Long Pass Chronicles 01 - Outing the Quarterback (15 page)

Will stared at the phone. He pushed the speed dial.

Jamal’s voice. “You see that, man?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you think he knows?”

Will popped his breath from his lips. “Don’t know. My guess is he’s talking to Tiffany. Who the fuck knows what she said?”

“Just how bad was your performance with our busty blonde?”

Hard to remember. She’d always made excuses and reassured him that he was the best. The best kisser. The best lover. But what had she really thought? What did she think now that she wanted to rip out his guts?

Jamal made a humming sound. “You been quiet too long, buddy. Not a good sign.”

“Yeah. I wasn’t exactly Ryan Reynolds. I don’t know what she thinks.”

“Or what she’ll say.”

“Yeah.”

“And she saw you staring at your loverboy waiter at the restaurant.”

Will slid down on the floor with his back against the bed. “Was I really obvious?”

“I wondered why you were staring at him, but it didn’t cross my mind you were hot for him. Of course, I never got naked with you when you couldn’t get it up. That could change a person’s point of view.”

“Shit.”

Jamal snorted. “Think of it this way, man. There are movie stars who’ve been denying they’re gay for twenty years. Just show up with Ev and let ’em guess.”

“I’d just as soon they weren’t guessing at all.”

“Maybe you’ll get lucky and she’ll just say you’re a cheating bastard.”

“Yeah. If I’m lucky.”

N
OAH
GLANCED
up at the classroom door. Where was he? Masterson wouldn’t like it if Will was late again.

Focus and paint
.

He deepened the shadow behind the old man’s body. Funny, he didn’t use a lot of darks in his painting, usually. Maybe taking a lesson from Will.

He glanced up as the door whooshed open.
Will.
Noah plastered on a smile.
Show him you care. Show him you’re not angry
.

Will was frowning. He didn’t even look at Noah. He just walked straight to Masterson and started talking quietly and intensely.

Noah shook himself, dropped the smile like a hot cat, and stared at his canvas. Could he hear?

Masterson’s voice rose. “I need you to make this class a priority.” Oh, bad sign.

Will said something else quietly; then Dwight pointed toward his easel. Will looked up, locked eyes with Noah, looked away, and walked to his spot at the back of the classroom.

Damn
. He needed to talk to Will. Tell him—what? Noah was interested. Yeah, they were really different, but somehow Noah’s hella life had left him freer and weirdly better off than Will was in his cushy circumstances. The guy needed somebody, and Noah kind of liked that. Sure, it probably would never work, but he was interested.

He turned his head and found Dwight staring at him. Had he been watching Will?
Damn
. He lowered his head and continued painting. Maybe during the break he could say something to Will.

He needed to be careful. It probably didn’t pay to piss off Dwight more than he already had. But fuck, man, talk about cross-purposes. Dwight wanted to fuck Noah big-time, and with every passing day, Noah got more determined not to fuck Dwight. Why? He was no blushing virgin. He’d gotten his butt cherry popped when he was twelve. Not entirely voluntary, but not too awful. It had taken four years for him to know he liked being the fucker rather than the fuckee, but he’d had plenty of sex in the meantime.

Still, since that first time, nobody forced Noah. He and Dwight weren’t equals. The teacher held all the chips and had all the power. Even if Noah convinced himself he couldn’t resist Dwight, if he fucked him, he’d always wonder why he’d done it.

Then there was Will. Will seemed to care if Noah had sex with Dwight. He’d joked about Noah being too tired, but he’d cared. A tiny smile crept across Noah’s lips.
I like that
.

Noah glanced up. Will painted with great concentration and a slight crease between his light brows.
Pretty, pretty
.

Focus
.

He let his hand go free and painting happened. Everything went away. Masterson. Decisions about sex. Even Will. Kind of.

Dwight’s voice cut in. “When you get to a stopping place, take a break.”

Whoa
. Time passed. Break.
Good
. He could find a way to talk to Will. He looked up. Across the room, Will was gathering his tackle box. He closed it with a click and headed for the door. Where was he going? Noah didn’t need to ask. Football practice. A world where Noah had no place.

W
HAM
!
W
ILL
hit the ground and steeled his ribcage for the weight of two or three guys landing on him with momentum. He automatically curled his fingers to prevent them getting stepped on.

His breath rushed out of his lungs with the first hit, then the rest just pressed him into the grass.
Inhale. It’ll be over in a minute.

The weight lessened and finally his back felt the coolness of air.

A hand got shoved in his face. “You okay, Will?”

He grabbed it and let Marshall pull him to his feet. “Yeah. But you guys sure are taking Coach seriously.” He laughed and adjusted his neck.

The mountain of a linebacker patted his shoulder and ran off.

Coach said play hard, and they took him at his word. Two days until the preseason game and a week until this whole football shit got serious.

Jamal trotted up and patted him on the butt. “C’mon. Coach wants to run the second string.” They walked over to the bench, grabbed a water, and sat.

Sawicki ran onto the field to take Will’s place. Suddenly the cheerleaders came to life. “Yayyy, Sawicki. Give me an S. Give me an A.”

Jamal punched his arm. “They’re gonna show you what you get when you break up with the captain of the cheerleading squad.”

Will nodded and laughed, but it felt phony even to him.

Jamal sipped. “How do you feel about being ignored by the cheerleaders?”

He shrugged. “It’s weird. Not gonna lie.”

“At least the whole first team gets the same treatment. By ignoring you, they’re ignoring us too.”

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t feel too good either.”

“Lighten up, bro. You could still be pretending to get turned on by the bitch.”

“Truth, man.” He shuddered.

Jamal leaned in. “So how’s the romance?”

“Nowhere. Confusing.” He looked around. Most of the guys were on the field. “After I left your place, I went to his. Uh, we, you know.”

“Hey, man, that’s great. Was it great?”

“Mind-blowing.” He wouldn’t supply details. Not here. Maybe not ever. Did he want Jamal to know he liked to take it up the ass? “But when it was over, Noah acted really cold. Like he got what he wanted and that was it.”

“Shit, harsh.”

“Yeah. But then I saw him, uh, ran into him and he smiled at me, but I didn’t get to talk to him. I had to come here.”

“The smile is good, right?”

“I don’t know. Damn, I don’t know much. He’s out and proud and thinks I’m a fucking pussy for hiding.”

“No man can judge another’s situation, you know?”

Will nodded. “He’s so damned brave. He got that scar from a homeless guy with a broken bottle when Noah was sleeping on a bench or some shit. Can you believe that? What the guy’s been through shouldn’t happen to an animal, man. I can’t even tell my father the truth.”

Jamal chuckled. “I don’t know. I might take a homeless guy with a broken bottle over your old man.”

This time he really laughed. So he wouldn’t cry.

Coach called them back on the field, and they busted their humps for another hour. Finally, he called it quits. Will pulled off his helmet and dragged his ass to the locker room. Just what he needed to forget the burning in his butt—six guys landing on it.

Jamal ran up beside him and grabbed his shoulder. “Look.”

“What?”

“Wait. Not yet. Okay, look up at the stands.”

Will glanced up.
Double shit
. Dennis Hascomb sat on the next to top row, deep in conversation with none other than Tiffany Baxter. The guy was taking notes, for crap sake. The two of them started to laugh like something was really funny. Then Tiffany turned her head and stared straight at Will.

He looked at Jamal and kept walking. What the fuck else could he do?

W
ILL
LOOKED
over at Evangeline in the passenger seat and smiled. “You ready for this?”

She glanced toward the big Laguna Beach house with its bright lights and people walking up the pathway to the front door. “I suppose. Your parents probably won’t kill me with so many witnesses around.”

He laughed even though his belly felt like a ball of wax. “You’ll be great.”

She turned toward him with that direct, perceptive gaze. “What about you? You don’t seem yourself. Are you all right?”

“Yeah. Pretty much.”

“Boyfriend issues?”

“He’s not my boyfriend and that’s the issue.” His smile probably wasn’t too convincing.

“He didn’t go for the idea of being your behind-the-scenes fuck buddy while you escort me all over southern California and say I’m your girlfriend? Gee, pretty unreasonable guy.”

“Since you put it like that, I see how narrow-minded he is.” Will shrugged. “He doesn’t actually know about you, but he does know I’m still locked in the closet, and he’s not impressed by my lack of balls.” Make that two closets.

She put a hand on his shoulder. “For what it’s worth, I understand how tough it is to come out. So many people are invested in you fitting their pictures. It’s hell to throw reality in their faces.”

“Yeah.” He smiled at her. Jesus, he liked this woman. “Let’s go in and continue the myth, shall we?”

He got out of the car, walked around, and opened the door for Ev. She looked fantastic. White, slim summer pants hugged her curvy hips and contrasted beautifully with the deep yellow top. Against her skin, the colors looked vibrant and new. Like maybe you’d never really seen yellow before. She’d created an architectural masterpiece of loops down the back of her head with her dark hair, then set it off with gold hoop earrings. Exotic and classy. “You look great.”

She smiled. “Thanks. Have to keep up my image as the quarterback’s girlfriend.” God, that made him feel weird. But he’d created this charade, and he’d better see it through.

Will offered an arm. She took it, and they started toward the door. The party was styled as a summer beach event. Jason Batson and his wife kept this big house in Emerald Bay, the fancy, noneclectic part of Laguna Beach. The house sat a block from the ocean, so everyone could hang out and drink at the house and go down to the water and swim if they felt like it. Most of this crew did water on top of scotch, but a few would probably hit the sand.

This was it. He’d wanted to introduce Ev to his dad more privately, but the party had come up too fast. The raging stomach quivers attacked.

The door stood open since two people had just entered. Will stepped back and let Ev go in, then followed her. Jill Batson stood inside the door greeting guests in her Pucci lounging pajamas. No beach for her. She turned to Will with a plastered smile, her eyes widened, and the smile got even phonier. “Well, hello, William.”

“Hi, Mrs. Batson. Uh, this is Evangeline Jones. Jill Batson.”

Ev extended her hand with no particular deference. Damned regal, actually. “I’m so glad to meet you. Your home is lovely.”

Jill kind of shook herself, looked at Ev’s hand, and finally took hold of it. “Thank you, dear. My, how do you two know each other?”

The question sounded neutral.
Yeah, right.
Will slipped a hand around Ev’s waist. “Ev is my best friend’s sister. I think the whole family is pretty great.”

Jill swallowed. “Yes, well, please be at home. Will, you know where the bar is. And there’s lots of food in the backyard.”

“We’ll find it. Thank you.” He pressed against Ev’s back, and they walked toward the family room. So that was a little taste of what he could expect from this crowd regarding his choice of girlfriends. He should have known, but he’d suppressed it in the angst over all the other shit in his life. Crap. He probably shouldn’t be putting Ev through this. He glanced at her and she gave him a wink.
Cool lady.

In the family room, two bartenders toiled behind a large bar covered with bottles and glasses. This would sure be the most popular spot at the party for this crowd, and the line of drinkers proved it. He got behind a three-hundred-pound guy sporting a Hawaiian shirt and board shorts. What was that line from the old dance movie?
Sometimes in this world, you see things you don’t wanna see
.

He grinned at Ev and she rolled her eyes just a little. He settled in for the wait. “What would you like?”

“Iced tea would be great if they have it.”

“Nothing stronger?”