Page 16 of Untouchable Player

“No, what the fuck? He just…” when I say it in my head, it sounds so juvenile.He said he’d tell mom.

“He was just… threatening to get mom to guilt trip me, you know how she is.”

Katie narrows her eyes at me. Fuck I hate being friends with someone who studies psychology.

“Ok-ay. Are you sure there’s no other reason?”

“Like what?”

My face is hot and I pray it’s too dark for her to see me blushing.

I pull her closer and lower my voice, “if I tell you something, do you promise not to tell anyone else?”

She nods.

“I mean it, it’s important, it’s not really my secret to tell, and I’m not even sure I’m right about it.”

Her eyes widen the way my mom’s do when a new episode ofThe Real Housewivescomes on.

I open my mouth to tell her about the app and the tattoo, but it feels wrong and I close it again.

“Nate, for fucks sake, I won’t say anything.”

I can’t tell her I saw him, or am pretty sure I saw him on a gay dating app when he might not want anyone to know, but I have to tell her something now.

“It’s nothing, it’s just… I’m probably wrong but… I think he might be gay, or bi.”

Her eyebrows pop up. “Why?”

“I don’t have a good reason, I just get a feeling.”

“Huh,” Katie looks back at the house, the backs of people’s heads are visible through the kitchen window and chants ofchug chug chugfloat out into the garden. “So what, you wanna ask him?”

“No, not exactly, I just… I don’t know.”

When she turns back to me, she cocks her head and I hate that look on her face.

“You’re curious about him aren’t you?”

“Curious? No, not, well, yeah, okay I suppose a little.”

“Do you have a crush on him?”

I roll my eyes, “how old are we? No, I do not have a crush on him.”

“Okay, if you say so. Can we please go back in and get a beer now before your student chugs them all.”

I groan, “please don’t call him that.”

When we go back in, the cups that were lined up on the counter are empty and Harrison and his teammates are slapping Jesse on the back.

I expect Harrison to ignore me like he usually does in public, but when he sees me he calls me over.

With his arm around Jesse, he introduces us.

“I know who your teammates are Harrison, they’re always at our house.”

Jesse lowers his eyes and for a second I think he might look shy, but that can’t be the case. Jesse Engels is the least shy person on the planet. If there’s a loud voice in a room, it’s probably him.

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