Page 88 of The Home Game

Matty had done so much for him and Antoni wanted to help him too, in any way he could. He wanted to support Matty the way Matty had already supported him.

“How about watching Northdale Heights with me tonight?” Matty said, tone hopeful. “Unless you have other plans.”

Short of railing himself with a vibrating dildo and thinking of Matty, Antoni didn’t have anything pressing that evening. He was all caught up on prep work and grading for school, so he couldn’t really claim he had to work without lying.

And he never wanted to lie to Matty.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Antoni said, knowing he was going to spend more time feeling antsy and too aware of Matty than watching TV.

But in the end, he enjoyed the quiet evening together.

If they sat a little close on the couch and Matty spent most of the time with his arm on the back of the sofa, his fingers brushing against Antoni’s shoulder and upper arm? Well, there was no one else to see it.

The next night, after Antoni did his workout, finished grading homework, got the kids off to bed and cleaned the kitchen, Matty asked if he wanted to watch TV together again.

Antoni nodded and followed him down to the basement. As Matty queued up their usual show and Antoni snagged a beer for each of them, he realized they were creating routines, finding a rhythm together.

He felt a funny little pang in his chest as he remembered doing that with Keith when they first moved in together.

“You okay?” Matty asked.

“Uh, yeah,” Antoni said, clearing his throat. “I’m good.”

As Antoni took a seat and handed the beer bottle over, he realized he’d sat a little bit closer to Matty than usual.

Matty shot him a smile and Antoni’s heart stuttered. He was only able to look away when Matty did.

At one point, when they were talking about the show, he rested his hand on Matty’s thigh to make his point, feeling the flex of strong muscles under his palm, and bit back the urge to slide higher and cup the soft bulge under the fabric of Matty’s team sweats.

He glanced up to see Matty staring intently and Antoni forced himself to lift his hand and look back at the screen. His cheeks were warm and he took a nervous sip of his beer, belatedly realizing the bottle was empty.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Matty said, his voice soft and rough, like he was battling through the same feelings. He squeezed Antoni’s shoulder, palm big and warm, and Antoni released a shuddering sigh.

On Thursday, when Antoni got home from school, he was both looking forward to their nightly TV watching and dreading it.

He said hi to Matty and Reese who both looked like they’d just woken up from their afternoon naps. He said goodbye to his parents who were off to another doctor’s appointment for his mom.

Then he asked Matty if he minded watching the kids so he could get in his workout.

Matty, who was already reading to River while he fed Reese, gave Antoni a disgusted look. “Of course I don’t mind. Go!”

Antoni was still smiling as he jogged down the steps to the basement to do his workout, already looking forward to using the resistance machine.

But just as he slipped some earbuds in and searched for his workout playlist, his phone lit up with a call from his lawyer, April Russell. She’d been a friend of Bethany and Corey and worked for a family law firm that was LGBTQ+ friendly.

“Hey, April,” he greeted her.

“Hi, Antoni. Do you have some time to talk?”

“Sure,” he said slowly, concerned by her serious tone. “What’s going on?”

She cleared her throat. “Well, two things. We have a date for the settlement conference.”

“Okay. When’s that?”

She gave him the date and his chest tightened as he put the times in his calendar app. Shit, that was soon. Good thing Principal Cunningham was flexible about him taking time off for things like this.

“What else?” he asked when he’d saved the info.

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