Chapter Twenty-Six
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Devon
It took a lot of frantic coordinating and a couple of favours, but Bailey and I managed to pull together a last-minute night out for Matty on Friday night with the promise of a dinner in the new year because trying to find a restaurant to take thirty-odd people on two days’ notice was too much of a miracle. But we had managed to convince Clive to let us order a shit ton of pizza to the training ground on Friday afternoon as a substitute, although I’d had a worried call from the local Domino’s asking if the order we’d put through was real because they couldn’t believe anyone would order that much without it being a joke.
I’d deliberated presents for hours but in the end I’d gone down to the local toy superstore and bought Matty a couple of giant LEGO sets with the pool money, and they seemed to have gone down well. He’d been surprised at least and had turned the box for the space shuttle over in his hands, eyes shining excitedly like a kid at Christmas.
Now we were all packed into a club in the middle of town, the lights flashing through the darkness as Charli xcx played through the speakers, the smell of sweat and alcohol and cheap perfume filling my nostrils. I hadn’t been out to a non-queer club in a while and it was kind of weird watching some of the drunk guys trying to hit on women who were clearly way out of their league. Although from the look of it, half the women were very happily chatting and dancing with various single members of the team except for Hunter and Bailey, who were doing a line of shots off the bar with Matty. The three of them were probably going to feel it tomorrow, but hopefully most of the coaching staff would take pity on them.
Except Gavin. Nothing ever made him go easy on us.
I was standing on the edge of the dance floor, deliberately not touching the sticky-looking wall, while Jonny fetched us another round of drinks. There was a pleasant, tipsy buzz under my skin and I couldn’t wait for Jonny to come back because I needed to dance with him. Sure, he wasn’t the most coordinated dancer, but he didn’t need to be for me to grind up against him.
“Hey,” said a new voice from beside me, and I turned to see a guy standing next to me. He was a couple of inches taller than me and muscular, but in a super gym-honed, CrossFit kind of way. He was wearing a skintight T-shirt and a loose pair of jeans, his blond hair swept back off his forehead and a confident smile on his face, one that told me he knew how good-looking he was. Maybe once upon a time I would have considered it but not anymore. Why would I when I already had the hottest guy in here wrapped around my little finger? “Wanna dance?”
I shook my head and smiled. “Sorry, I’m here with someone.”
“Maybe they can join us too,” the guy said as he stepped a little closer. “The more the merrier, right?”
“I’m good, seriously,” I said, looking over his shoulder to see where Jonny was. I didn’t need rescuing, but I was a little worried the guy might suddenly find himself being flung into the wall if he overstayed his welcome.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m good, thanks,” I said. “But I brought like twenty-odd other rugby players with me tonight. And I’m pretty sure a couple of them would be open to exploring.”
“Seriously?” He looked over his shoulder at the dance floor, his eyes practically popping out of his head on stalks. I knew when he’d noticed them because Jaden was currently spinning around with Ollie, the pair of them spotlighted by their sheer size. He turned back and grinned at me. “Have a good night, sweetheart.”
“Who was that?” asked a familiar growl in my ear as a large hand pressed a colourful cocktail into my hand.
“No clue,” I said, leaning into Jonny’s chest and breathing in the deep scent of him as I watched the man sliding through the crowd. “Wanted to know if I was interested in hooking up.” I grinned up at him teasingly, noting the possessive gleam in his eyes with delight. “He said you could come too.”
“He did what?”
“Don’t worry, I pointed him at the rest of the team. I’m pretty sure at least a couple of them would be up for it.”
Jonny frowned as he sipped his drink through a straw. It was the same as mine and there was something comforting about him not giving a shit about whatever toxic bullshit surrounded men drinking cocktails. They were a lot stronger than any pint of beer anyway. “Who?”
I shrugged. “Danny. Jaden. Definitely Hunter and Bailey.”
“Danny? Seriously?” Jonny snorted. “I don’t think so. You’ve heard the shit he says.”
“Exactly, I’m going with clueless foot-in-the-mouth baby bisexual,” I said as I sucked my straw, humming happily at the shot of fruit juice and spirits landing on my tongue. Danny’s questions were the sort I’d heard guys ask when they were trying to figure their shit out and wading through epic levels of internalised misogyny and homophobia. Although knowing Danny, he could just be fucking clueless.
“You’d know better than me.”
“Want to make a bet on it?”
“Fuck no,” he said. “I’m not good with this shit. It’d be unfair.”
I smirked as I looked up at him, wrapping my lips around the straw as I took a long, slow suck. “What about rewarding me for being right?”
Jonny’s eyes darkened and his lips twisted with amusement. “I’m not sure I should be rewarding you for speculating about our teammates’ sexualities.”
“But what if I want it?”
“And what’s that, doll?” He leant down and brushed his lips against my ear, nipping the shell teasingly and drawing a moan from my lips. “Spell it out for me.”
“A reward.”
“What sort of reward?”
“I-I… A good one,” I said, the words barely making it off my tongue as Jonny wrapped one large arm around my waist, his fingers ghosting over my crotch. “J-Jonny… we can’t.”
“Why not? Nobody is looking,” he said. “And if they are, all they’ll see is me with my arm around you.” His fingers brushed over the outline of my cock, making me moan into his mouth as he kissed me. Fuck, if there were people on the team who hadn’t figured out we were together, they would now. Jonny might be able to disguise the way he was feeling me up in public, but there was no way to hide the way he was sticking his tongue down my throat and claiming my mouth. “Do you want me to stop?”
“No, I—”
“Jonny! Devon!” Bailey bounced up to us, a drunken grin splitting his face. “There you are! Stop hiding and get your asses on the dance floor. You can make out with each other later.” He grabbed my shoulder and tried to peel me away from Jonny. “Also you sent the cute blond guy over, right?”
“Yeah, why?” I asked as Bailey dragged me out of Jonny’s arms and towards the crowd. I was half expecting him to throw me over his shoulder, but when I glanced back, Jonny was watching me from the darkness, his eyes glittering with hunger.
I was so getting railed and marked up later, and I was going to love every second of it.
“No reason,” Bailey said with a little smile and I followed his eyes over to Hunter, who was still at the bar buying the blond guy a drink. Oh… interesting. But not totally surprising. Bailey leant close to me as we hit the edge of the floor, his breath tickling my skin. “Want to make them jealous?”
“Who?”
“Anyone watching.” He winked. “We all know Jonny is a possessive bastard. And you can’t deny it because we’ve all seen the state of your thighs. It’s cute.”
“Seriously? Cute?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged and pulled me against him, grinning playfully. “And who doesn’t love being wanted.”
I finished my drink and let the music envelop me, relaxing into the beat as I danced with Bailey. His hands were on my waist, his smile so bright and carefree, and I hoped one day Hunter recognised what he was missing. He spun me around so my back was pressed against his chest, moving me against him. It wasn’t sexual, just fun—something simultaneously flirtatious and tongue in cheek.
We sang and danced and drank two shots someone on the team handed us, which had a vague lemon flavour but mostly tasted of cheap alcohol—the kind that peeled the taste buds off your tongue and burned your throat. And from the edge of the floor, Jonny watched us, his eyes tracking me like a predator. It sent shivers running down my spine, making my cock twitch in the front of my jeans.
I was impressed by his iron will, especially considering what’d happened before, but I was ready for him to snap and come for me. I was so horny and watching him standing there impassively was making everything so much worse. Or maybe it was better.
Either way, I was about two seconds away from dropping to my knees in the middle of the club and begging him to claim me.
I spun in Bailey’s arms, letting out a giddy “woo” of delight, and from behind me I heard a deep chuckle as a large hand landed on my waist. “Having fun?” Jonny asked.
“Yes,” I said, strangely breathless even though dancing tipsily with Bailey was no way near as strenuous as playing rugby. “Did you like watching?”
“No.”
“Then you should have joined us.”
“Maybe.”
“You like watching really,” I said as I threw my arms around his waist, pouting up at him as heat pooled in my stomach and spread throughout my body like I was sinking into hot water. “You like looking at me.”
“Mmm, true,” he said, a rumbling growl reverberating through his body and making me squirm. “And you like being watched.”
“Only by you.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because I’m yours?”
“And I’m going to make sure you don’t forget it,” he said, nipping my lip and kissing me like we weren’t in the middle of a nightclub surrounded by everyone we knew. There was some cheering and whooping from around us, and I laughed against Jonny’s mouth.
“We should get out of here,” I said. “Unless you want to fuck in the toilets?”
“No, doll, I need a bed for what I want to do to you.”
“Let’s go then.” I grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the crowd and past the bar, stopping only briefly to hug Matty again and wish him happy birthday. Mason raised a hand in recognition and chuckled as I waved to him as I towed Jonny towards the door. “Everyone knows about us now.”
“I think they already did,” Jonny said as we stepped out into the cold night air, the Christmas lights from the high street twinkling in the distance. “We weren’t that subtle.”
“No, we weren’t.” I pulled him into a kiss. “And I’m glad. I want them all to know I’m yours. I want them to see how well you take care of me.”
Jonny looked almost startled but I wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the light or not. “Take care of you?”
“Well, yeah, that’s what you do. It’s what you’ve always done,” I said. “You take care of me, Jonny. And nobody could do it better.”
He exhaled deeply as he kissed me again, fierce and all-encompassing. “I’m going to do it again tonight. And tomorrow. I’ll spend every day taking care of you if you’ll let me.”
“I will.”
It was only two words.
But it was a promise made of steel.