Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
TEX (TRAVIS)
Iitched to speak with Colton. I should have talked him into letting me stay with him last night. I should have woken up in bed with him and…I glanced at Malik and Grey, laughing and teasing each other at the sink while they washed our breakfast dishes.
With a sigh, I sank deeper into our sectional. That could have been Colton and me this morning. I could have prepared breakfast and then cuddled him in bed. An ache wound through my heart. It was hard as hell to wait until the semester was over.
My phone buzzed on the coffee table, and I picked it up. Shit, it was Colton. Did he somehow know I’d been thinking about him? As a grin curled one side of my lips, I answered. “Hey, how are you?”
“I…don’t know. Sara just left. She showed up unannounced.”
Heat tingled in my chest. “What did she want?” Was she trying to get back together with him? Why appear at his apartment for anything else?
“No, she was at the Coach House. She saw us together last night.” He huffed.
“Oh, no.” Pinching the bridge of my nose, I scowled. This couldn’t be good. Would she get him into trouble? “What did you tell her?”
“I told her the truth.” He drew a ragged inhale. “I wasn’t a coward for once, and told her we were together,” he said. “She was surprisingly okay with it.”
“She was?” As the heaviness lifted in my chest, I glanced at Grey and Malik, folding the dish towels on the oven door. Would this mean he’d be open to me telling more people about us?
“She was. She was angry I didn’t tell her about us before. But she…she said we were cute together.”
A smile tugged my lips. “We are. More people should see it.” I freed a soft snort.
“Hey, who are you talking to?” Malik stepped toward me.
“My tutor.” I up-nodded at him. They knew we’d attended the hockey game but didn’t know it was a date. “Can I—”
“No, please, don’t tell them. Not yet.” He sighed. “Talking with Sara this morning resolved some of my fears, but I still need to handle it slowly.”
“Oh, the tutor.” Malik snickered. “When are you bringing him over here so we can meet him?”
“Um…” Had Colton heard that? I dipped my head and teased a fold in my athletic shirt.
“Tell him…” He pulled in a quick breath. “Soon. But I don’t know when.”
“Sure. Hold on a minute.” Setting the phone on mute, I focused on Malik, standing next to me with narrowed eyes. He knew something was up with Colton. He wasn’t stupid. “You can meet him soon. He’s pretty busy right now with his tutoring and working on his thesis.”
“Okay, we’ll see him at the game on Saturday, right?” Malik slapped my shoulder. “You said he’s coming with Dante.”
“Yes, that’s the plan.” Damn it, somehow I’d have to hide my feelings for Colton from Dante and hope to hell that while I was out on the field, Dante wouldn’t question Colton and figure it out. As Malik jogged off with Grey toward the bedrooms, I unmuted the phone. “Okay, I’m back.”
“What did you tell them?”
“Basically, the truth. That you’re busy with your students and your own studies.
” If Sara had been upset that he’d lied to her, would Malik and Grey be angry with me for lying to them?
I wouldn’t push Colton though. He’d been through enough today.
“So, what are you doing now?” I shifted, imagining him naked in his bedroom, and my cock jerked.
I shouldn’t do this here. But would he go for it?
“I’m working on my thesis. Well, was about to.”
“What are you wearing?” I slid deeper into the couch. Was his shirt buttoned all the way up, or was he casual? He was alone. Fuck, Sara had seen him though.
“Tex, stop it. I don’t have time for this, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.” He scoffed. “Fine, a t-shirt and shorts.”
“Oh, damn.” No, I had to stop. “Colton, if I were there, we’d head into your bedroom right now.” I palmed my half-hard cock as I glanced at the hallway. Shit, my roommates can’t find me like this. Then they’d know for sure. “I missed you this morning. I want to stay the night.”
“Yeah, I want that too. But when the time is right,” he said. “I…should go. I have studying to do.”
“Okay. Wear what you have on right now when I visit for our tutoring session.” Movement caught the corner of my eye, and Malik stepped out from behind the wall, a smirk on his face and his arms crossed on his chest. Fuck. “See you Tuesday. Bye.”
“Bye.” The call ended.
“Why do you care what your tutor wears when you see him?” He hooked a brow.
“I don’t. You must have misheard me.” Choking on a laugh, I hopped off the couch and strode into the kitchen. I had to get out of this. I’d just promised Colton I wouldn’t out him.
“Tex, I’ll let this go because clearly it upsets you.” He strolled to stand behind me and planted his hand on my shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll talk to me when you’re ready.”
I turned to him. “I will. Right now, I can’t. You get it, right?” Hell, he was in a similar situation.
“More than you know, buddy.” He squeezed my shoulder and then returned to the hallway for the bedrooms. “Good luck.” He waved behind him.
Wednesday night I was dying to know how Colton’s therapy session had gone.
He’d been nervous as hell about it when I’d seen him on Tuesday.
While sitting on my couch watching sports commentary, I muted the television and picked up my phone, checking the time.
He should be home by now. I called his number and glanced toward the hallway leading to the bedroom.
Malik and Grey were fooling around…again. They wouldn’t be able to hear me.
The call rang a few times and picked up. “Hi, Tex.”
God, I loved how he always called me Tex now. “Hi. Uh, how was your therapy session?” I’d get right to it. Hopefully, he’d want to talk about it with me. I shifted on the couch.
“It went well. I like the therapist I picked. He was easy to talk to, and we outlined a strategy for dealing with my issues.” He choked a sigh. “Apparently I have a few.”
“What are you starting with?” I held my breath. He hadn’t wanted to rehash his mother’s death, but I didn’t know how he’d get better without that.
“We’re starting with what the therapist thinks is the easiest—my acceptance of myself,” he said.
“I have to disassociate my spiral after my mother died with discovering I was bisexual…” He breathed in deeply.
“My analytical brain knows that being bisexual is not a choice and something you’re born with, but my traumatized brain still thinks being with men resulted from a destructive trauma response. ”
“Yeah?” Tightening the grip on my phone, I held onto every word. There might be some tidbit of information I could use to help him.
“Yeah. My dad used gay slurs so many times, hooking up with guys became a way to lash out at him for not being present for my mom.” His breath caught. “Fuck, he wasn’t present for either of us.”
“Okay, so now you understand you basically just like men. Right?” Had he ever questioned that with me? Hell, the first time we’d been together, did he believe it was to spite his father? My gut tensed.
“Yes, I know that. Now I have to fully accept it.” He huffed a sigh. “My brain needs to be rewired.”
“How much did you talk about your mom?” I worried my lower lip. If the therapist dug into that too soon, he might stop going.
“Not very much. Just enough so he understood why my trauma centered so heavily around it.” He paused. “Tex, it really wore me out. I’m exhausted and need to go to bed.”
“Yeah, okay.” I had to let him go, even though I wanted to hear more. “We can talk more if you need to this weekend, maybe.”
“Except Dante is visiting this weekend.”
“Oh, right.” Dipping my head, I clicked my tongue. “We’ll talk though. I’m here to listen whenever you need me.”
“I know.” He yawned. “Anyway, thanks for calling, and I’ll see you soon. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Colton. Sleep well.” I ended the call and set my phone in my lap, staring at the talking heads, still muted on my television. I hoped he stuck with this. So far, it looked promising.
The rest of the week had flown by and both of my tutoring sessions with Colton had ended in his bedroom with us fucking.
In multiple positions. I had to get tested so I could lose the damn condoms. I wanted nothing between us.
We hadn’t talked any more about his therapy session.
He’d wanted to let it process first in his head.
For now, things were easy, and I looked forward to the game against West Virginia and seeing Dante, who was arriving in Phoenix any minute.
I drove to the arrivals curb outside baggage claim at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
Dante stood on the curb, his almost black hair cut to frame his face, his sunglasses hiding his brown eyes. As he waved at me, his black t-shirt lifted, exposing a sliver of taught abs above the waistband of his jeans.
I stopped my truck, hopped out of it, and jogged to him. “Dante, it’s so good to see you, man.”
“Güero, you look amazing.” He wrapped me in a fierce hug and then kissed my cheek. “I’m so excited to hang out with you and your buddies.”
As I freed him, I patted his back. “Well, I don’t know how much you’ll see of my buddies. They won’t be around much.” And they were always fooling around in Grey’s bedroom.
“That’s okay.” He slung his suitcase into the back of my truck and climbed into the passenger side.
After I hopped in, I drove into the slow traffic toward the airport exit. “What have you been up to?”
“Oh, you know, the same old shit. Spending some time at Oilcan Harry’s.” He chuckled and wound his fingers around the grab handle over the window. Slapping my thigh, he said, “What about you?”