Page 57 of Just for Me
“Oh,” Trevor Martin said, then glanced at Henry Osandu. Henry, the explosive blindside flanker and enforcer, had been playing with Luke for six seasons now. The third bloke, Oscar Findley, didn’t say anything, just stared.
Henry pressed the button for 5, and the lift doors closed. “Hi,” he said to Hayden. “Henry.” And put out his hand.
Hayden dropped Luke’s hand to shake Henry’s and said, his voice a little unsteady, a little giddy, “This probably comes as a surprise.”
“Well, yeah,” Henry said, and grinned. “A bit. He’s so bloody ugly, I just figured he couldn’t get a girl. Didn’t realize he wasn’t looking for one.”
The lift stopped and the doors opened. Henry put out a big hand to hold them open and asked Luke, “Do we keep this on the DL? Or what?”
Luke took a breath.Still time to back away,the black moth hissed in his ear, its claws clutching at his skin.Don’t be stupid.
“Not a secret,” Luke said. “I’ll tell the boys myself, on the bus.”
Henry said, “Right, then.” He turned to walk down the hall with the others, then turned and came back. The others came with him, because Henry had some mana. “Far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t change anything. You’ve been a follow-me skipper from the start, because nobody picked you for your speeches, and I don’t see why I should stop following you now. No business of mine who you sleep with.”
“But—” Oscar said.
“But what?” Henry asked, fixing Oscar with his don’t-fuck-with-me stare.
“Well,” Oscar said, and faltered. “Well,” he said again, “in the sheds and all, like.”
“What, that he’ll see you naked?” Henry said. “I think that ship has sailed, mate. And I imagine he’s been averting his eyes pretty smartly, because if he’s an ugly bastard, you’re worse. Props.”
“Still,” Oscar said. “It’s a lot to overlook.” He glanced at Trevor, who nodded slightly, gulped, and looked uncomfortable.
“Mate,” Henry said. “Look at his partner. Anybody like that on our squad? Anybody close?”
“Well, uh,” Trevor said, “Dan Foster’s pretty good-looking.” The first-five. They were always good-looking. Something about that “running the boys around the paddock” thing. Cool, calm, and good-looking. Luke was thinking that, because he was sweating, and he didn’t know what was coming next.
A door opened, and somebody said, “Oi, you lot. Shut up. Trying to sleep here.”
“Skip’s telling us he’s gay, though,” Oscar said, possibly because he had more than a few under his belt himself.
“He’s what?” the man asked. Alex Stewart, that was, and now his roommate, Max Matthews, was crowding out behind him, wearing only a pair of rugby shorts, saying, “What’s going on?”
Oscar explaining, and more doors opening. Two-thirty in the bloody morning, and all Luke wanted was to take Hayden back to his room and do what most rugby players wanted to do after the match, but possibly even more so. And say all the right things and hear all the right things, too, but mostly—
Well, yeh. It had been a long two months.
It was also the worst nightmare of his life, coming true. Like dreaming you were naked in class, then waking up and realizing it was happening.
Hayden said, “You could hold my hand.”
“Yeh, right,” Luke said.
“I mean,” Hayden said, “you could hold my hand.” When Luke looked at him, Hayden grinned a little crookedly and said, “Stand your ground.”
“Oh. Right.” Luke did it. It felt … bizarre. He was standing in a hotel corridor amidst most of his teammates, in the middle of the night, holding a man’s hand.
Definitely his nightmare. And also the right thing, because it was Hayden’s hand, and his hand was solid ground, the only thing anchoring Luke here. But he had no control, not even his superpower of shutting up and walking away. There was nowhere to hide anymore.
A buzz of talk. More and more men standing around barefoot in shorts and singlets, the newest arrivals being filled in by the others, and Luke in the middle of it, silent. What did you say?
Finally, Henry put two fingers in his mouth and whistled, long and loud, and everybody shut up. He said, “Right. What did you think, when he never had a girlfriend?”
Everybody looked at each other, and Henry asked, “Has he ever made a move on any of us?”
“Well, no,” Oscar said, “but how do we know he won’t?”
