Page 5

CHAPTER 5

RIVER

I wake up to a thump , thump , thump sound and can’t seem to lift my head off the pillow. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. Something thick and hard is in my hand. I blink the sleep from my eyes. It takes me a second to realize I’m touching Nate’s dick and move my hand.

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing? This is unfucking natural, River. Disgusting.”

Oh, shit .

Even half asleep, I know that voice.

My dad.

I sit up, cheeks flushed with heat, the room spinning around me. Most of last night is a blur. After I came, Nate moved Samantha between us, and the rest was a black hole. The pills just swallowed me up.

I have almost no memory.

“You haven’t learned your lesson.”

My dad approaches the bed dressed in a black suit, hands on his narrow waist. We look like twins with the same dark brown hair, green eyes, and muscular build.

“No matter how much trouble you two get into, it never seems to sink in that one day you will dig yourselves a hole so deep no amount of money will get you out of it.”

Samantha stirs at his voice, which I also inherited. A deep timbre that wakes her from a sound sleep. And when she sees him, she hides her naked body under the sheet, tucking it under her chin.

Nate rolls onto his side, his eyelids fluttering, naked as the day he was born and also hard. Morning wood. Without an ounce of shame, he peeks up at my dad.

He licks his chapped lips. “Don’t call my dad. It’s too early to hear his annoying voice.”

I can tell my dad wants to tear us a new one but won’t do it in front of an audience.

His deadly gaze turns to Samantha. “Young lady, you need to go. Now.”

“Dad,” I groan. “Let her get dressed. Stop being such a?—”

“Shut your mouth, River. I’m done with the games. You two are a bad combination.” Teeth gritted, he shakes his head. “Nate and his destructive behaviors will ruin your life and career.”

“Ryan—” Nate begins to interject before I cut him off.

“No, he’s not. Don’t talk about Nate like you know him. You barely know me.”

My dad sent me to boarding school the second I was no longer useful to his aspirations of being a reality TV star. Being the best player in the NHL wasn’t good enough for him. Because of his high standards, I will never be worthy of his praise.

But I’m enough for Nate.

“Dad, please,” I say, shielding Samantha as much as I can with my body. “Give us ten minutes, and I’ll come talk to you. Just let her get dressed and say goodbye without you breathing down our necks.”

Arms folded over his chest, he clenches his jaw. “Ten minutes. In my office. No more bullshit.”

With that, he slams the door, and I let out a relieved breath. “Fuck, he’s gonna kill me.”

“I thought you said no one was home?” Samantha tightens her grip on the sheet. “Was your dad here all night?”

I shake my head. “From the looks of it, he just got here. He must have a meeting nearby.”

“You’re so fucking screwed.” Nate tosses the sheet off his legs and collects his board shorts from the floor. “I’ve never seen him that mad.”

“He’s still pissed about last week.”

Nate slips into his shorts and gets on the bed, bending down to kiss Samantha. “We’re doing this again.”

She kisses him back. “I don’t live on campus, but yeah. I wanna see you guys again.”

“You can stay at our house on campus. We have plenty of room.”

Of course, Nate wants to see her again. Samantha is hot, and the sex was great, but there’s something about her that bugs me. It’s probably my paranoia. The last sex tape scandal made me look deeper at what Nate and I are doing.

Nate lifts Samantha’s bikini bottoms off the bed and helps her into them. He bends down and kisses her stomach before tying the first knot with his teeth.

“Oh god,” she whispers as his mouth hovers over her pussy. “Nate.”

I quickly get dressed, knowing my dad might kick my ass after what he witnessed. Me holding Nate’s dick. The three of us naked and tangled up in each other. It would look bad to anyone, especially my homophobic father.

He’s probably in his office saying Hail Mary’s and Our Father’s to save my damaged soul. I can only imagine the thoughts swirling around in his head. He probably already has my conversion therapy all planned out.

I don’t know if I’m gay, but I like Nate. A whole fucking lot.

No, scratch that.

I am in love with Nate.

Nate gets Samantha’s number, and we lead her downstairs and out the side entrance. Far away from my dad’s office. He kisses her one last time. She puts her hand on my chest, staring up at me with hope in her eyes. So, I kiss her, even though I would rather jam my tongue down Nate’s throat.

After she’s gone, Nate follows me into my father’s office. He sits behind a massive oak desk with a glass of scotch.

“What kind of gay shit are you two into?”

Nate laughs. “We’re not gay.”

“No?” Dad rises from the chair, pointing at the two leather couches as he gets closer. “Then, what the fuck did I see this morning?”

We sit on the couch farthest from him, our legs almost touching. But when my dad’s gaze drops, I slide away from Nate. God forbid we have the appearance of impropriety around the fake Catholic.

“It didn’t mean anything,” I tell him. “I was asleep and… woke up like that.”

“It’s not normal to share women with your friend,” Dad continues, “and it’s not normal to sleep in the same bed. This has been going on for too many years now. I overlooked it in the past because you were boys, but now you’re men.”

He would need a crowbar to separate us. No way in hell Nate or I would ever let anyone come between us.

“Men can sleep in the same bed,” Nate says with disdain. “We’re not doing anything wrong. It doesn’t make us any less manly .”

Dad leans forward, a tumbler braced on his knee, nostrils flared. “If this were to get out, River wouldn’t get offers from the league. No team would want him. And I won’t let your deprave behavior interfere with my son’s career.”

Nate tips his head back and laughs. “Okay, Ryan. Whatever you say. I’m not gay. Neither is River. Case closed.”

My dad drinks the amber liquid in his glass and slams it on the coffee table. “One more slip up, and you will never see each other again.”

Nate rises from the couch, ready for a fight, fists clenched at his sides. “I’d like to see you try.”

“I already called Spencer,” my dad says to get under his skin. “He’s assured me you won’t see a single cent of your trust fund if you fuck this up for River.”

“I don’t give a shit about the money,” Nate growls.

“You will when you have nothing.” My dad gets in Nate’s face. “If you care about River, you will stop dragging him down with you.”

Nate’s eyes meet mine, and he lets out a deep breath. “Whatever,” he mutters before storming out of the office.

Seconds after he’s gone, my dad plops down beside me and pats my knee. “No more gay shit. This ends now.”

My dad has a way with words.

Asshole .

“Sure, Dad,” I say to get him off my back. “No more gay shit.”

If he only knew…