Page 61 of Lucky Sucker

I shook my head. “No,” I gently protested back. “It’s your team. You’ve got toDaddythem,” it was whispered, but I saw the reaction to the word. He was enjoying it more than I thought he would.

“Ok. You’re right,” he said. “Guys, I think it’s a great idea. Let’s get changed into sweats and go max out Mr. Iron Mike’s card. Steaks all around, what do you think, Liam. Think a steak will do.”

Liam slow clapped. “If we don’t, someone else will,” he said. “We’ve got to celebrate. And you know after the workout we did out there is gonna need all the protein for the gains.” He patted at the padding he’d yet to take off with two heavy thuds.

The consensus was to take the coach’s offer of the restaurant booking and steaks all-around. I was kinda glad I’d already preemptively told Luke I wasn’t interested in going. The idea of stomaching steak like they had it, still mooing, made me a little nauseous.

“I’ll bring you something back,” he told me. “Maybe dessert.”

I nodded. “I’ll get room service, it’s ok.”

Coach patted me on the shoulder. “Are you staying or going?”

“Going,” I said. “I’m gonna make a start on my report anyway, plus, they all smell sweaty.” I pretended to gag.

Coach laughed. “Come on then, we’ll grab a cab. The team bus is needed to load up all those bags.”

Before leaving, I gave Luke another big kiss and a hug, and he reminded me that since the team had won, that meant I had to keep up my end of the bargain now. And my end of the bargain was to invite him into my little space, where he could see how I played. I tried to get another hint to my gift, but he already told me too much, which still had me stumped because I could only think of a body pillow—and if it was full size, maybe enough for me to add a little toy.

It was a naughty thought. I was clearly far too horned up. I needed a cold shower. Stat.

26. LUKE

I caught a couple stray comments of the team being surprised I hadn’t gone back with Wren, and some comments about him not coming. In the end, the entire team went out to dinner at the restaurant, and part of me thought that was because I’d agreed to go. The staff had put several tables together already in anticipation for us, so it was a good job we’d won and decided this winning meal was needed.

Everyone ordered steaks, or burgers. It was red meat central. One of the better team building events we did, outside of the games and training sessions. Everyone was at easy during mealtimes, especially since Julia wasn’t here giving us macro information on everything for those of us with meal trackers.

I didn’t grab dessert for myself, but a slice of chocolate cake with a pot of caramel drizzle for Wren. It looked huge, big enough for four people to easily have a healthy helping of. Maybe the waitress thought I deserved it, but in my eyes, it was deserved by Wren. He was my rock, suddenly, he’d helped me figure out myself more than I’d managed to in the twenty-one and a half years I’d been on this earth.

He was still awake when I got back to the hotel room. Coach’s plan seemed a bit more intentional now, forcing us out for a team meal so we wouldn’t be too energetic in the hotel and begin partying in our rooms like we had done on pervious years.

In a brown bear onesie with ears on the hood and a pouch his orca teddy poked out from, Wren was sat on the pushed together beds, right in the middle, begging them to split. “How was it?” he asked. Slamming his notepad shut.

“It’s was good, everyone had fun, I think,” I told him, placing the white bag on the bed. “I brought dessert, as requested. Did you eat first?” I glanced to the plate on the bedside table, there were a couple of fries on it and ketchup smeared all around it, like he’d dragged the fries through it. “What did you have?”

“Chicken burger,” he said, smacking his lips. “What’s my dessert?”

“Chocolate cake. It looks hella good. I almost wanted to eat it in the restaurant, but I didn’t want to spoilt this moment.”

He pouted. “Oh, you should’ve had it if you wanted with the team.”

“God no, I think only two other guys got dessert, most of them could barely finish the steaks they ordered,” I told him. “And you know they take their steak seriously.”

Wren chuckled. “See, more glad I didn’t go. Was it mooing on the plate?”

“Almost walked right off the plate, in fact.”

He giggled harder, a full bully roar of chuckles. “That’s so silly. But I have saved myself for dessert. Although technically, I have a second stomach that’s only for desserts.”

I placed my hand on his stomach over the pouch in his onesie. “A little stomach for a little dessert, huh?” I tried tickling him, but his teddy was in the way of doing any real tickle damage. “There’s a caramel drizzle in the pot as well too. I did sneak a taste of that. Salted caramel. They were gonna supply cream too, but I didn’t know how well it would travel.”

Wren stuck his head in the white plastic bag. “It smells so good. It’s a big box.”

“That’s nothing. Wait until you see the cake.”

And he was surprised. Eyes almost as big as the slice of cake itself inside the box. He gasped and his mouth made that smacking that sent a tingle down my spine, a good tingle, I liked it.

We shared the cake and barely ate half of it. Wren’s mouth was covered in chocolate. I reached out with a thumb to wipe away the chocolate frosting from his lips. It tasted just as delicious coming from his mouth as it did coming from the supplied wooden spoons.

---