Page 68 of Antidote

“I’d do anything for you.”

Ollie sucks in a sharp breath. “Yeah.” He clears his throat. “That would be incredible, Hunt.”

“One year, Ollie.” I grin, excitement taking over my body. I’m practically vibrating. “You and me in New York.” I don’t know why I say New York and not Boston or North Carolina, although something feels right about it.

“One year, baby.” He breathes. “You and me. Sober.”

“I believe in you,” I tell him. “You’re strong, Ollie. You can do this. You can beat this.”

“Thank you for believing in me.”

“Well, I’ll let you go to bed. It’s getting late.” It’s Friday night, but he sounds so tired. I also just want to sit here and daydream about our life together. He and I in one year. He’ll be sober, and he’ll come to all my games. He’ll travel with me. He’ll sell his art. Then maybe one day we can have the house and the kids. Wait, what? “I just wanted to hear your voice.”

“I miss you,” he says, making me grin like a fool.

“I miss you too, Ollie.” I’m about to say good night when I remember what I really wanted to tell him. “Wait for me tomorrow. I’ll be home at night, and I want you to wait for me to come back to you.” I don’t know why that’s so important to me, but I need it.

“Hunt—”

“Please.” I want you. I need you. “For me?”

“I’ll wait.” I can imagine the smile tipping up his lips and I smile too.

“Good night.”

“Good night, Hunter.”

Istill can’t believe three different teams want Hunter. But of course they do; he’s incredible. The fact that he’s considering New York for me speaks volumes about where he wants this relationship to go. After what happened with Lucy, I never thought we’d get here again. Talking about the future and making promises of staying together. Does that mean he’s coming out? Publicly? To the NHL? To our dad? I’m almost afraid to get my hopes up, especially with my sobriety on the line. I don’t know if I can take much more of the back-and-forth we had going on. I’m praying we’re past that.

Hunter seemed serious, though. He promised we’d still be together one year from now, and I promised him I’d still be sober—with him. But I still need reassurance that this is going to work. A reminder that the last few days haven’t been a dream—because if they are, then I don’t want to wake up.

Please, don’t wake me up.

We’re still not through the first semester of our last year at university, and a lot can happen in a year. More than anything, I’m afraid of what will happen when he comes out to my dad. When he announces we’re together. Will he choose Dad over me? Or will he keep his promises? Fuck, will he even want to come out to him? Or are we going to be stuck in limbo forever? I don’t want to rush him, but it needs to happen. I just wish he’d give me an answer. Any kind of explanation as to when he would feel comfortable doing that.

I’ve always been out and proud. Even when I was bullied in high school, I didn’t hide my sexuality. My dad always tried to act like he could fix me, as if getting me back into sports was a cure for being gay. I heard him talking to my mom a couple of times, telling her he couldn’t meet me in the middle. That we had nothing in common—not like him and Hunt. That hurt back then, I won’t lie. Now, I’m used to his rejection and animosity. It doesn’t affect me like it used to. I just don’t want that treatment directed at Hunter, and I can understand why he’d be scared to be on the receiving end of it. I want to be understanding, I swear I do. I want to love him how he deserves to be loved. Out in the open. Where everyone can know I’m his and he’s mine.

I hear the lock turn and hold my breath as I stare at the front door. I’m standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall as I stare at the open doorway. Hunter comes in, looking disheveled, and drops his bags in front of himself. He slams the door, not even bothering to lock it, and looks up. The room seems to crackle with electricity as we stare at each other, his green eyes laser-focused on mine. I push away from the wall and stand there, my hands limp at my sides and tilt my head.

I’m here like you asked me to be. I want to say. What now?

But instead, I stay quiet.

His eyes travel down my body, focusing on my bare chest and then my pink boxer briefs. When his gaze snaps back up to mine, there’s so much lust there I almost stagger. But I also see something else. I see love, and it makes me weak in the knees.

“Baby,” Hunt whispers, and it makes goosebumps break out across my body.

I shiver, but it’s not from the cold, and he closes the distance between us in hurried strides. His lips meet mine in a searing kiss. It’s deep, but I deepen it even more by turning my head and pushing my tongue past his lips. We moan in unison when he sucks on it, and I grip his firm ass over his sweatpants. It’s round and peachy, and I grind my dick against his roughly.

Before I can make sense of what’s happening, Hunter begins to walk me back toward the hallway, passing the bathroom door as he peppers my face with kisses. My breath catches when he pushes his bedroom door open and shoves me inside, stopping right in front of the bed before he kisses me again. His hand fists my hair, tilting my head for him as the back of my knees hit the mattress, and he shoves his tongue in my mouth.

He rips his lips away from mine, and his chest is heaving, his eyes dilated. He forcefully pushes me down onto the bed, and I scoot up when I bounce. I immediately spread my legs when he pulls his shirt above his head and throws it on the floor, his sweatpants and underwear following. He closes the space between us, crawling onto the bed and settling between my legs.

“Up.” He orders as he hooks his thumbs into my boxer briefs. I close my legs a little and let him pull them down, then spread them again for him. He inhales sharply and looks down at me, then dips his head and presses his nose to my groin, inhaling. A groan reverberates between us, and he bites my inner thigh softly before pulling away.

“Come here, Hunt,” I say, and he follows me like I’m the light at the end of a very long tunnel. His eyes sparkle as he looks at me like I hung the fucking moon, and it’s such a contrast to the way he’s been looking at me since I showed back up in his life. “I want you.”

Hunter grips my knees roughly, spreading my legs further and getting between them until he’s hovering over me. His forearms cage me in on either side of my head, and he gives his hips a small roll, making me whimper at the friction as he rubs himself over my cock. He lowers his face to mine and takes my lips with his in a gentle kiss, sucking my bottom lip and the ring attached to it into his mouth slowly, then dragging his teeth over it as he lets it go.

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