Page 48 of Topping the Jock
Quinn exhaled a breath and tilted his head up. His lips almost touched mine. But then he pulled away. “See you later.”
I didn’t try to stop him as he turned and walked back the way he’d come. For the rest of the day, he avoided me.
After school, I stood on the practice field as the team ran laps. The crisp fall air had put me in a great mood. And maybe the message Quinn had sent me before practice started had something to do with that too.
I had sent him a picture of a cartoon alien dressed as George Washington, and he’d called me a moron. Then another message had come through.
Quinn:Want to meet tonight?
Perhaps a bit too quickly, I had responded withhell yeah.An answer to my question—finally. Maybe he’d avoided me all day because he’d been thinking and needed the distance to do so.
Quinn:I’ll be at your place around 9.
I grinned as I thought of all the things we’d be doing when he came over.
“Coach Adams?” an unfamiliar voice said from behind me, and I turned to see a man with dirty-blond hair and stubble on his face. The scent of whiskey wafted off him. He stuck out a hand. “I’m Pete, Dean’s dad.”
Ah. First impressions said a lot. And the impression I got of Pete right off the bat was that he more than likely had a drinking problem. Was that why he missed his son’s games?
I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. Dean said you’d come to the Monday practice, but you never showed.”
Pete scratched at his neck. “Yeah. Got held up at work.”
Or at the bar, I thought to myself. Then I felt guilty. It wasn’t right for me to judge him with no proof.
“Is it okay if I watch the practice?” he asked.
“Sure.”
One thing became clear as the practice drew on. Pete was damn proud of his son. I didn’t know the situation between them or the circumstances surrounding Pete’s absence at the games, but I felt the love he had for Dean. And when Dean saw him afterward, he tossed his helmet aside and ran up to give him a bear hug. Which told me Dean loved him too, despite his faults.
It got me thinking about the relationship I had withmydad. What little relationship I had, anyway. There was no love between us. There had never been. We hadn’t talked in about two months. He hadn’t even called me on my birthday.
I left the school a little before seven, grabbing fast food on my way home. I scarfed down the chicken sandwich and salty fries, then jumped in the shower to wash off the day’s grime. I forewent a shirt since I’d just be getting naked soon anyway and changed into a clean pair of boxers and sweatpants.
A knock sounded at the door around eight forty.
“You’re early,” I said, opening the door.
Quinn had his hands tucked into his jacket pockets as he stood in front of me. His woodsy cologne drifted to my nose, making me hard. “Want me to go wait in my car for twenty minutes, then come back?”
“Don’t be stupid.” I grabbed him by his jacket and tugged him across the threshold, slamming our mouths together as I kicked the door closed. He awoke a primal urge inside me to claim him and have him claim me in return.
Quinn grunted and tangled his fingers in my hair before breaking the kiss with a pant. “Well, hello to you too.”
“It’s my favorite kind of hello,” I said, pulling him along with me through the living room.
That strange expression from Monday morning in the teachers’ lounge returned to his face. I couldn’t place the emotion. He looked nervous, hesitant, but also determined. “Mine too.”
When we kissed again, it was a lot softer. And damn if it didn’t make my sternum ache. Like, maybe, he felt more for me than just sex. I was beginning to think I felt more too. We stumbled into my bedroom and fell together on the bed, our tongues swirling and our hearts beating quickly. I pulled off his jacket before doing the same to his shirt. He kicked off his pants and boxers and got on top of me before tugging down my sweats and releasing my cock.
Then his lips were back on mine.
“I wasn’t sure you’d agree to do this again,” I said between kisses.
Quinn slid his hand to my neck as he peered down at me. “Me either. I debated the pros and cons since Sunday.”
“The pros outweighed the cons, I take it?”
