Page 3 of Returning Your Love
Chaz had been into girls from as far back as I could remember, so I hadn’t bothered with sharing my feelings and fucking up the best friendship a kid could have.
Still hadn’t.
As far as Chaz was aware, I’d been too focused on getting a few Super Bowl rings to bother with a woman while he’d gone and fallen in love with one.
I’d choked back tears when Chaz had pledged to love, honor, and respect Shelly until death parted the high school sweethearts. In my dreams, I’d been the person facing him, our hands clasped tightly between us as we made vows of undying love to each other.
That day had been the toughest of my life, even more traumatic than the popping sound that had ended my NFL career. Nothing could compare to the drawn-out agony of watching the person you loved fall for another and become so goddamn enamored with them that your friendship took an emotional backseat.
It’d been years since Chaz and I had talked but only because I couldn’t stand the pain of hearing his voice or seeing text messages about how happy he was in pursuing his own dreams.
All thoughts of getting a good dicking dissolved at the memories of how I’d lost my best friend and the ache in my chest that always accompanied it.
I tossed my cell aside and slouched farther on the couch, head tipped back and eyes closed. I’d have been a few thousand poorer and well on my way toward needing intervention if getting sloshed appealed to me.
According to Dad, Coach Bernardwasready and willing to hand over his whistle to me, just like he had figured. Hell, Coach himself had called and begged me to return. He wanted to retire knowing his boys would be looked after, that someone who loved football as much as he did would continue his goal of making something out of our small town’s team.
I held no such high hopes. Never had. Rarely did Pippen Creek even have a winning season. Hell, we barely ever had enough kids try out tomakea team. I’d been the one and only Bobcat to get a college scholarship, and the fact I’d made it to the NFL had given me Hollywood status back home. That was what Dad claimed, anyway. I hadn’t been there since Chaz’s wedding to see or hear that kind of gossip for myself.
But that might be about to change…
I sat up, leaned forward, elbows on knees, and stared out my dark windows at the twinkling lights of Boston. Could I find contentment in Pippen Creek now that my life’s goal had been buried six feet under? Was it possible to exist in the same small town as my once best friend and his wife while pining for a taste of his mouth and the feel of his body moving against mine?
Groaning, I closed my eyes and hung my head as my dick shifted between my thighs again. “Don’t get any ideas.”
Still, I took a long, hot shower and ended up jerking off to various fantasies of Chaz. On his knees in front of me. Bouncing on my dick. Filling my ass while staring into my eyes.
I came hard, gasping for breath and leaning against the tile wall when my legs threatened to buckle.
Probably a mistake even thinking about returning, but I missed football like a motherfucker and the high over fighting towin. I neededsomethingto immerse myself in that would offer me a sense of the joy that had been torn from me with a single tackle.
I just hoped the choice didn’t lead to even more heartache.
Chapter 2
Chaz
“Jesus, Chaz—where the hell have you been? You’re even later than you normally are.” Shelly’s voice grated on my exhausted nerves as I walked in the door after work.
“I had to finish up Mr. Bernard’s truck. He’s leaving for a cross-country trip in a couple of days,” I explained, tossing my keys onto the small table in the entryway. “He’s headed to Arizona now that he’s finally retired.”
My wife stood at the doorway to the kitchen in all her fiery redheaded glory, hands on her trim hips, gray eyes narrowed. She clearly did not give two shits about my old football coach finally fulfilling his lifelong dream. “Did you forget about the welcome home party?”
I hadn’t forgotten—I just wasn’t sure I was ready to face who would be there. “I’m tired, Shell.”
She shook her head while throwing her hands into the air with her usual dramatic flair. “We never go out. Ever! Our best friend finally gets his ass back where he belongs, and you don’t give a shit?”
“He’s ignored me—us—for over four years,” I grumbled, remembering the day we’d last seen Jamie. It had been at our wedding, and I hadn’t even gotten a chance to hug him and tellhim goodbye before he’d left the reception long before it had ended. He’d taken off like he’d been desperate to escape Pippen Creek and everyone who lived here, leaving my heart split in two. “What makes you think he’s still interested in being our friend now?”
“Can’t remember hearing about you reaching out to him the last couple of years either,” she stated rather than answering. She spun and stalked into the kitchen.
I followed my wife, needing a beer from the fridge before showering. Shelly spoke the truth, but?—
“I swear to God, I’ve never met a more selfish man.” She all but spat the words I’d heard countless times in the previous year since I’d purchased the mechanic shop in Pippen Creek. “All you do is work, Chaz. You’re never home!”
“Because I’m trying to build a business so we don’t need both of our incomes to cover the bills!” I shot back, my blood pressure rising.
It was bad enough I’d been denied a loan from the bank and had to go to my father for financing. Henderson Auto was the only one of its kind downtown, and still I struggled to make ends meet and payments on time. Father always reminded me when I didn’t even when Mother suggested he offer his only son some grace.
