Page 15 of Tight End

Aaron shakes his head at me. “He’s kinda right about today. The Raptors couldn’t make a single pass without us intercepting. And you were in the end zone more today than you have been the whole season.”

I roll my eyes. “Only because I’m picking up the slack for you.”

“Ah ha,” Aaron gives me a punch in the arm. “Seems like someone else is a little cocky, too. Were you showing off for someone out there?”

Bringing a hand to the back of my neck, I look away and shrug. “Just doing my job. And half the time I’m coveringyourass.”

“Don’t cover me too much, brah. The afterparty is gonna be my time to shine.” He waggles his eyebrows at me.

As the only other “out” player on the Saints, Aaron and I can joke in private like that. It’s hard to be one of so few gay players in the NFL, but over the past couple of years, we’ve built a small network of guys we can trust and confide in when things get dicey. It’s good to know there are others who have our backs because not everyone is tolerant of our sexuality. And players we know have had it pretty damn rough, like Bryce’s brother, Jase Maxwell, tight end on the Cincinnati Crusaders.

We trudge into the locker room and collapse on a bench. My body aches from head to toe and I want to stand under the steaming shower spray until every crick, knot, and pull is effectively soothed.

“You got any big plans tonight?” Aaron asks.

A weird tingly feeling erupts in my gut. “Yeah, my brother and I are going to see Sin City tonight at the Sun Arena with a few guys.”

“Fuck me,” Aaron breathes. “Brixton Scott is the hottest rock star on the planet. I’d bend over in a hot second for him.”

I force a laugh.

The night we met in that hospital chapel started out as the worst one of my life. But then God gave my family the miracle we’d been praying for. And Brixton’s brother came through, too, from what he’d said.

That has to mean something. Even in the depths of despair, I felt something in that chapel, a fierce spark that ignited in the darkness of my heart.

At that point, I thought he was sent there by some unknown power to comfort me, help me come to terms with what I was sure was about to happen. But thinking back, I believe it was a glimpse of what was to come when the timing was right.

He’s never publicly come out but there have been rumors floating around about his sexuality for years. I’ve never seen him photographed with another guy, either. But I know what I felt. And the look that flickered in his eyes is burned into my memory.

He felt it, too.

A tiny shudder ripples through me.

Tonight could be it.

So when Bryce told me his cousin Lane, the drummer for the band, had given him tickets for the VIP suite for the concert, I thought maybe we really were destined to meet again. It’s been two years and I’ve thought about him...and that night…a lot.

If I’m being honest, I’ve done a hell of a lot more than think. I’ve watched his interviews, flippedthrough his pictures, seen his YouTube videos, all the while fantasizing about what could have been.

Chase will be with us tonight at the show. Sin City is his favorite rock band and he’s been talking about it nonstop since Bryce invited us. Our worlds are going to collide again tonight and I’m hoping that this time, they won’t just part ways after the concert ends.

“My brother is a big fan. He’s been climbing the walls all week waiting for tonight.”

“Speaking of climbing, I’d happily spend a lifetime climbing Brixton Scott.” Aaron snickers and stretches his arms overhead before standing up.

He wanders over to a set of lockers, leaving me alone with the thoughts that have been looping through my mind over the past week. I never told anyone other than Chase that I met Brixton. It seemed too private, too intimate.

Not even Bryce knows.

I could have probably reached out to Brixton afterward since Bryce’s cousin is his bandmate. I’m sure he could have made some arrangement for me to get in touch. But then I’d have had to tell Bryce how I knew Brixton. It just made me feel weird to tell anyone else about the experience.

The other thing that gnaws at my gut is that he could have gotten in touch, too.

But he didn’t.

Then again, Sin City took off like a shot right about that time. I’m sure he’s been focused on plenty of more important things.

And since I definitely didn’t want to be seen as some desperate groupie clamoring for his attention, I left things alone. Kept the past in the past.

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