Page 13 of Double Play
“Morning,” I grunt, stretching my arms above my head.
“Hey,” he replies, a small smile playing on his lips. “Sleep okay?”
“Like the dead,” I say, swinging my legs out of bed. “You?”
“Eh,” he says, turning back to his bag. “You kept groaning in your sleep. I started getting nervous you’d go low… all you had on the way home from the gym was a protein shake.”
I shake my head, standing up and making my way to the kitchen. “Well, I’ll eat something after I get a drink. My mouth is so fucking dry.” I grab a glass from the cabinet and fill it with water. Leaning against the counter, I watch him through the open bedroom door. “I can’t believe we’re actually doing it.”
Andres looks up and behind him, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Doing what?”
“Living together.” I pound the water and set the glass down, heading back into the room.
“Jack, we’re together ninety-nine percent of the time. Plus—” Andres stands up, spins around, and pulls me into his arms. “…you’re all mine.”
He presses his lips to mine, one hand on my hip, the other cradling the back of my neck. “All fucking mine now,pretty boy.”
“You don’t think people will say things?”
Not that I’m nervous about the team being weird. Everyone practically knows we’ve been together but not together.“You know, like staff or even fans.”
Okay, maybe I’m a tiny bit nervous because people can be assholes.
He grins. “I fucking dare someone to say something bad about us being together, Jack. They’ll be in for a rude awakening.”
Woof.My guard dog has arrived.
I laugh, shaking my head. “You’re something else, you know that?”
He winks at me. “That’s why you love me.”
It’s true.
No lies detected.
I roll my eyes but can’t hide the smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. “Come on, let’s get the rest of the stuff that needs to be over here and then drop off the key downstairs.”
An hour and a half later,we make our way downstairs, my key in hand, and I can feel the energy radiating off Andres. He’s like a coiled spring, ready to pounce if anyone so muchas raises an eyebrow. We hand the key over to management, and Andres gives them a nod, a silent challenge in his stance. I fucking love this side of him.
The part that’s so confident in himself, so sure of what we are together.
Andres turns to me, a soft smile replacing the fierce expression from moments ago, as we walk out the lobby doors. I can feel the tension from the morning practice melting away, especially when he reaches down, threads our fingers together, and leads us down the sidewalk. Being with Andres is easy and comfortable.Natural.Like we should have been doing it from the start. I squeeze his hand, a silent promise passing between us.
I love you.
I need you.
Never let me go.
“You know,” he says, his voice thoughtful, “the whole workout this morning I was thinking about us.”
I glance at him, raising an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”
He nods, a small smile playing on his lips. “Yeah. I mean, we’ve been avoiding this for what seems like forever, you know. Sleeping with other people together. Then we’d come crawling to each other for practically any sort of intimacy. This is it, Jackson. No more sleeping around, no more games. Just us. If we have issues, we fix them together.”
I stop in my tracks, turning to face him. “You’re serious? About being with me?”
Andres meets my gaze, his eyes sincere. “Dead serious. I want this, Jackson.Te quiero a ti.”
