Out of Bounds (Reedsville Roosters #5)

by Holley Trent

  “Better now that you’re here?”

  “That’s a start. I’ll take that.” She gestured to the empty plate of him. “Go fill that. Think of a better answer while you’re gone.”

  Gary took his plate to the breakfast bar and filled it with a variety of meats and carbs, but he still couldn’t come up with a better response.

  When he returned to the table, Lo stared at him over the top of her coffee cup and sipped.

  “All right. Let me have it.” He speared a bit of watermelon. The liquid content was so high, he’d feel like he wasn’t eating anything of substance—a good start to an unwanted meal.

  “You should have talked to us,” she said.

  “And done what? Reminded you of how fucking needy I am? About how I can’t get on without having handlers?”

  “I thought we were a little more than that to you.”

  “You were.” He let out a breath and pinched the bride of his nose. “You are, Lo. You and Dean are… I hate thinking about what could have been.”

  “You didn’t try to let it be. You wouldn’t let us help you. We’re not trying to be your parents, Gary. Maybe we just know what to do with you a little better than most other folks. And maybe we don’t mind the job so much, so why don’t you let us do it?”

  “I guess Clint told you everything, huh?”

  Lo shrugged. “He said that he always knows what’s going on with you even when he can’t help you. How about for a change you allow some people into your life who always know what’s going on and who can take turns being what you need? Tell me what you want, and I’ll tell you that you’re not asking for too much. I want to help you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because in spite of you being annoyingly aggressive at times, you’re so lovable, and you add a little something to the mix with me and Dean that just can’t be replicated. Maybe it’s that element of unpredictability or something that makes us forget how afraid we are of each other so we can just love each other.”

  “Unpredictable. That’s what my seventh grade teacher used to write all over my report cards.”

  “That word doesn’t have to be a negative one. You just need to know how to funnel that energy.”

  “There goes someone else, sounding like a therapist.”

  Lo smiled. “I’m full of good ideas.” She pushed her phone across the table. “Dean’s up. Call him before he goes to work so he’ll stop being mad at you.”

  “He’ll yell at me.”

  “He’s not gonna yell at you, though I still may. Only reason I haven’t is because we’re in public and I’m playing the part of a professional today.”

  Gary picked up the phone and dialed. “You can yell at me later. Not gonna lie. Humiliation kinda turns me on.” He added in a whisper. “Especially in public.”

  “Huh. So you are still in that shell of a person who looks like Gary.”

  “Yeah. I’m in here somewhere. Just tamer.”

  “We’ll work on that.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  At the squeeze of his knee beneath the diner table, Gary leaned toward Dean. “Mm?”

  “You’re probably getting tired of being asked, but how are you feeling?” Dean whispered.

  “Like a rabid squirrel in a nut factory.”

  Dean chuckled and pushed the remnant of his chocolate pie across the table to Lo.

  “You’re tapering off from the meds okay, though, right?” Lo asked.

  “Yeah. I keep surprising myself at how my personality reasserts itself.”

  “It’s like you’ve been liberated from the Borg collective or something.” Lo grinned.

  “Star Trek went off the air ages ago. You need to find better contemporary references if you’re gonna be a solid geek, girl.”

  She rolled her eyes and flicked a little condensation from her beer bottle at him.

  “So…” He drummed his fingers atop the table and looked from one Yeats to the other, and then again. He hadn’t seen them both together in months because of the way their work schedules had shaken out, but most weekends, one or the other—or Clint—was in Philly.

  Gary wasn’t exactly comfortable with the transition, but he knew the situation could have been worse. He was happy as hell he hadn’t made any new enemies or pissed off a coach yet, but he suspected that having goals helped. At the start of every week, there was someone there to hold him accountable, and he didn’t really want to disappoint anyone. Surprisingly, he found himself included in that “anyone.” That hadn’t always been the case, and wondered if that made the biggest difference.

  Dean worked his hand farther up Gary’s thigh.

  Gary let out a nervous titter and grabbed Dean’s wrist. “You think we could, uh…go back to my place now?”

  “What’s the hurry?”

  “You know damn well what the hurry is.”

  “You’ll be all right.” He shook Gary’s hand off his wrist and continued his brazen groping of Gary’s inner thigh and what happened to be pressed against it.

  “There you are!”

  At Mike’s approach, Lo stood with her hand extended for him, and Gary was grateful for the tablecloth obscuring his crotch.

  “Thanks for meeting us. I know you’re busy this time of year,” Lo told Mike.

  “No worries.”

  Gary extended a hand to shake, offering the man a tense smile. “Sorry for not standing. I had a…charley horse.”

  Dean chuckled and raised his beer to his lips.

  “You’ve met my husband, haven’t you?” Lo asked Mike.

  “Yep. See him all the time in the field box. I try to pay attention to who’s redeeming those free tickets.” He slid into the seat beside Lo. “Good to have friends show up for games. At least you know you’ll always have one friendly face in the crowd, right?”

  “He’s my good luck charm,” Gary said. He broke a breadstick in half and took a bite of the soft middle. “All I have to do is think about the disapproving faces he makes when I make bad decisions, and just like that, my performance improves a hundred and fifty percent.”

  “I’ve never seen Dean make a disapproving face,” Lo said.

  “Stick around long enough, and you will,” Gary muttered, and Dean found that hot spot on Gary’s inner thigh again.

  Gary suppressed a whimper. Dean could be an asshole when he wanted to be, whether Lo wanted to believe that or not, and Gary was anxious that the next time he stood, he’d be walking away from the table with a limp. The limp wouldn’t be from fun aerobic things they’d done the night before, either—Gary’s schedule had put him in a hell of a dry spell—but because Dean would make him come right there at that table with no concern whatsoever for the awkward wet spot Gary would have to go clean up.

  “We won’t hold you up for long.” Lo pulled a stack of papers out of her tote and slid them to Mike. “Talked to the lawyer. I circled all the things that we need some room on. You’re gonna have to be a little more flexible with some of those arrival times unless you’re gonna assign a trainer to wake him up and get him to field every day.”

  “I appreciate you being upfront about why.”

  She shrugged. “He’s not a rock star or a diva, and I don’t want that reputation anywhere near him. If Gary’s late, it’s because he got distracted. There’s only so much nagging we can do for him from North Carolina.”

  “Hmm. I think we’ve got one other player who lives in that part of town who actually is a little bit of a diva,” Mike said. “Can probably do double duty. I think I know who I could do that run every morning. She’s a hard-ass, but she generally can tell what’s what.”

  “Is she cute?” Lo asked flatly. “Is she going to be a…distraction?”

  Gary batted his eyelashes at her.

  Not that he’d say so in front of Mike, but he wouldn’t stray. He was only promiscuous when he was being paid to be, and he wasn’t particularly interested in rehashing that part of his life, and certainly not at the expense of giving up peop
le who actually loved him back. He was reckless, but he wasn’t stupid.

  “Cute? Flora?” Mike asked. “She’s like a cross between a Sherman tank and Margaret Thatcher. I don’t know if I’d call her cute, nor should you.”

  “Duly noted,” Lo said.

  “Anything else?” Mike asked.

  “I know you’re not gonna budge on dollars since what you’re offering is standard for players of his tenure, there are some other things I’d like more than a verbal agreement on. Nothing major—just quality of life stuff. I’m sure you understand.”

  Mike clucked his tongue as he read and drummed the end of his gold pen against the tabletop. “I’ll put this in front of the other dudes in suits and see what they say.”

  “Great.” Lo held out her hands gain. “Thank you for your time.”

  “No. Thank you for not setting my pubes on fire as my assistant suggested you would.”

  “Whatever would have given her the idea I’d do such a thing?”

  Mike shook his head and stood. He picked up the check and his briefcase, and then grunted. “All I’m gonna say is you’ve already got a reputation in this business.”

  “If I’d been a man, nobody would have thought twice about me being a little pushy.”

  “That’s the thing.” Mike pointed the check at her. “You’re not only pushy, but you get people confused. You get them all tied up in their own words, and it’s like you don’t even have to try.”

  “Letting her have her way is usually the smartest course of action,” Dean said.

  Mike nodded bleakly. “Yep. I’m learning that lesson. Whatever you’re paying her isn’t enough, Morstad.”

  Gary shrugged, and Mike went on his way.

  Lo propped her chin atop her fist and blinked at Gary demurely.

  Everyone at that table would have known damn well she was anything but demure.

  “You should pay me,” she said.

  “Well, you know, I’m kind of low on cash at the moment. Apparently my agent diverted my last couple of checks to cover some bills I’d forgotten to take care of.”

  “That’s okay.” She picked up her tote bag, pushed back from the table, and then gestured toward the door.

  Dean stood, too, and pulled Gary’s chair out. He leaned down and whispered, “Lo has a new camera.”

  “Huh?”

  “And a tripod in her suitcase.”

  “Does she, now?” Gary asked.

  “Mm-hmm. Know what else she has?”

  “What?”

  “A brand new mask for you. Hope you like latex. Comes with a ball gag.”

  “Holy shit.” Gary stood and hurried to catch up to Lo.

  While waiting for the valet to bring the Yeats’s rental car around, he leaned in to Lo and whispered, “So…you’re gonna put me on the Internet? Is that how you’re gonna earn your fee?”

  “I haven’t decided yet. Maybe I’ll just keep the video for future leverage.”

  “What am I going to be doing in the video besides wearing a mask?”

  “Oh, you know,” Dean said, giving Gary’s ass a little pat. “Post-season review. Play-by-plays so we can correct your sloppy form. We need to get your ass into shape again.”

  “Oh, you’re cold.”

  Lo laughed and pulled Gary into one of those crushing, tight hugs that were always so good at putting him at ease. “You don’t mind, do you, Gary?”

  “You kidding me? I tried to put the moves on another guy’s wife, and ended up with the guy and his wife. I don’t mind at all. And Lo?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Where are your rings?”

  Lo raised her bare hand to eye-level, screamed loud enough to wake the newly dead, and then ran back into the restaurant.

  Dean sighed. “Why’d you have to do that? You saw me pick up the rings from the floor.”

  Grinning, Gary rocked back on his heels. “I guess I’m bratty that way.”

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  I hope you’ve enjoyed this visit to Reedsville!

  I had a lot of readers of the Den of Sin series ask when we were going to see Clint, Ken, and Olivia (from O for Two) again. I didn’t want to do a sequel for that trio—in my mind, they were happy and stuck with each other—but I realize folks can’t possibly be sure of that unless I tell them. I figured the best way to show what Clint, Ken, and Olivia have been up to was to bring them in to support their friends and family members. I hope their “happily ever after” is a satisfying one!

  So, what’ll happen next in Reedsville? Well, I can tell you it’ll be another novel like this one and that it’ll probably be ménage. Beyond that, I haven’t decided. Reader opinions help me a lot, though, so tweet at me or tag me on Facebook and tell me who you want to see more of! Charles and the mysterious Juana? Cameron and whoever was helping him rattle that headboard? Or maybe someone else who’s fallen off my radar?

  In the meantime, catch up on other Reedsville Roosters stories if you haven’t already. You never know when some background character may pop back into the series.

  Oh! And please consider leaving an honest review for it wherever you purchased the story to help other readers find it.

  Suggested Reedsville Roosters Reading Order:

  Winterball (m/m)

  One in Waiting (m/m/f)

  Lucky Break (m/f)

  Designated Hitter (m/f)

  Out of Bounds – (m/m/f)

  Subscribe to my contemporary romance newsletter so you don’t miss a single Reedsville release!

  ABOUT HOLLEY TRENT

  Holley Trent is an award-winning author of more than forty works of contemporary, paranormal, and erotic romance. Raised in rural, coastal North Carolina, she currently makes the Colorado Front Range her home.

  In addition to her independently published works, she has books available through Crimson Romance and Kensington Publishing. See her full backlist of stories at her website.

  Want to chat about Out of Bounds, the hunks on the Reedsville Roosters team, or other topics? Catch her online on Twitter where she tweets under the handle @holleytrent. You can also chat with her on Facebook.

  See her full backlist of titles at her website, and subscribe to her contemporary romance newsletter so you don’t miss a single Reedsville release.

  COPYRIGHT AND CREDITS

  OUT OF BOUNDS

  Copyright © 2016 by Holley Trent

  All rights reserved. Except for use in review, no part of this work may be reproduced in any format without permission of the author.

  OUT OF BOUNDS is a work of fiction. Names, places, entities, and scenarios in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Cover art credits:

  Model stock: © ysbrandcosijn – Adobe Stock

  Background: © Juhku – Adobe Stock

  Rooster stock: ©inga via Dollar Photo Club

  Copy edits by Jen Duffey