Page 72 of The Jock
“If you have a chance to network with NFL coaches, wouldn’t you like to?”
“Now you sound like the rest of the guys.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. Wes reached for Justin’s hand and kissed his fingers, then cradled his hand against his chest. “The rest of the team thought I was crazy when I told her no. But I want to be with you tonight. No one else.”
“It is a little bit crazy.” Justin leaned over and kissed his nose. “But I’m not complaining.” He dragged his long hair over Wes’s face until Wes grinned and chased him for another kiss. “Where am I taking you?”
Instead of meeting outside their homes, Justin had started waiting in Wes’s truck at the stadium after home games. It was easier to head out together directly, rather than fight the crowds and the fans and the parties. It was colder now, and the streets weren’t quite so packed after a game. But the thrill of an undefeated season and having a superstar player had energized the school and the city. The entire state of Texas.
“Somewhere quiet. Somewhere I can hear myself think.” Wes curled his face into Justin’s thigh again. “Somewhere I can be with you.”
Justin turned the key in the ignition and shifted the truck into drive.
Half an hour later, Justin killed the headlights as he headed for the back of the state park’s parking lot. There were no other cars in the lot this time. They were alone.
Gravel crunched beneath the tires. Wes hummed, closing his eyes as he exhaled. “Love that sound.”
Wes hadn’t sat up for the whole drive. He was still sprawled across the bench seat, one leg down on the floorboards and the other bent up at an angle. He’d kept his face against Justin’s stomach and his eyes closed, and when Justin parked, Wes wrapped both his arms around Justin’s waist like he was Wes’s pillow.
Justin cracked the window. Crisp autumn air flowed into the cab. An owl hooted nearby. Branches creaked, their leaves rustling together. Country noises. Night noises.
Wes’s shoulders loosened, and his breathing began to slow. Justin ran his fingers through Wes’s hair again, down the back of his head and up his neck. In minutes, Wes was snoring, his lips parted and pressed into the skin between Justin’s jeans and his sweatshirt. Soft puffs of air blew over Justin’s belly. He smiled, curled over Wes and kissed his temple, and then leaned back and closed his eyes.
* * *
Hours later,Wes kissed him awake. “I’m sorry I fell asleep.”
“You needed it.” Justin kissed him back, his eyes not open yet. “You’re exhausted.”
Wes sighed. He sat up, his body pressed against Justin’s from their knees to their shoulders. “This season is way more than I expected. Every week is punishing. Every defense tries to take me out. Every school wants to be known as the one who took us down. And then there’s the media, and the attention…”
“And us.”
“That’s not exhausting.”
“Well.” Justin smirked and winked. Wes snorted. “I meant the secrecy,” Justin said. “Making sure no one finds out.”
“Sometimes I think about quitting,” Wes whispered. “Sometimes I want to. Because even with all this, the chance at an undefeated season and the national championship? All the publicity and the craziness? All I want to do is take your hand in the middle of campus. Kiss you before a game, like the guys do with their girlfriends. I want to give you a family ticket and have you sit with the rest of the VIPs.” He traced Justin’s fingers, the lines of his palm. “I thought it would be easier to keep things separate. But I feel like I’m shredding apart.”
“Do we need to take it slower? Maybe cool down for a bit?”
Wes grabbed his hand, squeezed so hard Justin flinched. “No, please. Anything but that.”
“I didn’t mean take a break, or break up. I just meant maybe cool off how much we see each other—”
“Seeing you is the only thing that’s keeping me together.”
“But…”
Wes took Justin’s face in his hands and pushed their foreheads together. “Not that. Please. Anything but that.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Darkness fell over Wes’s gaze, and his eyes slid away from Justin’s. “I don’t feel like I do enough for you. You come to my games, and I take you to parking lots in the middle of nowhere.”
“But I love that.” He cupped Wes’s jaw. Felt his muscles trembling. “Hey. I do. I love watching you play, and I love when we do this, or when it’s just you and me sitting on the hood of your car eating Wendy’s. I love everything we do together.”
“You deserve more.”
“I want what we have.” Wes still looked like he’d been kicked in the kneecaps. He still wouldn’t look at Justin. “We knew exactly what this was going to look like while you were playing,” Justin said, dragging Wes’s chin up until their eyes met. “I don’t want anything else. I only want you.”
