Chapter 9 #3
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Shelly’s smile showcased sharp incisors. “And I commend your taste—he’s hot. Does he play for your team, though?”
“Obviously,” Lee deadpanned. “Given the whole, you know, representing England at the World Cup thing.”
“You know what I meant.”
Since Lee also knew how to pick his battles, he sighed as he kneeled down to lace his shoes. “Alex isn’t too particular about the choice of team.”
“So what you’re saying is that I could try my luck?”
“Don’t you dare.”
“Territorial, huh?” Shelly looked positively delighted. “That’s cute.”
“You do realize I’m seven years older, right?”
“Sure. But I’ve had three boyfriends, and you’ve had just the one.”
“Some of us are in the closet.”
“Fair.” Shelly rolled off the bed and slipped into her sandals. At the door, she turned to look at him, her expression a lot softer all of a sudden. “I’m glad you found someone you like.”
“It’s not…” Ah, hell—first Oliver, now Shelly. Lee was fine. “We’re not anything, Alex and I. Nothing more than friends, I mean. Alex is an earl, right, and his family expects him to date certain people, certain women, along with a traditional marriage and all that.”
Shelly made a considering noise. “Do you want to marry him?”
“What? No.”
“So what’s stopping you from having a little fun? As long as he’s not dating some family-approved woman right now…?”
Lee rose into a stand. “He’s not.”
“Well, there you go, then.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“Why not?”
Lee was starting to feel like a broken record, what with telling the same old story first to Alex, then to Oliver, and now to Shelly.
“Because…” With a shake of his head, he trailed off.
“Because?” Shelly prompted after a couple of seconds.
“Because I like him.” He swallowed and repeated, much more quietly, “I like him.”
Something changed in Shelly’s stance. “Oh. So you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared,” Lee said quickly. “Just reasonably cautious. I don’t want to get sidetracked by something that won’t go anywhere.”
Shelly tipped up her chin. “You’re scared you’ll care more than he does.”
“We’re at very different points. He has zero experience with a guy and is kind of curious—which I get, right?—and me, I might actually want to come out at some point. Not tomorrow or anything, but at some point.”
“That’s a non-answer.”
“It’s the only answer you’ll get.” Time to shut this down. Lee wasn’t opposed to unpacking his emotions, but if it exceeded the frame of what was relevant to his performance on the field, he preferred to do so with a cold beer in his hand. Or a shot of vodka.
“For now, maybe.” Shelly’s smile was sweet enough to induce a sugar coma. “Let’s see how you feel when the party’s over.”
“Speaking of…” Lee opened the door and motioned for Shelly to get a move on. “We’re late.”
“Late? To a party?” Shelly tossed him a haughty look. “You don’t get out much, do you?”
“I’m not sure which part of ‘professional athlete’ suggested heavy drinking and partying to you—”
“Didn’t the Mexican team invite, like, thirty hookers to some team event a few years back?”
“Exceptions prove the rule.”
They took the lift down to the ground floor and exited into a tiered garden, olive trees lit against the night sky, string lights woven among their branches.
A bar was set against the backdrop of the sea, soft music playing from speakers, players and their families mingling with the team’s support staff.
“This is what counts as a party?” Shelly asked in an undertone.
“We only made it to the round of sixteen,” Lee told her. “It’s back to training tomorrow, and no one wants to do that on a hangover, trust me.”
“Lame.” She was smiling, though, and when he slung an arm around her shoulders, she leaned into him for a moment. “Congrats, by the way. Two goals—not bad for such a loser.”
“That’s what I said,” Alex commented from behind them. “Also, nice outfit.”
Which was when Lee realized a gross oversight on his part, namely not developing an emergency plan for when Shelly would meet Alex. Not that Alex didn’t already know that Lee liked him, but, still. This was some kind of disaster just waiting to happen.
Shelly shrugged off Lee’s arm to turn around, and Lee turned with her.
“Alex, right?” The predatory edge to Shelly’s grin suggested she knew exactly who Alex was. “My brother keeps mentioning you.”
“That’s a gross exaggeration,” Lee protested.
“Well, seeing as we’re sharing a room…” Alex affected a self-deprecating shrug, the gentle glow of string lights above them sparking in his hair. “Hopefully nothing too incriminating.”
“You’re sharing a room?” Shelly fixed Lee with a hard stare, and shit, he’d hoped to get away with not mentioning that. His sisters’ teasing would know no mercy. “But you always share with Oliver.”
“Coach’s orders.” Lee shifted his weight, scratching his cheek as he avoided Alex’s eyes. “Kieran thought Alex and I needed a nudge to…”
“Learn how to like each other,” Alex finished, warmth tucked into his voice. “Worked like a charm.”
“Who says I like you?” Lee asked.
Alex flashed him a radiant smile. “You did.”
Lee was relieved from having to answer when Jeff joined them, Marco in tow who’d returned for the match.
Oliver and Sanna weren’t far behind, followed by Lewis with his girlfriend, and then there were toasts to the gods of soccer and laughter and rehashing of particular scenes.
A mix of relief and gleeful expectation hung in the air, another group starting to chant about how it was coming home even though they weren’t even halfway there, would need four more wins to the title.
Knockout stage. No second chances, no do-overs. Drama and penalty shootouts and the pressure cranked up to thirteen, tens of millions watching every game.
Five days to the next match.
At some point, Lee drifted a small distance away to look out at the sea just below the hotel’s garden terrace, a wrought-iron railing protecting him from the steep drop. Alone, for the first time since well before the game.
They’d done it.
They were through to the knockout stage, and God, it felt… amazing, yeah. Still surreal, though, hadn’t sunk in properly yet, Lee’s head filled with wool. Each time he blinked, he heard the final whistle, adrenaline still ringing in his ears.
“Hey,” Alex said quietly.
Lee glanced over his shoulder and found Alex hovering a couple of steps away, the night washing out his features. “Hey,” Lee echoed.
“Needed a moment alone?”
“Sort of.” Lee shoved his hands into the pockets of his black jeans, and maybe he was trying to tell Alex something by wearing this outfit that Alex had picked because he’d thought Lee would look good in it. “Still processing, you know?”
“Same.” The glint of a smile as Alex made to walk away. “I’ll leave you to it.”
“Stay,” Lee said—rushed, almost desperate.
Slowly, Alex turned back around. “Thought you wanted to be alone?”
“You don’t count.”
Alex grinned a little. “Oh, ouch.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.” On a chuckled exhale, Lee motioned for Alex to join him. “I just meant that I’m so used to being around you that it’s not—you’re not people. As in, it doesn’t take up energy, being around you.”
After hesitating for a beat, Alex stepped into the space next to Lee. “I guess that’s a good thing?”
“It’s a very good thing.”
“Well.” Amusement colored Alex’s voice. “Good.”
“Good.”
“Very good.” With a velvety laugh, Alex propped his elbows on the railing, a light breeze tangling in his hair. “Hey, did I mention I chose well with that outfit? You look great.”
“Thank you.” Lee had thought he’d overcome any lingering trace of shyness when he’d moved to Milan with no knowledge of the Italian language beyond a few hours of Duolingo and no connection to the country other than some stranger’s genetic material. Not so.
“Just to be clear”—Alex glanced over—“you look great in jogging bottoms too.”
Christ, was this what it looked like when Alex turned on his charm? Because whatever he was selling, Lee was ready to put in a bulk order.
He played with the collar of his shirt, cheeks warm in spite of the comfortable night-time temperature. “Why go all personal stylist on me, then?”
“I thought you might enjoy the way it makes you feel.”
“Huh?”
“Polished and in control.” Alex’s voice dipped down. “Sexy.”
Alex wasn’t completely off, was the thing—Lee hadn’t missed Marco openly checking him out both tonight and after the match against the Netherlands, hadn’t missed Alex subtly doing the same some minutes ago while everyone else had been focused on Jeff and Lewis reenacting the second goal.
Admitting as much, though? Admitting that Alex might have a minor point about how fashion wasn’t entirely irrelevant?
That would have felt like stepping right into a stereotype.
“I should probably pay you back for the clothes,” Lee said instead. “Now that, you know… I mean, they’re not entirely awful. So. Let me pay you back?”
Alex laughed. “Newsflash—I can afford it.”
“Clearly, you didn’t pay attention to Kieran’s lesson about bankruptcy.”
Another laugh, Alex shifting just the tiniest bit closer. “You’re not very used to people doing nice things for you, are you?”
Lee leaned his hip against the railing, briefly sidetracked by the playful curve of Alex’s lips, the happiness tucked into the corners of his eyes. “You barely even liked me when you bought this.”
“I liked you just fine,” Alex protested.
Lee let a dubious look do the talking, and Alex chuckled.
“All right, I was starting to like you just fine. And”—Alex leaned in, glancing up through his lashes—“I thought you were hot the instant we met.”
Lee found it really bloody hard to remember the line he’d drawn.
But really, what was it good for anyway?
Alex posed a distraction no matter whether they kept their hands to themselves or not.
Might as well indulge, then. And yes, maybe that was residual adrenaline talking, with Oliver and Shelly cheering from the sidelines, but fuck it.
“Same here, and it hasn’t changed.” A quick glance reassured Lee that no one seemed to pay them any attention. He smiled, slow and deliberate. “You know, this will be the first time in weeks we don’t share a room.”
Alex’s gaze flicked to Lee’s mouth and back up. “I’m aware.”
“Planning to put the privacy to good use?” Lee’s question came out as a murmur, hardly loud enough to carry over the hurrahs and good nights as people began trickling away to their rooms. Alex swayed closer, just enough for Lee to notice.
“Maybe.”
I want to kiss you.
Lee inhaled deeply—lavender in bloom and the fresh, salty aroma of the sea, mingled with the faintest hint of Alex’s cologne. “I want to kiss you.”
Alex’s lashes swooped down in a near-hypnotic blink, the night turning the hazel of his eyes a dark gray. “What’s stopping you?”
“Other than the obvious?” Lee indicated their surroundings without looking away from Alex. “It may still be a bad idea.”
“Entirely possible.” Alex tagged a private smile onto the words. “Kieran did tell us to work on our chemistry though, didn’t he?”
“I doubt that’s what he had in mind.”
“Eh, I don’t know. Think he’s pretty open to unconventional methods.”
Lee leaned back slightly to run his gaze down the length of Alex’s body, then back up, lingering on where the partially unbuttoned shirt granted a generous glimpse of Alex’s throat and the dip between his collarbones.
Alex’s skin gleamed faintly in the distant glow of string lights.
Dear God, Lee wanted him—might have sunk to his knees right this moment if they’d been alone out here.
He met Alex’s eyes. “Define unconventional methods?”
Something in Lee’s tone must have given him away because Alex swallowed. “Whatever feels good.”
“Vague,” Lee admonished softly.
One corner of Alex’s mouth curled up. “Well, you’re the experienced one. I was hoping you could show me.”
Christ, Lee had never been one to salivate over virgin porn and shit like that—inexperience was not a turn-on for him, thanks.
Yet something about Alex’s tone worked for him, or maybe it was a twisted throwback to when they’d first met and the two years Lee had on Alex felt much more substantial than they did now.
“Does that innocent act ever actually work for you?” Lee asked, striving for an even tone. He missed the mark if Alex’s smile was any indication.
“On occasion, yeah.”
“And what—”
“Hey!” Shelly said brightly, and Lee realized with a jolt that he and Alex were standing just a tad too close. He took half a step back and turned to face his sister.
“Hey.” He cleared his throat to counter the tinge of awkwardness. “Ready to turn in?”
Shelly glanced at Alex before she fixed Lee with a curious look. “Not really, but everyone else is leaving. Something about how there’s no rest for the wicked, show must go on, blah blah blah.”
“Guess we should call it a night too.” Alex sounded relaxed, certainly not like he’d basically asked Lee for gay sex lessons just a minute ago.
“I guess we should,” Lee echoed.
The moment Shelly turned to lead the way back to the hotel, Alex threw Lee a wink. “Tomorrow?” he mouthed, and Lee shrugged, then nodded. Alex’s smile was brilliant.
They separated in the hallway in front of Alex’s room, Lee’s a little further along, and this time, there’d be no knock on Lee’s door. It was true what Lee had told Alex earlier—he’d grown so accustomed to Alex’s presence that it was strange to go without him for even a night.
Not a thought to share with Shelly, mind.
They got ready for bed quickly, Shelly already sprawled on her side of the bed when Lee slipped under the covers and flicked off the light. He was about to mumble a good night when she beat him to the point.
“Hey, Lee?” Her voice was gentle in the darkness.
Lee made a questioning noise and rolled onto his side to face her.
“I like Alex.” A pause. “I like the way he looks at you.”
For a second, Lee didn’t know how to respond. “Me too,” he said then, quiet like a secret.
“So you’ll stop being a wuss about him?”
Lee snorted. “Shut up, brat.”
“Never.” Her giggle reminded him of when she’d been much younger, in a silly mood as she was getting ready for bed, dancing with her toothbrush sticking out of her mouth while Kira sang some pop song and garbled half the words. There’d been tough times, yeah, but they’d had fun too.
“Love you,” he told her, and even in the dark room, he caught the spark of her smile.
“Love you, too.” She reached over to poke him in the cheek. “Night, Lee. Proud of you.”
“Thank you.” He caught her hand to prevent another poke, releasing it after a squeeze. “Now go to sleep, yeah?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Brat.”
“Loser.”
Settling into the pillow, Lee closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths until the world slowed down around him.
Round of sixteen—already, they’d made it further than four years ago.
And it was just the beginning.