Page 8 of The Fullback
CHAPTER THREE
Bailey
“Everything okay?”I asked, sliding off my trainers as the front door of the flat closed behind us. “You were a bit quiet today.”
“Yeah, fine,” Hunter said with a casual shrug which could mean anything from actually fine toI don’t want to talk about it. He could be notoriously cagey with his emotions, and even after six years of friendship I still found him difficult to read. I’d had to learn to leave things be half the time, trusting that he’d open up when he was ready. Occasionally I had to push, and once or twice I’d demanded he talk to me when I’d had a gut feeling something was wrong, but mostly I tried to wait because I didn’t want him to feel smothered or cornered.
I nodded and smiled. “I’m gonna change the sheets quickly before Aiden arrives. I know he said he’d be another hour or two but I’d rather be ready.”
“I’ll get a fresh set.”
“Cheers.” There was no need to debate which bedroom we’d use because mine had become the default for everything. Hunter even slept in there most of the time. It was a bit cramped withtwo of us in the bed, but we made it work. I’d rather do that than have him feel abandoned or have to go through things on his own.
He’d once told me that when he had bad days, the slithering voices of his disordered eating and exercise obsession were loudest at night. It was then, in the dark and the quiet and the stillness, that they crawled out from whatever godforsaken place they retreated to and whispered to him. And I wasn’t prepared to let that happen. Not again.
Hunter had been in recovery for nearly five years, and he’d worked hard to get to the place he was now. Being a professional athlete meant facing up to those voices over and over and over again and not letting them have the final say.
It might not be my job to protect him, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to.
Hunter was my best friend. The person I would choose every single day. And I didn’t take that responsibility lightly.
“So, I was thinking,” Hunter said as we finished buttoning up the duvet cover and shaking it out. “And I… I think I want to ask Aiden to top me. Today.”
I blinked slowly, schooling my face out of whatever unsurprised expression it was trying to wear. Hunter wasn’t as subtle as he thought and I was well aware of the fact he’d ordered a dildo back in April. And that he’d been using it.
We spent virtually all our time together, so him shutting himself in his room meant literally one thing. He’d been doing it a lot more recently—which was fine. Wanking was good for him. I did the same. But I could usually hear him through the walls, and his mattress squeaked.
Plus he’d left the box, and the order note, in the kitchen recycling bin. I didn’t know if he’d intended for me to see it, but it was bloody hard to avoid when it was sitting right there.
I hadn’t said anything—I didn’t want him to get upset if he was keeping it private—but I wasn’t exactly surprised. The way he’d blushed when Aiden had talked about getting his strap out had made me wonder if he’d been considering it. Apparently, he was.
And from the way my cock stirred in my pants, it wasveryinterested in watching him get fucked.
“Okay,” I said. “As long as you’re comfortable with it. I think he’d love to fuck you.”
“Would you… mind?”
“No, why would I?” I walked around the bed to where he was standing and put my hand on his chest, feeling the beat of his heart. Usually, it was steady, almost unflinchingly stoic. But now it raced like he was thirty meters away from the try line with nothing between it and the opposition on his heels.
“I don’t know. I don’t want you to be… upset.”
“I won’t be. How could I? I want you to enjoy yourself.” His question had thrown me, and I had no idea where it was coming from. All I could do was reassure him. With honesty. “And I… I want to watch Aiden fuck you.”
“Yeah?” Hunter’s lips twitched in that casual smirk which always fucking killed me.
“Yeah. I think it’ll be hot as fuck.”
“Maybe you can fuck his mouth while he fucks me?”
“Mmm, I’d like that. Then I can watch both of you.”
His smirk widened and he tilted his head down towards me. We hadn’t kissed since the last time we’d been with Aiden, but I didn’t know why. Maybe it was because it felt like too much of an admission of something we’d always ignored. It was why we’d never gone beyond platonic touches, why we’d never hooked up with each other without another person between us, and why we never talked about our friendship in more than nebulous terms.
Because acknowledging our feelings meant dealing with them. And thingsalwaysgot messy when emotions were involved. I’d seen it time and time again over the years. Bad breakups, ruined friendships, and the ending of things that were never meant to be broken.
If keeping each other at arm’s length meant staying together, then I’d take it.
“Can I kiss you?” I asked, the words brushing across his face, our mouths barely an inch apart.
