Page 10 of Tempted

After the first shot, Ander decided we should have another. When we’d downed those, while I tried not to grimace at the burn of the alcohol, we moved on to our pints. As I lifted the glass to my lips, Ander spoke up again.

“Want to talk about it?”

Fuck it. What was the worst that could happen? Pushing past the embarrassment of confiding in two people I didn’t know particularly well, I said, “I subscribed to someone’s FanBoyzOnly account, and I uh, did stuff while I was looking at their pictures.”

Liam choked on his pint as Ander’s face lit up in a huge, evil grin, his eyes widening as he leaned across the table. While Liam recovered from his coughing fit, I raised my brows at Ander’s obvious glee.

He cleared his throat, still grinning. “Sorry, but I wasn’t expecting you to say that. FanBoyzOnly. That’s gay content, isn’t it?”

I gave him a short nod.

“Ahhh, now I see what the problem with Liam and Noah kissing was. Another poor, confused, not-so-straight LSU football player. Welcome to the club. So far, the members are me, Liam, and Levi. It’s very exclusive.”

“Huh?” I stared between them, watching as they both smirked at me.

Liam shot Ander a sideways glance. “I thought I was straight until I met Noah.Levi…I dunno what happened exactly, but him and his boyfriend both thought they were straight before they got together. They were rival team captains as well—fuck knows how they even got past their differences, let alone have a relationship. Although, I guess me and Noah started off on the wrong foot, too. And then we have Ander, who was too dense to realise that his best friend was the love of his life.”

“Fuck off! I was not.” Ander paused. “Okay, I was, a bit. Whatever, the point is, we thought we were straight, until we weren’t. How did it happen for you?”

“Uhhh…” Fuck, I could feel my cheeks getting hot. I gulped down more of my pint. “I’m not sure. I always wondered about it a bit. I watched some solo guy porn every now and then and I could get off to it or whatever. But I never really had any inclination to take it any further.”

“FanBoyzOnly isn’t taking it much further. Unless—” Ander’s eyes widened, and his mouth fell open. “Fuck me! It’s JJ’s friend, isn’t it? Niccolò?”

I buried my head in my arms again. “How did you know?”

He laughed. “Lucky guess. Nah, maybe because I was there at Revolve when he was all over you? And then he came to our football match, didn’t he? There was a vibe between you two.”

“Yeah, well, I haven’t seen him since then. We kissed after the match and that was it. Nothing since then, and that was months ago.”

“But he’s been in your head, otherwise you wouldn’t have subscribed to his account,” Liam interjected.

“I don’t know what it is,” I admitted. “He’s nothing like anyone I’ve ever met. He’s… Fuck, look at him.” Thrusting my phone out, still open to Nic’s FBO page, I closed my eyes.

“Uh, we don’t need to see his nudes— Whoa, wait. Is that an LSU football hoodie?”

I snatched the phone back, ignoring Ander’s shocked exclamation. My eyes scanned the image, catching on something in the corner. I hadn’t noticed it before, too busy looking at Niccolò, but now, as I zoomed in, I saw it.

Someone who wasn’t familiar with LSU or the team would never have noticed it. But the way the sky-blue fabric was folded, I could see a small section of the LSU wording on the front, and an ‘R’ on the back.

It was my hoodie.

The one I’d let him wear that day. The day we’d kissed.

6

“Welcome to the ‘welcome to the LSU team’ party!” Ander threw open the door of number 1, the Mansions, a wide grin on his face.

“Any excuse for a party.” Our team captain, Travis, stepped up next to me, his arm wrapped around the waist of his girlfriend, Kira. He handed Ander an eight-pack of beer. “Isn’t this a bit too late, though? Bennett’s been on the team for a while now.”

“Yeah, but he hasn’t been to one of our house parties yet, has he? We need to initiate him into the ball club.”

“The ball club? Since when have you called it that?” Travis raised his brows. “Whatever, I need a beer.” He and Kira disappeared inside, leaving me on the doorstep.

Ander’s grin widened, if that was possible, as he gestured for me to come inside. “Did you get it? The ball club? Trav thinks I’m talking about football, which I am, but it has a secret double meaning.”

“Which is?” Stepping into the entrance of the double-fronted Victorian terrace and closing the door behind me, I leaned against the hallway wall.

“Ball. B is you, Bennett, A is me, and then Liam and Levi are the L’s. Remember what me and Liam said about our exclusive club of formerly straight LSU footballers?”

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