Page 15 of Playing for Keeps

Ethan lay back down. He yawned and stretched. “That was exactly what I needed. You always have the best ideas.”

He closed his eyes. Within minutes, his breathing had evened out and he’d fallen asleep.

I’d been left staring at the tent ceiling for hours, listening to the soft exhale of Ethan’s breath, as my brain swirled with two unavoidable conclusions.

I was definitely gay.

And I was definitely in love with my best friend.

The noise of a car engine startled me and the memory dissolved, leaving me standing there next to Jonathan, staring out the window.

Ethan’s car pulled out of the driveway, and Char waved goodbye from the doorstep. The affectionate smile on her face cut at me, slashes I didn’t expect.

I sucked in a deep breath.

When I turned away, I found Jonathan’s sympathetic gaze on me.

“You had a crush on him growing up, didn’t you?” he said.

Seeing Ethan had left me raw, with no filters working. “A crush? More like I was fucking head over heels in love with him.”

Jonathan eyes widened. Oh holy Christ, yeah, that was probably high on the list of things I shouldn’t admit to my current boyfriend. That I’d been in love with my best friend, who was about to become my teammate.

At least I hadn’t admitted that seeing him had reminded me of the residual love for Ethan that still clung on in my heart—love that I couldn’t shake free no matter how hard I tried.

Jonathan dropped his gaze, looking for a moment as if he was contemplating the pattern on the carpet before lifting his eyes back to mine.

“Maybe you need to stop punishing him for not loving you back.”

Chapter5

Ethan

Training camp.

This year, the Marauders management had decided to take us to the wilds of Queenstown for our summer camp.

The first thing Coach Clark did when we arrived was confiscate our phones. From the guys’ reactions, you’d have thought he’d amputated limbs.

“There’s a landline here, so we can be contacted in an emergency. Don’t forget we used to survive without technology just fine,” Coach said.

“But you had pterodactyls to deliver your messages then,” I said.

Coach’s eyes zoomed in on me among the crowd of players. “I hope that wasn’t a slight against my age, Lewis.”

“Never, Coach.”

Reuban was still muttering, and Coach’s Sauron Eye swung to him. “You got a problem, Reuban?”

“He doesn’t think he can survive without his cat videos, Coach,” I said.

“Cat videos?”

“Yeah, you don’t want to cut off his supply of pussy.” I said the last bit in an undertone, but the guys around me broke into chuckles and Reuban cuffed me on the shoulder.

“Am I glad I didn’t hear that, Lewis?” Coach’s eyes narrowed.

“Probably,” I said cheerfully.