Page 29 of Phantom Faceoff
I smile and kiss the top of his head, then find a comfortable position for my neck and try to get some sleep.
It’s quiet other than the sound of our breathing, and just as I think I might go under, Julian shifts, and his lips brushing my ear thrusts me back into full consciousness.
“You know,” he says with a low giggle. “I bet Zander would letyousleep with him, too.”
My body practically goes into shock, which only makes Julian’s giddiness worse.
“I think you like him,” he teases, and I’m confused how my best friend went from cuddly to menace so fast.
“I barely know him,” I hiss and gently pinch his side. “What has gotten into you?”
“Zander. Multiple times.” He sits up, propping an arm on my chest and grinning down at me. “Maybe you don’t feel the tension, but the rest of us do.”
“Tension?”
“Yup.” He pops the ‘p’ hard. “Sexual tension. You, Malachi, desperately need to get laid.”
I can’t do anything but gape at him.
“Am I wrong?”
“You’re a brat.”
Still, he smiles wide and leans down so his nose presses to mine. “Come to the rink with us tomorrow. I’ll show you.”
“Show me what?”
Julian wiggles beside me until he’s lying down again, a puff of air sliding across my neck. His breathing lightens, and his voice goes from playful to soft and sleepy.
“That I think he likes you, too.”
Chapter Nine
Zander
It only costme a week of taking over the equipment manager’s duties to get access to the rink over the weekend. We’ve got a few weeks until our first game of the season, and until then I’ve got to prove to Coach I’m not going to flunk this music course again.
It’ll be good practice for if I end up having to ride the bench. I might as well get used to cleaning up after everyone.
“So what was the plan here given that neither of us own a pair of skates?”
Ah, right. Malachi. Because Julian gave me puppy eyes and a morning blowjob to let his friend tag along. Not that the latter was needed.
I don’t hate Malachi’s presence. He just makes me feel weird. Like I’m being judged. But also like I kind of want the judgment? Weird.
“Well it just so happens Micky has a spare pair of practice skates that should fit Julian alright. You on the other hand…”
There’s the look of judgment.
“I’ll check the equipment closet. Might be some extras lying around.”
I swear, I’m not trying to piss the guy off, but yeah, when I hand Julian the skates, maybe I kiss him and let it linger. Might earn me a glare and an aggressive cough, but we both laugh when we pull away.
Malachi’s eyes say anger, but the color in his cheeks says something else.
“Question for you,” I ask under my breath as I sit down beside Julian to lace up our skates. Malachi is half inspecting the place, so it’s as good a time as any. “Your friend. Does he ever, you know … wank one out?”
Julian stops mid-tie and stares, then cracks up laughing. Malachi looks over, but rolls his eyes and continues on.
