Page 8 of Safe
“Okay,” Cruz agreed on autopilot.
Trevor’s blue eyes were heavy as they searched his face for something. Cruz stared right back, trying to figure out what had changed between them. Everything? Nothing? What had brought all of this on when Trevor had been denying himself for so long? Finally, Trevor pulled him close and placed a sweet, chaste kiss against his forehead.
“I’ll explain everything. I promise. Just…don’t say anything to anyone yet.”
Before Cruz could respond, Trevor turned and left the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. In the other room, Cruz could hear Trevor call out that he was coming, and the clatter of hangers suggested he’d pulled a shirt out of the closet. The sound of the outer door unlocking was loud, and then a familiar voice cut through the silence.
“Jesus, Thorne. You look like shit.”
“Back at you, asshole,” Trevor cursed. “What do you want, Allistair?”
“I’m heading to breakfast. It’s last call, and Upton said you and Cruz hadn’t been down yet. You girls primping up here or you want to grab some food before the bus pulls out?”
Cruz stayed perfectly still. Allistair was their teammate. He’d clearly been sent by their manager to check on them since they hadn’t shown for breakfast. He recalled Trevor telling him he’d let him sleep as long as he could, but there wasn’t a clock in the bathroom. He had no idea just how late they actually were.
“Cruz is running late. I’ll come down and get breakfast for us both so we don’t miss out.” Trevor spoke, and then he audibly raised his voice to be sure he was heard. “You hear that, Cruz? Hurry your lazy ass up or Upton’s gonna fine you for being late. I’m going down with Allistair.”
Cruz’s throat felt like it was constricting. “Be down soon.”
The outer door slammed shut, and with it, Cruz puffed out all the air in his lungs. He felt sick. Nauseous. And he didn’t think it was just the tequila still roiling in his gut.
Don’t say anything.
Trevor’s last words to him. Don’t say anything. He didn’t want anyone to know what had happened between them. He was still hiding. Maybe he really did just want to talk and work things out, make sure they were on the same page before they went public. But what if that wasn’t why he was reluctant to admit he was gay? What if, despite what he’d said, despite what they’d done, Trevor was still too scared to openly be with Cruz?
Dammit. Cruz pushed his tangled hair back. He didn’t have time to dwell on his love life. He was covered in come. He needed a shower, and he needed to get his ass downstairs before Upton made the driver leave him.
He had a game to play, and baseball always came first. Always. It was why he didn’t break his rules anymore. He never got involved with teammates. Ever. Especially not blond-haired, blue-eyed, godlike men who claimed they were straight but then jerked him off in private.
Fuck. He killed the hot water and tapped the cold. His dick was already inflating again at the memory, and he couldn’t have that. It was impossible to play baseball with a bat in his pants.
Chapter Four
TREVOR HAD MADEa mistake. He knew he had. From the moment Cruz had walked down the stairs and met him at the bus, he’d known he’d made a mistake.
He never should have left their room with Allistair. He shouldn’t have touched Cruz without explaining himself first. He should have told him the truth before he laid a hand on him. And he definitely shouldn’t have let Cruz brush him off when he’d taken his breakfast from him and then proceeded to put in his headphones and ignore Trevor for the entire ride to the stadium.
But it wasn’t as if he could ask Cruz to talk to him in the middle of a group of their teammates. Not on the bus. Not in the locker room. Not in the dugout. So Trevor had let him get away with the cold shoulder act and tried to focus on the game.
The game he loved. The sport he’d always put first in his life. Ahead of everything and everyone. Only he hadn’t been able to put his whole heart into it today like he always had before. Because his heart had been standing out by second base, and never had it felt further away from home plate.
He’d played like shit. Peterson shrugged off almost all of his signals, and Trevor didn’t even blame him. His head wasn’t in the game. He even forgot about babying his knee and spun too fast after a pop fly, nearly going to the ground it stung so badly. He’d limped off the field at the end of the game and hadn’t been the least bit surprised when Upton had jerked him aside by the scruff of his collar.
If he’d been the only one on the receiving end of the screaming rant Upton had gone off on, it wouldn’t have been so bad. But of course it wasn’t that simple. Nothing was simple anymore. Not since the moment he’d decided to give in to his urge and let Cruz see the real him.
He wasn’t the only one that had played like shit. Cruz had too. Missing an easy double play and trying to call Marquise off an infield fly that had ultimately hit the ground between them. His head hadn’t been in the game either, and Upton had noticed and tore into him as well.
Their manager had ripped them up one side and down the other, and he’d sworn if he ever caught the two of them in the hotel bar before a game again that he’d bench both their asses.
Now their teammates were watching them with curious, wondering gazes. Trevor didn’t like it at all. It made him uncomfortable being the center of their attention. He’d avoided it for so long. Tried so hard to hide among the masses. Not to stand out or be noticed too much. He’d worried just the slightest wrong move would tell the world his secret.
Now he didn’t like the stares because they were also staring at Cruz. Not that he had ever hidden his sexuality. He’d been open about it from the beginning. But that wasn’t why they were staring at Cruz. They were staring at him wondering what had gotten into the young phenom and if whatever it was would affect his trajectory, the one that until today had looked like he would be called up to the majors at any moment. Now his future might be in jeopardy, and it was all Trevor’s fault.
He had to fix this. Fix them. And he had to do it now.
“Cruz…” He reached for his friend’s arm when the bus stopped, and Cruz instantly jumped out of his seat.
“No,” Cruz growled low, pulling his arm away almost viciously.
