Dating Texas (Discovering Me #3)

by Ann Maree Craven

  “I can’t.” Diego’s shoulders slumped.

  “What about your work? I kind of miss the noise of your typing.”

  “I’m not supposed to work today.”

  “Why?”

  “My mentor wants me to take a day off before we dive into the next phase of my project.”

  “And without work, you’re totally lost, aren’t you?” Killian chuckled.

  “And sore from all the falling.”

  “What’s bothering you?”

  “My back and pretty much all my joints.”

  “You need to stretch and then rest for a while with some ice on your back. If you let your muscles get tight, it will just get worse. Try some Superman stretches, lat stretches, and bear hugs.”

  “What? You’re going to hug me?”

  “Sorry, forgot who I was talking to.” Killian shook his head with a smile, his dimple making an appearance.

  “Just watch me, and then do what I do.” Killian lay down on the bare floor at Diego’s feet. “Lay flat, relax for a moment, and then take a deep breath in and flex.” Killian’s arms, legs, and torso went rigid, lifting off the floor so only his pelvis supported him. As he exhaled, he relaxed his body, letting it sink back onto the floor.

  Killian hopped back up like he didn’t have an injured shoulder. “Do fifteen or twenty of those, and then I’ll show you lat stretches.”

  Diego lowered himself to the floor, wincing at the pain in his lower back. “Why is it called a Superman stretch?”

  “Because the stretch makes you look like Superman flying.”

  Diego tried to relax and take a deep breath like Killian showed him, but as he lifted his legs and shoulders off the floor, a lance of pain shot through his back, and he cried out.

  “Not so fast.” Killian placed a warm hand on his back. “Try that again, but slower this time.”

  Diego seemed to only have one speed with this stretch, and it was fast.

  Killian fell into a coughing fit as Diego tried to power through a few more Superman stretches. He hoped his roommate wasn’t getting sick.

  “Okay, you know what, five’s good. Let’s try lat stretches.” He pulled his desk chair across the room. “Kneel down and place your arms across the chair.” Killian helped him get into position. “This one should feel good. Just drop your head down, and let your body’s weight pull on those lower back muscles.

  “I like this one.” Diego let his weight shift between his arms and knees. The gentle stretch loosened the soreness in his back.

  “Stand up when you’re ready.”

  “I could probably just sleep like this, thank you.”

  “We’ve got one more stretch, and then you need to ice your back.”

  “Fine.” Diego climbed off the floor, feeling much better already. “This is the hug one?”

  “You’re going to hug yourself. Stand up tall and inhale as you spread your arms out to the side.” Killian showed him the movements, and Diego tried to mimic him.

  “Exhale and cross your arms over your chest with your right arm over your left, and give yourself a hug. Relax into it, and take another deep breath as you pull your shoulders forward. Hold it and then begin a slow exhale as you open your arms wide. Exhale and repeat until the muscles in your back relax from the tension.”

  Diego liked this one too. After a few more minutes, the ache in his back and his joints began to subside. “That’s so much better.”

  “Grab an ice pack from the fridge, and come sit on my bed.” Killian arranged the pillows on his bed including the one he was using to prop himself up against his headboard.

  “Give me that.” Killian took the ice pack from Diego’s hands. “Sit here.”

  Diego climbed onto Killian’s bed and sat back against the pillow with armrests.

  “Lean forward.” Killian instructed, placing the ice pack on Diego’s lower back.

  He leaned back and immediately leaned forward again. “Too cold.” He shook his head.

  Killian rolled his eyes, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around the ice pack. “Try it now.”

  “Still cold.”

  “That’s the whole point, man.”

  “It’s okay.” Diego sat back, looking up at Killian expectantly.

  Killian climbed up on the other side of the bed and sat back against the headboard beside Diego. Placing his laptop on his lap, he booted up his computer.

  “What are we doing?”

  “We’re going to watch a movie.”

  “Oh.” Diego stared blankly at the screen. The Netflix logo popped up a moment later.

  “We could binge-watch The Walking Dead. You’ve probably never seen it have you?”

  Diego shook his head. “What’s it about?”

  “The zombie apocalypse.”

  “Sounds gross.”

  “It’s so gross you’ll love it.”

  “Is this what they call Netflix and chill?” Diego turned toward his roommate.

  Killian threw his head back and laughed until tears leaked out of the corner of his eyes.

  “You have absolutely no idea why I’m laughing right now, do you?”

  “Not particularly, but that’s nothing new. People laugh at me all the time.”

  “I’m not laughing at you. You’re just funny.”

  “You mean weird.”

  “That too, but you make me laugh, and that’s a good thing, Diego. No, this isn’t quite what they mean when they say Netflix and chill, but it’s close enough.” Killian wiped the corner of his eye. “You want some leftover pizza?”

  “Sure.” Diego started to get up.

  “No, stay on that ice. I’ll get it.” Killian returned a moment later with reheated pizza on paper plates. “Don’t worry, I’ll recycle the plates.”

  “Thank you.” Diego accepted his plate.

  “Okay, so the first episode is kind of confusing, but it’s supposed to be that way.” Killian hit play, and a police officer came driving down the road to a car accident.

  “When does the apocalypse happen?” Diego took a bite of pepperoni pizza.

  “Just watch. It’s already happened, but the main guy doesn’t know it yet.”

  “Do they know what zombies are yet?”

  “Yes, but Rick doesn’t.”

  Diego watched for a few minutes as Rick—the sheriff—walked through a pileup of cars to a gas station, carrying an empty gas can.

  “There’s no sound.”

  “There’s not supposed to be sound.”

  “Will there be sound later?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ew, that’s gross. There are dead people in those cars. Why haven’t they buried them yet?”

  Killian reached to pause the show. “We’ve made it a whole minute and three seconds into the show and you’ve already asked a million questions.”

  “Sorry. I’ll stop.”

  Killian hit play, and a little girl came onto the screen, shuffling through the massive collision in her slippers. Rick followed her and finally spoke.

  “What’s wrong with her?”

  Killian ignored him, munching on his pizza instead.

  The girl stopped and turned around, her face a disgusting, rotting mess. Diego sat up straight, his arms gripping the edge of the pillow. “What’s wrong with her?” Rick began to back away from the girl, but she followed him, growling and hissing through her ruined mouth.

  “Oh my God, he’s going to shoot her.” Diego covered his eyes as the shot fired. He peered through his fingers to see the girl fall to the ground, and the music began to play with the opening credits.

  Killian laughed. “This is going to be so much fun.”

  “But you’ve seen it before.” Diego frowned at him.

  “Yeah, but I have never watched you watch The Walking Dead, and that’s going to be way more fun for me.”

  A knock sounded at the door, and Kenny and his boyfriend came into the room. “You guys have any pizza— Oh, look, babe, they had the same idea as us. Wh
at are you watching?”

  Diego’s eyes widened in surprise when Asher Brooks sat on the edge of his bed. He scrambled off Killian’s bed. “Mr. Brooks, hi.” Diego bent at his waist. “It’s so mice to neet you. I mean. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Diego Jackson. My dad is Vince Jackson, the financial tech giant. He’s had dealings with your parents in the past. But I’m not sure if he’s ever met you now that I think about it.” He held his hand out to shake the president’s son’s hand. “I’m actually developing an app myself that would interest your mother. She’s so involved in green living I think she’d love what I’m working on. It’s a game that gives players incentives to live a greener life and make more conscious efforts to save the environment. I’d love to send you the app when it’s in beta, just to see what you think. It’s just a game, though. Nothing hugely political or controversial. I’m working with a mentor to get it in beta later this year.”

  “Diego, take a breath.” Killian clapped him on the back. “Don’t mind my roommate, Asher, he likes to ask questions. We were just watching The Walking Dead if you two want to join us.”

  “Sounds good.” Kenny helped himself to some leftover pizza. “Want some, Ash?”

  “Yeah, thanks.” Asher turned his attention back to Diego. “So, this app of yours, it sounds like you’re trying to save the world. I’d love to hear more about it.”

  Diego launched into what was becoming his regular spiel about his project. Killian groaned and shook his head as Diego got more and more excited about Asher’s interest.

  “We should take this party upstairs to my room so we can watch on the big TV,” Kenny suggested.

  “Yeah, I can make popcorn to go with our pizza.” Asher stood, and Diego tried to hide his disappointment at losing his audience.

  “Relax.” Killian leaned closer. “He’s interested Just don’t overwhelm him with everything at once. We’ll just watch some Walking Dead and hang out. You’ll have another chance to tell him more about your project before he leaves. It sounds really impressive, by the way.”

  Diego checked to see if Killian was laughing at him again, but he seemed genuinely impressed. Diego followed the others out of the room, wondering how his quiet holiday break had become so noisy all of a sudden.

  9

  Killian

  It was too early to be awake. Killian tried going back to sleep, but the clicking of Diego’s keys seemed to grow louder the longer it went on.

  Rolling onto his side with a groan, Killian propped his head up on one hand, studying the roommate he’d made no effort to get to know until recently.

  Diego Jackson was unlike anyone he’d ever met. There was a certain innocence about him that reminded Killian of Rory. Just the thought of that made him smile.

  He assumed Diego had an easy life, one of privileges and an ability to think his dreams were within reach. As Killian scratched and clawed for everything, working harder than anyone else just to have scouts take notice, the kids of this school wasted the opportunities afforded to them.

  But not Diego.

  Killian hadn’t realized it until the night before when Diego rambled to Asher all about his app. The guy wanted to do something good, and he had the knowledge to get it done.

  Saving the planet was never high on Killian’s list. He was from Texas. Try telling the ranchers of San Antonio to eat less meat or that they should drive far out of their way to recycle every last scrap of plastic. There sure as hell wasn’t a recycling pickup out where Killian’s family lived.

  Yet, something in the wide-eyed optimism of this California boy made Killian want to do something good too.

  His sole focus since coming to Defiance Academy was on hockey, but hanging with the guys over the last couple weeks made him think there was more out there than his single-minded pursuit. He saw people like Kenny and Asher shrug off the media storm their relationship caused because they wanted to be with each other.

  It was different for Killian. Being gay had never been a problem for him. He’d never had to have the big discussions. His mom might not know, but only because he’d never had a boyfriend and felt no need to discuss his love life otherwise. He was proud of who he was and had never gone through some of the shame other kids his age did.

  It didn’t make him stronger than them. Maybe only lucky.

  His eyes drifted back to where Diego sat hunched over his keyboard. The guy said he wasn’t into sports, but you couldn’t tell by looking at him. Lean muscles stretched up the pale, smooth skin of his bare back. He wore flannel pajama pants and ridiculously fuzzy monster slippers.

  His dark hair was flattened to the side from sleeping. Black stubble dotted his cheeks, making him look older than he was.

  Sliding from the bed, Killian waited for Diego to realize he was awake and acknowledge him, but he never did.

  Killian crossed the room and peered over Diego’s shoulder at the lines of code quickly appearing on the screen. He wished he could have said he understood what any of it meant, but he’d have been lying.

  And Killian James didn’t lie.

  He glanced down at Diego, noticing a faint bruise on his lower back. “Are you still sore?”

  Diego didn’t respond. His eyes squinted behind his glasses as he continued to type.

  “Diego.” Killian shook his head. “You don’t even know I’m here right now, do you?”

  He reached out and put a hand on Diego’s shoulder. As if the touch sent a jolt of electricity through him, Diego jumped from the chair, his arms shooting into the air. “Yes!”

  His chest heaved as a grin overtook his face.

  Killian stepped back. “Umm…care to fill me in?”

  Diego turned to him as if noticing he wasn’t alone for the first time. A red blush crept up his neck. “I did it.”

  “Did what?”

  “I was trying to create an algorithm that would allow the tree to grow as players moved through the levels. I finally figured it out.”

  “Do you want me to pretend I understand what you’re talking about or ask questions I know you’re dying to answer?”

  “Questions, please.” Diego ran a hand through his hair, making it more messy than it already was.

  Killian couldn’t help but be excited for him even if he didn’t know what any of this meant. The glee shining in his eyes was such pure happiness. “So, this tree… It grows?”

  Diego nodded. “When players earn points doing things that are good for the planet, they move on to the next level. Each time, their tree grows larger. But they also have to tend to the tree.”

  “That sounds cool.” And it did. But anything with computers was a complete loss to Killian. He’d never even grown up playing video games, instead working on the ranch or playing hockey. Was this how Diego felt out on the ice with the guys? Completely out of his element?

  “I don’t know if cool is the right word.” Diego’s smile dimmed, and he sat back in his chair. “I doubt anyone will want to play it. Maybe a few nerds like me.”

  “I’d play it.”

  Diego’s face brightened like Killian had just made his day. “Really?”

  “I mean, the Earth is important, right? I don’t really do video games, but…” He shrugged.

  “What do you mean you don’t do video games?”

  “Just what I said.”

  “But…” Diego gaped. “Not even Fallout?”

  “Nope.”

  “ZELDA?!”

  Killian shrank away from him. “Dude, why are you yelling at me?”

  “I’m sorry.” Diego put a hand to his chest. “It’s just… Wow. We have nothing in common, do we?”

  “Of course, we do.”

  “No. You’re all about hockey and whatever Texas cowboys do—”

  “Texas cowboys?” Killian smirked.

  Diego continued. “And I’m a computer and video game guy.”

  Killian couldn’t refute the truth in his words. If they weren’t two of the only people on campus for break, would they
even have become friends? He wasn’t sure, but he was glad they had. Though, he’d never admit that to anyone.

  Diego stood and walked to the fridge, wincing as he bent to open it. Killian jumped to his feet. “You’re still sore.”

  “A little,” Diego admitted as he took a bottle of water out and shut the door.

  “That’s a nasty bruise.”

  “Not as bad as your shoulder sprain.” He took a swig.

  “But I’m used to pain. It’s part of the gig.”

  Diego settled back into his chair and met Killian’s gaze. “Then why do you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Play hockey.”

  He knew what most people expected with a question like that. They thought he’d say he loved it and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. And that was true. But a lot of guys who loved hockey didn’t train as hard as he did; they didn’t live the sport.

  It wasn’t like him to talk about his family with anyone, but the honest, open way Diego looked at him, made him want to be real.

  “I’m going to take care of my family.”

  “That doesn’t explain—”

  “When I make it to the NHL—and I will—it won’t be because I’m the best. There will always be guys better than me. It’ll be because I worked the hardest. And I do that, I give up everything else, because my mom deserves to stop worrying about getting the bills paid as she works herself to the bone. My sisters deserve the chance to go to college or see the world or do whatever they want with their lives.”

  Diego was quiet for a long moment. “I honestly don’t know how to respond to that.”

  “Where is my roommate and his million questions?”

  The joke fell flat when Diego gave him a strange look. “I’m right here.”

  Killian laughed. “Right. I forgot to wink.”

  “Oh. It was a joke.”

  A laugh burst out of Killian. “Dude, you’re ridiculous.”

  “That’s a bad thing, right?”

  Killian studied him. “I used to think so, but now, I’m not so sure.”

  Diego’s face flushed.

  “You asked me once what it was like to have sisters.”