Page 78 of Legend

He arches a brow at me. “I hope there’s only one youngster.”

I let out a breath of laughter. “Definitely.”

Once we’re all clean, neither of us seems all that eager to move so we simply stand under the spray together, holding each other close. His hand is at my arse, lazily playing with my hole. I’m not sure if he entirely believed me when I first told him I’m vers, but now that he knows for sure that I like butt stuff he seems pretty addicted to touching me there. And I’m not complaining at all.?

Chapter twenty-six

Archie

“Ihatethatwe’replaying here,” Tom grumbles, glaring at the stands, packed full of jeering Lancaster fans watching us go through our pre-game warm-up.

“We had to play them sometime,” I reason, trying not to let my discomfort show. It’s just another match.

“It’d just be nice if our fans weren’t stuck up in the nose bleeds where we can barely hear them cheer. Maybe then they’d have a chance of drowning out those fuckers.”

“It’s almost as if they planned it that way.” I tease as we reach the goal and turn around to jog back to the halfway line.

“Don’t be a fucking smartarse,” he says, with a glint in his eye that tells me he likes my teasing.

“Are you sure? I thought you loved everything about my—” I cut myself off, suddenly realising how exposed we are out here. Who’s to say what a broadcast mic could pick up? Not to mention all the fans and journalists that seem to have mastered the art of lip reading. Fuck, that was a close one. I could have fucking outed him.

“Hey,” Tom says softly. I didn’t even realise that we’d come to a stop. “It’s okay, Archie. You didn’t –“

“I nearly did though.”?I can’t even bring myself to look at him; I don’t deserve the gentle concern in his eyes. Not after that.

“C’mon you two, warm up’s over,” Robbie says as he jogs past us.

I don’t say anything else. I follow after him down the tunnel and head to the visiting team’s locker room, jeers and insults from the rowdy crowd following me the whole way.

Lancaster United really know how to make their opponents feel welcome. And they always seem to have a specialappreciationfor past players who have left their club to find success elsewhere. Never mind if it wasn’t exactly their choice.

I have no regrets, though. I wouldn’t change a single thing.

I get changed into my kit in silence, Tom following my lead.

“I get it, you know,” he finally mumbles, just loud enough for me to hear.

I manage to look at him, finding him fiddling with his fingers, and staring down at his feet. Uncharacteristic indications of discomfort.

“You get what?” I ask.

“How hard it must be for you. If it’s too much being with me…when I’m not out. If you…I mean…we--”

I stop him from continuing by grabbing his chin roughly and forcing him to look at me. Those beautiful blue eyes feel like they’re staring?into my soul. “Tom, it’s not too much. Being with you could never be too much. I don’t care if you’re out or not. I just don’t want to be the one to fuck things up for you. I don’t want to be the one who accidentally outs you.”

It's on the tip of my tongue to say more, to tell him how I feel about him, but I suddenly remember we’re in a crowded locker room and there are cameras and press just outside. I trust our teammates, but all it would take is someone opening the door at the wrong moment for every word I’ve just said to be rendered pointless. I hastily drop my grip of Tom’s chin and offer a rueful smile. “Sorry.”

“You could never fuck anything up, Archie,” he assures me. “No matter what happens, you’re one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

As though I wasn’t already in love with him enough, watching his face turn red as he makes that admission just seals the deal.

“Oh my god, is Tom Whitford actually blushing?” I tease, unable to keep the grin from my face.

Predictably, his expression quickly turns into a scowl. “No. I don’tblush.”

“Pretty sure you do.” I wink at him, which just makes him blush again. God, he’s adorable. I don’t care how much he wants to fight against it, he is and that’s final.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Davey groans, pulling us from our little bubble.

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