Page 14

Brad

I stood outside our house, my key in the lock, trying to figure out what to say to Alex.

I was definitely playing it cool, but I really couldn’t let it go.

Alex and Lance were dating. It wasn’t really a big deal. Thinking about it, I should be more upset that he didn’t trust me to tell me he was gay, rather than him dating that asshole.

Except for the small smiles they shared at the rink today, or the way Alex kept looking for him while we were running drills. Or how Alex ran up to him straight after fucking practice with a seriously annoying smile on his face.

When usually he did all that stuff with me.

It was absolute shit.

Alex was meant to be there for me like I was always there for him.

I mean, apart from when I was partying with the guys or out getting laid or making him go to the gym by himself because I was too hungover or sexed out to move.

And Tommy watched them closely during practice with a different kind of scowl. We both shot each other looks like ‘can you believe this shit?’

Whenever Alex looked at Lance and not me, I got these stupid little spikes of jealousy that made me want to grab Alex and ask him what the hell Lance had that I didn’t.

Like, I pretended I hadn’t seen Alex kiss him last night, but that didn’t mean I didn’t actually see it. I swear they were out there for half an hour, just making out right in front of our house. It only took me a minute to want to puke at the sight of my sweet, innocent Alex shoving his tongue down Lance Austin’s throat.

And then Lance just fucked off and left him by himself.

Seriously though, what the fuck?

I’d gone for a run for a full hour that morning just to get it out of my head. It didn’t matter that I pushed myself until my lungs were screaming; I couldn’t get rid of my burning question.

What else was going to change?

Because Lance hadn’t been drafted; he kept rejecting all the offers he got. Considering who his dad was, every team in the country was scrambling to sign him on.

But he hadn’t had an offer from the Wranglers, as far as I knew. And I’d been frowning non-stop all morning since I wondered if Lance was rejecting all the other offers because he was waiting for that particular one.

I mean, it was cool if Alex wanted to date someone at college, but I didn’t want to share when it came to the big leagues.

If I had to feel like this all the time when Alex and I were superstars, it would suck.

I finally unlocked the door, gross and sweaty and dying for a shower. My habit was always to glance at Alex’s bedroom behind our couch before making my way to the bathroom. Taylor’s room was right next to the downstairs bathroom, and he practiced with Blake, the senior hockey captain, almost every evening, so it was usually free.

Taylor broke his collarbone last year and couldn’t get into the NHL until he was at full strength, so he came to Redhill U instead. Blake gave up hockey to train to be a sports therapist, and he’d been helping Taylor with stretches and drills to get him back in shape.

Basically, I expected to be able to hang out with Alex tonight without bugging Taylor. I thought Alex had reports due and that we could study together. I wanted to get some food and eat while we hung out.

But I stopped dead as my eyes landed on a scarf hanging over Alex’s door handle.

It was the same scarf a certain someone had used all winter. So why the hell was it out in the middle of spring, and on Alex’s door?

As I passed by the bottom of the stairs, a deep, throaty laugh echoed out from Alex’s room, and my insides curled as my teeth clenched.

No way. Not a chance.

He’d been dating Lance for a fucking week, and he was already hanging out in his bedroom in broad daylight?

I knew I sounded like some puritan nut job, but not in our house.

I seriously hated being pissed off, but what was I supposed to do?

I couldn’t control these feelings bubbling up inside me. I know I wasn’t exactly the best when it came to filtering my thoughts, but this was different. I had to play it cool here because I didn’t want to piss Alex off, even though I kinda wanted to piss him off. Like, as a punishment for pissing me off.

Because if he was pissed off with me, then it was okay for me to be pissed off with him.

My logic was flawless. Which was why it was totally okay to just go over and rap on his door.

“Alex? You in there?” I called through, ignoring my need to tear off the $500 scarf and burn it.

Alex murmured before his bed creaked and he raised his voice. “Yeah, just come in.”

I didn’t really know what to say. I felt like a dad making sure his son was behaving, but that was stupid. Alex was all grown up, he should be able to do what he wanted—just not with Lance Austin .

When I opened the door, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but nothing could have prepared me for the gut-punch at seeing Lance sprawled out on Alex’s bed. He was lying on his stomach with Alex pressed into his side. Alex sat upright, crossed legged, his knee against Lance’s shoulder, his hand looped around Lance’s neck as they cuddled together, all cozy-like.

The textbook Lance held in front of him snapped shut as he let it go, like he was making a point.

“Hey,” Alex said innocently, as if it was any other day and not the first day I’d caught him all over his boyfriend in his bedroom. “Everything alright?”

I thought I wanted to share every single first in the world with Alex, but it was the first first I wished I’d never seen.

My gaze flicked to Lance, who gave me a lazy, knowing smile that instantly got my back up. He shuffled, pressing himself even closer into Alex’s side as Alex’s arm slid naturally from his neck over Lance’s shoulders.

“Yeah, I was going to have a shower,” I said, trying so hard not to be fucking weird. “Either of you want to use the bathroom before I go?”

Which was an absolutely dumb excuse, considering our house had three bathrooms. And from the looks they were giving me, they could both tell I was talking garbage.

But I didn’t give a shit about that, because Lance rolled onto his side, curling his big-ass body around Alex, bending his knees so he totally caged him in, all while smirking at me.

Was he actually serious? I could see what he was doing a mile off and it wouldn’t work—even though it was kind of working.

“No, I’m fine,” Alex replied. “What about you?” He turned to Lance, whose expression changed from a shit-eating grin to a madly in love dickhead as soon as Alex looked at him.

Lance’s hand traveled up Alex’s back, trailing small circles as he purred, “I’m good, babe.”

Alex and I both froze, our gazes clashing like some huge secret had suddenly been revealed.

And Lance laughed straight away.

“Damn, you should see your faces. It’s like I dropped a bomb or something. Have you seriously not talked about it?” Lance held Alex’s gaze as he slipped his other hand into Alex’s, entwining their fingers. “Alex said he told you we went on a date.”

“Er, yeah,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck and getting the full-on stench of myself. Not good, especially when my stomach was dropping to my feet, and a thick weight caught in my throat as my attention zeroed in on their hands.

Alex let me hug him and take his hand and stuff, but we’d never really curled up together like that before. And it looked pretty nice.

“Yeah,” I coughed. I tried to find somewhere else to look other than my best friend and his boyfriend. “He said you went out. Glad you had a fun time. I’ll leave you guys to it,” I said as awkwardly as fucking possible as I backed out of the door and away from hell.

I didn’t want to get roped into talking or whatever when they were cuddling like that.

“Sure,” Alex replied with a smile, even though confusion was written all over his face. Why the hell was he the one that was confused when I was dealing with everything changing?

I closed their door quietly, standing there, wondering if I could hear any big secrets, but their voices were muffled as they chatted.

It wasn’t just weird that Lance was hanging out in his room; it felt wrong. And there wasn’t any space for me there. Like Alex had found a new person and suddenly, I wasn’t his favorite anymore.