Page 18 of Man to Man Coverage (Rangers Football: Hard-Hitting #6)

Devlin

I t’s the week before Christmas, and we’ve clenched the Division with a win over Tampa.

It’s been a couple of weeks since Aggie walked in on us and I’ve grown bolder with Rex.

At the beginning of the season, we barely knew each other.

Now we can be spotted together at lunch or working out at the fitness center.

While there is no PDA, our close friendship has to be obvious to anyone paying attention.

We still drive separate cars to the training facility, even on the mornings that we wake up in each other’s arms. This morning we left my house at the same time, but Rex is stopping by his place before heading here.

It’s six-thirty when I pull into the mostly empty parking lot to find Declan standing outside his car with his arms crossed over his chest.

I park in the spot next to him. “Hey, man. What are you doing here so early?”

Now that he has a five-year-old, Declan’s been skating into the office seconds before the clock hits seven almost daily, so I’m surprised to see him so early.

“We need to talk.”

“Yeah, I noticed this morning you called me half a dozen times last night. What’s up?”

Another car pulls in and he tilts his head toward the practice field. “Let’s take a walk.”

“What the hell is going on?” I follow him around the building.

Declan stops and shoves his hand into his hair. “Fuck it. I’m going to cut straight to the point.”

“Please.”

“Are you dating Rex Williams?”

“What?” I shake my head. “Yes. Why?”

His jaw drops. “You are? Why didn’t you tell me? I’m your best friend.”

I sigh and lean my back against the building. “We didn’t want to make it public knowledge until we knew where it was going.”

“Yeah, but how could you not tell me?” Declan shoves his hands in his pockets and cast his gaze to the ground.

“Are you seriously butt hurt that I didn’t tell you about my love life?” I chuckle.

He shrugs. “A little.”

“Wait.” I realize that I’m not asking the most important question. Could Aggie have told him? I suppose it’s possible, but I don’t think he would sell me out like that. If anything, he’d encourage the three of us to get together and for me to tell Declan myself. “How do you know?”

“Yeah—” he hedges “—that’s the thing. Everyone knows, or if they don’t, they will by the end of the day.”

“What?” My mind immediately goes to Rex. I need to get to him, tell him, prepare him. “What the fuck?”

“So, here’s how it went down. Last night, we had our family dinner.

Deacon, Dad, Aggie, and I were hanging out in the living room while Amelia, Danny, Mom, and London were outside in the garden.

Deidre came storming in with her phone in her hand and hit me with a, ‘Is Devlin Frank dating his teammate?’ You know she has Google alerts set up for the entire team, and she got three notifications in the span of ten minutes on you. ”

“Shit.” That means the entire Scott family knows, which means the entire head office knows—but does the team know? “I have to find Rex.”

Deacon Scott walks around the corner, as if there is a homing device implanted in my left ass cheek.

“Hey, Devlin.” He looks from me to Declan and back to me.

I arch my brow. “Deacon.”

“I guess it’s true.”

Narrowing my eyes, I pin him with a look that says fuck with me and find out .

I like Deacon, I really do, but they will not make me feel anything other than elated about my relationship with Rex.

I’m a grown man, for fuck’s sake. And if the organization tries to pull some bullshit with me, I will walk and take their championship ring with me.

For Rex, I will walk away from all of it. “Is it a problem?”

Deacon shakes his head. “Not for me, the Scott family, or the head office. We support you one hundred percent.”

“And Rex,” I state plainly.

“And Rex.” He nods and glances at Declan again. “But we need to go upstairs and talk about how you want to handle this.”

“Handle what?” I bark.

“The media, Devlin.” Deacon stares into my eyes. “You know how our sister is. Deidre’s ready to bury this or make it tomorrow’s headline… the choice is yours.”

“You could tell her the same thing I did—my personal life is none of their fucking business,” Declan grumbles.

I shake my head, a million thoughts running through it. “I’ve got to talk to Rex. This is a decision we have to make together.”

Declan’s eyes shift to the parking lot. “It looks like he’s talking to Jepson and Jaxson right now.”

“Shit.” I peek around the concrete wall to see Rex leaning against his truck with his hands in his hair.

The three of us climb out of our hiding place and walk across the parking lot.

Rex’s eyes grow wide when he sees us, but then they fix on me.

I know the minute I get close enough to see his red flushed cheeks that his two friends, our teammates, not only know but have confronted him about it.

A protective surge of adrenaline pushes through my veins, and I turn my gaze to Jaxson and then Jepson. “What’s going on, guys?”

Rex shakes his head, his eyes bouncing from Declan to Deacon and then back to me. “They know.”

“Yeah?” I look Jepson in the eye because, between the two of them, he’s the only one stupid enough to mouth off to me about it. “And?”

“God help any football player that has a problem with it.” Jepson’s jaw tightens, his blue gaze unwavering.

Jaxson sighs. “At least if I get sucker punched again, this time it’ll be worth it.”

Deacon groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’d like to make the edict that there will be no fucking fighting on this team, but in this case, I can’t.”

More cars pull into the parking lot and all of our teammates walk past us with their duffle bags to the locker room. Some of them eye us curiously, but that could easily be because we’re standing in a clandestine semi-circle like we’re discussing world domination.

Deacon chucks me on the arm. “We need to head upstairs. You too, Rex. Jepson and Jaxson, get to the classroom and keep your mouths shut.”

Jepson and Jaxson give Rex a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder and bicep and then hightail it across the parking lot.

Even though they say goodbye to me, I ignore them and keep my eyes on Rex.

What is he thinking right now? Is he freaking out and ready to run to the hills?

Does having the support of his two closest friends make this easier?

Declan offers Rex his hand. “It’ll be cool, man. Promise.”

Rex shakes it and mumbles, “Thanks.”

I glance at my watch and then at Deacon. “We’ll meet you up there in a few minutes.”

Deacon nods. “Okay.”

Once the Scott brothers leave, I walk to the front of Rex’s truck and lean my forearms against the hood. It kills me not to pull him into my arms, but that might send him over the edge and I need to give him space. “Tell me what you are thinking, babe.”

He shakes his head and brings his brown eyes up. “I don’t know what I’m thinking. Part of me is relieved because we no longer have to hide. I know you hated that. And part of me is scared our teammates are going to be assholes.”

“I can’t promise there won’t be assholes out there. Turn on any news outlet and someone is screaming about how they don’t agree with how someone else lives their lives. But what I can promise is that I will always pick you first.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that if it came down to choosing between you and football, I’m picking you.”

Rex stares at me for a second, his voice hoarse when he speaks. “You’d give up football for me?”

“In a heartbeat.” I reach my hand across the hood, my heart in my throat as I wait for Rex to decide.

He leans against the fender and places his hand on top of mine. “I’m not willing to give you up either.”

“Good, baby. That’s very good. Let’s talk to the head office. We need to decide if we’re going public or issuing a resounding no comment .”

W e sit side-by-side in a giant conference room with Deacon. Deidre walks in with her laptop cradled in her arm, her eyes glued to the screen. She grabs a remote and hits a button, a giant screen on the wall flickering to life, and then sets her laptop down.

Only then does she bring her eyes up and flash me a friendly smile. “Hey, Devlin.”

Declan is my best friend, which means I’ve spent time with the Scott family. Not a lot, but more than the average football player on the team. She rarely interacts with the players unless there are media matters to handle. “Deidre.”

She looks to Rex. “Nice to see you again, Mr. Williams.”

“Please call me Rex.”

“And you can call me Deidre.” She taps a key on her laptop as the GM, Mr. Daniel Scott, enters the room.

“Sorry I’m late.” He tosses a box of muffins on the table and then offers me his hand. We shake and then he reaches over to shake Rex’s hand. “Weird morning, huh?”

“Not the wake-up I was hoping for. I still haven’t had my coffee.”

“Yeah, well, the organization is here to support you. Obviously, we ask for decorum while at work, just as we expect Deacon to keep his hands to himself when visiting the training facility where London works.” Mr. Scott raises his brow at Deidre, who rolls her eyes.

“Here’s the tidbit I found after digging last night.” Deidre moves her desktop to the big screen. “This woman, not sure who she is, posted this on Twitter last night.”

The two hundred and eighty characters read: Sad news for those hoping to nab a date with the elusive Devlin Frank: number one wide receiver, MVP, and openly bisexual footballer.

Rumor is he’s off the market and in a hot-and-heavy relationship, but who is the lucky guy or girl? How about his teammate? More to come...

“How the hell?” I glance at Rex, who shakes his head and shrugs.

“I have my investigator digging into the account owner right now, but I was able to find a photo of the two of you walking hand-in-hand in Seattle. Otherwise, I found bupkis. Unless you tell me otherwise, I assume this tweet is mostly conjecture, meaning there isn’t more out there to find.

I can easily bury a photo or two of you holding hands, so you tell me what you want to do about this. ”

I make eye contact with everyone assembled. “We have your full support?”

Mr. Scott and Deacon nod their heads. Deidre smiles.

Turning to Rex—it kills me not to wrap my arm around him—I flash him a small, hopefully reassuring smile. “What do you think?”

“You’re the one they’re interested in, Devlin. Not me. This affects your career way more than it does mine.” His head snaps up and he looks at Deacon. “Am I fired?”

“For this?” Deacon almost sounds offended. “God no. We’re really happy with your performance this season and can’t wait to see what you can do next year.”

I risk offending Mr. Scott’s decorum decree by wrapping my fingers around Rex’s wrist. “You know what I want. I don’t want to hide who I am or who I love.”

Rex’s brown eyes lock onto mine and it’s like everyone else disappears. It’s just us right now, having this life changing heart-to-heart conversation. “I think we should tell the team and see how they react before we worry about the rest of the world.”

The lump I’ve had in my throat since driving up on Declan in the parking lot goes away. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”