Page 80 of Out of Bounds

They fell asleep shortly thereafter, wrapped naked in each other’s arms. Two full-sized men on a twin bed was a tight squeeze, but Brennan slept like a baby. There was no other place he wanted to be.

27

CLIFF

Morning sun blared through the window directly into Cliff’s eyes. He opened them slowly as he emerged from a deep sleep nestled in Brennan’s embrace, the smell of lube and sex still ruminating in the air.

He took a mental snapshot of this moment in time, when his life was quiet, when it was him and Brennan, who lightly snored into his shoulder. Brennan was no longer some fetish or fantasy item. He was a flesh and blood man, as complicated and human as Cliff, and Cliff’s heart cared for him in ways he didn’t think possible.

A pounding knock at the door punctured their harmony.

Cliff bolted out of Brennan’s arms, his body wired with adrenaline.

“Who is it?”

“Altshuler.” He pounded on the door again to make his presence absolutely known.

Brennan wiped sleep from his eyes. Cliff didn’t have time to admire the beautiful naked body in his bed. He found his boxers and T-shirt and threw them on along with a pair of jeans folded over his desk chair. He unhooked Brennan’s belt from his bedpost and threw it on the floor.

“What time is it?” Brennan creaked out.

Cliff clamped a hand over his mouth. The inverse of last night, but without any of the sexiness.

“Um, can we talk later? I just woke up.” Cliff read the clock. It was seven-fifteen.

“Come on. I have to get to the gym,” Altshuler said in an obvious flex.

Cliff pulled Brennan out of bed and pointed at the closet for him to hide. Brennan shot him a look about the glaring irony of his request. He swiped his boxers from the floor and reverse sleepwalked into the closet, still not sensing the emergency of the moment. He pecked Cliff on the lips before closing the closet door, which Cliff savored for a split-second before returning to panic mode.

He kicked all the evidence from last night under his bed. He spritzed himself and the room with cologne to cancel out the sexy smells that lingered.

“Come the fuck on, Cliff.”

Cliff opened the door just enough for them to have a conversation. Altshuler was dressed for the gym. He wore a soft cast on his ankle.

“Hey,” Cliff said as casually as he could. “How are you feeling?”

Altshuler handed him a binder. “This is the back-up playbook. Coach wanted me to give it to you.”

“I already have a copy.”

“Now you have another. This one has recent notes he’s made.”

It was identical to the one sitting on Cliff’s desk.

“You couldn’t have given this to me at practice?”

“I didn’t want to forget. I thought you were an early riser. You seem like that kind of guy.”

Usually Cliff was, but most nights he wasn’t having hot, midnight sex. His devirginized ass tingled with pain and delight.

“I think you should study it.”

Cliff needed sunglasses to handle all the obvious shade. He desperately wanted to slam the door on his hand and keep him out of commission even longer. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“You had a lucky shot on Sunday, but a lot of your play execution in practice was kind of a mess, no offense. Just being honest with you. It takes real skill to lead a team.”

“I was captain of my high school basketball team, and we were number one in the county.”