Page 70 of Drop the Gloves
“You’re the worst.”It only sounded a little fond.
“The worst?Don’t make me stop.I swear, Evan”—Evan tried not to think about how his toes curled when he heard Riley say his name—“don’t test me.I’ll stop right now and make you tell me how amazing I am before?—“
“Riley,” he begged.“You know you’re amazing.”He teetered precariously on the edge.How was he expected to have a conversation under these conditions?“Please, I can’t...”
“I do know I’m amazing.”He grabbed Evan’s hand and wrapped it around his dick, urging Evan to jerk him off while he kept up his grueling pace.“But I’d like to hear you say it.”
Evan looked up into Riley’s hazel eyes, and out tumbled a truth Evan hadn’t fully appreciated until then: “You’re amazing, Riley Barczyk.”
29
Beep beep beep!
Evan woke up groggy and disoriented.That wasn’t unusual, given how much he traveled and found himself in different but almost identical places.The hotel rooms blurred together, and it made it jarring when his alarm jerked him awake.
This morning was worse than usual, and his brain wasn’t helpful in piecing together why.He reached out blindly, trying to find his phone and turn it the fuck off, but he found he couldn’t move.His body tensed under the warm, heavy weight pinning him to the bed.And then the weight moved, elbowing him in the ribs before climbing over him to turn off the alarm.
“Snooze,” Barczyk grumbled before collapsing right on top of Evan.He was draped across Evan’s chest, their bare skin clammy in the places where the sheets offered no protection, and Evan remembered in perfect clarity where he was and how he’d ended up there.
He was in Barczyk’s hotel room.They’d had sex.And then, in a fit of madness that he blamed on exhaustion, Evan had stayed the night.They never stayed the night.
Shit.Shit shit shit shit SHIT?—
Evan took a deep breath, held it in, and then let it out until there was no air left in his lungs.Right.Not the time to freak out.
Very carefully, he wiggled out from underneath Barczyk.(Riley, some stupidly fond voice corrected, but he ignored it.) Barczyk didn’t seem to notice.He stayed where he was, sprawled across the bed at a ridiculous angle with a tangle of sheets and pillows around him.That mess hadn’t been from having sex, Evan was sure of that.Barczyk must be a restless sleeper, because there was no way that was Evan’s doing.Maybe it’d make it easier to pretend he hadn’t spent the night in bed with Barczyk, since Barczyk was unlikely to notice amongst the mess that someone else had been there.
As quickly as he could, Evan gathered his clothes and cursed himself for not having changed out of his suit beforehand.How the fuck was he supposed to sneak back to his room in his fucking game day suit?If anyone,anyonesaw him, they’d know he hadn’t slept in his room.Granted, they wouldn’t guess he’d been balls deep in Barczyk, but he didn’t want that kind of attention.
He was tempted to grab some of Barczyk’s clothes, but that made him feel shitty.He already felt like an ass for running away; he didn’t need to add stealing into the mix.So he put on his undershirt and briefs, bundled up his suit in a towel to hopefully limit the chances of someone spotting it, and slipped out of the room just as Barczyk’s alarm went off again.
The hallway was empty—it seemed pretty early, thankfully—and he got to his room without any trouble.
Except the trouble had followed him, because as soon as he locked the door behind him, his head exploded in a mess ofwhat the fuck did I do last night am I gay do I have feelings for Barczyk what the actual fuck?
A hot shower could soothe him out of this sort of anxiety spiral.How could the world be bad when you had a nice, relaxing shower to help you forget your troubles?Except every inch of skin he touched, he remembered that Barczyk had touched those same places.And then he had to deal with his dick being extremely interested in those memories, the same dick that had come inside Barczyk a few hours ago.Arguably the only reason he was in this mess was because his dick had no chill around Barczyk for some God-forsaken reason, and it had the audacity to get hard during his nice shower?
If he’d had the willpower to ignore it, Evan might’ve felt better.He didn’t, and after jerking off to images of Barczyk riding him like a fucking pro, Evan was more miserable than he’d started the day.
How had he let things get so out of control?He did not like Riley Barczyk!He didn’t like his stupid curly mohawk or his ridiculous missing tooth or the sound of his annoying voice or how he had to go on tiptoes to kiss Evan or how his hazel eyes looked more green after he came or how he could be teasing and patient at the same time or?—
Evan pinched himself, because the list forming in his head didn’t seem to have an end.Whether it was things he liked or disliked about Barczyk, it wasn’t a good sign that he could rattle them off so quickly.Or that none of them were hockey-related.
“I’m so fucking fucked,” he grumbled.He pulled on some clothes and headed downstairs for breakfast, determined to get some time away from Barczyk.Maybe food and caffeine would help him sort this out.
It did, but only a little.Piling a plate high with eggs and bacon, he grabbed a cup of coffee (and filled it with cream because as desperate as he was to get his mind off Barczyk, he didn’t actually want to taste coffee), and found a seat at a crowded table between Dalton and Winchester.
“Fucking beast over here,” Dalton said as he mussed Evan’s hair.“That hit last night?”He did a chef’s kiss, saw some ketchup on his fingers and licked it off, and then went back for more hash browns.“Fantastic, bro.”
“I see Barzy’s rubbing off on you,” Winchester said.
Evan choked on his coffee.“What?”
“Barzy.Seems like he’s rubbing off on you,” Winchester repeated.“Like you learned how to deal a hit through osmosis or some shit.”
“Oh.Right.Yeah, I guess.”Evan kept his head down and poked at his food, no longer hungry.He needed to get himself together.If he didn’t want people finding out that he and Barczyk were fooling around, he needed to not lose his shit every time Barczyk’s name was mentioned.They were linemates, for fuck’s sake!It was unavoidable.
Barczykwas unavoidable.Why had Evan let himself think this was okay?His questionable sexuality aside, the last thing Evan needed was the scandal of sleeping with another player, period.And how was he ever going to get space to figure things out when they saw each other basically every day?
