Page 3 of Perfect Storm (Toronto Thunder #1)

Aidan glared at Levi’s interruption. “I thought I knew. And then he left and I realized it wasn’t what I thought it was. I’d . . .I don’t know . . .buried the part of it that didn’t feel platonic.”

Levi felt rocked.

“You had feelings for Mo Jeffries?”

Of all things Levi had anticipated, this hadn’t even been on the less legitimate list.

“Uh, yeah. Have, I guess.”

Over the years, plenty of players and friends and even vague acquaintances had come out to Levi. He’d always been pretty open about his sexuality, and thus accessible when someone wanted advice, or an opinion, or even just simply to be heard.

But he just sat there, jaw dropped, as Aidan Flynn came out to him.

“Holy shit,” Levi said.

Aidan rolled his eyes. “Somehow I suppose that’s on-brand. You didn’t give me a bro or a dude, so I guess I should count that as a win.”

“Come on, I’m a little shocked here,” Levi complained. He took a moment, tried to recenter himself. Reorient himself in a world where, holy shit, Aidan Flynn was not straight. “I appreciate you being honest with me, bro.”

“There you are,” Aidan said with a ghost of a grin.

“So you’re with Mo Jeffries. That’s cool.

” Levi tried not to be jealous and tried not to picture them together.

It was hard, ’cause they’d be hot. Aidan with his broad shoulders and insane abs.

Mo with his tall slender body and ripped chest. Soulful brown eyes meeting Aidan’s deep blue. They’d be gorgeous together.

“Uh, no. Not exactly.”

“Not exactly?”

Aidan made a frustrated noise. “Not at all. I . . .I didn’t tell him right away. I thought it might go away. That everything might go back to . . .normal.”

“What’s normal?” Levi asked, because at twelve he’d felt this way, too.

Wanting to be normal, hoping for it so fiercely, with such pointed intent, but it had never happened.

Eventually he’d been forced to acknowledge that he wasn’t going to miraculously become straight.

It had taken another ten years for him to realize that even if he was gay, that didn’t mean he wasn’t normal.

Normal was a construct. Anyone could be normal if they decided they wanted to be.

“Yeah, exactly,” Aidan said. “What the fuck is normal? I guess it means, would they ever go back to the way things were before? And they didn’t.

Last week we met up in Vegas, for that charity golf tournament thing?

And I . . .” He paused, licking his lips, and Levi saw what was coming, like a car crash, and he couldn’t look away, even if he wanted to.

And he wanted to. “And I told him how I felt.”

Aidan didn’t have to say it didn’t go well. If it had, he wouldn’t be trying so fucking hard to mask his heartbreak. Because that was what it was. Aidan Flynn, golden boy of the NFL, didn’t get everything he wanted, after all.

“I’m sorry, dude,” Levi said, heartfelt. Heart crumbling a little, just at the bleak pain in Aidan’s eyes.

Aidan shrugged awkwardly. Like it wasn’t a big deal, even though it very clearly was. “I . . .I shouldn’t have done it. I knew what he’d say. I knew before I even told him. I just thought—ugh, this is so dumb. So fucking dumb.”

“No, it’s not.” Levi moved his chair closer and didn’t even think, just reached out and cupped Aidan’s knee, squeezing it. It was strong and warm under his fingers, the faint brush of Aidan’s wiry hair.

“I thought, even if there was even a tiny chance, it was worth it.” Aidan sighed. “But it wasn’t.”

“Yeah, it was. Now you know everything. Now you can move forward,” Levi argued.

Aidan made a scoffing noise. “How the fuck am I supposed to do that?”

“It’s not gonna be easy, but the world’s your oyster now, bro.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Aidan frowned.

“I mean, you’re free to do anything. If you want it, you can do it.”

Aidan didn’t look particularly happy about that. “I guess so.”

“Okay, how about this. You could hook up with anyone. You’re hot and rich and famous.”

Aidan still looked skeptical, which was ridiculous.

“Please tell me you’re not disputing any of those,” Levi said bluntly.

“No, just none of that fucking matters because it didn’t get me . . .” Aidan cleared his throat. “What if all I want is him?” Aidan squeezed his eyes shut, like he regretted saying it. Regretted baring his soul that completely.

“Maybe now,” Levi said, reaching over and squeezing Aidan’s knee again.

“But that won’t always be true. You’re gonna see someone else someday.

Maybe a girl. But maybe it’s a guy, and now that you know what this feels like, it’s gonna be different.

You’re going to know what you want, and you’re gonna go after him.

And because you’re Aidan Flynn, you’re gonna get him. ”

“Sure,” Aidan said sarcastically. So flippant it was obvious he didn’t believe Levi. “And at like . . .thirty-five or whatever, it’s going to be cool for me to be like, I’ve never done this before, so walk me through it.”

Levi chuckled. “Of course you’d be neurotic about being a rookie.”

“Shouldn’t I be?” Aidan demanded. “If it had been . . .well, I wouldn’t have minded looking stupid in front of him. But in front of anyone else?”

“I get it.” Levi had never felt that way, but he understood that Aidan might. He’d built his entire career on the idea that he was right and excellent and experienced. It was a foundational corner of his whole identity.

“No offense, dude, but have you ever cared about that?”

It wasn’t hard to forgive Aidan for his mercilessness. He was clearly hurting and lashing out.

“No, but I’m different than you,” Levi said gently.

Aidan’s mouth clamped shut again.

“How about this,” Levi said, and it was very stupid, and he should shut up, because the idea forming in his head was insane and terrible, but he didn’t shut up. He kept fucking talking. “How about if your guy doesn’t come around—”

“Trust me, he’s not going to,” Aidan muttered with a fatalism that made Levi’s heart ache a little in solidarity.

“If he doesn’t come around,” Levi continued, like he hadn’t heard the interruption, “by this time next year, and you still want to try sex with a guy, we’ll do it.”

Levi had known what was coming. After all, it was his stupid idea. His impossible-to-resist idea, because apparently the idea of getting Aidan Flynn into bed circumvented any reasonable logic. But Aidan hadn’t.

He looked floored.

“What the fuck, dude?”

Levi just shrugged. “I mean it. You want someone to experiment with, I’m happy to volunteer.”

“But . . .” Aidan looked him over, top to bottom. And he didn’t seem against it, just shocked. Which boosted Levi’s ego, no question.

“But what?”

“But why the fuck would you want to do that?”

Oh, that was wild. Poor Aidan. Feeling like because Mo didn’t want him like that, nobody would ever want him like that. Levi would be more than happy to show him that was not true.

Levi cleared his throat. The fire had almost gone out now. Aidan was at least three glasses of whiskey in. Levi wasn’t exactly sober either. Maybe this was an even worse idea than it had been before, but that didn’t mean Levi was going to smash the brakes now.

He wasn’t sure he could.

“Trust me, bro, it wouldn’t exactly be a hardship.”

Aidan actually had the nerve to grin, all that cocky confidence that always drove defenses insane, the smile that meant he had you, and he was going to show you exactly how much of a crap hand you’d been dealt. Levi felt it too, hitting deep down. Making his cock twitch.

“What? ’Cause I’m . . .what was it? Hot and rich and famous?”

“The first one is plenty reason,” Levi said dryly.

Aidan mumbled something under his breath. Levi was pretty sure he heard it, but he wanted to make one hundred and ten percent sure he’d gotten it right. Because the last thing he wanted was to assume incorrectly here.

“Sorry, what was that?”

Aidan made a face, and yes, he was still hot when he did that. “I said, sure, yes, why not?”

“Score,” Levi said and held his hand out to high five. Aidan gave it a skeptical look.

“It’s a sex pact, bro,” Levi said matter-of-factly. “We gotta high-five to seal the deal.”

“Are you fucking joking?”

Levi wondered for a split second if this would be enough to change Aidan’s mind. But it didn’t. He actually reached out and high-fived him back. Rolling his eyes the whole time, but he did it.

Tomorrow, Levi was going to go out and buy a lottery ticket. In a year, he was going to get to nail Aidan Flynn. He was in the middle of fantasizing about how good it would be—what they’d do—how it would feel, when Aidan spoke up again.

“Why’d you give it a year?” he asked, sounding genuinely curious.

Levi shrugged. Why had he given it a year? He could have given it six months. Or six weeks. Or six days.

Except that he wasn’t masochistic and he didn’t want to fuck Aidan while he was still internally crying over Mo rejecting him. When and if Aidan finally landed in his bed, he was going to be thinking of only one person: Levi.

“Seemed like a nice round number,” Levi said, “and I imagine that in a year, we both might find ourselves back in Michigan. And I meant it before, pickings are slim around here.”

Aidan looked mildly disgruntled by that reminder. “So it’s not because you feel sorry for me?”

“That I gave it a year? Well, I sure as fuck don’t want you crying in bed over another man—”

“No, no, no,” Aidan said. “I meant, why you offered it in the first place. ’Cause you feel sorry for me.”

“Dude,” Levi said flatly.

Aidan laughed, a bark that made Levi feel reassured, like he would get over this. Eventually Aidan would be whole again and ready to move on, and if Levi was lucky, he might end up reaping the benefits of all that.

“I’m serious!” Aidan argued, but he was still smiling.

“I wanna say, we should work on your ego some, but we both know that’s not normally a problem. It’s just . . .right now . . .” Levi waved around Aidan’s body. “You know.”

“I’m unusually pathetic right now?” Aidan grimaced. “Thanks for the reminder.”

“Hey, you said it, not me.”

“So if I . . .” Aidan leaned in a little closer, and then it was his hand landing on Levi’s knee. But then his fingers stroked upwards, hesitating at the high hem of his shorts. Levi willed him to keep going, to slip his fingers underneath the fabric, even if he knew how bad an idea it was.

He was full of those tonight, apparently.

“If you groped my leg?” Levi questioned.

Aidan groaned. “No, no.”

“If you came on to me tonight, drunk and pitiful, if I’d turn you down?”

“If anyone should be worried about my ego, it’s you,” Aidan muttered. But he didn’t move his hand. Just stroked the skin of Levi’s upper thigh with his rough and distracting calluses.

“I’d say, if you did try anything, that I’m very flattered and my bed is gonna feel really fucking lonely later, but yeah, no.

Not tonight.” Levi made a face. Why was he being so stupid about this?

Five years ago he wouldn’t have cared if he took a guy to bed and he thought about someone else the whole time.

It wasn’t like Aidan was drunk enough to hook up with Levi and imagine he was Morris, who was his complete opposite physically.

“Alright.” Aidan shrugged and moved his hand away from Levi’s thigh. Levi tried not to be disappointed. Repressed the desire to grab it and put it right back where it was.

“You gonna be okay?”

Aidan glanced over at him, blue eyes wide. “You worried about me now, Banks?”

“Obviously,” Levi retorted. After all, he’d been the only one to notice Aidan was hurting and he’d made Aidan tell him about it.

“It’s annoying, but you’re probably right. Nothing to do but move forward. Every day’s gonna be a little better than the last one.” Aidan looked more contemplative and less drunk, then, which was good.

“That’s the spirit,” Levi said, patting him on the knee.

Didn’t let his touch linger, even though he was surprised at how much he wanted it to. And here he thought he’d avoided the same cliché Riley had ended up falling prey to: finding the older brother hot.

“Come on, let’s go to bed,” Aidan said, hefting himself out of his chair. He paused. “Not together.”

Levi laughed. “Don’t sound so relieved, bro.”