The Quarterback

by Mackenzie Blair

  Drew stomped over and swung it open.

  And there stood Matt. With a dozen red roses, a bag of frozen peas, and tequila. Drew’s eyes widened in surprise, but Matt didn’t even take notice of him. He strode right past Drew toward Trevor, dropped his offerings on the bed, and cradled Trevor’s chin. He assessed the damage. Trevor could tell a nasty bruise was already forming. His lip had stopped bleeding, but it was swollen and purple.

  “Babe,” Matt whispered, as if he too was in pain, as if the endearment had just come naturally, and then he leaned forward and gently kissed Trevor’s bruises.

  Trevor closed his eyes, willing the sudden tightness in his throat away. He reached forward to clutch Matt’s biceps. “Hi,” Trevor whispered back, but he didn’t say more, trying to get control of his emotions. There was no reason to get upset; he’d been through a lot worse than a punch and some slurs in his life. But he’d never expected Matt to show up at his doorstep. He thought Matt would run, put distance between them.

  But he was here.

  “I’m so sorry.” Matt wrapped his arms around Trevor. Trevor almost fought against the sweet comfort he was offering. It wasn’t something he was used to. It wasn’t something he wanted to want. But he was breaking every rule with Matt Lancaster.

  Matt leaned back, holding up the tequila and bag of peas. “I brought you pain medicine,” he said with a teasing smile.

  Trevor laughed, the heaviness of the moment deflated. He nodded to the flowers. “And the roses?”

  Matt sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “An apology. For the fact I play ball with those assholes. If they use the word ‘fag’ again, I made it clear I’d kill them.”

  Trevor raised an eyebrow. “That might make them suspicious.”

  “I, um, lumped it in with a string of really bad slurs that weren’t gonna be tolerated.”

  “Clever,” Trevor said, placing the peas against his throbbing lip and closing his eyes. Tonight had been hell. So much for their first attempt hanging out at a party together.

  “Do you hate me?” Matt asked in a really small voice.

  Trevor popped his eyes open. “No. You brought me fucking flowers. Seriously ballsy move, quarterback.”

  Matt laughed and shrugged. Then he ran his hands up and down Trevor’s upper arms. “Yeah, but now I wanna kiss you and I can’t. He nailed you hard.” He leaned forward and kissed the corner of Trevor’s mouth that had escaped damage.

  “You could nail me harder?” Trevor taunted with a smirk.

  “Oh for god’s sake!” Drew suddenly shouted from the corner. How the hell had they forgotten he was in the room? “Forget what I said earlier. Marry the fucking man. He’s perfect.”

  Trevor laughed and then winced immediately. “Behave, Drew,” Trevor warned.

  Drew ignored him and wrapped an arm around Matt’s neck from behind. “Is lover boy sleeping over?”

  Matt hesitated, his eyes wide. “Um, I don’t know . . .”

  “It’s a coed floor,” Drew pointed out. “If anyone sees you in the morning, they’ll just think you hooked up with a chick.”

  “We are at the end of the hall by the exit. I’ll make sure the coast is clear,” Trevor offered, then immediately regretted his words. He didn’t need someone to sleep with him, coddle him. He was fine. It had been a shitty night, but he didn’t want Matt to feel obligated or anything.

  So he was completely thrown when Matt nervously asked, “Is it all right if I stay? I mean, do you want me to?”

  Trevor realized Matt’s hesitation wasn’t because he was scared of discovery, but rather of not being wanted. Had Matt ever spent the night with a guy? Of course not. Ah man, that was stinking adorable. Trevor had never found things adorable until recently. Yup, this was going to end in disaster. But fuck it.

  Trevor grabbed Matt’s shirt and pulled him close. “You should stay, but I’m the big spoon.”

  “Gross.” Drew groaned. “Matt, you’ve turned him into a mush ball.”

  “Bite me,” Trevor snapped back, looking over Matt’s shoulder to glare at Drew. Even though he was right.

  The temptation of Trevor’s nearness proved to be apparently too much for Matt, because he mumbled, “Okay,” and then bit gently into Trevor’s neck despite their audience. Trevor tried to stifle his groan as Matt then licked his skin.

  Drew shook his head and grabbed his bathroom caddy. “I’m going to get ready for bed. If I come back and you two are having sex . . .” he paused dramatically “. . . I am so watching.” He winked and headed out.

  The door shut behind Drew, and Matt watched as Trevor crawled onto the bed, holding the frozen peas against his jaw. Matt had no idea what he was supposed to do now. He figured removing the tequila and roses from the bed was a start, so he grabbed them both and set them on Trevor’s desk. Now what? He’d never actually slept in the same bed as another person. Somehow that seemed more intimate than everything they’d done together sexually. Well, except the ass licking. Matt felt himself blush just thinking about that.

  “You want pajama bottoms?” Trevor asked.

  Matt looked up and found Trevor watching him with amusement, probably guessing his thoughts. “Do you sleep in pajama bottoms?” he asked.

  Trevor shook his head. “Just my underwear.”

  “Me too.” Matt slipped off his shoes, then his jacket.

  “You sporting boxers or briefs tonight?”

  “Boxers.” Matt shrugged. “After being in a jockstrap all day, the boys need to breathe.”

  Trevor laughed and tossed the peas at him. “Here, put these back in the fridge for me.”

  Matt dutifully shoved them in the small freezer section of the fridge as Trevor shimmied out of his jeans and pulled off his T-shirt. A moment later he was sliding under his covers. “Can you get my desk lamp?”

  Matt nodded and switched off the light, then he slid out of his own jeans and shirt. He hesitated when he reached the side of Trevor’s bed. “What about the overhead light?”

  “Drew’ll get it,” Trevor replied, then pulled back the cover to invite Matt into bed. “You look terrified.”

  “I’m not terrified.” Matt glared, sliding into bed next to him. He fluffed Trevor’s extra pillow behind his head. He could feel his boyfriend staring at him like he might bolt. “Stop looking at me like that.”

  “I was just wondering if you snore,” Trevor asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “How the hell should I know?” Matt sighed. “I’m asleep.”

  “Well, what does your roommate say?”

  “Connor’s never said anything,” Matt replied, rolling his eyes.

  The door opened, and Drew entered with a jar filled with water, apparently for the roses. He swiveled to look at them. “Damn, nothing exciting happening.” He sighed with disappointment.

  Then Drew plopped the flowers into the makeshift vase and tossed off his robe, revealing comfy flannel pajama pants. He switched off the overhead light as he crawled into his own bed. He even threw on a pair of headphones.

  Matt let out a sigh of relief at being plunged into darkness. It suddenly felt a lot less awkward. Trevor slid an arm across his waist, then nudged him onto his side, spooning him. He felt Trevor’s warmth all along his back, and he relaxed into it. He slid his hand down to Trevor’s hand, then figured what the hell, and laced his fingers through Trevor’s. Trevor squeezed his hand back and kissed his shoulder.

  “This okay?” Trevor asked.

  Matt shrugged. “I don’t know if I’m a little spoon.”

  He felt Trevor nod behind him. “I’m verse, so let me know.”

  Matt almost groaned at that innuendo, but within minutes the events of the evening and the day’s game caught up with him, and he was out cold.

  Birds were chirping. Why the hell were birds chirping? Matt opened his eyes and realized he was in Trevor’s room, which had a window overlooking a massive tree. Hence the birds. He smiled when he noticed that at some point in the night he’d becom
e the big spoon. His arm was slung over Trevor’s waist. His morning wood was now nestled against Trevor’s ass. He could get used to this.

  But then an alarm went off, and he jerked around to see Drew slamming his hand down on the snooze button.

  “Rehearsals,” Drew mumbled, then slid out of bed and headed toward the bathroom.

  “What time is it?” Trevor asked sleepily into his pillow.

  Matt peered over at the alarm clock. “Eight.”

  “Too early,” he grumbled. Then Trevor scooted backward and rubbed his ass against Matt’s boner. Matt groaned and tightened his arm around Trevor’s waist, then skidded lower to wrap his hand around Trevor’s own morning hard-on. They silently slid against each other for a few minutes until Drew reentered.

  Apparently, they were pretty obvious, because Drew took pity on them and hurriedly dressed, then left them to their debauchery.

  The moment the door shut behind Drew, Trevor slid off his briefs, as did Matt. They reached for each other, and Trevor gently tugged on Matt’s balls, then started to jack him. Matt did the same as he placed open-mouthed, filthy kisses along Trevor’s neck until they both orgasmed, shooting over each other’s hands.

  Trevor grabbed a dirty T-shirt off the floor to clean them up, then he slid his leg between Matt’s thighs and used his biceps as a pillow. “Good morning,” he drawled, then winced.

  “Morning,” Matt replied, feeling like shit for what went down the night before. Trevor’s lip was swollen, but not as bad as he’d feared. Matt hunkered down into the sheets, wanting to hide from the world. “I don’t want to get up.”

  “So don’t.” Trevor shrugged.

  “I have to,” Matt replied. “I’m supposed to meet the guys for weight-lifting.”

  “Ugh, I forgot I agreed to swap shifts at the coffeehouse. I should get up too.”

  But neither of them moved. Matt lazily rubbed his fingers in circles on Trevor’s shoulders and back. In all the chaos of last night, he’d almost forgotten that he’d invited Jocelyn to Homecoming. He knew he needed to tell Trevor, but he didn’t want to ruin the moment. On the other hand, he didn’t want his boyfriend to hear it from anyone else.

  “So listen,” Matt started. “Um, you know Homecoming’s next weekend, right?”

  “I guess,” Trevor said. “It’s when all the alums descend on Bodine, right? There’s a tailgate before the big game.”

  “Yeah, so there’s this thing called Senior Send-off. The seniors have to do this stupid walk across the field as we’re introduced and we . . . bring a date. You know, like in Homecoming court in high school.”

  “Seriously?” Trevor asked.

  “Yeah, the band does this parade around the track with the cheerleaders and various clubs. It’s not too bad. And as a senior and captain, I kinda have to do it.”

  “Okay,” Trevor said, propping himself up on his elbow. “I doubt you’re asking me to be your arm candy.”

  “Uh no.” Matt laughed self-consciously. “I’m bringing Jocelyn.”

  “Ah.” Trevor rolled onto his back.

  “It’s not a big deal. She’s just a friend.”

  “Sure.” Trevor gave a tight smile.

  “Look, I’m really sorry if it bothers you. But you won’t even be at the game, right? So you won’t have to watch me making an ass of myself.”

  “I’m never at the games,” Trevor said tersely.

  Matt hesitated. Did Trevor want to go to the games? He’d always seemed uninterested. Well, fuck it, he might as well ask. “Do you want to be at the game?”

  Trevor shrugged, looking at him pointedly. “Do you want me at the game?”

  Matt hated the question being thrown back at him, but he understood. His gut reaction was yes; hell yes, he wanted his boyfriend in the stands. But not being able to acknowledge Trevor . . . “I could get you seats if you wanted. Probably not in the friends and family section though because my dad and—”

  “Right, of course not. Don’t worry about it,” Trevor replied quickly, cutting him off. He crawled over Matt and out of bed, grabbing a clean pair of briefs from his drawer.

  Matt cringed. He could tell he’d hurt Trevor’s feelings. But what the hell was he supposed to do? “Shit, Trevor, I’m sorry.” He sat up, reaching out for Trevor, trying to bring him back to bed.

  Trevor looked up at him and apparently decided to take pity on him. He leaned in and gave Matt a quick kiss. Then another one, as if he couldn’t resist despite the pain it must have caused him. When he pulled back, Trevor even managed a smile. “It’s fine. Now come on, get dressed. We both have to head out.”

  Matt hesitated, wondering if they should discuss it more. But what the hell could he say? Trevor knew Matt was in the deep dark closet and it had to stay that way. So instead he just nodded and slid out from under the covers and pulled on his clothes from the night before.

  “Am I doing the walk of shame?” Matt asked, spotting his messy bedhead in the mirror.

  “Hell yeah, slut,” Trevor replied, then swatted his butt.

  Matt laughed. “You’re an asshole.”

  “I love it when you talk about my asshole,” Trevor joked. He leaned in and gave him a long, deep, filthy kiss. Matt held Trevor hard against him. Damn, he loved this man— No, no, wait, he wasn’t in love.

  He couldn’t be. They’d only been dating a few months.

  Matt pulled back, breathing heavily, staring at Trevor, at his fucking gorgeous face and tangled hair. Trevor’s smile that made Matt want to please him every damn day. The longer he stared at Trevor, the more he felt the sinking feeling in his stomach. Shit, was this love?

  “You okay?” Trevor asked.

  “Come to the game,” Matt heard himself say.

  Trevor stared at him for a long moment, and Matt held his breath, wanting to yank the words back. But only because he was afraid Trevor was going to reject him. And sure enough, Trevor shook his head.

  “Nah, it’s okay. It’s not a good idea.” Then Trevor went over to the door and peeked out, scanning the hallway.

  Matt turned away, trying to hide how much that had just crushed him. But the hurt started to turn to anger. He’d just risked everything—well, not everything, but something—and Trevor had coldly rejected him. Even though Matt was the one who had everything to lose.

  Behind him, he heard Trevor say, “The coast is clear.”

  Matt gave a terse nod, then slid past Trevor. He didn’t even look at him. He couldn’t. He knew he’d start an argument that would just end badly.

  Trevor seemed to feel the same way. Because the moment he was out the door, it was closed firmly behind him. Matt shoved his hands into his pockets, wishing he had his earbuds so he could listen to some angry music on the walk home.

  And then it only got worse when he heard: “Lancaster, that you? Who’d you fuck last night?”

  Matt whirled around to see O’Donnell exiting a room down the hallway. Seriously? How could his luck be this bad?

  “No one. Just someone,” Matt stammered, completely thrown. “What are you doing here?” he asked, trying to throw the challenge back at O’Donnell.

  “Uh, my girlfriend, Lindsey, lives here.”

  “Oh right.” Yeah, Matt vaguely remembered O’Donnell had a girlfriend. Jesus, who would want to date this asshole?

  “So, uh, sorry about last night,” O’Donnell said, running his hands through his hair, and looking incredibly uncomfortable. Matt thought he must be hallucinating. O’Donnell almost seemed to feel bad. “Team needs to win the Championship. Can’t do that if we’re fighting.”

  Ah, so that was it. Self-interest.

  “Sure, right,” Matt said, zipping up his hoodie.

  “You’re gonna take us all the way, right Lancaster? You know what’s at stake?” O’Donnell asked, seeming pretty damn earnest about it. When Matt didn’t respond, he shook his head in annoyance. “You may not want to go pro, but some of us do.”

  Matt sighed. O’Donnell was right. He
owed it to the guys to make them look great on the field this season. “I hear you.” Matt nodded.

  “Okay, cool,” O’Donnell replied, then opened his mouth as if to say more, but he must’ve thought better of it because he turned and headed through the door to the stairwell. “Later.”

  Before Matt could even process what had happened, the door opened behind him. Trevor stepped out, wrapped in just a towel. “Whoa, what are you still doing here?”

  Matt brushed past him and stormed into Trevor’s dorm room. Trevor followed.

  As soon as the door was soundly shut, Matt snapped, ”The coast wasn’t fucking clear!”

  “I— Shit, I’m sorry. What happened?” Trevor moved closer.

  But Matt backed away. “You just outed me to O’Donnell. The best friend of that psycho you decided to stupidly punch last night.”

  “Hey, he deserved it,” Trevor said, crossing his arms and glaring. “And I didn’t out you. He probably has no idea this is my room.”

  “You don’t know that for sure!” Matt practically shouted, feeling the fear turn into anger. And there was only one person in the room to direct that anger at. “Fuck, I never should have stayed here last night!”

  “Hey, I didn’t force you.”

  “Oh, please, you gave me puppy-dog eyes,” Matt growled.

  Trevor locked his jaw. “Like hell I did. I can take care of myself.”

  “Oh, yeah, great job you’re doing. Your life’s such a mess you were whoring yourself out at a sleazy massage parlor.” The words were out of Matt’s mouth before he could stop them. He watched the rage wash over Trevor’s face, and then it was like he shut down.

  “At least, I’m not the one who had to pay for it,” Trevor coldly tossed back. “And you couldn’t even do that. Connor had to.”

  “Fuck off. I didn’t need to pay you. You’ve wanted me since freshman year.”

  “Well, I don’t want you right now,” Trevor snarled. “So get out. I’m sure Connor’s worried sick.”

  “He would be if he knew I was here,” Matt snapped back.

  Trevor’s eyes narrowed. “You haven’t fucking told him, have you?” Trevor shouted.