Page 34 of Bend Him, Break Him

Isaac found himself consumed by the time he dedicated to Colton, entwining their worlds more and more.

GSA attendance was about the same, a fair turnout to show support for Colton’s latest game.

Everyone wanted to see the starting pitcher, and they made no qualms about chatting up his many assets complemented in the uniform. It brought a smirk to Isaac’s face.

The fact that everyone wanted the bi batter with a hot jock build only added to the thrill coursing through Isaac.

They could want Colton all day, but he belonged to Isaac.

And they could make innuendos about his position on the field all they wanted to.

Isaac knew Colton might be a pitcher in the streets, but he certainly wasn’t one in the sheets.

“What’re you up to?” Carlos shoulder-tapped Isaac, ignoring the conversation about hot athletes while focusing on his latest ideas to fundraise for the GSA. He had a list of ideas circled and scratched out and scribbled all over the page.

“Up to?”

“You have a devious smile.”

“I’m a devious person.”

“Why don’t you put that wicked mind to some use and help me figure out a good fundraiser event.”

“A live Rocky Horror show?” Isaac’s eyes lit up. “I’m not playing Frank.”

Carlos crossed out the idea. “Then what’s the point.”

Isaac continued glossing over the list of overlapping words to the many ideas. Carlos had this tendency to write over his own words, almost with a slight curve or spiral effect. It was difficult to decipher.

“A kissing booth?” Isaac gagged. “How archaic.”

“I was going for whimsical.”

“Might as well auction people off,” Isaac said with a heavy lilt of sarcasm, which he realized Carlos immediately ignored as a fire lit in his eyes. “You’re gonna do an auction, aren’t you?”

“Hell yeah.” Carlos pointed to Colton, who’d reeled in quite the cheer squad of sorority girls from the other end of the stands. “Our newest member would probably bring in quite the crowd. You think you can convince him?”

“Me?” Isaac croaked.

“Yeah, you have a history, right? Went to the same school, now found yourselves at the same college. Have a friendly chat.”

“Friends?” Isaac scoffed, feigning disgust so phony even he wanted to roll his eyes at the heavy-handed protest. “Do we look like friends?”

“Well, kinda.” Carlos shrugged. “I just figured it was like with you and me. And you and Mina. And you and Jazz. And well, you and everyone you tolerate at a safe distance without actually allowing them to get close because you’re like an angry stray cat.”

Isaac glared.

“Is there something specific about him you don’t like or trust?” Carlos asked. “If there’s a problem, I’m here to listen.”

“The only problem is how boring these fucking games y’all drag me to are.”

Carlos quirked his brow, likely trying to piece together whose suggestion it actually was that the GSA start attending these games regularly.

Technically, it was Jazz who brought it up, but Isaac might’ve whispered in her ear suggestively, playing off her love for sports, the joy of group activities, and the importance of supporting fellow queer friends.

Isaac never did something directly, preferring not to be seen as too emotionally invested in anything whatsoever.

“I’m gonna go for a smoke.” Isaac brushed past Carlos and out of the bleachers before it was mentioned how he usually snuck his cigarette right there in the stands, rolling the dice on whether or not someone would call him out, fine him, or kick him out of the game.

None of the outcomes seemed like too big a loss, especially the last one, since he needed to downplay his interest in the game.

Not only in front of his friends among the GSA but with himself.

Isaac had gotten into the routine of studying the rules and regulations involved in baseball, attempting to understand the purpose and entertainment of the game albeit poorly.

He told himself it was only fair considering how much he forced Colton to study things the jock didn’t remotely care about.

Isaac figured he needed to make an effort himself.

But the problem was he didn’t know why he felt the need to make such an effort.

Okay, that was an easy lie to identify and deduce, but Isaac didn’t want to confront the truth yet.

All this time spent with Colton had evolved into feelings Isaac couldn’t keep bottled up anymore.

He wandered to the back of the stadium in a hidden pocket between the parking lot and a side entrance where few except other players congregated. Isaac lingered there until the players took a break, and a few found their way outback for some fresh air away from the crowd.

With Colton there, glancing around and dodging chitchat, Isaac knew he was looking for him. It made his heart race. It made him eagerly walk toward Colton.

“Looking good, as usual.”

Colton grinned. “Glad you came.”

“Well, not yet, but the night is young.”

Colton quirked a brow until the joke clicked, and he broke out into a small laugh.

There was so much Isaac wanted to discuss, but he didn’t know where to start or if he should. It seemed easier to keep his weird feelings bottled up so things could stay the way they were.

“Well, well, well,” Leon’s grating voice called out because he hovered around Colton almost as much as Isaac. “You two seem to always be hanging out.”

“Could say the same about you.” Isaac took a deep drag off his cigarette. “You’re always lurking, trying to cling to Colt’s ass.”

“It’s a good ass.” Colton winked, trying to diffuse Isaac’s hostility.

Leon crinkled his nose and gave a fake smile to Isaac, wishing to hurl an insult most likely, but wary of the goth’s gruff attitude and need to escalate an argument.

Isaac went out of his way to cut Leon down so much the prick learned not to engage.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t learned to stay clear of Colton.

The envious pitcher still skulked every chance he had in some desperate attempt to steal Colton’s fame for himself.

“It just seems you’re always here, practically glued to Colton’s side,” Leon said. “You got a thing for the starting pitcher or pitchers in general?”

There was a curious look from Leon, the type that came with a leading question, and Isaac couldn’t gauge if Leon was attempting to discreetly flirt or fishing for leverage on how Isaac was the gay boy with a crush on big, manly jocks.

In either case, he didn’t care because Leon was a fucking tool hardly worth the breath of conversation.

“It’s just what GSA does.” Isaac shrugged. “We support, uplift, mildly stalk our queer companions.”

“Hmmm. Maybe, but you seem to always be lurking a little more than the others.” Leon gestured to Isaac, then to Colton, indicating how much he kept his eyes on Colton, how he studied the patterns of the GSA.

Suddenly, Isaac didn’t feel like the most obsessive one, finding Leon a bit too unhinged even if he hid it well.

“I just gotta know.” Leon’s smile grew bigger. “Are y’all a thing?”

Isaac glared, a bit too defensively for a casual assumption that was in fact slightly somewhat sort of accurate.

“Are we a thing?” Colton burst into laughter, giving his fakest and most convincing stunned hilarity before turning to Isaac. “Are we a thing?”

This was Colton’s way of playing into the joke while also gauging Isaac’s response.

It didn’t seem like Colton cared much if their arrangement was outed or if there was speculation.

After nearly three months of spending so much time together, Colton seemed weirdly committed and open to the idea of being open.

But Isaac preferred discretion. The fewer people who knew about this non-relationship, the easier it was for him to convince himself that what they had was purely physical.

A fucked up second chance at hate sex turned into…

something else. Isaac didn’t know what, and he didn’t want anyone else to either, which he did his best to convey with a single look.

“I wish,” Colton teased, slapping Isaac’s shoulder. “Who wouldn’t wanna bend over this grumpy goth twink? Maybe pound a smile onto his face.”

Isaac snarled.

“Kidding, dude.” Colton raised his hands in surrender.

Seemed there were still some things Colton concerned himself over. It was one thing to be openly bi but to admit to being a total bottom with a massive liking for a big dicked goth who railed him without mercy? That was another story altogether.

“But please, start the rumors.” Colton shoulder-tapped Leon, feeding into his lack of concern for astute speculation—always the best way to diffuse gossip. “If the cleat chasers hear I’m off-market, maybe they’ll stop stalking my every move like some fellas.”

Colton winked at Leon, making the rival pitcher’s face burn red, before he wandered off toward the sorority girls who’d found their way out back behind the stands.

Cleat chasers were some variation of jock junkie fangirls that specialized in locking down a solid baseball boyfriend.

Isaac had read that in his meticulous research for the sporting event.

They eagerly huddled around Colton, chatting him up for the rest of the break.

One even boldly wrote her number on his forearm.

That was something Isaac could live with, but when she proceeded to smack her lips and kiss Colton’s forearm, Isaac nearly exploded.

Her vibrant red lip imprint popped even from this distance, and Isaac fumed.

Colton must’ve promised her something ridiculous, like thinking of her with his next pitch, because he feigned throwing a ball and then flexed his biceps, awaiting the hungry flirt’s squeal of approval.

Isaac despised blatant and overt flirting, and he hated it even more when the person lusted after Colton. His pitcher.

Thankfully, the break ended, and the game resumed.

Colton played even stronger since returning to the field, garnering a louder roar of support from the sorority girls.

When the game finally came to an end, Isaac ignored the GSA members, who slowly disbanded and headed out with the crowd.

Instead, he lingered around the clearing stands much like Colton did, even as his team headed for the lockers.

Colton signed some stuff, chatted with fans, and took his time before making his way to the locker room.

They hadn’t discussed it on this occasion, but Isaac had seen this technique from Colton during practices at the very least. He’d take his time, finish last, and make sure to hang out in the locker room long enough for Isaac to sneak inside and join him.

Only when Isaac managed to slip in, he didn’t find a shower-fresh and half-dressed Colton like he normally did. Well, normal being the two practices he’d snuck in for. No, this time, Colton remained in the showers, the low grunt of his voice an echoing trail in this empty open space.

Isaac wandered to the showers where he found Colton stroking his cock, feral expression, and eyes entranced on the number he got, on the set of pink puckered lips printed on his hands from an audacious kiss.

“Fantasizing about your little girlfriend?”

“Fuck, man.” Colton jumped, nearly slipping in the process. Then he laughed, taking in Isaac, who could clearly see his massive boner. “Yeah, what can I say? She’s a hottie. And she’d actually go steady with me. Do people say steady anymore?”

Colton chuckled at his own terrible humor, but Isaac furrowed his brow, practically snarling in the process.

“Are you not content with our arrangement?”

“What? No. I mean, yes. No, I don’t have a problem with it—which you didn’t ask, hence me correcting myself,” Colton rambled nervously, so nervous his erection lessened.

“Yes, I’m fine with our arrangement. Why would you ask?

‘Cause of the flirting? It’s part of the gig.

The jerking off? It was half and half. Not that I jerk off to plowing you.

But you didn’t ask that part either. Damn. Where is this coming from?”

And with that last anxious question, the rest of Colton’s dick had turtled up inside him as he awaited Isaac’s answers.

Isaac didn’t know where to begin and didn’t have the energy to respond to all of Colton’s random worries. He’d snuck in here for a fun fuck and now found himself questioning his involvement with Colton.

“Come here.”

Colton walked from the shower and toward Isaac, who wrapped a towel around the jock.

“I think we’re gonna have to review our arrangement and discuss the dos and don’ts once again.” Isaac gave a wicked smirk. “Someone’s been a bit naughty, breaking the rules, and I might need to give him a reminder of how to behave.”

“Broke the rules?” Colton tsked. “How so?”

“Stop by my dorm later, and I’ll tell you.” Isaac stared with wide eyes. “I’ll also punish you, if you’re able to handle it.”

Colton’s expression turned curious. It wasn’t like he acted bratty often, but occasionally, he tried to provoke Isaac into disciplining him. There was something so satisfying about it for both men. Isaac would lean into that discipline tonight.

He’d use it to finally express himself, figure out these knotted feelings strangling him from the inside because he feared he couldn’t continue casually fucking Colton without putting some type of label on it. Even if that label was only for the two of them to see.