Page 24 of The Poster Boy
“No, Coach. Just taking some tips from Brookbank here. He was just being helpful.” I did my best to make it sound sincere, but I could tell Coach didn’t exactly believe me. But unless I was willing to rat Jay out for being a prick, there was little Coach could do about it.
He frowned at both of us, unimpressed. “Sort your shit out. That’s not a suggestion.”
He gave us one final cutting look before blowing the whistle and ending practice.
I’d tried to make nice with Brookbank, but it seemed like he was determined to hate me, so I’d given up trying. But now that Coach had noticed the friction between us, maybe it was time to try again.
Chapter 12
Jay
“You know what your problem is, Brooksie?” Boone said as we headed to the showers. “You need to get laid.”
I didn’t even have a good rebuttal for his statement because there wasn’t one. The fact was that I did need to get laid. All I’d done lately was jerk off in the shower while thinking about Marek Myers’ ass and the stupid smile he had for everyone except me. Myers never smiled at me. Not like I’d ever given him a reason to.
“Holy shit, not even going to tell me to fuck off? You must be hard up.” He tossed me a look of concern.
“Well, you might have a point.” I wasn’t about to admit to the whole Myers-in-the-spank-bank part, though. That little bit of embarrassment, I’d keep to myself.
“Hop on one of those apps of yours and find someone to take the edge off.” Boone waggled his eyebrows. “Or I could.”
“Dude, no.”
Boone knew about my sexuality. He was bisexual himself, though we’d never crossed that line together. We’dalways had more of a brotherly vibe than a friends with benefits-type of relationship. That didn’t mean he didn’t love to joke around with me about it.
“Then go out and find someone to warm your bed, Brooksie. It might soften that heart of yours.”
With Boone’s encouragement, I went back to the hotel and changed into sweats and a t-shirt. We had a short trip to the next city tomorrow and a late start, so I could afford a few hours of extracurricular activities off the ice.
Stretched out in my hotel room, I opened the app and scrolled through a few potential profiles. One of which was also in the hotel. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened. I’d had a hell of a great time last year with a veterinarian who was at the same hotel for a convention.
With that in mind, I sent a message to the other profile. Boone hadn’t been wrong. I had an itch that needed to be scratched.
You top?I asked, cutting right to the chase. Hooking up could be risky for me because I wasn’t out, but I wasn’t about to involve lawyers and NDAs and shit like that. It was a secret, but it wasn’t shameful, and it was only a secret because it wasn’t anyone else’s business.
Among other things,came a reply a few seconds later.
You host?
Better if you do, tbh
rm 535, five minutes
ok
I didn’t want to give myself much time to rethink it. If I waited long, I’d talk myself out of it like I’d done a dozen times before. Hooking up was risky in a lot of ways, and I preferred to keep most of my risks to the ice. Risks off the icewere a different thing entirely, and I was a master at second-guessing myself.
I kept Boone’s voice in my head telling me that I needed this. I needed the release. Needed to unwind. Needed something, anything, to get Marek fucking Myers out of my head. He’d been the bane of my existence since he joined the team. I hoped whoever the hot-as-hell torso belonged to in the profile was nothing like Myers.
A quick glance in the bathroom mirror had me stripping my shirt off. Might as well show off the goods up front. Maybe we’d jump right to the fun part that way. My dick was half hard in my gray sweatpants, and it was all I could do to avoid touching myself.
I fished the supplies out of my bag and tossed them on the bed when the knock at my door finally came. I answered as quickly as I could before someone saw me let some strange man into my room.
I opened the door and had I not been so fucking shocked, I’d have slammed it shut, but my brain and my body had frozen at the sight of him, of all fucking people, knocking on my door.
Marek Myers blinked his own shocked expression away then strutted into my room like he owned the place. His hands were tucked in his pockets, and he had a baseball cap on. His blond hair curled out from underneath it.
“Are you for real right now?” I couldn’t move.
