Page 17 of Totally Played
“You can’t just invite yourself over to someone’s place because you smell them cooking.”
“Sure you can.” He laughs and starts climbing the ladder. “You coming?”
I shouldn’t. I hardly know this guy, and I know whoever Tim is even less. I think he mentioned him at the bar. He’s the Brit, no, the Aussie.
“Seriously, come on,” he calls down, already a flight up. Then a head appears over the edge of the rooftop.
“Who’s there?” they ask.
“Calvin and his bro-date, Ash. Your siren scent brought us, and now we demand to be fed,” he calls like he’s beckoning someone in a mediaeval play. How many beers did he actually have at the bar? To be honest, I don’t remember how many I had either. I’m feeling a little buzzed, probably why I followed him into the dark alley to begin with, but I should go.
“Cool, come on up, there’s plenty. We’re trying out a few new sauces, so you can be guinea pigs.”
Calvin looks down at me.
“See, come on, they need our help to eat all the barbecue.”
“That’s not what I said,” the guy on the roof calls back.
“It’s what I heard,” Calvin replies, smiling at me with those piercing blue-gray eyes shining in the moonlight and wide grin that I shouldn’t love seeing as much as I do.
“Fuck it, okay. I’m in.”
When I get to the roof, it’s not just Tim there. Three tall guys who have to be bodybuilders with the size of them are in a cage at one end playing with a few cats.
“Tim, this is Ash, he’s Tony’s date.”
Tim looks at me with a quizzical grin, but he shakes my hand and doesn’t press for an explanation.
“Nice to meet you. The big guy in the cage is Lion,” he says, turning his head to look that way, then chuckling.
“Okay, the big guy in the purple shirt is Lion, my fiancé.”
My gaze lands on Lion, and I feel like I’ve seen him before, but I just can’t place from where. “The guy in Blue is Beau, and the one sitting on the ground with four kittens in his lap is Levi.Beau and Levi work out with Lion, in case you didn’t pick that from their gigantic, muscled bodies.”
“I’ve actually trimmed down,” Beau calls back with a laugh.
“You still look huge next to me,” Tim replies with a grin. “This is Ash,” Tim calls, and they wave.
“He’s Tony’s date,” Calvin says again as they open the door to the cat enclosure and head our way.
“Who’s what now?” Beau nods to Tim, and he lifts the chopping board up to reveal a metal sink underneath. He washes his hands, then steps aside to dry them so Lion can wash his next.
“I’m Tony’s date, or I was meant to be, but he’s sick,” I clarify.
“Right, I saw the game. Is he okay?” he asks.
Tim chuckles. “I still can’t believe he tried to play. I heard the doc say he had a temperature of one-oh-two.”
“So about the same as Ryan’s fastball,” I reply.
“You’re a fan, might have to get Duckie to have the talk with Tony. You know what they say about dating a fan,” Tim says, and Lion cuddles around Tim’s waist.
“I was a fan, and it turned out pretty well, don’t you think?”
He leans his head back and they kiss, short and sweet, and I can tell by the way they look at each other that they’re totally in love. I want that so bad. I want someone to look at me that way.
“I watched my first game tonight, so I don’t think any kind of talk is needed,” I say, and Calvin appears at my side with another beer.
