Page 48 of Fair Catch

He settles in rather quickly, yet I remain standing over him like a damn nursemaid, and I don’t know why. Quinton came home with injuries far worse than this during his college career, and besides making sure I didn’t need to check on him for concussions, I never went out of my way to take care of him.

I definitely didn’t wait on him hand and foot the way I am with Kason right now.

“I could’ve gotten this all by myself, you know. Set myself up in my room instead of taking the living room from you.”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind,” I tell him, and I’m surprised to find…it’s the truth. I don’t mind helping him. Or giving up the living room for the night.

What the hell is going on?

Clearing my throat, I nod toward the hall. “I’ll be in my room, but text me if you need anything, okay?”

I don’t wait for a response and head for my room, but I don’t even make it to the hallway before he calls out to me.

“Wait, Hayes?”

Halting in place, I glance his way and raise a questioning brow. I’m expecting him to say he needs something else before I settle in for the night, from the way those big, green eyes look at me in a way I can only describe as a lost puppy dog.

But then he throws me off when he nods toward the television. “You wanna watch a movie?”

I don’t know why I’m not expecting the question; we’ve been hanging out like this for the past few weeks now, but especially after the whole date debacle. Then again, I figured he’d want to decompress after ending up being carted off the field earlier, and the types of movies we watch aren’t exactly the kind someone would use to unwind.

“I could be convinced,” I hear myself saying. “Depends on the movie, though.”

Kason purses his lips in thought before offering, “The Conjuring?”

“Only if you’re down to do the rest of the series over the weekend.”

He smirks, his brow arching. “Careful there, Lancaster. I might think you like me or something if you’re asking to spend the whole weekend in my presence.”

“Oh, shut up and make some room.”

With a laugh, he scoots forward as best he can to make room for me on one end of the couch while I grab a few packets of Reese’s Pieces from the pantry.

I toss one in his lap before dropping down in the empty spot behind him, glancing at him before saying, “We need to add popcorn to the grocery list.”

He doesn’t respond, instead smirking while he rips open the package in his lap.

Snagging the remote from the table in front of us, I start looking forThe Conjuringon one of the many streaming services we have. Kason’s silent beside me, but something about him is off just from the rigid set of his back and awkward way his torso is contorted.

“You okay?”

Shaking his head, he mumbles, “Do you care if I…” He pauses and makes a weird motion with his hands near my shoulder. “There’s really no good way for me to keep my ankle propped up for long periods of time unless I lean back.”

Oh.

Oh.

Clearing my throat, I mutter, “Uh, yeah. That’s fine.”

He adjusts his pillow, propping it up against my forearm and hip before settling in against my shoulder, his muscular upper back pressing against the length of my upper arm.

“Okay?”

“Yeah. I’m good,” I reply, though it’s not entirely true.

My arm is already tingling a bit, a tell-tale sign of it starting to go numb, and I know there’s no way I’ll last the whole movie like this. Still, I keep quiet and with my free hand, I continue searching forThe Conjuring.We settle into comfortable silence once I hit play—despite the discomfort of our positioning—and the opening credits appear on the screen.

I do my best to ignore the discomfort and tingling radiating from my deltoid all the way down to my fingertips, but it’s fucking hard when I’m hyperaware of every cell of my body that’s touching his. It makes me realize Kason and I haven’t had much physical contact before this. Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure it’s theonlyphysical contact besides maybe a brush here or there.

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