Page 12

Chapter Twelve

Atlas

I stood, balanced on the balls of my feet, watching the boys form a scrum.

Adrenaline roared through me.

Anticipation.

Watching, waiting.

Finally, our side had possession of the ball.

A blink of an eye later, it was passed to the fly half, who passed it to me.

I took off at a run, slamming my way through the defensive line.

I‘d hurt later, but right now, I didn't feel a thing but the thrill of the impact. Shoving guys back and forcing my way through.

They held up, giving me no choice but to pass the ball back behind me.

The crowd roared, screaming and shouting. Thousands of voices chanting in time to the throb of blood through my ears.

"Smashers! Smashers! Smashers!"

Nothing in the world was like a home crowd to drive you on. Like me, they loved a good, hard game, and we were giving it to them. They adored us for it.

I swiped a hand over my forehead, wiping sweat away before it trickled into my eyes.

This was what I fucking loved, playing this brutal game. This, right here, was the best fucking job on the face of the planet. Every time I stepped out on the field, every time I brought down an opposition player, slamming them into the grass, my blood sang.

I was a warrior, this was my battle. We'd fight until the bitter end, giving it everything. Blood, sweat and tears.

Brent Evans, usually known as Frog for some reason that was lost in time, caught the ball and bolted down the field, running like he was navigating a maze. The opposition tried to stop him, but he darted around them, brushed them off and threw himself over the try line. He slid almost a metre across the grass before coming to a stop, the ball held out in front of him.

No one in the stadium would doubt that was a try. And a fucking well-executed one too. They'd show that on replay for the next couple of days.

"Fuck yeah." I grinned. I glanced at the clock. From the start of the game, the opposition was never going to catch us and now they were out of time.

Three.

Two.

One.

The horn sounded, signalling the end of the game.

Another win for the Dusk Bay Smashers. We were dominating this season, but we hadn't played the Sydney Devils yet, and they hadn't lost a game. When we met, that would change. My loyalty was here now. I'd help my team claim victory and let the Devils taste defeat.

I trotted over to the guys and threw myself into a group hug with anyone who was close enough. I found myself with Jay on one side of me and Frost on the other. Storm was on the other side of him and Ramsey and Dallas on the other side of Jay. Maybe the hug wasn't so random after all. We were drawn to each other like a packet of magnets. Of course, Storm was the negative and I was the positive.

"Good job," I said to all of them. "We fucking destroyed them." Winning never got old. It was the biggest rush there was, second only to a good fuck. Priorities.

"Fuck yeah we did," Frost agreed. "If they're not careful, we'll win the whole damn thing."

"No reason we can't," Storm said. Blood caked the side of his face, mingling with dirt. He'd taken a few hard hits. The rest of us had too. We left nothing on the table. Not one of us held back a thing. We'd played better together than we ever had before. If we kept going like this, we'd be unbeatable.

When we kept going like this, I corrected myself.

"I need a shower," Jay said. He was the first to back out of the hug, gave the crowd a brief wave and trotted to the locker room. His back was stiff, a sure sign he'd had enough of the noise and crowds and needed to step away.

"Me too." I followed close behind. Not too close to crowd him, but close enough to be supportive and to keep anyone else from getting too close. Making myself a barricade between him and the rest of the world. Until he was ready to deal with it again.

He barely stepped into the locker room before he was tearing off his shoes and socks. He carried them the rest of the way to his locker before dropping them and starting to strip off. He was always in a hurry to get everything off his feet, but when he was overwhelmed, he did it more quickly. Like he couldn't bear to have anything touching his skin.

"They don't say Team Awesomest, do they?" Storm was asking Frost.

I looked over to see Frost pulling off his own socks and grinning at the fullback.

"Not yet," Frost said. "I'm still working on it." He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows playfully.

Storm shook his head and started to strip his own clothes off.

I didn't think Frost was working on it at all, but he couldn't resist stirring Storm up every chance he got. Could I blame him? Hell no, it was too easy to get under Storm's skin. I didn't hate the guy the way I used to, but I'd never stop stirring him up either. It was too much fun.

"You're getting along," Jay remarked. "With them."

I looked over to see him nod toward Storm and Frost.

"I never had a problem with Frosty," I said. Was that what had him on edge right now? Frost and whatever it was between him and I?

"I wasn't talking about Frosty," Jay said. "But you know that."

I grinned. "Sorry, couldn't help myself. Yeah, Storm might be okay. Sort of. Does that bother you?" My smile faded and I looked right at him, trying to figure out what was going through his brain. He was easier to read than some, but not at times like this. Not when he clearly had something on his mind and was still trying to work through it himself.

"That you two don't want to kill each other anymore?" Jay cocked his head at me. "I don't know, but it seems like a good thing to me. We're all on the same side here."

I was used to him not meeting my eyes, but he was more evasive than usual.

"Are you sure this isn't about Frost?" I asked, keeping my voice down low. Not that anyone would hear over the noise in the locker room.

We'd talked about the other guy before and I assured Jay I wasn't going to leave him for Frost. Jay and I were tight, that wasn't going to change as far as I was concerned.

"When you were down finding Dallas, Frost and I fucked Chelsea," he said.

I nodded slowly. "Okay. I'm all right with that." Was I? We weren't exclusive and never had been. Ever since we knew each other, there'd been other lovers. It was no big deal. It didn't change what we were to each other.

"I like her," he said slowly. "And I like him. And you like him."

"And I like her," I added. "Are you saying you want to be with him too?"

Jay's face was already pink from exertion, but it became darker now. "I don't want to mess things up between us. I know how I felt when Frost kissed you. I wanted to—" He held up his hands to mime strangling someone.

"Do you still feel that way?" I asked carefully. I thought I knew where he was going with this, but I didn't want to get too far ahead of the conversation.

"No," he said. "I want you to want whoever you want to want." He frowned at his own words. "You know what I mean."

I grinned. "Yeah. I think I got that."

He elbowed me in the side. "Don't be a fucker. I mean, if you want Chelsea and Frost, I'm okay with it. As long as you want me too."

"Of course I do." If we were anywhere but here, I would have kissed him. Once, I would have worried about getting hell from Storm about it. He wasn't a problem now, but there were other guys in the team who were less than enlightened. Not to mention the media who lingered around, wanting to report our win to whatever channel they worked for.

I didn't care what they had to say, but I didn't want them to be up in Jay's face. He didn't handle publicity as well as some of us. He found it overwhelming. It was better to keep him away from it, and it away from him.

"I want you, Chelsea and Frost," he admitted.

"All at once?" I raised a teasing eyebrow at him.

He gaped for a moment, then swallowed, his eyes shifting back and forth. "Yes?"

"Then that's what we'll do." I clapped him on the shoulder. I didn't think Chelsea or Frost would have a problem with that. In fact, I knew they wouldn't. They'd both be as into it as we would.

"You're the best." He offered me an awkward fist bump.

I wanted to hug him, but I bumped his fist and patted his bicep. "Let's hit the showers before everyone else does." And before standing here naked with him got too much and I bent him over one of the benches and fucked him boneless. He was having the same problem too, his cock half erect, pointing at me.

"Yeah," he said with the same regret.

I was tempted to kiss him anyway, because why should we hold back just because of what other people thought? I didn't, because the whole media thing was still relevant and important. I wanted to put him in lots of positions, but not where he was scrutinised until it became too much and he had a meltdown.

I'd seen that happen a couple of times before and he always hated himself afterwards, no matter how understanding or gentle I tried to be. He didn't like being unable to control and contain his emotions. No, it was much easier to prevent the problem before it became one.

As much as it frustrated him, this was one of the things I loved about him the most. Playing professional football was stressful, and avoiding the limelight was almost impossible. But he faced each day head on, even when it got too much. He was the bravest guy I knew. Men like Storm, who were big, confident and dominant, weren't as brave as Jay. Being arrogant was a lot easier than what he dealt with.

"I have an appointment with the real estate agent in the morning," I told him. "To see an apartment in Powell Tower. Want to come?"

We decided to share a house when we moved to Dusk Bay, but we occupied separate bedrooms. Never quite able to commit to more. I wasn't sure if he'd even want to move with me again.

"I wouldn't miss it," he said. "Do I get to pick my room?"

"If you like," I said with half a shrug.

"Can I pick the same room as you?" he asked carefully.

"I'd like it if you would," I said. "And Chelsea can have sleepovers with us." At least until we all gave in to Frost's desire to live in one big house together. We weren't quite there yet.

Jay grinned. "And Frost."

I glanced over to where Frost was chatting to Dallas about something. Dallas looked better than he had when we found him in the change area. When I first saw him, I thought he was dead. He looked like hell. Lucky for all of us, he was okay. Still shaken, but alive. He and Ramsey seemed to have struck up a friendship too, which I was totally here for.

"And Frost," I agreed.