing level.
With a raw moan, Ed pushed the head of his cock past the folds of Jack’s lips. Salty precome hit his tongue, instinctively making him latch on to Ed and suck.
Ed hissed as he pulled out and bumped the seam of Jack’s lips again, tracing over them like he wanted to paint them in come. The thought had Jack opening wide and sucking Ed as far down his throat as he could, while he grabbed Ed’s jeans and shoved them past his knees.
A hot yell burst from Ed, Jack’s own cock pulsing at the sound.
He scrunched Ed’s jeans to his ankles, stroking through the hairs on his legs. He slid off Ed with a smack. Ed stepped on his jeans, pulling them off and flinging them to the base of the bed. Jack peppered bites down his thigh as he peeled off Ed’s socks.
Ed shook his shirt the rest of the way off until he was completely naked.
He reached down, grabbed Jack, and hauled him to his feet, hands furiously stripping Jack of his clothes as they turned and gasped their way to the bed.
Jack pushed Ed back onto the mattress and crawled over him, heart
pounding, cock throbbing, toes pushing against the bedspread’s patchwork stitching. Ed stretched back, warm thighs between his legs, pillows sandwiching the sides of his head.
“Where do I find condoms and lube?”
Ed wiggled a finger toward the bedside drawers. “Top drawer, behind the book.”
“It better not be the bible.”
Ed laughed. “It’s the management book I bought the first day I met you.”
“Interesting choice of jerk-off material, but I like the sentimentality.”
Large hands gripped Jack’s thighs, fingers splaying as Ed rubbed his quads. They cupped the curve of his ass as Jack leaned toward the drawers.
Jack shimmied up to reach inside the drawer, their cocks crossing, the slit of Jack’s sliding over Ed’s shaft.
Jack rolled his hips against Ed before returning with a foiled condom, bottle of lube, and broad grin.
“You look like the cat who ate the canary.”
“You came to the game.”
A light pink blush worked up Ed’s chest and neck. Their gazes locked together. Ed’s heart pounded under his palm, making Jack smile so hard he was going to bust with contented laughter.
Ed swallowed and stuck two fingers into his smile. “I like being the reason for this.”
Jack sucked Ed’s fingers to the hilt and speared his tongue between them. The whimper that seeped out of Ed sent a rush of tingles that pooled and tightened in his groin.
Ed bucked off the bed. “Jesus, Jack. I’m not going to last if you keep this up.”
Jack would be lucky if he lasted ten minutes too.
He sat back on Ed’s knees, and Ed slightly adjusted his legs, spreading Jack’s asscheeks. A draft of air funneled over the nerve endings down his crack. He picked up the lube and poured a generous helping of the cool liquid on his palm. With his dry hand, he lifted one of Ed’s hands and pinned it over his head between the pillows. He braced himself, clenching their fingers together as he took their cocks into his lubed hand and stroked.
Ed gasped, and Jack sucked it into his mouth with a wet, frantic kiss.
He squeezed them once and shuffled a few inches down, traveling wet fingers over Ed’s balls, perineum. He circled the rim of his hole. Ed’s slickened cock rutted over the top of Jack’s stomach as Jack breached Ed with his thumb.