Down by Contact (The Barons 2)

The humor sucked out of me like he’d shoved a vacuum hose down my throat. “You can be easy with the gay shit.”

“You and your boys are the ones—”

Mel walked around the desk and clapped once, but loud enough to shut us both up. “This is exactly why we’re having this meeting. Neither of you is capable of being in the same room long enough to have a civil conversation.”

“Aw, we’re just playing,” I said. “Right, Booty?”

“If you call me that again I’m going to punch you in the face.”

With a long-suffering sigh, I turned to Casey with hands pressed together in supplication. “Just separate us, Casey. For real though. This dude has no kind of sense of humor, and I’m not trying to live out my suspension in misery.”

“And I’m not finna suffer through this suspension with a clown who doesn’t know when to zip it,” Simeon said.

“Ah ah ah,” I said. “You’re not the one who should be talking shit about zipping up, Mr. Public Displays of—”

“Enough,” Casey said, voice rising. “Adrián, please try to keep the jokes at a minimum.”

“I’d advise you to kill the jokes entirely,” Mel said dryly. “Especially if they relate to my client’s sexuality. I’m not sure if you understand, Adrián, but what you’re doing is both discrimination and sexual harassment.”

I waited for Simeon to speak up, tell her it wasn’t that serious, and then everyone would lighten up. It didn’t happen. Unease hardened into a rock that sank into my gut and sat there. They were right, and somehow I’d never thought of it that way before. Maybe because Simeon was another dude, another player, a guy who had a golden arm and could run like the wind. He’d always seemed oddly superhuman. Even back in the day when he’d busted his ass all the way through the Predators’ preseason, putting more work in than the two guys who were in line to start before he’d ever have a shot. And that was why I’d liked him.

Until he’d left for the Barons.

Running my tongue over my teeth, I mirrored Simeon’s slumped pose. “Got it.”

Mel and Casey glanced at each other before surveying the two of us again.

“Everyone is in agreement, from coaches to managers to owners, that the best way to resolve this and preserve the reputation of the Barons while keeping the reputation of the Predators from going further down the toilet is to show a united front,” Mel said.

I cringed but kept my mouth shut.

“Even if you two still can’t stand each other two months from now, fans of both teams will see you managing a respectful and sportsmanlike rivalry,” Casey said. “No homophobic innuendos—”

“I’m not homophobic,” I snapped at Casey. “And you know it. I was just joking. We all joke that way in the locker room, and it doesn’t mean shit.”

“—or taunting, targeted personal fouling, disrespect, or fistfights that result in brawls,” Casey continued. “You’ll be working together. With children. So before that point, when you’re in the presence of preteens, this is your last chance to clear the air so it doesn’t happen in front of an audience of young football fans who will then go tell their parents and social media.”

“And the media,” Mel added. “Because they’re foaming at the mouth waiting for one of you to do something foolish. There was already a BuzzFeed article predicting twelve ways this publicity stunt will turn into a disaster.”

“Don’t call it that,” Simeon said. “I like kids. This isn’t just about making our noses look clean.”

Oh damn. He was an actual sweetheart. There was no way we would ever get along.

“Yeah. What he said.”

Nobody even looked at me. I was starting to think these people didn’t take me seriously. There was something disquieting about being reduced from a tiny god on the field to an overgrown child in the face of two power agents and a guy who wanted to punch me in the throat.

“You start next week. Take this time to say what you have to say.”

Before I was ready for it, Mel and Casey were excusing themselves from the room. They left me and Simeon awkwardly sitting side by side, two giants in a room better suited for normal-sized humans, and our knees so close they were almost touching.

I jumped up, grinning, and turned so I was leaning against Mel’s desk. It was the first time we’d been in such close proximity with no one else around. It wasn’t like I didn’t know how Simeon looked. Everyone in the goddamn country would instantly recognize that deep golden brown skin, the hazel eyes, and dark russet-colored hair. But this was the first time he’d ever met my gaze head-on with only a few feet between us without being just about ready to cock his fist back for a right hook.