13. Chapter 12
Rhys woke up to arms banded around his waist. For a moment, he couldn’t remember who he’d gone home with. Where they even were. Not on the road, because this wasn’t a hotel room. He didn’t bring hook-ups back to his apartment. Easier to leave someone else’s place than convince them to leave.
He hadn’t gone out the night before. Had he? He didn’t remember. He’d left practice and…
Alfie had come running after him. He’d come home with Rhys, and they’d…
Oh, that was why the arms felt familiar and comforting instead of causing Rhys’s skin to itch like he had to just get out.
He held his breath. The last time they’d been in this position, Alfie shut him out, shut down anything they could be.
Didn’t you shut him out last night? You could have just talked to him.
Rhys seriously wanted to flip off that voice in his head. Not that it would help quiet it. He knew that from experience. Sometimes the only thing that did was going for a run, or even hitting the batting cages.
Smashing a baseball over and over again could help get any thoughts out of his head. Too bad Skip wasn’t going to let him do that. Even if they were benching him for the foreseeable future. He didn’t doubt that had been Brady’s recommendation.
He didn’t know what he would do if he wasn’t allowed to play baseball.
“Can you stop thinking so loudly?” Alfie asked, his voice rough with sleep.
“Can’t help it. The voice in my head doesn’t have volume control.”
Alfie let out a soft huff of breath against the back of his neck. “Sometimes I do not know if you’re serious or if that’s another of your jokes.”
There was no joking about how loud it could be in his head some days. If he knew a way to shut it off, he would certainly take an opportunity to do that. “I’m surprised you were still laying here with me then.”
Alfie’s arms tightened around him briefly before loosening again. It was so quick, Rhys thought he imagined it. Except he could still feel the press of Alfie’s muscled arm against his stomach.
“Why would I have wanted to leave you?”
You always have before. Everyone always has.
Rhys squeezed his eyes shut, not that doing that ever helped before. He was just glad Alfie couldn’t see his face, at least not until he got himself under control again. He didn’t need to know how much those words affected Rhys.
“Estas bien?”
Rhys didn’t always know what Alfie was saying, but that one was easy. He still did not want to talk about it. “I need coffee.” He threw off the sheet they’d been covered up with. It was warm in here, but he couldn’t sleep without anything, even with Alfie wrapped all around him.
“I can start a pot if you want?” Alfie said. “We will need to be at the clubhouse soon.”
“I don’t have any.” What was there might make one cup.
And that was probably stale. Did coffee go stale?
He didn’t know. He almost reached for his phone to look it up, but he shook away the urge.
Did it really matter? He didn’t want to make that swill.
“There’s a good coffee shop on the way to the clubhouse.
We can stop there.” He glanced at Alfie’s feet, remembering.
“You’ll have to borrow some shoes, though. ”
Alfie let out a snort. “Yours will not fit me.”
“Should have thought of that before deciding to go barefoot. We’ll have to make do. Don’t worry, I’ll share my shower with you first.” Rhys practically held his breath. This was where Alfie walked away. It was fine to share Rhys’s bed at night, but once morning came…
Alfie stepped toward Rhys. “I do not know if your shower will fit both of us.”
Rhys grinned at him and turned toward the bathroom. “We’ll just have to test it out,” he called out over his shoulder. “For science.”
Alfie followed Rhys into the bathroom. He would take that as a win.
Unfortunately, Alfie had been right. There was barely room for them in the standup shower. Rhys smacked his hip against the wall as he grabbed for the shampoo.
“Des vuelta.” Alfie spun one finger in a circle. Despite what so many teachers had said, Rhys could understand context clues. He turned his back to Alfie, and Alfie’s hands were in his hair, working the shampoo into it. Rhys couldn’t help but moan and wish they had time for more.
“Deja,” Alfie said, one hand on Rhys’s hip. “I need to rinse this out.”
“Then, I can do you.” Rhys tilted his head back, so he could look up at Alfie.
“I can do me,” Alfie said. “You wouldn’t be able to reach my hair unless I bent down. There is definitely no room for that.”
Rhys stuck his bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout. “You’re no fun.”
Alfie leaned down to kiss him. The position was awkward, and he pulled back to grab the shower head and point it down on top of Rhys’s head. Once he’d slicked his hair back from his face, Rhys picked up the soap, as Alfie reached for the bottle of shampoo again.
Rhys ran the washcloth slowly over his body, maintaining eye contact with Alfie.
He could see the way his eyes darkened as Rhys’s hand traveled lower.
Alfie let out a low rumble as he stepped under the spray, pressing Rhys up against the shower wall.
His lips covered Rhys’s, his hand sliding down Rhys’s stomach.
Until the blare of an alarm in the living room had him stepping back. Rhys closed his eyes. “My next to last chance alarm,” he said. “We need to go if we want to get that coffee.”
Alfie bent to kiss him once more before stepping out of the shower. Rhys watched him, dripping onto the floor while he reached for a towel. He finished rinsing off and snapped the water off.
This was going to be a long day, thinking about getting Alfie right back here. Well, at least it would be something to look forward to.