Page 8 of Perfect Storm (Toronto Thunder #1)

At least, Aidan thought as he stared at the ceiling, weak morning light dappling the white paint, he wasn’t hungover and freaking out this morning.

Just plain freaking out.

He’d kissed Levi yesterday and he’d liked it.

He’d known, of course, that he was queer.

His feelings for Mo, while unrequited, were clear enough.

Thinking about touching Mo had made him hard lots of times.

He had a nice stable of fantasies involving his best friend that he couldn’t help but reach for when he wanted to get off.

He’d even done his time with gay porn, figuring out what he liked. What he wanted.

But he’d sort of assumed that for him, it wasn’t all guys, or even some guys, it was only Mo. That he was bi, maybe, but very selectively. That was a thing. The internet said it could be.

And obviously whatever the internet said was true.

Except then he’d kissed Levi yesterday, and it turned out that it wasn’t just Mo who lit him up inside.

Levi definitely did it too.

He’d felt his hard cock, and he’d wanted it. Bad enough that there was no point in pretending any longer that he didn’t.

For a second, Aidan just lay there, breathing in and out and letting the idea that he’d never know if kissing Morris felt the same way kissing Levi had.

It hurt, but the hurt was slowly beginning to ebb away.

The tide coming in and taking it out, little bits at a time.

Until he imagined that one day he’d wake up and it would be mostly gone.

He’d thought kissing Mo would feel good; that it would feel great. But he’d never know, now.

He’d only know how kissing Levi felt.

Frankly it had been good enough that he’d seriously considered, more than once, sidling up to Levi and offering, under his breath, that they could really forget the year part of the pact and go upstairs to his nice big bed right now.

Levi had said no the first night, but Aidan had been drunk and they hadn’t kissed yet. And Aidan might be new to gay kissing, but he was not new to kissing and that had been a damn good one.

The kind of kiss that haunted you later.

Well, Aidan knew he had at least a couple of days to work on Levi. To convince him that he wanted him, not just as a stand-in for Mo.

Because how could Levi be? He was so different. Everything about him was different. And that, too, felt like kind of a blessing.

Aidan lay there for one second longer, feeling the hurt, and then pushed it away.

He didn’t need it. Not today.

Today, he didn’t bother showering before he took the stairs downstairs. He smelled coffee and sausage. Could hear fat sizzling in the pan before he walked into the kitchen.

When he did, Landry was at the stove again, Riley back on the counter.

“Geez, guys,” Aidan teased, rolling his eyes. But he was smiling. It was hard not to. Not this morning.

“Morning, bro,” Riley said. “I made coffee.”

“Knew you were my favorite,” Aidan said, ruffling Riley’s hair as he grabbed a mug. Poured himself a cup as he tried to come up with the most casual way of asking where Levi was. If he was still in bed. Oh, he could go wake him up. That could be fun.

“Breakfast ready in a few,” Landry said, gesturing to the stove with the spatula in his hand. “Gonna make some eggs too.”

“Where’s Levi?” Aidan finally just did it. It wasn’t that weird. It was only weird if he made it weird.

“Oh, bro, you didn’t hear? Levi said he was going to text you.”

Aidan sipped his coffee. “Didn’t hear what?”

“He had to go to LA. Early this morning.”

“Really fucking early,” Landry agreed.

“Was meeting with his agent. I think he’s going to end up signing somewhere that isn’t Seattle,” Riley said, making a face.

“Wait.” Aidan wasn’t sure he understood. “He left, this morning?”

Riley nodded. “Had to, I guess. The call came in after you and Landry went to bed, and he thought about waking you up—”

“Thank God he didn’t. I was wiped,” Landry said. Aidan frowned, because yeah, he didn’t like being woken up, but he didn’t like this either.

He didn’t like that Levi hadn’t bothered to wake him up. Like Aidan was just the same as his brother, cool with the way they just casually slid in and out of each other’s lives.

“Did he text you, bro?” Riley asked.

Aidan hadn’t bothered to check his phone this morning, because he’d been stupidly working under the assumption that the most important people in his life were currently under his roof, just down the hall.

“Uh,” Aidan said. Pulled his phone out of his pocket. And sure enough, there wasn’t just a text from Levi, but three.

Hey, the first one read, I gotta dip early. My agent wants me to get to LA and meet with some people. Thanks for having me at the house. We’re gonna have to do this again.

The second: Really mean that, actually. Next year, I’m there.

And the third: Thought for a hot second about waking you up at four AM, when I left, but I thought if I did that, I’d miss my flight.

Aidan’s mouth went dry.

“See?” Riley grinned at him when Aidan glanced up, suddenly afraid that the messages—and the hot, liquid pulse of desire at the base of his stomach—were written all over his face. “Told you he’d texted you.” Riley’s expression was very fond. “Idiot.”

“He doesn’t think so now, but getting out of Seattle would be good for him. The best thing for him,” Landry said, flicking the stove off.

Aidan tried to get his brain together. He was still reeling from the fact that Levi wasn’t here. Then there were the messages in his text thread with Levi. Then apparently that he wasn’t going back to Seattle, after all.

“Really,” Riley agreed. He nudged Landry with a foot as his boyfriend detoured to the fridge, pulling out a carton of eggs. “You’re a hell of a lot happier in Charleston than you were in Buffalo.”

“And that’s got nothing to do with you?” Landry teased back, eyes sparkling as they gazed at Riley.

God, Levi had really left. And left him alone with these two, a situation designed to make him feel like the most third wheel of all time.

He knew Riley and Landry understood what that felt like, because they did try to go out of their way to usually bring others with them. Case in point: they’d dragged Levi along this time, and up until the point where Levi had to leave early, it had worked out great.

Could’ve worked out even better, Aidan’s uncooperative mind supplied.

“Oh, it’s got everything to do with me,” Riley retorted, pressing a quick kiss to Landry’s mouth.

“You guys are gross,” Aidan said. He took a long drink of coffee and wondered, stupidly, again, if it was too early to add a slug of something stronger to it.

“We know,” Riley declared happily. Proudly.

Gah.

“Who do you think’s interested in Levi?” Landry wondered as he cracked eggs into a bowl.

For a split second, Aidan nearly dropped his mug. Then he realized what Landry was asking. Not who was interested in Levi, as in what guys wanted to fuck him—Aidan was definitely not going to raise his hand and volunteer himself—but what teams.

“Condors would be great,” Riley said wistfully. “But I don’t know if we’ve got the cap space.”

“And you’ve got Ferguson already on that side. He’s solid. You don’t need a superstar in your right tackle slot, baby.”

Aidan cleared his throat and tried to get his mind together enough to join in the conversation. “You know Logan would push for Levi to play with him.”

“Not sure the Piranhas have the cap space either,” Landry said. “But it would be cool, for them to play together.”

“You wouldn’t feel left out?” Riley asked Landry.

“Nah. I’ve got lots of good guys. And you.” Landry kissed him again.

Aidan held back his groan of disgust.

His brother and his best friend were hard enough to deal with when there was another person present to exchange suffering looks with, but when it was just him? It really fucking blew.

“What about the Thunder?” Riley asked.

“What about us?” Aidan asked.

“I mean, you could always use a better piece on your line,” Riley pointed out, not unkindly. “You’re not getting any younger and more mobile, bro.”

Aidan made a face. “I’m sure if the brass thought they could sign him, they’d make a run at him.”

And wouldn’t that be a trip?

Both he and Levi had assumed the next time they’d be around each other would be a year from now, football season long over, sitting across from each other in Aidan’s kitchen, again.

What if that wasn’t true though?

What if Levi ended up in Toronto? On his team?

On his offensive line? Watching his back, every practice and every game?

Deeply meshed with the rest of his guys.

Always around in his ugly shorts with his broad smiles.

Giving Aidan those knowing looks. The ones that only Aidan would be able to decipher.

“He’d be good on the Thunder,” Landry said, so casually it was clear he really didn’t suspect what had gone on the last two days.

“Good on a lot of different teams,” Aidan pointed out. It was true, as well as being a more comfortable proposition.

Because while it might be great, Aidan didn’t know if he really wanted it.

Did he want Levi watching him in that way he did? Like he could see right through Aidan? All fucking season? Aidan wasn’t sure he could handle that. He’d barely handled it for two days.

He tried not to think about it as the conversation segued into a discussion of their training schedules as Landry finished scrambling the eggs and they loaded plates up.

After breakfast, Riley left to take a shower as Aidan was washing the dishes. On his way out of the kitchen, Riley glanced over at Landry, still lingering at the table and then gave Aidan a look that said, tell him now.

Aidan was already planning on it. He didn’t know how he felt about this new Riley who was going around telling everyone, including him, what to do.

It wasn’t bad, but it was different and taking some getting used to.

“So uh,” Aidan said to Landry as he washed the frying pan Landry had made their eggs in, “I talked to Riley.”