“Fuck, that’s probably the worst thing management could do. Now it looks like I get special treatment because of my orientation. That’s going to piss the phobes off more.”
“I dunno. It rang out pretty clear that there’ll be a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to you. I think that’s better than sitting back and hoping for the best.”
“Maybe I should’ve retired,” I mumble and head for the exit.
Jenkins follows me. “No way, man. You, Talon, Miller, and Carter are taking us to the Super Bowl.”
“Carter …” He was one of the ones at the table.
“One of the guys to look out for, yes. We’ll make sure to put him on the other side of the field to you.”
Being a wide receiver, Carter’s going to be fighting it out with me for ball time. Football players are competitive by nature. We all want to cross that end zone, and some people are bigger fame whores than others. Add Carter’s issues with me being gay, and I might have my first problem.
“We’re going to be unstoppable,” Jenkins says.
“At least one of us has faith.”
The team’s getting stronger and stronger every year. If stupid shit like my sexual orientation doesn’t get in the way, we have the talent to go the whole way, but right now I’m skeptical we’ll even make it through training together.
Back in the main bar area of the club, we run into Talon and Miller who’ve separated from the rest of the group. Miller’s juggling two drinks and a handsy woman at the same time. Now that’s talented. Talon has his hands occupied by the round ass of a tall redheaded woman.
“Either they move fast or we were in the bathroom a hell of a lot longer than I thought,” I say to Jenkins.
“Come on, you know what it’s like with these women.” He laughs when I raise a brow at him. “Then again, I guess not, but you can’t tell me you’ve never been cornered by a jersey chaser.”
True. Right before I generally made an exit from wherever the hell we were.
“Yo, Jackson,” Miller yells. “Drinks.” He hands them both to me.
“Both?”
“You said you needed something stronger.” Now Miller’s hands are free to roam over the blonde glued to his side.
Meanwhile, Talon’s trying to find the ginger’s tonsils. I throw back the drinks. The usual burn is multiplied, and I wonder if they’re doubles. At least the numbness should kick in soon.
Talon rips his mouth away long enough to say, “We’re out. Miller, you and … uh … your gorgeous date coming? After-party at my place.”
“I’m out too,” I say. After Jenkins cornered me in the bathroom, I don’t have any desire to go back to the table and try to decipher which of my teammates have put me on their shit list already.
Jenkins does the man-hug back slap thing. “See you guys at camp.”
Where I’m sure it’ll be just like high school all over again.
Football is my dream, I remind myself, because it’s easy to forget with all the bullshit.
The five of us stumble our way out of the club, right into a group of paparazzi.
Damn it.
Talon practically tosses me his date, and she falls into my arms as the lights from the cameras go off in Talon’s face.
Miller, the girls, and I are able to avoid the frenzy and escape up the street.
“I know I should feel bad, but thank fuck, Talon’s bigger than I am here,” I say.
“Yeah, I do not want to go through what you guys do,” Miller says.
The redhead’s arms wrap around my waist. “Are you going to come back with us to Marcus Talon’s house too?”
I can’t help laughing, and by the look of it, Miller’s trying to hold in his own laugh.
“Barking up the wrong tree, sweetheart,” he says.
“I thought … well, you know,” she says in an obvious tone—like her innuendo should be obvious. “The more, the merrier. That’s what Marcus Talon said, right?”
My eyebrows soar high, and shit gets awkward super fast. Not only because she keeps saying Talon’s name in full but because Miller can’t look at me.
I laugh my surprise off, but I don’t know if I sell it. “Your math is out, honey. Two guys, I get. Three guys, I get. Four guys … you get the picture. If I were to join you, that’d break dude law, and neither Talon or Miller would go for that.”
Not to mention even if they did, it’d be a dumb idea to hook up with a teammate.
Plus Noah.
Damn it. Can’t I go five minutes without thinking about him?
“Dude law?” the blonde asks while simultaneously being draped over Miller.
“Thou shalt not touch during a devil’s three-way,” Miller says with a smirk.
“I’m gay and even knew that was a thing,” I say.
The blonde appears confused as she pouts her lip. “But there’s four of us. Is it still a devil’s four-way?”