Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
Lee had thought he was busy in the past. Honestly, he hadn’t known the bloody meaning of the word.
The days leading up to the match against Belgium were…
not frantic, no, because that would discount the fact that there was a method to the madness.
They were tense, though. Crammed. Regular training sessions and gym workouts competed with sponsoring and publicity commitments, strategy sessions and hours of footage about their opponent that needed to be reviewed, some of it by the team as a whole and some of it based on what positions they played.
Oliver studied players’ penalty preferences while Alex got an in-depth course on the Belgian midfield with a minor in their defense and attack, and Lee learned whatever he could about their key defenders and the primary goalie, plus a little about their respective backups.
As a side effect, Lee found that his time with Alex had dwindled to stolen kisses in those ten minutes before they were expected at lunch or dinner.
It was strange to miss someone who slept next to him every night, and yet he did just a little throughout the day, when they were almost constantly surrounded by the rest of the team.
What was theirs, though, was the hour after dinner before they turned off the light, and Lee wasn’t about to waste it.
He was learning Alex by heart, by taste, pressing him into the sheets while their bodies slid together, Lee’s mouth on Alex’s dick and Alex’s hands in Lee’s hair until Alex rolled them over, deep kisses and wandering hands.
There was a song that Lee couldn’t quite name, just that there was a line he’d never understood before but now he did—I’m gonna love you like I’m gonna lose you.
Because he would, wouldn’t he? He’d lose Alex, and so he would love him now, before their time ran out.
The night before the match, just as they were finishing up dinner—Jeff and Oliver arguing over the nutritional value of beer, Lee himself contributing just enough to keep them going because it was amusing to see their fake annoyance with each other when they actually got on quite well—Alex’s phone rang.
His quiet “Oh, fuck” made the table fall silent.
“What?” Jeff asked.
“It’s my dad.” Alex got up as he said it, pale under his tan and clutching his phone like a snake he’d accidentally got his hands on and wasn’t sure how to deal with now. “I need to take this.”
“You don’t have to do a fucking thing,” Lee told him, and Jeff nodded his chin at Lee.
“What he said.”
“It’s my dad,” Alex said, low and urgent, eyes wide. With that, he accepted the call and turned away from them, heading for the stairs that led from the hotel terrace into the garden. They only just caught his “Hello, Dad” before he was gone.
“Well, fuck. That’s not good.” Jeff was the one who stated the obvious.
Frowning, Oliver laid down his cutlery. “Bad timing, yeah. But you can’t blame him for not wanting to ghost his own father.”
“I’m not blaming Alex. His father, though?
Hell yeah, I can blame the man for calling today, of all days.
” Jeff’s voice had risen of its own accord, and after a glance at the other tables, he lowered it again, leaning forward.
“Headlines say he’s been home for two days, and he picks tonight to finally give his son a call, just before our match against Belgium?
Fuck that man with a very sharp object.”
“That’s hardly fair to the object,” Lee put in, and Jeff sent him an assessing look.
“Valid point.”
A few seconds of silence followed as they all watched Alex weave along one of the hotel’s gravel paths, head ducked, face averted. Then Jeff sighed and tapped his knuckles against Lee’s. “I guess that puts you on Alex duty tonight. Do you think you can handle it?”
For once, it didn’t come with an edge of innuendo.
Ever since Alex had clued Jeff in after their win against France, Jeff had made it his mission to insert as many lewd comments into any given conversation as he possibly could.
To his credit, he chose his moments with care, never let anything slip when there were other teammates around.
While Lee would never admit it out loud, he loved how it made this thing with Alex feel real in a way it hadn’t before.
Lee didn’t know if it meant something that Alex had told his best mate—maybe all it meant was that Alex had grown more comfortable with himself.
And yet Lee hoped it was more than just that.
“Of course I can handle it,” he told Jeff. “From one traumatized son to another, right?”
Jeff tilted his head. “At least you’ve got a pair of siblings and a mum who’s trying.”
He had a point.
Lee said as much before he changed the topic to the other semi-final that pitted Brazil against Spain, and even though he kept an eye on Alex, he soon lost him to sprawling hedges and trees.
Alex didn’t return to their table, so Lee didn’t know what to expect when he unlocked the door to their room.
It sure hadn’t been Alex sprawled naked on Lee’s bed like an offering—although Lee should have learned by now that Alex had a tendency to substitute difficult conversations with sex.
“Hey.” Lee entered and closed the door, hesitating for a moment before he pulled off the T-shirt that Alex had made him order at lunch a few days ago because “it will look bloody amazing on you, okay?” In just his jeans, he crossed the distance to the bed while Alex watched him with a faint smile, the dim glow of a spectacular sunset washing the room in muted colors.
“Hey,” Alex returned, eyes half-lidded as he raised his arms above his head, his focus on Lee. Jesus, he did know how to present himself, didn’t he?
Lee draped himself over Alex’s body and buried one hand in his hair as he pulled him into a kiss.
He intended to keep it short and sweet but lost his resolve when Alex opened his mouth and licked along the seam of Lee’s lips.
Just for a minute. Tongues tangling, Lee sinking further into Alex, settling firmly between Alex’s spread thighs.
With a gasp, Lee tore his mouth away even as he kept a hand on Alex’s cheek, thumb against the corner of Alex’s eye. “What did your dad have to say?”
Alex’s gaze slid away before it returned to Lee’s face, humor in his tone that Lee didn’t quite buy. “You trying to ruin the mood?”
“Nah.” Lee dropped a kiss to Alex’s mouth and pulled back before he could tempt him into another escalation. “I fully plan to make you come at least once tonight. After you talk to me.”
Alex treated Lee to a calculated display of dimples. “Orgasms first, talk later?”
“No deal.” To soften the words, Lee dipped his head to rub their noses together. “Making sure you’re okay first, then orgasms. Those are my conditions because priorities.”
The sudden softening of Alex’s features marked the moment he gave in. “I’m mostly okay.”
Lee nodded. “Great, and I mostly believe you. So, what did your dad want?”
Cynicism twisted Alex’s lips. “My public support, what else?”
“And what did you say?”
“I asked him whether the accusations were wrong.” Alex turned his face into Lee’s touch and closed his eyes, lashes fanning out against his cheeks. “His response was that he didn’t take any money and would never betray England’s interests.”
Lee processed that. “That’s not the same as saying he didn’t collaborate with Qatar.”
“No, it’s not.” Alex’s chest rose with a deep breath, obvious where they were still pressed together along the full length of their bodies. Lee shifted just enough to relieve some of his weight, Alex slinging an arm around his waist to keep him close. As if Lee was going anywhere.
“What do you figure he meant?” he asked after a beat.
“My best guess?” Alex blinked his eyes open, a grayed-out hazel in the dim light.
“He didn’t take any money—in his own way, he’s a very principled man.
I think they asked for a friendly baseline attitude when the time came to discuss a UK–Qatar free trade agreement in the Lords.
In return, they offered him a way to get certain things on the agenda in the House of Commons. ”
“Certain things?”
“Ultra-conservative pet projects.” Alex smiled without any humor. “Protecting traditional family values and structures. Immigration control. Fox hunting.”
“You’re saying he might have sold us out just so he and his pals can go back to setting a bunch of hounds on a poor fox that will eventually be torn to shreds?”
“It’s the principle.” Alex’s hand flattened against Lee’s back, absently traveling along the curve of his spine. “In his mind, it’s all about defending traditions and well-earned privileges.”
“He said that?” Lee asked.
“I can read between the lines.”
“I know he’s your dad, but he sounds like a terrible person.”
Alex’s brows drew together, his throat moving as he swallowed. “Honestly, yeah, I think he might be a terrible person. I just never thought about it because he’s… you know. He’s the only father I have.”
There wasn’t anything Lee could say, nothing that would have made a difference.
So instead, he rolled on top of Alex and proceeded to take him apart with his hands and mouth, taking his sweet time as he brought Alex to the brink only to pull back, kissing the protest from him until Alex was clutching at Lee’s shoulders, firmly rooted in this, in them.
When Lee worked his way back down Alex’s body, it was to a backdrop of Alex’s gasps and stifled sighs, Alex alternating between watching Lee and throwing his head back, gorgeous against the sheets.
The light had faded by the time Alex shook through his orgasm, all tension draining from his muscles.
Lee kneed his way up the bed to bring himself off too, a few quick strokes, Alex watching him with soft eyes, one hand moving over Lee’s chest and stomach as he murmured quiet words of encouragement.