Page 94 of His Hungry Wolf

“Yeah. His fingerprints are all over me.”

“He’s talking about his game. You know, his style of play.”

“I see,” Arny said, awkwardly. “Well, Merri has shared your college stats with me. They’re very impressive. Three division titles in a row, huh? Why didn’t you declare for the draft while you were eligible?”

I tensed, wondering how Claude would answer this one.

“I had issues to work through. My head wasn’t in the right space for an opportunity like that,” he answered sincerely.

“And now it is?”

Claude nodded. “Yeah. Merri knows how to turn my head.”

Arny looked at me for clarification.

“I got nothin’,” I admitted.

“Well, on the strength of your record and Merri’s recommendation, I’ll look into getting you a spot. If you get out there, you’re not going to embarrass me, are you?” He asked with a slimy smile.

“I will give it everything I have,” Claude agreed.

“He’s going to do great,” I assured him. “I’ve never seen a player like him.”

“And he’s seen all of me,” Claude added.

“All right!” I said, unable to take any more innuendos. “I’ll have him prepared and ready to go.”

“You do that,” Arny said before moving on to someone else.

“What was that?” I asked when we were alone.

“What was what?”

“That! He’s now gonna think we slept together.”

“We did sleep together.”

“I remember. Believe me, I do.”

“Do you?”

“It’s hard to forget. And let me emphasize, hard.”

Claude smiled.

“Well, I just want everyone here to know that I’m the one lucky enough to be with you and they aren’t.”

“That might not be as impressive as you think it is,” I admitted.

“Not from where I’m standing,” he said with a smirk.

I stared up at him. “You really are getting good at this complimenting thing.”

“Thank you. I try,” he said, content with himself. “So, who else did you want to introduce me to?”

Looking up into his milk chocolate-colored eyes, I wanted to introduce him to everyone. Everything he had said filled a hole in me I didn’t know I had. I especially wanted Papa to hear him talk about me like that, but he was the last person who should have heard it.

As reckless as he was acting tonight, I had to protect him from himself. If he shined at the showcase as I thought he would, he might end up working with some of these people. I knew what it was like being gay in football. He didn’t need to deal with that along with everything else he would go through.

---