Page 45 of Bar Down

“Think you can handle it?” I ask with a smirk.

This coaxes a smile out of Ash. “Yeah,pretty boy. I think I can.”

Fifteen minutes later, after getting twenty pucks by me, Ash and I clear the ice and head to the locker room for a quick shower. I throw my head back and groan as I think about the beautiful bar down shot he took which caught me completely off guard. The puck hit the bottom of the crossbar with such precision before falling perfectly into the net. I’m still thinking about it as I take off my equipment.

Once we’re both in our underlayers, I order the pizza on my phone and strip naked, looking behind me at Ash and tilting my head for him to join me in the shower. There’s no one else in the building right now, except for the guy that runs the zamboni, but he’s not going to come into the locker rooms.

Ash tosses his under-layer in the backpack, grabs something from a pocket and bounds into the shower behind me.

“What’s that?” I ask, nodding to his closed fist.

He smiles and kisses me hard, knocking us both under the lukewarm water. His free hand reaches down and pumps me, gripping just right and I groan into his mouth. “Fuck,ilo.”

“What does that word mean?”

I grab his wrist and try to see what he’s hiding in his hand but he snatches it away and lifts it above our heads. “Come on now, what are you hiding?” I say, taking a step into him, pulling our groins flush with one another.

He grunts but doesn’t relent. “Tell me what that word means and I’ll show you.”

I bend down to kiss the flesh between his collarbone and neck. “It means—” I swallow, my hands running up his torso, his bird tattoo, and I think that maybe I can give him this one word, what he means to me. “—it meanshappiness.”

Ash lowers his hand and cups my face before sucking on my lower lip. “Thank you, for telling me.”

“Hmm.” I don’t get to say much else because Ash tears his teeth into the packet he was holding and rolls the condom on me so fast, I don’t even have time to react.

He kisses me again, this time slow and meticulous, all the while applying lube to the condom. “Where did you even get that?” I ask, looking down at the pocket size lube bottle.

All I get is a wicked smile as he turns around and starts grinding on my cock. My hand snakes around his chest, pulling him into me as I line myself up with his entrance.

Once I’m inside him, my hand moves to the column of his throat where I lightly grip him. The moan that comes out of Ash might as well bring me to my knees.

I thrust into him, slowly at first, until he starts to move on his own, chasing more of my cock. “Fuck. Go. Faster,” he says, grabbing my hand that’s around his throat and squeezing it.

“What’s that now? You think you can make demands?” I say, slowing my thrusts down and pulling almost all the way out.

“No, fuck, sorry,” he says, desperately begging for more. “Please, I want more.”

“Since you asked so nicely…” I say right before slamming back into him and picking up the pace. I let go of his throat to bend him over, Ash’s hands finding a grip on the shower wall.

“Yes, fucking hell, Eli, you feel so good.”

I pull out all the way and Ash groans in disapproval, but I quickly turn off the shower and lead him to the lockers. He doesn’t expect it when I pick him up and guide him against one of them. “Hold on to the top.”

Ash does as I say and he holds himself up with both hands while my cock finds his entrance again. The only sounds left in the room are the ones of slapping skin as I fuck him against the locker, my fingers digging into his hips as his heels press into my ass.

I know how hard it is for him to open up to me and tell me about his family relationships, and there’s still plenty for us to unpack. But for now, right here in this locker room, all we care about is each other.

And that’s enough.

TWENTY-ONE

Two Months Ago

Eli

Ashand I are in our bedroom, folding laundry and stealing glances at one another. I catch myself leaning in to kiss him more than once and I have to pull back. The door is open, my parents and brother are around. And yet, when I think about them finding out, I find that I’m not filled with as much dread as before.

I mean, how bad could it actually be?

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