Chapter Thirty
Bailey
It was our last match before our weekend off and we were determined to turn our fortunes around after two back-to-back losses, first to Exeter, then to Cardiff on the road.
The Cardiff one had really fucking stung because we’d been leading up until half-time.
Then they’d gotten their act together while we’d languished and let them walk all over us.
We should have done better and we all knew it.
The bus ride back had been filled with cold, bitter silence as we all processed what had happened.
Hunter and I had barely said a word to each other until we’d gotten home. Then we’d called Aiden, stripped off our clothes, and fucked the stress away under his instruction, his soft praise and firm directions giving us everything we’d been craving since we walked off the pitch.
In the two weeks since we’d last seen him and figured everything out, we’d fallen into an easy, comfortable routine.
Most of the time we woke up to voice notes and videos from Aiden making cookies in the kitchen of The Nag’s Head, and we’d reply as we got dressed and made our way to training.
Then in the evenings we’d usually video call and hang out—doing our own things but in the same digital space.
Sometimes we’d all watch the same show, or we’d game.
Not always talking, but still there for each other.
We had a lot of phone sex too.
And while Hunter and I definitely missed Aiden’s physical presence, he’d come up with plenty of ways to keep us occupied.
“Ready to kick some arse today?” Mason asked, jolting me out of my thoughts as he walked past and clapped me on the shoulders, a wide, excited grin on his face.
“You know it,” I said.
“Awesome! Ryan already messaged me to say he and Rory found Aiden, so I apologise now if they adopt your boyfriend. Again. I don’t think they’re going to let him go.
Rory already wants to add him to the partners’ group chat.
Apparently, they’re all super cool and the whole thing is locked down tighter than Clive’s supply of Tim Tams.”
I chuckled, but my chest warmed at Ryan and Rory’s welcoming enthusiasm.
Aiden had already let Hunter and me know he’d been kidnapped by two beautiful men and that Ryan had waxed lyrical about his cookies.
I’d told him not to let it go to his head, but it was already too late for that.
“I probably should be worried, but it would be cool for Aiden to know people here.”
“Yeah, Jonny mentioned he might be looking to move after the whole shitshow with his kitchen,” Mason said casually.
“Maybe if he knows more people, he’ll be tempted to find something in Lincoln.
I’m pretty sure everyone at The Court would have cookies on a standing order if he did.
Probably shouldn’t give them the kitchen address or they’ll be lining up outside the door. ”
I snorted. “I think half the team would be too.”
Aiden had sent us a box of cookies as soon as he’d gotten up and running in the pub, and we’d made the mistake of bringing some to training. It was like being mobbed by a pack of seagulls.
“By the way,” Mason added, looking between Hunter, who was sat on the bench next to me taping his thighs, and me. “Me and West were talking about maybe putting a group chat together for queer players. Anyone here who wants to join. Then, I don’t know, any we find on other teams.”
“People aren’t Pokémon. You can’t collect them all,” Hunter said teasingly. “But if so… I call dibs on being Incineroar.”
“Aw, what, you can’t… You know what, fine. You’re in then?” Mason asked.
“Er, maybe. Is it for anything in particular or just solidarity?” I liked the idea in principle, as long as it all stayed private. But it would be nice to chat to some of the guys about our experiences without everyone overhearing.
“Community, solidarity, that sort of thing. And it’ll be private. We’ll only invite people we trust.”
“Who else did you ask?” Hunter asked.
“So far it’s me, West, Devon, and Jonny. Need to ask Matty and Danny too. I was thinking about asking Clive, but he’s not a player anymore.”
“Do you think they’ll join?” Hunter asked, glancing over at Danny, who was giggling with Charlie about something on his phone.
He’d grown up a lot over the last few months, and he seemed a lot more settled in himself now he had Ezra.
It had surprised me when he’d come out, but in hindsight, I could see how much work he’d done to construct a playboy persona nobody would look too closely at.
He was still a little shit, but not in the same way he had been.
“Yeah, I do,” Mason said, his eyes following Hunter’s, a wry smile pulling at his lips.
“And I think it’ll do both of them good to have a bit more community, especially Danny now he’s figured things out.
I think it’d be good for all of us. West made a point that we’ve all got a rugby community, but there’s not really a queer space for us—at least professionally.
There are queer non-professional teams, but we exist in a different place, a more public one.
And it might be good to be able to talk to each other about that.
It doesn’t mean you have to be out publicly, though. I know you guys don’t want to do that.”
“No, not yet,” I said. We’d mentioned our relationship with Aiden to a few people over the last week or two but asked everyone to respect our decision to keep it private.
There’d been a few questions but nothing too personal.
The most pointed one had come from Danny when he’d remembered that Aiden was the one who’d made cookies for us in the past, but it’d been whether we were going to bring baked goods to training as his reward for figuring everything out.
He’d been giddier than a kid at Christmas when we’d turned up with a box of them two days later.
“It sounds good, though—the chat idea,” Hunter added. “Count us in.”
“Cool, I’ll set something up tomorrow,” Mason said as Matty wandered over. “Oh, Matty! I have a question for you.”
Our captain raised his eyebrow, clearly not sure whether to be worried. “What is it?”
“Would you like to be in an awesome queer players group chat with us?” Mason asked, waving his hands as he continued his sales pitch.
I half listened as I strapped my ankle up and pulled my socks on.
My ankle had been fine since I twisted it, but I wasn’t taking any risks.
The last thing I wanted was a serious injury that would put me out for months.
I grabbed my phone out of my bag and tapped the screen, half checking the time and half making sure Aiden hadn’t been kidnapped by drag queens.
Aiden
[Link attached] Btw went to see this on my way up. Think I’m going to apply for it
“Did you see this?” I asked, leaning over to show Hunter while Mason and Matty chatted away in front of us.
“No. What is it?”
I tapped the link, a smile instantly bursting onto my face when I realised what it was. “It’s a commercial kitchen share. In North Hykeham. Looks like it might be sharing with another catering business, maybe different hours? I’ll read it later.”
“Seriously? That’s awesome,” Hunter said, lighting up so beautifully all I wanted was to lean over and kiss him. But I was trying to keep things professional. We already had one badly behaved couple in the dressing room. I wasn’t going to add another.
“Yeah. And he could live… Well, that’s what, fifteen minutes from us? Twenty?”
“Exactly! We could see him… I mean, maybe not every day but…”
“Most days.” Hunter’s voice was quiet and there was a hopefulness to it that reflected the emotion building in my chest. “I know he usually gets up at four, and we have training, and he goes to bed early, but maybe. I mean, we can drive to him. Or he can stay over. If he wants a separate bed, he can have my room. I mean I barely use it. I know it’s a bit of a squish for three of us in one bed, especially since I—”
“Sprawl?”
“I was going to say starfish.”
“Is that any better?”
“It sounds nicer,” Hunter said, poking me in the thigh. “Starfish are cute.”
I smiled and shook my head fondly, locking my phone and putting it back in my bag. “We can talk to him about it later.”
Hunter smirked. “Before or after our other plans?”
“Before. Because we’re not going to have the words to do it afterwards.”
Hunter flushed and the temptation to kiss him again rose up inside me, stronger than ever.
Aiden and I had so many plans for him later—whether that was tonight or tomorrow—and I couldn’t wait to watch him fall apart under our touch, on the end of the selection of Aiden’s monster cocks he’d picked out when we visited.
I wanted to see Hunter beg and squirm and whine, with tears in his eyes and cum splattered across his skin, gasping as we wrung another orgasm out of him.
“I think you’re going to kill me,” Hunter murmured under his breath.
“No, I love you too much,” I said quietly, watching his blush deepen.
He smiled sweetly, voice low as he spoke, keeping his words just for me. “I love you too.”
My heart soared as I reached for my boots, almost giddy that we could say that to each other now, and those words were fast becoming my favourite thing to say.
But as delighted as I was, now wasn’t the time to get lost in my emotions.
As I loosened my laces, I let out a slow breath, putting my feelings carefully to one side and focusing on the task in front of me.
We had a rugby match to win.
Aiden was chatting to Ryan and Rory when we found him standing outside under the darkening sky, the cool October breeze rustling his hair.
He was wearing wide-legged jeans and a Knights hoodie he’d pinched from me, the sleeves pushed up around his elbows.
He looked totally at ease, talking animatedly like he’d known the others for years, the three of them laughing at something he said.
I stood and watched them for a second while I waited for Hunter to finish chatting to Ezra and Danny.
Just seeing Aiden again made my heart feel ready to burst, but there was an easy comfortableness to the feeling as well.
Almost as if it wasn’t new, but more like coming back to a place I’d known and loved for a long time.
I couldn’t think of the words to explain it. Not properly.
The one thing I did know was Aiden was choosing us, and I didn’t take that lightly.
He was even going as far as looking at moving cities to be nearer to us, and considering how close he’d come to running, that was something I’d never imagined.
Maybe he wouldn’t have if his kitchen hadn’t been flooded, or maybe it would have just taken months or years instead of weeks.
But he was, and I wasn’t going to take it for granted.
Jonny had told us that once Aiden was in, he’d make us the centre of his universe.
At the time, I hadn’t been sure I’d believed it, but now I was watching it unfold in real time, our worlds pivoting as we slowly began to orbit each other.
Hunter and I had to do the same and make sure we showed Aiden how much we appreciated the incredible gift he’d given us.
“There you are,” Aiden said, waving at me, and I realised West had stepped out the door beside me. Rory must have spotted us and pointed me out to Aiden.
“Hey, thanks for waiting,” I said as I walked over to him. I didn’t know where Hunter was, but he’d catch up in a minute. If Danny didn’t talk his ear off first. Or Ezra. I was sure I’d heard the word ‘content’ being thrown around.
Aiden grinned and threw his arms around me, squeezing my middle.
There was nobody else here except players and staff, but I’d still only stick to a hug.
The kisses could wait until we were behind closed doors.
Because the way I was feeling, there was no way they were going to be appropriate for public consumption.
“Great job today. You were fucking awesome.”
“Yeah, wasn’t too bad.”
“Are you always this humble or are you just trying to play it cool?” he asked teasingly.
“Don’t know what you mean. Winning thirty-three to seven is totally normal for us. Not a big deal at all.”
“Really? So we shouldn’t celebrate this magnificent achievement and your excellent sporting display?”
“I mean, we promised Hunter.” I grinned as he stepped back, looking around for our third. I spotted him by the door, trying to ease away from the conversation he’d been trapped in. It looked like Matty had joined them too, his son Jack balanced on his hip.
“Where is he anyway?”
“He got cornered. He’ll be here in a minute,” I said. “By the way, I saw the link you sent.”
He put his hands in his hoodie pocket and smiled up at me, twisting slightly on the spot. “Yeah?”
“It looks good. Really good.”
“Glad you think so. Because I already emailed them about it—thought I might as well since the price is so good and it’s exactly what I want. I looked around it on my way up and it’s perfect, so there’s no point waiting around or it’ll go.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. And they got back to me during the second half. They said yes.” He laughed breathlessly, like he couldn’t believe it was happening.
Neither could I. It felt too good to be true.
“There’s checks and everything they need to do, and we’ll need contracts, plus I need to break my lease in Leicester and figure all the shit out with deposits, but yeah…
all goes well, first of December it’s mine. ”
“Fuck yeah!” I whooped as I pulled him into another hug, lifting him off the ground and spinning around, the desire to kiss him stronger than ever. “We’re celebrating the fuck out of this!”
“Celebrating what? The win?” Hunter asked as he popped up beside me, looking between us with an adorably confused expression.
Aiden was still smiling as I slowly put him down again. “Not just that. I applied for that kitchen. I’m moving here.”