Out in the Field (Out in College 4)

“Hey, I was gonna ask Maldonado for a ride to the game today, but I didn’t want to interrupt his date,” Micah paused before adding, “…with his new boyfriend.”

My heartbeat skittered to a sudden stop. I furrowed my brow. “What are you talking about?”

“I saw you at the Starbucks on campus with the gay dude from my philosophy class. And you were sittin’ awfully close. Just sayin’.”

Micah’s teasing cadence allowed me room to make a joke and move on easily. This kind of talk was basic locker room BS. But I didn’t trust him. At all. And I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed him at the coffee shop earlier. I’d given Phoenix a ride to school after an epic bathroom session that started in the shower and ended with him bent over the sink with one leg hiked on the counter, begging me to fuck him…harder, faster, deeper. I held on to his shoulders for purchase when I came and met his cocky grin in the mirror with an exhausted one. We showered again before falling into bed. We lay naked in each other’s arms and just talked.

At some point, we dozed off. Phoenix woke up in a panic. He was going to be late to class and there was just enough time to grab his books from his place first. When I told him I’d drive him, he nodded gratefully and told me that if anyone saw us together, we could say I was with Sunny and had offered a ride out of the goodness of my heart. Or something like that. I rolled my eyes and told him to hop in the car. Just as I parked in the lot next to Granding Theater, his phone buzzed.

“Class was canceled.” Phoenix shot an apologetic glance my way. “Sorry. Braden says the professor had an unexpected emergency. He wants to know if I want to grab something to eat instead and—”

“What? No,” I snapped. “I’ll buy you coffee. I have forty-five minutes before I have to leave for my game. Let’s go.”

“Max.” He pulled my sleeve and waited for me to meet his gaze. “Braden and I are only friends. There’s no reason to be jeal—”

“I am not jealous. I don’t do jealous. I just want to buy you a fuckin’ cup of coffee, all right?”

He pursed his lips to hide a grin. “What if I don’t want a fuckin’ cup of coffee?”

I sighed in mock exasperation. “What do you want?”

“I want a fuckin’ cup of tea.”

“Fine. But I’m buying you a fuckin’ croissant too.”

Phoenix’s smile was pure sunshine. I basked in it for a moment, then squeezed his hand before getting out of the car. And no, I didn’t check to see if anyone noticed us…and yes, I probably walked a little too close to him, but I didn’t care. Every time his shoulders or fingers accidentally brushed mine, I felt a tingle of awareness. It wasn’t sexual, though. We’d had sex twice in the past two hours. I didn’t think I could get it up again quite yet. No, this was different.

He wasn’t talking about sucking me off now. He was talking about the script for Chicago and asking if I’d help him with his lines and I should have said, “What the fuck?” because theater stuff wasn’t my thing. But Phoenix was. And if I stopped to analyze the feeling, I knew I’d freak myself out. So I pushed any lingering doubt aside as I held the door open for him and figured if anyone noticed us, I’d deal with them later.

Of course it had to be Micah.

The less I said, the better. I flipped him off as I untied my cleat.

“What gay guy?” Javi asked.

Suddenly all eyes were on me. I don’t think anyone cared who I had coffee with. This was a silly detour to reset the mood in the locker room and lift our spirits…at my expense. I didn’t like where this was going, though.

“Sunny’s brother,” I said in a flat voice.

“Oh, yeah.” Javi nodded in approval. “Nice work. Get tight with the siblings. Especially twins. How’s it going with her? You haven’t said anything, so I figured I should shut up.”

“It’s fine,” I lied.

Javi held his hand out for a high five. He didn’t seem to care when I ignored him. “We should get together, man. Sarah said…”

When someone made a crack about Javi being practically married to his girlfriend, I breathed a sigh of relief. It was a slow news day in the locker room when the last story to break seemed like the most interesting…for thirty seconds or less. My best bet was to keep my head down and get the fuck outta there.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t my lucky day. Coach called my name just as I stepped out of the locker room.