Page 13 of Dead Ball Situation

Bandit glanced Tip’s way at the offer. He didn’t look like a guy coming onto him. Bandit didn’t know what to think. “No thanks. I’m a little tired tonight. Hey, I’m going to step outside for a second. I need to make a call.”

Tip nodded. If he was disappointed, he didn’t show it. As Bandit stepped outside, he swallowed his pride and texted Artem.

Bandit:Do you have any clue what’s up with Sacha? I’m getting worried. He won’t answer the phone.

Artem:Don’t know. I’ve been busy with homework. He stormed through here a couple of hours ago, grabbed some vodka, andlocked himself in his room. I figured it was work related. His job can be pretty taxing.

Fuck his life. It was that bad. He didn’t know what to do. Like he had said, he couldn’t tell a teammate not to touch him. Not only was that humiliating, it was ridiculous. That was part of the game. Part of his job. Nothing had changed in four months. He didn’t understand why it was a problem now.

“Everything good?”

Bandit startled as Tip appeared at his side. “Yeah. I just had to check on something.” He needed someone to talk to, but it couldn’t be the guy who was the problem. That seemed counterintuitive.

Tip smiled. “Cool. Since you’re not in the mood to dance, you should come back to my place.”

Goddamn it. Sacha had him questioning everything. Not once had he bailed on his teammates if they needed him. When Tip had invited him out, he had seemed off. Sacha hadn’t felt like he could abandon him.

“Um.” Bandit didn’t know what to do. “I kind of have to take care of something, and—like I said—I’m pretty exhausted.”

Tip’s smile grew. He was closer, and Bandit didn’t think he had seen him move. “That’s okay. I can take you to do whatever. Then I could do all the work.”

Bandit’s mind stuttered to a stop. He didn’t want to misunderstand. “What work?”

Tip laughed. He shuffled even closer. “Come on, Bandit. You know I’m retiring after this year. Pretty soon, we won’t have anything holding us back. We can stop toeing the line.”

Bandit’s mind raced in so many directions, he couldn’t catch a thought. Had they been toeing the line? What had he been doing that looked that way? What the fuck was happening?

Before Bandit saw it coming, Tip swept in for a kiss. Only the shock held him still for long enough for Tip’s lips to land. He immediately took a step back. “Damn, man. I’m seeing someone.”

Tip’s hazel eyes showed his hurt before he straightened away. “I thought…”

Goddamn it. Sacha had been right about everything. Still, he had games left to play with Tip. He had to smooth things over. “I’m sorry for whatever I did to give you the wrong impression. I’ve got a good thing going and I don’t want to ruin it.”

“You never bring anyone around. There’s nobody at our games.”

That was hard to explain. “He works a lot.” Okay. Maybe it wasn’t that hard.

A deep line appeared between Tip’s eyebrows. “Why? He has you. This is starting to feel like a made-up guy.”

Well, it was official. Bandit had failed on every level with Sacha. Even Tip knew it, and he thought Sacha was imaginary. Bandit rubbed his forehead.

For lack of any idea of what to do, Bandit woke his phone and showed Tip his wallpaper. It was a picture of Sacha and him together.

Tip eyed the phone. He blew out a low whistle. “Okay. I see your point.” His gaze shifted to Bandit. “Still, I have to say, for someone who doesn’t want to fuck up anything, you’ve been throwing off a lot of strong signals and you didn’t hesitate to accept this date.”

Bandit pinched the spot between his eyes. “I didn’t know it was a date.” He dropped his hand. Bandit didn’t want to deal with this. He wanted to find Sacha and plead his case.

Tip took a step back. He looked uncomfortable. “All right. My bad.”

“Let’s forget this happened.”

Tip nodded. “Okay.” It didn’t sound okay. Tip walked away, proving his thoughts correct.

Bandit turned his chin up and stared at the sky. He thought he always tried so hard, but being the good guy had bitten him in the ass. On top of that, it looked as if he should’ve been offering some sort of financial support to Sacha. He hadn’t thought Sacha would ever allow that. His pride would never. From the outside looking in, it just seemed like he let Sacha down on every level. He didn’t bring him to the games. He didn’t help alleviate his burden. It seemed he also went on dates with other men. Goddamn it. He tried again to call. Bandit was determined to admit Sacha had been right and throw himself on his mercy. As his call went unanswered, Bandit had to admit the truth. He had destroyed the best thing to ever happen to him and he hadn’t even known he was doing it.

Chapter Seven

Sacha dragged himself frombed, feeling thirty years older. His head hurt. It felt like the desert lived in his mouth and his eyes were on fire. Somehow, he made it through a shower, but he didn’t bother trying to look pretty. As he stepped from his bedroom, he spotted the flowers. They were everywhere. Sacha turned in a circle. Baba sat on the couch with Dana, smiling.

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