Page 2 of Lace

He’d disappointed Levi by leaving the game before the end. Hell, he’d disappointed himself by not being able to stick it out through one lousy game.

“Had enough?” Levi slipped down the wall at his side.

“Sorry.”

“Nah.” Levi bumped him with his shoulder. “It was a massacre anyway.” He fell silent for a minute and Caleb slowly gravitated until his head rested on Levi’s shoulder.

“Something happened,” Levi said quietly after a few more minutes had passed.

“Doesn’t matter.” Caleb reached for his hand. “We can go back in. I just needed a breather.”

“It’s fine. We don’t have to.”

Caleb listened for the stretch of Levi’s voice over the truth. He hadn’t asked Caleb to come to the game with him because he didn’t care if they watched it or not. He cared. He wanted to be here, and he was giving it up because it made Caleb uncomfortable.

“I’m all right.” He squeezed Levi’s fingers. “Promise.”

Beside him, Levi rose to his feet, bringing Caleb up with him. “Game’s almost over,” he said, a hopeful tilt to his voice and his head.

Caleb nodded, though he didn’t let go of Levi’s hand for an instant, and may have clamped his fingers tighter than necessary around his lover’s as they entered the gym. He couldn’t help a glance around, looking for the latest in the long string of his harassers. It took only a matter of seconds to feel the burn of Shank’s glare on him. He shuddered and looked away, grateful for Levi’s hand in his and the shorter man’s touch at the small of his back, sneaking under the sweater to caress the lace.

The warmth of those fingers through the thin material grounded Caleb as he climbed up to their seats in the bleachers and he relaxed slightly. He could stand this for a little while longer if it made Levi happy.

They hadn’t really been back watching for long when hot breath and an even hotter tongue tickled Caleb’s ear and he squirmed.

“You want to go so bad, don’t you, babe?” Levi said.

“We can stay.” He shifted, crossing his legs so his knees pressed against Levi’s thigh. “Long as you want.”

He wiggled his bony ass on the hard seat and tilted his head so he felt that breath ghost over his jaw. Levi’s lips touched down lightly.

Fluttering his lashes, Caleb revelled in the goose bumps that skittered over his skin. The contended sigh he loosed was genuine.

Levi caressed his cheek with a gentle thumb, just under his eye, and he wondered if his eyeliner had smudged again.

He smiled at the thought, glancing at Levi.

“Bit of black powder there,” Levi muttered, a pink flush infusing his cheeks, though he grinned and winked. “I got you.”

Levi seemed to like Caleb dishevelled sometimes, but never let him get that way in public. “You’re making me crazy,” Levi whispered in his ear.

Caleb turned his attention back to the game. “Just sitting here,“ he said, all innocence. “Look.” He pointed to the game. “The ball’s moving.”

Levi snickered. “I know you aren’t into this.” He knocked his shoulder into Caleb’s and smirked.

“No.” Caleb licked his lips and lifted his chin. “I’m into you.” He turned to focus on Levi for one, intense moment. “Or, I will be, soon enough.”

“Mean!” Levi complained. Though his tone was as teasing as Caleb’s, his gaze was hot and he licked his lips and yanked Caleb closer to him on the bench.

Caleb grinned. It was something to be able to reduce Levi to this muttering, frustrated creature he knew he would be able to have his way with later.

Much as he didn’t give a rat’s ass about the basketball game itself, this was a far cry from the high school football games he’d actively loathed.

Smashed between hordes of other students, trying desperately to follow the rules of a game he didn’t care about, he’d always wished fervently he could be anywhere else. Supporting his uncle, who’d insisted he be there, though henever actually acknowledged Caleb’s presence in the stands, had felt pointless when that support never went the other way.

But that was how it worked. Uncle Jase was the high school football coach, and Caleb lived with him. You just went to the games—no discussion as to whether he even liked football. Thank God he’d already been ensconced in the high school’s music program when he’d moved in with Jase. His importance to numerous bands meant he hadn’t been expected to try out for any sports. Especially not football. He’d have been crushed, literally. Humiliated, absolutely. Maybe that was why Uncle Jase had never mentioned it. Caleb’s humiliation would have been the coach’s, too, and that would never do.

He squirmed now, ass going a little numb on the metal bleachers. At least he was warm here, and not bored, miserableandfreezing his ass off. The game would be over soon then he and Levi could make their escape.

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