Page 3 of Hidden Plays
His brows ticked. “Going to school. Same as you.” He twisted his lips. “Now let’s move to the left.” He guided my bent leg across my body. “Tell me if this hurts.”
A twinge rippled through my hip and down the outside of my leg. “Uh, hurts a little. It’s not bad though.”
With a smirk, he nodded. “Okay, your IT band is tight.” He worked my leg in a circle. “How much hip stretching have you been doing?”
“Enough.” Fuck, he saw me rolling the damn thing. I stared at the ceiling as he moved my leg to the side again.
“Can you stretch your leg out?” He held my knee, pushing it crossways over my body. As he leaned in, his breath whispered across my cheek. “Can you?”
My gaze swept to his, and my breath caught. The fucker was close with those thick lips of his. “Uh, let’s see.” I straightened my leg, and pain sliced through my hip. “Ow, fuck.” As I bent the leg again, my knee slipped from his grasp.
“Shit.” He toppled onto me as I lowered my leg, his chest pressed against mine, his head falling to my shoulder. “Damn it, sorry.”
I grabbed his shoulders, the heat of his body shivering over my skin. What sort of hell had I just walked into where Holden Cox was lying on top of me?
As he lifted his head, his gaze locked on mine and stayed for a beat, his cheeks growing pink. “Uh…” He blinked and pushed up, his hands flat on the mat on either side of me. “I didn’t mean?—”
“You told me he wasn’t queer?” Casey stood next to us,beaming at me with a shit-eating grin and chuckling, a towel thrown over his shoulder.
“I’m not.” Holden shifted his attention to Casey while brushing his hand down the back of his head. “Just slipped was all.”
I sat up, my straight arms behind me. What a perfect time to fuck with him. “Could have fooled me. Did you come over here just to cop a feel?” I arched a brow.
“No.” He scoffed. “You wish, but you’re nowhere close to my type, Matthews.” He tensed his lips. “And let’s keep things professional.” He glanced at Casey.
Holding his palms out, Casey said, “Hey, man, you’re on a football team now. Teasing each other is what we do.”
I tilted my head, eyeing Holden. “What’s the matter? Are you homophobic or something? ‘Cause if you are, you’ll have to deal with six of us.” The head coach had made sure the team would support and accept us. And now this fucker might not?
Throwing a glare at me, Holden said, “I’m not homophobic.” He dipped his head. “Let’s just, uh, I’ll work up some new stretches for you and email them to you. Okay?” He stood. “Let me know if you don’t understand what’s on the sheet.” With a peek at Casey, he twisted and left.
Raising my brows, I watched him go, his fine ass taunting me. “Well, you showed him.” I grinned at Casey.
Casey dropped his hand toward me. “Guess so.” He snickered. “I couldn’t have him molesting you in the middle of the weight room.”
Grabbing Casey’s hand, I rose on the mat to stand. “Shut up. He fell on top of me.” I tsked and slapped Casey’s ass. “Come on, let’s go shower.”
“Together?” He wagged his brows at me. “You know I’m on board for friends with benefits.”
“Jesus, you’ll fuck anything with a dick.” Barking out a laugh, I ambled toward the door. I wasn’t like that, never had been. I needed a genuine connection with a guy, which is why itnever worked with Myles. I had a connection, but he didn’t. Shit, I had to get Myles out of my damn head.
Casey and I strolled out, down the hall, to the lockers. “When we get to the house, I want the full story about Holden.” He gave me a pointed look.
“Full story?” I drew a deep inhale. “There’s little to tell, but whatever.”
After showering and classes,I parked my Toyota 4Runner in the driveway of our house with Casey in the passenger seat. No other cars were around. “I think we’re the only guys at home.”
“Looks like.” Casey hopped out of the SUV and shut the door.
After climbing out, I followed him up the walkway to our home, a sprawling brick bungalow painted white, near to campus, with a tall willow centered in the landscaping rocks of the front yard.
Casey opened the door and stepped inside. “Home sweet home.” He strolled into our kitchen of white cabinets and black appliances and opened the refrigerator. “Protein drink?”
“Hell yes.” I dropped my backpack next to our blue sectional and sank into a corner. Classes had been mundane today, but I needed to get some reading done before tomorrow.
Joining me on the couch, Casey handed me a small carton of chocolate protein shake. “Here you go.” He fell in next to me and sipped his drink. “So, what’s the scoop on this Holden guy?”
“Like I said, he was the quarterback on my high school team. He was a year ahead of me.” I shrugged. “He was good, was supposed to have a scholarship at Penn State the last I heard.” But apparently it hadn’t happened.
