Chapter Eight
BECKETT
The morning found me on slightly firmer ground. My position was still hanging by a thread — I wasn’t kidding myself — but the reluctant alliance with the devil had the potential to save both our skins.
I didn’t have the time to announce it to the team. Early morning lectures called me away. Then, intentionally, I put in extra work at the gym. In the end, I didn’t see any of the guys until the afternoon drills.
I arrived at a nearly full locker room to a few surprised glances.
“Where is he?” I asked, the note of annoyance barely concealed. Caden was going to be late again. I couldn’t believe him.
Jordan shrugged. Sawyer avoided eye contact. Avery spoke up, blunt as ever. “I thought you were off the team.” My heart skipped a beat as I considered how we had ended things last night. I’d been harsh, but I wouldn’t say I had been unjust.
The locker room door flew open and Caden strolled in. He was as confident as ever, walking like he was born for this. He marched in like there had never been any friction in the team at all. He greeted us all with a single lift of his chin.
“There he is,” I said sweetly, but not so sweetly that it would come across as sarcastic.
Whatever Caden thought, I was actually good at this whole thing.
I crossed the locker room to slap a hand over Caden’s shoulder.
“I tell you,” I said to no one in particular.
“This guy, he knows how to be fashionably late.”
Caden narrowed his eyes at me when I moved my arm along his shoulder and held him in a brotherly hug. “Yep,” he said. “It’s all about fashion.” He turned his smile completely to me, and, through his clenched teeth, he said: “Move that arm away before I break it.”
“Not a chance. Play nice,” I replied underneath the clamor in the locker room. I added a little extra friendship on top when I pulled Caden closer and rubbed my knuckles against the top of his head. “There you go, buddy,” I said. “Now, let’s get ready and kick some ass.”
As we stripped and put our gear on, Jordan approached me. “You get extra points for effort,” he murmured.
“You’re just saying that because your ‘best friend’ spot is being usurped,” I mock accused.
“Ah, I’ve known you for a while,” Jordan said, tightening his shoulder pads in place. “I think I’m gonna be safe for some time.”
“If you’re suggesting that my relationship with Caden is anything but that of brotherly love and war-time camaraderie, then you are terribly mistaken, my second best friend.
The quality of his grilled cheese sandwiches alone displaces your ass.
” I tried not to crack, but a chuckle escaped me anyway.
Jordan nodded. “I’m just saying, I’m glad you’re both giving peace a chance.”
This would be as close to an admission of having been wrong as I would go. “Yeah, well, maybe I needed a brief existential crisis and the loss of all prospects to change my mind.” I shrugged, strapped on my knee pads, and poked Jordan in the ribcage. “If only I could return the favor.”
We simultaneously looked at his stepbrother, putting on his helmet and minding his business on the opposite side of the locker room. “Nah, dude. The relations are frozen. And they’re best kept that way.”
I exhaled. “Who knows what horrors the melting of that ice would unleash.”
Jordan gave me a grim look as if to say that he knew exactly what horrors. I didn’t want to find out for myself.
Today’s drills were not half as bad as they had been on Saturday. Coach Murray muttered about history repeating itself, complained about going grayer with each season, and dismissed us without a single threat, shout, or audible consideration of retirement. I, for one, took that as a victory.
As for how Caden and I performed on the ice, that was a whole different matter.
He was a cautious player. It was in contrast to my risk-taking style.
And if he tried something risky, it was so far off my creative spectrum that he just ended up confusing me.
It was no wonder that our friendly handshake after the drills lasted only two seconds.
Caden stalked off one way and I went the other.
As far as the first attempt went, this one was a lukewarm success.
The thin and insecure bond remained that way for the entire week.
The excuse of attending lectures — which I suddenly began doing a lot more consistently — was off the table on Saturday.
I was in the basement with the demon twins, Sebastian and Tyler, and a few other guys.
Caden walked in with Sawyer, listening intently to something Sawyer was saying.
“…doesn’t work that way, to be honest.” Sawyer shrugged. “Noah’s the smartest guy ever. I can’t argue with him. He cites his sources.” He spread his arms in surrender and Caden laughed. His gaze moved from Sawyer to me and his laughter stopped abruptly.
I looked away. I had no business eavesdropping, anyway.
I would have rather been anywhere else. The interactions with Caden when others were around tired me in a subtle way.
It was like the ocean’s waves splashing against the cliffs or persistent winds chisling mountains away.
The mood would change whenever both of us were in the room.
Other guys were just more alert. Even now, Sebastian and Tyler looked at me and then returned to their game of table soccer.
Once again, the pressure was on me to show everyone what great friends I was with Caden. I snapped my fingers irritably at Sebastian and Tyler. “You’ve played ten rounds already. Give somebody else a chance.”
Tyler was the one to lift an eyebrow and share a devilish grin. “Alright. Go on, Captain.”
“Jones,” I called with a bright smile pasted on my face like a cutout. “Care for a game?”
Caden’s eyebrows flattened over his big green eyes for the shortest of moments. I was sure nobody even noticed it aside from me. He lifted them quickly and shrugged. “What the hell. I’ll take any chance to kick your butt.”
“We’ll see whose butt is in for a kicking,” I muttered while Tyler and Sebastian freed up the damn thing. Sawyer found the little ball and tossed it on the middle of the table after Caden and I shook hands. Other guys directed their attention to the two of us.
Caden’s chest rose high when he inhaled.
The tight, slightly geeky polo shirt with all the buttons done made his physique apparent even at a glance.
The tight, short sleeves hugged his biceps.
When he pulled his shoulders back, the bottom edge of the shirt pulled up, revealing an inch of his firm abdomen.
It was like he was flaunting something none of us had.
Fucker. My abs were just as cut. My chest was just as broad. My arms were just as defined.
The careless cockiness about his abs infuriated me even more when he tucked a hand under his shirt and scratched himself lazily. It all lasted two heartbeats, but it lit a fire in me. It woke up the competitiveness that had been driving me my whole life.
I’m so gonna kick your ass, I thought as I bared my teeth and grabbed the handle in the middle, using my plastic figurines to kick the ball and start the match.
Within the first two minutes, I learned several things: Sebastian and Tyler made this game look easier than it was.
Another discovery was the sheer brutality with which Caden battled me.
He didn’t care if he ripped the handles off or kicked the ball so hard that it nearly smashed my plastic players.
He didn’t care about rocking the entire soccer table on its legs.
In fact, he probably wished he could flip it over and casually manslaughter me.
Not even five minutes passed before everyone in the basement surrounded the table.
They cheered and hooted while Caden and I allowed all our frustrations out.
We rammed the sides of the table with our legs when the muscles in my forearms seared too much.
The constant effort left me secretly gasping for air.
The quick and firm grips of various handles on my side of the table hurt my palms. The annoying edge of Caden’s shirt kept pulling up.
The fucker wore his shorts low so that a full inch of his underwear screamed for attention. I detested it.
Caden had the annoying habit of punching his open palm whenever he scored a point. It inspired me to wish for another kind of punching, especially when he scored the last winning point.
“Suck on that,” he gloated. He bothered so little to conceal his feelings for me that it made me clench my fists. Why should I put in all the effort to make it seem we hate each other any less? Why should I pull all this weight while Caden jerked off and rubbed his victories in my face?
My face forced on a smile when I looked into his green eyes. His long eyelashes batting with annoying sweetness. “What you lack on the ice, you sure make up for in the basement, my friend.” My words passed through an artificially toothy grin.
Caden took that to heart. His eyebrows dropped and he glared at me in front of everyone. “It must be great disassociating that much.”
“Ha-fucking-ha,” I muttered as I moved around the table to slap his shoulder and yank him into a brotherly hold. “I think it’s your subtle sense of humor I like the most about you, friend.”
“Oh, no, friend, it’s you who’s gifted with a sense of humor. It’s so subtle that I miss it half the time.” He cocked his head while other guys pulled away from us, shaking their heads, muttering something between themselves.
I closed my eyes to let a wave of annoyance wash over me. It passed by the time I looked at Caden again. “I need a friendly word with you.”
Caden was stone-cold when he blinked at me. “Now?”
“The sooner, the better,” I said.
He exhaled with a pinch of frustration. “Fine. My room.”
We headed out of the basement, my arm still over Caden’s shoulders.
The tension rose in my chest as we left everyone’s sight.
I released my nemesis from my hold and he marched quickly upstairs to his room.
I walked in after him, frowning at the lack of character I found there.
The walls were bare, the beds were made, the desks were clean, and the shelves were neat.
There was nothing out of place. A bean bag in one corner was the most irregular item in Caden’s possession.
“What is it?” he asked coolly. He had no reason to keep the act going.
I crossed my arms. “I need you to put more effort into this.”
“If you want your ass kissed in front of everyone, you’ll have to kiss mine in return.
” He was so easy to read. These words were designed to test the one hard rule he had for me.
And it was silly because it didn’t bother me.
I’d told him as much when we began this circus.
Whatever remarks I’d made in passing had been driven simply by my dislike for the guy.
It had nothing to do with his sexuality, I was sure.
“Actually, I’ll pass,” I said. “What I want is more simple. Do your part if you want me to do mine. I’ve been nothing but nice to you when others are around.
And I don’t know if you noticed, but there’s still plenty of tension in the room when we’re near each other.
The others noticed. That I can promise.”
Caden sighed. “So what? I’m supposed to act like a clown? You don’t even know how much effort this is taking me already.”
“Oh, I assure you, I know better than you think.” We locked our gazes on one another and stood in silence. “There’s always the nuclear option, Jones,” I reminded him. “And I won’t be the idiot doing all the work. Up your game, or it’s game over.”
For a long while, we stared at one another. Every encounter with this impossible guy was a duel. And in any other situation, I would have welcomed it. But I was under too much pressure to allow him to derail me.
“Fine,” he said in a clipped tone. “Now, get out of my room.”
I took that as a downpayment. He needed to lash out so that he could be nicer later. I flipped him off and marched out. “See you soon, bestie.”
I was pretty sure I heard a low “Fuck off” follow me through the door. It didn’t matter. I got what I wanted. He wouldn’t show it, but he feared getting kicked off the team just as much as I did. The fact that he hadn’t gone after me while we were alone in his room told me as much.
And that meant we had an understanding. It wasn’t only that Caden had my balls in his hand. I had his, too.