Page 26 of Cheap Shot

Crawford was out of the box now, a pissed-off expression on his face as he skated to the bench across the ice. Sebastian watched as Crawford hunkered in, head down, and his head coach, Hoyt Kent, bent over to talk in his ear.

The little talk ended with a pat to the shoulder and Crawford lifted his head and looked up.

Unfortunately, the width of the ice was too wide for Sebastian to see his face. Too bad. He would have liked to thank Crawford for the goal.

The game ended in a 5–4 loss for the Harriers.

The crowd was noticeably subdued as Sebastian hurried to the train station and managed to squeeze in beside some Harriers fans, who gave him a confused look at his New York jersey.

Sebastian just smiled.

After the train had made a couple of stops and the car had cleared out a little, Sebastian pulled up his hookup app. He pointedly ignored the unanswered message to Crawford he’d sent the other day and checked a couple he’d gotten from other guys lately. None of the messages or profiles were particularly inspiring, so he searched to see who was available now.

Nothing that exciting there either, damn it.

Sebastian had just resigned himself to the idea of getting off on his own tonight when a message popped up. He nearly dropped his phone when he saw it was from Crawford.

In response to the,Want to do this again?Sebastian had sent a few days ago, he got,You do?

Sebastian frowned. He didn’t want to appear too eager or anything but damn it was tempting … He could pretend all he wanted that another guy would scratch the itch just as well, but honestly? The other night had been a top-tier hookup.

Not the best sex of his life but definitely the best he’d had with someone he’d never been with before. And if they hooked up again and it was even better …

Thinking about it,he sent, a prickle of anticipation already crossing his skin.

It’s a fuckin stupid idea, you know that right?

Is it?Sebastian shot back.Look, we don’t like each other but that didn’t stop us from getting off hard the last time. And we agreed this app is shit for meeting people. And like, I’m not gonna fucking tell anyone who you are. Can you be sure the next guy will do the same?

There was no answer for a while and Sebastian jiggled his knee, annoyed and pent-up and frustrated.

Leave it to fuckingLuke Crawfordto make even a simple hookup way more difficult than it needed to be.

He was nearing his stop when,Fuck it. Let’s do it. Same deal as before?appeared on his screen.

Yeah. Meet me in twenty minutes or so? I caught the first train so I’m nearly back.

Crawford sent back,’K.

“Asshole,” Sebastian muttered under his breath, but he was smiling faintly as he tucked his phone in his jacket pocket and stood, squeezing between a couple more Harriers fans to get to the door with that feeling of anticipation burning low in his belly.

If they only knew what he was about to do tonight …

Sebastian went through the same routine as before, although he did grab the lube this time. He debated for a moment, then put the bottle back in his bedroom, knowing Crawford would give him shit about it. The banter was half the fun, right? The tension. The dislike.

It wasn’t the only thing Sebastian could do to rile Crawford up either. He grabbed his jersey where he’d draped it over a chair and put it on again.

There.Perfect.

Downstairs, Sebastian paced the small shop, nearly knocking over a potted orchid at the corner of the counter as he cut the corner a little short. He caught it, realizing he probably should’vejust told Crawford to come straight up and lock the door behind him.

But Sebastian wasn’t sure he wouldn’t leave it wide open, just to be spiteful. Which, unfortunately, was also part of the appeal.

A therapist would have a fucking field day with me, Sebastian thought wryly, though it was a small consolation that Crawford was probably even more screwed up than he was.

A few moments later, the door handle jiggled, and Sebastian cursed when he realized he hadn’t unlocked it. He strode over, twisting the latch, and the second he got the door open, Crawford shoved past him, nearly knocking him over.

“What’s your hurry?” Sebastian asked with a laugh. “That eager to get?—”