Page 22 of Matched (LSU #5)

F riends. Just friends. No, I did not want to climb Nate like a tree…or have him climb me. If I reminded myself of the facts enough times, they’d sink in.

Crouching down to lock my bike up next to Nate’s, I wiped my palms on my shorts.

My hands were suddenly clammy, thinking about what waited for me.

It had been a few weeks since our conversation…

since things had happened in the changing rooms, and we’d both agreed that having a bit of space from each other was the best plan. Even if it wasn’t the plan I wanted.

I’d taken extra shifts in the library and student union to keep me busy, and I hadn’t been to the past couple of LSU matches. My housemates had asked where I’d been instead, but I was able to throw them off the scent by saying I needed the extra shifts at work.

It was true, anyway. Rocky was desperate to see Glevum play—or more accurately, to see his hero, Jordan Emery—and I wanted to put some extra money aside so Gem and I could get him tickets for his birthday or Christmas.

Nate had been busy, too, working on his final architecture project, so it had been easy enough for us to avoid each other. We’d stayed in touch, texting each other regularly, keeping to our usual banter, and it was enough for me.

Okay, that was a lie. I missed Nate. Speaking to him via texts was okay, but I wanted to see him in person. And that was why I’d finally snapped and texted him to see if he wanted to hang out. As friends. He’d agreed straight away.

Coming out of the alleyway onto the pavement outside The Game Room, I pulled my phone from my pocket to check the time.

It all happened so fast I didn’t even have a chance to react.

Someone cycled past me at speed, snatching my phone from my unresisting grip.

“Hey!” I shouted, launching myself forwards and knowing at the same time it was hopeless. I couldn’t keep up with a bike, especially not if it was an electric one.

Ahead of me, the bike bumped up onto the pavement and screeched to a halt.

Nate grinned at me. Fucking wanker.

“Remember how you accused me of being a mugger the first time we met? Now it’s true.”

I stalked over to him and punched him in the stomach.

He cried out, not expecting the blow. I hadn’t put any power behind the punch.

I didn’t want to hurt him; I was just…a bit pissed off that he’d given me the fright of my life, and I was also kind of turned on.

Not gonna lie, that was a little disturbing.

Rubbing his stomach with one hand, he shot me a warning look but passed my phone back to me before climbing off his bike. I followed him through the alleyway, drinking in the sight of him in his shorts, Glevum FC shirt, and backwards cap. Yep, I definitely still fancied him. Fuck, he was so hot.

Just friends, Charlie .

Shoving my phone back in my pocket, I cleared my throat. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Turning around, he smiled at me, and butterflies exploded in my stomach.

“You’ve got to stop doing that thing,” I told him, turning my back on him and striding back down the alleyway.

“What thing?” His voice was far closer than I expected, and a low chuckle fell from his throat when I jumped. Stupid sexy bastard.

“That swoony smile thing. You know exactly what you’re doing. Don’t forget our agreement.”

His face sobered as he came up next to me. “Sorry, I wasn’t doing it on purpose. I can’t help smiling when I see you, but believe me, I haven’t forgotten our agreement.”

I groaned, shoving the door to The Game Room open. This was going to be harder than I thought.

“I’ll get this round. Beer okay? What do you want to do first? Pinball?” Nate’s voice was casual, his posture relaxed as he began heading towards the bar. Maybe this was all in my head. He wasn’t acting any differently than normal.

“Beer’s fine. Let’s work our way up to pinball. Wanna start with Pac-Man ?”

“Yeah, why not.” He shot me an easy grin. “Ready to lose? Or are you going to tell me you’re the Pac-Man king, too?”

“Fuck off.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Wait—you’re not the youth club Pac-Man champion, are you?”

A laugh burst from his throat. “Nope. We didn’t have Pac-Man at our youth club. Just a pinball machine and a pool table. Oh, and a dartboard.” Turning to the bartender, he scanned the taps. “Two pints of Carling, please, mate.”

When we had our drinks, we made our way over to the Pac-Man machine, then moved on to Space Invaders . By the time we’d finished our circuit of the arcade games and reached the pinball machine, we were on our third pints of beer, and each of us had five wins.

Five wins that had involved each of us trying to distract the other. Hands where they shouldn’t be. Heated looks. Suggestive comments.

Trying to act like normal friends with Nate was a lost cause.

“It all comes down to this, Charlie B. If you beat my score, you’ll be the winner.” Nate leaned up against the wall, his arm resting on the high table where we’d placed our drinks.

“No distractions this time,” I told him. “It needs to be a fair game.”

He held up his hands, shaking his head, and I turned my attention to the game. I tried to, anyway, but his presence was too distracting. He wasn’t even doing anything—just standing there—but my entire fucking body was aware of him.

As I began playing, I did my best to tune him out, like I’d just about managed for the other games, focusing only on what was right in front of me.

Muscle memory got me through the game, and I had a decent score at the end, although it was a lot lower than my usual score. Nate raised a brow as he took in the numbers on the board but didn’t say anything as he pushed off the wall and came up next to me.

“My turn,” he murmured. “No distractions.”

I swallowed as his shoulder pressed against mine, the heat of his body and the delicious scent of his aftershave sending my heart racing. “No distractions,” I rasped, moving away from him as quickly as I could.

How the fuck did he make playing pinball look so hot? The way his arms were flexing, that intense look of concentration on his face?—

Stop . I dragged my gaze away from him with difficulty. Not that I’d had any doubts about the realisation that I was no longer as straight as I thought I was, but the way I was reacting to him made it hit home all over again. I’d never reacted to anyone else this way.

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to remember the reasons why nothing could happen between us again. Sophie. Plymouth.

Nate Glover was off limits. I needed to remember that.

“Charlie?”

Nate’s voice broke me out of my thoughts, and my eyes widened when I took in his score. He’d played even worse than I had, and I’d somehow managed to beat him by a whole fifteen points.

“I win!” I fist-pumped the air. “I’m the pinball king!”

“Congratulations.” He gave me a slow, exaggerated clap. “Want a medal?”

“I’d prefer a trophy. Can you have it engraved?”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Shaking his head, he bit back a smile. “A fucking trophy. Honestly.”

“I took my crown back. That’s worth celebrating.” Downing the remains of my pint, I scanned the room. “Do you feel like continuing your losing streak? We haven’t played on those basketball things yet.”

“Do you feel like losing to me?”

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that.” I strode past him. “I can’t hear you over the sound of applause.” Spinning around, I walked backwards for a few paces, throwing my hands out. “Your pinball king and tournament champion, everyone!”

“Fucking hell,” he muttered, his smile too wide to bite back. “Cocky little shit.”

“What can I say? You bring out the best in me.” I studied the basketball game.

For all my talk, I didn’t have any talent for this particular game.

It consisted of a basketball hoop against a backboard, the whole thing surrounded by netting.

The object was to sink as many baskets as possible before the timer ran out.

Maybe Nate should go first so I could get some tips.

“Want to go first?” I suggested, batting my lashes at him.

“Stop that thing with your eyes.” He shook his head. “Anything to throw me off.”

“Me? I was only asking if you wanted to go first.”

“Yeah, okay.” He rolled his eyes. “But if you insist, I’ll go first. Watch and learn from the master.”

Stepping back, I watched as he got the game set up, tossing the basketball between his hands as he calculated the trajectory he’d need to sink the basket. Or at least that was what I assumed he was doing.

When I dropped my gaze, a glint of metal caught my eye. Nate’s phone was in his back pocket. If I could time it right… I needed to be quick, before he realised what was happening.

Waiting until he’d sunk his first basket and then picked up the ball again, I launched myself forwards, my hand closing around the top of his phone?—

His entire body jerked as I made contact, knocking into me, and I was completely unprepared. I fell backwards with a gasp, my ass hitting the floor, hard, punching the breath from my lungs.

“Ow. Fuck. That hurt,” I cried from my position sprawled out on the floor. Quickly, I climbed to my feet, my face on fire. It was lucky this place was quiet and the only person to witness my fuck-up was Nate.

Nate, the absolute asshole who was collapsing into laughter against the side of the basketball machine.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he wheezed.

“I was trying to pickpocket you. Clearly, it didn’t work out the way I planned.”

“Bloody hell, Charlie.” He took several deep breaths, composing himself, and although he was still struggling to hold back laughter, concern appeared in his brown eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just a bit painful. My ass took the impact.”

“C’mere.” Stepping forwards, he unexpectedly pulled me into him, his hands sliding down my back. “Let me make it better.”

“I—I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I mumbled against his neck. How had we ended up so close? And oh— His hands. His hands had dropped even lower and were now stroking over my fucking ass, massaging it like it was a completely normal thing to do .

“Better?” His voice was low in my ear. I gave a jerky nod, breathing him in as my arms wrapped around his waist.

He felt so good against me. We fit so well together. Like we were made for each other.

My cock was enjoying the feel of him against me, too, and I couldn’t even bring myself to care that Nate could no doubt feel the effect he had on me.

Because I could feel that Nate was affected as well.

“Nate,” I whispered.

“Why is this so fucking hard?” he muttered, releasing me.

“Hard in more ways than one,” I pointed out, my cheeks heating, and he gave me a wry smile. I noticed his face was flushed, too.

“Too soon to joke about that. Shit. I don’t know what I was thinking. I feel like I’m losing my mind when I’m with you.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Glancing back at the basketball hoop, I realised the timer had run down when Nate had been…uh, basically fondling me. “Want to just call it a draw?”

His mouth twisted. “It’s probably best. Maybe next time we meet up, we should be in a group setting.”

“I agree.” We’d managed to mostly behave up until this point, but who knew what might happen next time?

“Alright. Let’s call it a night, and I’ll see you at football?”

“Yeah. I’ll be there. I’m not gonna miss any more matches if I can help it.”

His soft smile took my breath away. “Good. We missed having you there. You’re a part of the team, even if you’re not training with us anymore.”

“Thanks. I’ll be there. I promise.”