CHAPTER 7
harrison
T urns out trying to put up professional barriers between Casey Calloway and myself is about as futile as humans inhabiting Neptune. He just can’t take no for an answer and even when he does, well, he breaks my heart into a million different pieces with his puppy dog eyes.
I had really needed a break from him yesterday after our session on the treatment bed. His breathy moans and whimpers and oh Harry, right there’s had turned me on something fierce, and it was only pure dumb luck he didn’t notice how hard I was beneath the table.
He’s just so determinedly oblivious, showing off his perfect abs while I was actively trying to temper the directional flow of my blood. Touching my stomach while I was already so achingly hard for him.
I’d tried to tell him I’d find my own way home, but I could see how hurt he was by my rejection that I literally couldn’t live with myself.
So I’d stuffed all my rampant desire and lust for him into the flimsy compartment in my head that has already burst at the seams and let him take me home.
Of course, that turned into another night sharing dinner with him at my apartment and now even my private space smells like him.
I. Am. Going. Insane.
I am definitely going to find a gay club tonight because if I don’t have sex within the next twenty-four-hour period I might actually explode.
I just have to get through another full day of Casey Calloway before I can make that happen.
Of course, he doesn’t make that easy for me because of course today is pool day. And of course Casey Calloway is wearing his teeny tiny Speedos and showing off all but a handful of inches of his perfect body. The handful of inches that I happen to be most keenly interested in.
He’s your best friend, I chant to myself as he hauls himself out of the pool, water dripping down every inch of his body, muscles rippling and creating interesting rivulets I want to lick up.
He is not my best friend. Because best friends might want to poke each other’s dimples, but they do not want to slam each other up against the nearest wall and tear that scrap of material to shreds.
Sweet Lord, save me.
Casey towels off his hair as he steps towards me, completely and utterly oblivious of his effect on me.
If he knew, he’d at least have the decency to cover that body of his with his towel.
Or a thick woollen blanket. That trademark cheeky grin covers his face as he looks up at me on the pool deck.
I already know I’m about to cave in to whatever demand he has of me.
“So, I’m heading out for a drink with Sonny and Izak tonight. You should come with.”
He’s towelling his hair, but droplets of water are still weaving a path through his abs, and I have to force my eyes away.
“Oh, tonight may be difficult,” I mull, avoiding his eyes as I pretend to look through my notes.
“Oh? You have plans already?” The disappointment in his voice is also coating his face and I die a little inside. Because yes, Casey, as a matter of fact I do have plans. Plans to go have mindless sex with any random guy I can find to get you out of my head.
“Yeah, I do. Sorry.”
“I don’t have to go out with Sonny and Izak. I can come do whatever you’re doing if you want company.”
I choke on my own spit at the image he’s just innocently presented to me on a platter. Nope, nope, nope, just no.
Casey is not coming within four hundred miles of a gay club with me. Not if we were the last two men on the planet. In which case there would be no gay club but anyway. Semantics.
“Actually, you know what? Those plans weren’t set in concrete. I’ll come for a drink,” I say instead because there is no way in hell I’m telling him what I was actually planning on doing. Which was sinking my cock into some faceless guy who is definitely, most certainly not Casey Calloway.
“Are you sure?” he checks, big blue-green eyes filled with what almost looks like worry. “I don’t want to impose.”
“No imposition,” I lie, closing my folder with a snap. I’ll just send him the bill for the RSI in my suffering right hand.
The big smile he rewards me with makes my insides melt into a puddle. “That’s great, Harry,” he grins, turning and leaving me with the sight of his perfect ass as he heads for the locker room.
***
The pub Casey and I enter later that night verges more on the side of a club than what had entered my mind when he’d mentioned the name.
This is no quaint, centuries-old rambling building with its crooked walls and exposed beams. There are no cosy leather armchairs in front of a fireplace or rustic wooden tables that have heard a million tall stories.
No, this place is sleek and modern with a long bar backlit with blue lights and filled with gins and whiskies from around the world.
A DJ plays a set I don’t recognise from the corner in front of a small but mostly empty dance floor.
But the strong scent of ale is pervasive and strangely comforting as I follow behind Casey to the booth where Sonny and Izak are already into their first round.
“Hey, you made it,” Sonny says, reaching out to clasp hands with Casey before doing the same to me.
“Well, I tried to say no but this one wouldn’t hear of it,” I say as I slide into a booth beside Casey.
Sonny laughs out loud. “Yeah, good luck with that. Casey doesn’t understand the word no.”
“You’re making it sound like I don’t understand the concept of consent,” Casey points out, sending me that smile.
His dark blonde hair is styled into artfully tussled spikes tonight and he’s wearing a black button down that looks sinful against his biceps.
His light blue jeans are doing a solid job of showing off his other assets too.
“Seeing as no one has ever said no to you in the history of your life I’m not sure you really do get it, mate,” Sonny returns.
“Oh Sonny boy,” Casey returns with a shake of his head. “Don’t make me tell them the stories of all the girls you sent wild in high school.”
Sonny just grins as he takes a sip from his glass while I watch on with interest. Izak is doing the same from beside Sonny, but he seems to be more the strong and silent type.
“You two went to high school together?” I ask, question directed at Casey.
“We did. And before you ask, yes, I was the dedicated star student while Sonny here slept his way through the female population of the school.” Somehow, I believe this as I look between Casey and Sonny.
They’re both very easy on the eye with bucket loads of charisma and charm to match.
I can readily believe the girls would go crazy for both of them.
I also have no doubt Casey could have slept his way through high school if he’d wanted to.
Before anyone can respond, a waiter appears at our booth with a tray full of beers which he summarily plants down on our table.
“Oh ah, I don’t think we ordered yet,” I say.
“On the house,” he winks at us before he leaves.
“Does this happen everywhere you go?” I ask, turning my attention on Casey as he takes a sip of the free drink. He just shrugs and sends me a rueful smile that tells me enough. “Just so we’re clear, I am having two drinks. That’s it.”
“Sure, Harry,” he returns innocently, leaving a trail of froth on his upper lip. I clear my throat and look away.
“This only happens when Casey’s with us,” Izak mulls. “Like I didn’t kick goal of the year last season.”
“Aw, Izak,” Casey says solemnly. “I appreciate you and your marvellous goal kicking talent. Have a free beer.”
“Cheers, buddy,” Sonny adds, finishing off his original glass and reaching for the last free beer.
It’s impossible to miss the girls hovering nearby, nor the whispered stares directed the way of the three guys.
I am shielded by my treasured anonymity but even I start attracting interested glances and can only assume that’s due to the pulling power of the guy at my side.
Unfortunately for me, the attention seems to be entirely female, so I know I’m out of luck for tonight.
Casey finally seems to notice our attention too because he grins conspiratorially before he sidles closer. “So, what’s your type?” he asks, head cocked in the direction of the nearest group of girls.
“I don’t think I really have a type,” I lie, not about to admit that my type is Casey Calloway to a T.
“Really?” he asks, lower lip stuck out in a pout that is way cuter than it has any right to be.
“I’ve never really been a hookup kind of guy,” I admit, this part at least not a lie despite my earlier plans for the night. But that was out of sheer desperation rather than something I really like to do.
“Huh,” Casey mulls, far too interested in my answer. “So, you’re more of a relationship kind of guy?”
“Something like that.”
“Not like you can talk, Callie,” Sonny butts in, kicking Casey under the table. “When was the last time you hooked up?”
Casey squirms in his seat and I am suddenly all ears, far too interested in his answer than I should be.
“So I’m not a hookup kind of guy either,” he shrugs. “Sue me.”
“Yeah, except you’re also not a relationship guy. So where does that leave you?” Sonny chides. “All alone at night with just your right hand for company.”
“I just have standards,” Casey huffs. “And girls have never really been part of the plan. And for the record, I’m a left hander.”
“Part of what plan?” I hear myself asking before I can stop.
Sonny barks out another laugh. “Oh Casey and his plans . I’m telling you, Harrison, he used to have this big whiteboard back at home with a list of goals.
Pretty sure number ten was ‘ be the best footballer in the universe’.
Basically, if it wasn’t written on the giant whiteboard he slept under every night, manifesting it into existence, he’s not interested. ”
“Really?”
“So what if I have aspirations,” Casey returns. He sounds a little defensive, but I have no issues with Casey’s plans. Especially if they’ve left him no time for girls.
“I think it’s great to have aspirations,” I say, quietly enough just for him to hear. He glances up at me, the first hint of vulnerability I’ve ever seen on him in those beautiful eyes.
“It’s not that I don’t want to settle down one day,” he admits just for me. “It’s just not part of the plan while I’m in this phase of my career.”
“You absolutely do not have to justify yourself to me, Case. I think it’s admirable.”
“Admirable or not,” Sonny cuts in, taking a long sip before rising to his feet. “I have zero issues with hooking up. If you’ll excuse me.”
“Ditto,” Izak grins, following behind Sonny before they’re welcomed enthusiastically by the girls at the nearby table. Leaving me alone at our booth with just Casey and his big, blue-green eyes.
“If you did want to hookup,” he says, biting down on his lower lip, “just know that I’m not going to stand in your way.”
I’m momentarily speechless as I get lost in his eyes. I swallow around the shards in my throat and take a sip of my drink, forcing my gaze away from him.
“Well, I agreed to come out for a drink with you ,” I say instead. “I’m not here to hook up with some random.”
The smile he gives me is hard to describe but it hits his eyes, and I feel an extremely unwelcome whoosh shoot through my stomach. This is not good. Not good at all. Unrequited lust is one thing. Anything beyond that is just a raging red danger zone.
“It’s not that I don’t like sex,” he continues, unaware he is short circuiting my brain. “I’m just not obsessed with it like everyone else seems to be.”
That’s because you haven’t had sex with me .
But that’s not what I say out loud of course. Instead I say, “That’s fine too. You do know there’s no such thing as normal.”
He sputters a laugh. “That’s good to hear cos if you ever took a peek inside my brain you’d find it’s far from normal.”
“Normal is overrated.”
“Totally.”
“Besides,” I add, taking a sip from my glass, “the opposite of normal is extraordinary. And that’s you summed up in one word, Casey Calloway.”
I feel his eyes on me, but I can’t look back at him right now, instead trying to focus on where Sonny and Izak seem to be having plenty of luck with the girls.
My heart is a bit full at the moment, and I am regretting many things, most of all letting that last sentence slip.
But he needs to know. He needs to know that being ‘not normal’ is what makes him so incredible.
Makes him so special. Makes him the Casey Calloway the world knows and loves.
“See?” Casey says at length, his voice a little wobbly. “I knew we were going to be best friends.”
I snort out a little laugh, lifting my gaze to find his suffused by that gorgeous cheeky grin. I have nothing more to say because I know without a shadow of a doubt that the way I feel about him is far from best friend territory. It’s so far away we might as well be orbiting the moon.
Not that he will ever know.