Page 15 of Stick By Me

Damn, dude could eat. A lot. The meals I could make for him…Shut up, Leo. “You met Axel. He’s, he’s?—”

“The most infamous gay man at ASU?” He chortled and sank back into the couch cushions, the side of his body touching mine, tucking his wide shoulder into my armpit. He looked up at me and gave me a coy smile. “Weird. You’re tall enough that I fit right in beside you.” With his eyes darkening, he focused on my lips and parted his own, his breath catching.

As my dick plumped, I leaned in, sneaking my tongue out to wet my mouth, then jerked back. What the fuck was I doing? Kissing him out in the open in the bar? “Uh, s-sorry.”

“You’re attracted to me, aren’t you, Leo.” He kept his gaze locked on mine, then bit the side of his lower lip.

“I…I am.” No need to lie. My pulse hammered in my chest.

“Then why does Axel make you want to hide?” His gaze darted over my face.

I clenched my jaw, thinking. How do I put this into words without sounding stupid? “With Axel as a brother, there’s only room for one queer son.”

He snapped his brows down. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Axel is…well, he’s always been the gay one. He was never not out. It’s always been understood in my family that Axel is the gay son.” Was I making any sense? I studied Archer. “How can I come out to them when I’m only partially gay? I can date women. I enjoy dating women…um, for the most part.” I scratched my forehead. More importantly…“My parents deserve to have one heterosexual son, one who’ll give them grandkids someday, right?”

“Dude, you’re homophobic to yourself. Jesus.” Scoffing alaugh, he shook his head. “And I thought I was messed up.” He sipped his beer, then planted his hand on my thigh. “I like you, Leo.” His gaze found mine again. “I want you to know that. But I’m not looking for more hookups.”

As I dropped my mouth open, I stared at him. Shit, he was right.Wait, he likes me and he’s not looking for hookups?My pulse pattered into my throat. I couldn’t, could I?

His phone buzzed in his pocket. “Shit.” He slid it out and held it to his face. “Figures.” He held up his index finger to me. “Hello, Dad.” He leaned forward and hung his head, covering one ear. “Yeah, we won tonight.”

I watched him, the way his shoulders stiffened and the gruff tone of his voice. It was like his whole mood had changed. But they’d won tonight, so shouldn’t this be a happy conversation?

“I got two assists. Yes, assists on the goal.” He huffed. “I’m defense, sure I can score, but my job is to get the puck to the forwards, so they can score.” He puffed a breath out of his nose and fisted his hand over his thigh. “Yeah, I did my job and we won.” He listened for a moment. “Thanks, talk to you later.” He ended the call and gritted his teeth.

“You okay?” I placed my hand between his shoulder blades and rubbed the tense muscles.

He relaxed under my touch, slumping into my side, resting his forehead against my shoulder. “No, no, I’m not okay. My dad doesn’t want me to be a hockey player.”

I rubbed harder, kneading my finger into a knot in his back. “But you’re so good at it, you’ve played your whole life…your mom?—"

“Is gone.” With a quick inhale, he reared up and grabbed my hand, then held it between us in both of his. “Thank you, Leo.” The edges of his lips twitched. “We can be friends, right?”

My chest twinged. Is that what I wanted? “Sure, we can be friends.” Shit, I wanted more than that from him. But I couldn’t give him what he wanted. It wasn’t fair. “I’m sorry about your dad. You’ll still play and maybe go on to the NHL, right?”

“We’ll see. I’m not on a great trajectory for that. My game hasn’t been consistent.” He sighed and released my hand, dipping his head. “If nothing else, I’m hoping to be a trainer or do PT for a team.”

I wrapped my arm around his neck and pressed my forehead to his. “You’re good enough. You’ll see.” Maybe I could replace some of what he lost when his mom died. I didn’t know.

With a soft laugh, he said, “Yeah, that’s what the squad says, too. But thanks.”

“Well, well, well…” Jonah strolled to us with four other muscled guys behind him, all dressed up in nicer shirts with collars and jeans. “Getting to know each other better?” With a wide smirk, he slid in next to Archer, pushing him closer into my side.

“Guess so.” Archer snuck a glance at me, then held out his hand to the other young men, now standing around us, eyeing me. “Leo, meet the rest of the squad.”

A man with longer, brown wavy hair and stunning, light-blue eyes waved at me. “Hey, name’s Mason. I’m a center on the team. Maybe you saw me score tonight?” He arched a brow.

“Dude, I scored, too.” A guy with blond hair, tanned and looking like a guy you’d see on a surfboard in California, bumped his elbow into Mason’s.

Mason pointed his thumb at surfer-guy’s chest. “This is Myles. He’s our other winger besides Jonah. He scored because your boy Archer helped him out tonight.” He stepped forward with his fist out. “Good job tonight, man.”

As a smile teased Archer’s lips, he fist bumped Mason. “Thanks.”

“Leo, it’s a pleasure. I’m Tyler, another defenseman like Archer.” Tyler held out his hand, his brown-eyed gaze intense and his dirty-blond hair framing his face.

“Nice to meet you, Tyler.” Leaning forward, I shook his hand.

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