Page 57 of The Substitute (New York Gods #4)

FORTY-EIGHT

AMbrOSE

“Hurry up!” Tobi whines, bouncing on his toes.

“Will you relax? We’re fine.”

“We’re going to be late! I don’t want to miss him!”

It’s so cute how anxious he is over this. Savage has an early practice today, and somehow, we managed to have a mostly free day. Which means all three of us together.

It’s been a while since we spent real time together as a group.

I have to admit, I kinda missed him too.

A little.

Maybe.

“Sweetheart,” I turn his chin toward me so he’s looking at me. “Even if we show up a few minutes after he’s done, we’ll find him. It’s okay.”

“But that defeats the purpose of the surprise!”

“Oh, he’s going to be surprised.”

Tobi grabs my wrist and pulls me through the station and down the street, forcing his way through the crowds with purpose towards the Gods campus.

Savage and I still have some issues to work out, but it’s a little easier. Jealousy still rears its ugly head sometimes, but we talk about it instead of picking a fight. Usually.

The guys are filing out of the rink when we get there, but I don’t immediately see Savage. Was he the first one out and therefore gone already? I hope not.

“I don’t see him.” Tobi worries his lip and bounces on his toes again. Rhys stops when he sees us and gives me a chin lift.

“Hey, you good?” he asks Tobi.

“Yeah, I am.”

Rhys looks between us. “Your parents want another family dinner.”

Tobi groans, and I stiffen. The last one did not end well for any of us. “I can’t do another one.”

Over Rhys’ shoulder, I watch Savage push through the door, talking to a few of the guys. He turns and catches sight of me, cocking his head and smiling as he changes direction.

Is he smiling at me, or because he can see Tobi around his teammate? Is it both?

Do I want it to be?

Maybe?

“If I come, and it’s a big if, you have to keep him from talking,” Tobi mutters.

Rhys barks out a laugh. “You think I can keep Teddy quiet? He talks in his sleep. It’s impossible.”

“I’m sure you can think of something.” Tobi crosses his arms, and I shake my head.

“No, no, Rhys is right. There’s no keeping him from talking,” I say, certain after months of rooming with him at away games.

“Duct tape—” Tobi cuts himself off when he sees Savage and shoves past Rhys to launch himself at his boyfriend.

Rhys turns to stand shoulder to shoulder with me and watches them. I don’t know him well enough to know what he’s thinking, but he looks happy for Tobi. Hopefully, they can repair their friendship. Tobi deserves friends, and I know he misses Rhys.

“He does know that Savage is a goalie, right?”

“Oh yeah, we’ve had that spiral already.” I laugh because it still amuses me.

Rhys chuckles. “I can imagine.”

Savage wraps his arms around Tobi and lifts him up, carrying him toward us.

“You guys should both come. His parents are good people. They may be confused about all this, but they won’t judge,” Rhys suggests.

I nod but don’t say anything.

Savage stops in front of us and sets Tobi down. “I see there are plans.”

“Yeah, but I have no idea what they are. He wouldn’t tell me.”

Rhys laughs. “So studying then? Are you going to a science thing? The library?”

Tobi gives Rhys a flat look. “First of all, fuck you. Second, no. Third, keep talking shit, and I’ll tell Teddy how to get gummy bears to explode.”

“I can’t tell if you’re trying to make my life harder or kill your brother. It could go either way.” Rhys cocks his head.

“And you’ll never know.”

“Wait, how do you get gummy bears to explode?” I didn’t know they could do that, and with how much Savage likes them, that might be a useful thing to have in my back pocket.

“Speaking of gummy bears…” Tobi looks at me with a determination I’ve rarely seen. “Where are your keys?”

Rhys snorts and covers his mouth.

Fuck. I hoped he had forgotten about that.

“Look, I can’t get rid of it.” I point at him. “Savage will back me up on this.”

“What am I backing up?” he asks.

Rhys is shaking and doubled over laughing.

“Teddy gave everyone a good luck charm that we all bring to every game and practice.” I can’t believe I’m really about to defend this.

Savage nods in understanding but narrows his eyes. “And…”

“It’s literally Teddy’s cum!” Tobi damn near yells.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Savage is understandably confused, and the longer this goes on, the less I want to show him. “He gave you all a vile of it or…”

“It’s so much worse.” Rhys is crying from laughing.

“The suspense is killing me.”

With a sigh, I reach into my pocket and pull out my keys to hold up the white bear. “I don’t like it any more than you do…”

Savage looks at it, then at me, then back at the bear. “I’m not seeing the connection.”

“Apparently, you can send your bodily fluids to some lady, and she adds them to clay or something and makes things with it,” I try to explain, but I don’t actually know the details, and I’d prefer to keep it that way.

“Cummy bears,” Rhys cries in a high-pitched, barely legible tone.

“Cummy bears.” Savage blinks and starts laughing. “You have one, too?” he asks Rhys, who can only nod. “The whole Summerset team has one?”

“Yes. It’s for good luck, and he checks before every game time to make sure we all have them.” Ambrose sighs. “Rizz broke his and almost had a panic attack trying to glue it back together.”

“As much as it pains me to agree with my step-brother, sorry, baby, they gotta have them.” Savage shrugs. “You don’t fuck with a goalie’s luck.”

“Thank you!” Finally, someone sees reason.

“You are all ridiculous.” Tobi throws his hands up. “You all know what that means, right? He had to fill some kind of container with spunk and mail it to someone. How many people are on the team? Twenty? Twenty-five? That’s a horrifying amount of sploodge.”

The three of us all say, “It’s hockey” at the same time, and Tobi makes a disgusted sound in his throat.

“Alright, I’m leaving.” Rhys knuckle bumps us. “Later, guys.”

Tobi turns on Savage and points a finger in his face. “You are not giving cum gifts to your team.”

Savage kisses Tobi’s cheek. “My cum is only for you,” he says, dropping his voice. “And no wonder he hates gummy bears now. But I’m still gonna eat them.”

“Damn right.” Tobi grabs Savage’s arm and checks his watch. “Come on, we gotta go.”

“Where are we going?” Savage slides Tobi’s hand into his and links their fingers. There’s a little pang of jealousy that I can’t do the same, but that’s the way it has to be for now. We’ve worked out that after being in public where they can act like a couple, I need physical touch.

“Cuddle Buddy. We were here last week? What’s different?

” I ask, stepping out onto the rooftop and looking around the space.

Vines on trellises and plants with big leaves block out the city to create a little oasis up here.

The normal pods are gone, and there’s only one set up in the middle. “What happened to it?”

“Savage and I rented out the whole place. There won't even be workers here. They premade snacks and stuff too!” Tobi twists his fingers and chews on his lip. “There’s no pressure to do anything, we can just watch the movie and eat snacks—”

“Thank you.” I reach for his hand and give it a squeeze. “This is really cool.” I meet eyes with Savage over Tobi’s shoulder and mouth a “thank you” to him as well.

Tobi lights up right along with my heart. It means so much that he arranged this for us, that he found something we could do in public, and be us.

With a pep in his step, he takes the lead to our pod. There are blankets, pillows, and a giant cuddle sack with enough room for us to relax and watch the screen. Tobi jumps up onto it, crashing into it with a big smile.

“This is so much more comfortable when you really get into it.” I didn’t let myself settle in last time, too worried about an employee coming around the corner or something.

“I don’t think it’ll fit in the dorm.” Tobi tries to figure out a way to lay over both Savage and me.

Settling in next to Tobi, I lift his chin and take his lips. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Savage says with a smirk.

“I don’t think I was talking to you. It probably was Tobi’s idea to rent it out.” I won’t give Savage that much credit.

“Who do you think showed him this place?”

“Then thank you, too, I guess.”

“Yeah, yeah, thanks, Savage.” Tobi waves it off. “Back to this giant bean bag thing, I need one.”

I chuckle at the ‘excuse you’ look on Savage’s face.

“Where would you put it?” I ask Tobi.

“We can get rid of the beds or the couch or whatever. I don’t care.” He shrugs. “Put it at Savage’s, I’m sure Lovelace would love one instead of a boring couch.”

“My couch is not boring.” Savage stares at Tobi. “It reclines, heats up, and vibrates.”

“Sure, sure.” Tobi pats Savage’s hand, and it could not be more patronizing.

“Are you giving me attitude right now?” Savage grips Tobi’s hip and rolls him so they are chest to chest with Savage leaning over him.

“Maybe.” Tobi tries to hide a smile and fails.

“Sounds like someone wants to be in the cuck chair tonight,” Savage murmurs.

Well, I’m not going to argue since either way, it goes in my favor.

“Wait. No. That’s not—” Tobi flushes and stumbles over his words. It’s cute as fuck.

“Attitude gets no orgasms,” Savage says with a playful stern voice.

“He gives you attitude all the time!” Tobi points an accusatory finger at me, and I chuckle. He’s not wrong.

“And he gets the cuck chair!”

Hang on… “Then why do you sit in the cuck chair?” I ask.

Savage looks over Tobi’s shoulder at me with a devious smile. “That’s a choice.” He winks. “Sometimes Daddy likes to watch.”

“Don’t ever call yourself Daddy again,” I say and pretend to gag.

“Okay, step-uncle. Calm down,” he scoffs, and Tobi snorts.

“If you’re daddy and you’re step-uncle,” Tobi says, pointing to each of us, “what does that make me?”

Savage says, “Baby girl,” at the same time I say, “Good boy.”

“I’m not mad about either of those.” He shrugs. “But I’m hungry.”