OffsideChanceFormat2 (16 page)

“Go
home, Aaron. See your Moms. I’ll help you get a job. We’ll help you, man. Just
go home.” He hoped maybe this would be the time, because he was tired of
trying.

“Yeah,
I’m going. It’s too cold here. I love you G. Just want you to know.” Aaron
pocketed the cash and backed down the steps as if he expected Will to change
his mind and ask for it back.

Will
closed his eyes. What could he say? “Yeah, A, me too,” was about all he could
muster before Aaron was out the gate and stumbling down the street.

“I
didn’t know Aaron was in town.” Levi leaned against the door when Will closed
and locked it. He looked down the hallway, his face still grim. “It’s been
years since I saw him last.”

“He’s
been here for a few months. He lost his job in Nashville and thought he could
convince me it wasn’t because of the drugs. I tried with him, Levi, I got him
into rehab. He walked out. He stole from me. Everything. I don’t know. I just
don’t. Giving him money only enables him.” Will slid down to crouch against the
wall, and Levi followed. “I can’t prove it, but I’m positive he broke into my
house and caused the fire. I didn’t have any space heaters. I don’t know why he
needed one. The fire marshal said that a towel falling onto a space heater is
what started the fire. Goddamn, Levi.” He banged his head against the wall,
angry at the world... at everything. “He was my brother, closest thing I have
to one at least, you know. How did he get like this?”

“Some
people are addicts, nothing you can do to help them. Nothing.” Levi threaded
his fingers through his hair, his face almost pale. Will hadn’t
seen
him like this since the day Bo was outed, the one and
only time the team saw him ever lose his temper, the day Will should have
realized Levi wasn’t just angry over the comments about Bo.

“Who
was it for you?” He could tell there was so much about Levi that he never knew.
Living with Jude and his scary-calm demeanor had clued him in enough to know
that the two of them had been through something.

“Our
mother. She wasn’t a druggie. She lived on alcohol. She stopped eating.
Bathing. Mental illness and addiction. Finally she just cracked. Jude was still
a kid then, and he dropped out of school as soon as he turned sixteen and was
about to run away. I convinced him to take the GED and Coach helped me get him
into school the next fall. He pulled in every favor he could to get him an
early acceptance. I never told Jude that. Coach knew I wasn’t going to make
another season but he did it for me anyway. Damn, Slayer…” Levi wiped his eye
with a thumb. “We lived in a trailer park. On welfare. It was bad. If I hadn’t
gotten the scholarship to Alabama, if it had been any different, I don’t know
where we’d be right now.”

“He
turned out okay it seems. You both have.” He had no idea what Levi’s life had
been like, Levi had never opened up to him. Not really.

“He’s
so smart. He’s a freaking genius with numbers. I couldn’t let him run off and
throw everything away because of her. He’d have ended up like your cousin. Or
worse.” Levi seemed content to sit right there against the door. Will slid the
rest of the way down and stretched his legs out in front of him. A blast of
cold air came in through the crack over the threshold. Levi reached for his
hand and linked their fingers. They’d done it a million times on the field. All
of them.

“He’s
all I have Slayer. He hates me, but I’ve done the best I can to make sure he
had a chance.”

“He
doesn’t hate you, Five. He respects you. Hell, I think he might even love you.
He’s just…” He couldn’t find the right word to really describe Jude.

“He’s
a cold bastard is what he is.” Levi squeezed his hand. “He’s too much like our
father, sometimes.”

“I
was going to say reserved. Yeah, he comes off very cold. Snobbish even. He’s
driven, I don’t know by what, he’s young still. But once you get him to open up
a little.” Levi snorted and banged his head against the door. Will realized
what he’d said and dropped Levi’s hand. “Oh hell, Five, I… he does things to
me. He looks at me with those whiskey-colored eyes and my toes freakin’ curl.
What the hell is wrong with me? I had sex with a man.”

Levi
sobered, or at least he stopped laughing while Will hid his face in his hands.
That confession left him feeling embarrassed, drained and seriously confused.
He was so fucking confused he didn’t know which end was up. “He’s like a
prettier version of me.”

“Yeah,
but I have never once in my life looked at you and thought about getting a
piece of you. And you’re the gay one.”

“But
you didn’t know that. I never wanted you to know that much.”

“Why?
I mean, we were friends. You could have trusted me.”

“When
Bo came out, you weren’t exactly in his corner. I mean you didn’t go on the war
path for his head but you didn’t support him either. And Slayer, I haven’t
heard much from you these past few months. After Tracy… well after the news
crews finally went away and things got back to normal. You didn’t come around.
You didn’t call. You didn’t answer when I called.” Levi’s voice broke on the
last word. “If I had told you back in school...”

Will
realized that he would have walked out of their room and refused to go back as
long as Levi was there. “I was a bastard. Back then. Last week. Yesterday at
Bo’s house. I’m a bastard. Touché.”

“Yeah,
you were. Bo is seriously pissed. Guess he missed the action in the bathroom. I
mean one of you was pretty loud.” Levi shoved his shoulder into Will’s. “We
heard you in the library.”

“I
don’t know how considering the show the two of you were putting on.” He still
had the image of Levi buck ass naked emblazoned in his memory. “How can you
take him? I mean… oh, fuck, forget it.”

“Practice
and a lot of lube.” Levi covered his mouth on another burst of laughter. Oh,
hell, it was like talking to a twelve year old girl with her first crush.
“Seriously, Slayer, if you want to ask something, just ask. I’ll tell you if I
can. It’s not always easy. We don’t have anal every time. He’s big. He’ll tear
me apart if we did. And there are so many fun positions that don’t involve
actual penetration. Tracy loves to slide between my legs over my balls. Or just
frotting
on the couch. And oral, don’t forget oral.”

“Yeah,
that between the legs thing. I think he liked that… oh, fuck. What the hell… I
am not having this conversations with you. Whatever happened last night is not
going to happen again.” Will stood up and winced. His ass hurt and not from the
cold floor. But from Jude’s dick.

“It’ll
hurt for a while. But you’ll get used to it. And Will,” Levi said, moving with
a grace that always astounded Will, he seemed almost liquid sometimes instead
of bone and muscle. Standing in one fluid motion Levi almost floated across the
room to retrieve Will’s laundry basket. “Just remember what I said. Whatever
this is, don’t hurt him. He doesn’t deserve to be used as your midlife crisis
experiment.”

“I’m
not having a midlife crisis. I’m thirty-three. What the hell makes you think
I’m having a midlife crisis?” Will followed him to the kitchen and waited while
Levi started the washer, the basket shoved into his arms.

“Because
you are having sex with my twenty-eight year old brother. Along with every
stripper on Bourbon Street that recognizes your pretty face. And your career is
coming to an end and you don’t know what the hell to do next.” Levi pulled sheets
out of the basket and layered them in the washer before closing the lid.
“Because I’m in the same goddamned boat and I have no idea what to do now.”

“Is
that why you’re here? Are you back for good?” He’d wondered if Levi would ever
settle down. The way he looked at the blond giant was enough for Will to think
maybe Levi could stay with one person for the rest of his life. Now he didn’t
know.

“I
have a surgical consult with a specialist. Tracy’s mom is a retired surgeon.
She thinks the spinal fusion surgery that Manning had a few years back might
work for me. She wants me to talk with a specialist. So I’m here for a couple
of days to have a new MRI and get some tests done. Nothing major right now.” He
closed the laundry closet doors and crossed over to the table where takeout
boxes were stacked. “I brought breakfast, but no one was up to eat with me.”

Will
took a box and checked the contents. There were a couple of sauce covered
burrito-looking things congealed in the bottom of the container. He put them in
the microwave and set the timer. “I thought your arm was better. Bo said you
had some range of motion back and could throw the ball without hitting the
ground in pain.”

“It
is better. But not great. I still get the stingers up my neck when I over-extend
my arm. At least I can lift it above my head now, but damn there are still
times when it all goes to hell. Tracy’s mom thinks I might have a ruptured disk
instead of nerve damage. I’m going to at least look into it.” Levi took the
empty container to the trash and the third container to the fridge. “Tracy and
I are good. I’m just at loose ends, that’s all. He’s everything I want but
never knew I wanted, you know?”

No,
Will didn’t know. The microwave buzzer went off, distracting him. The food
steamed in the box, the spices making his nose tingle. “I’ve never stopped to
wonder what life outside football would be like. I’ve never thought about
limiting myself to one person. I know one damned thing for sure, I don’t want
kids. All these guys with two or three different baby mamas. That is for damn
sure what I don’t want. Some woman with her hands in my bank account for some
damned kid neither one of us wanted. Seen it, don’t want to be it.”

“Then
Jude would be perfect for you.” Levi turned his chair around and sat facing
Will as he ate, or rather, as he tried to eat the steaming concoction. He just
laughed when Will flipped him off. “Come on, Will, he loves golf, so do you.
He’s not much for playing football, or even watching football, but he
understands the game. He has his own money. I’m pretty sure he’s not looking to
start a family. He’s rock solid. And if you ever get in trouble, he’s a damn
good lawyer. And from the smell of the bedroom I’d say the sex was pretty
damned good.”

“Are
you finished?” Will wanted to reach across the table and punch the shit eating
grin off his friend’s face.

“Not
by a longshot. You let my little brother make you a man, man. Not by a—” Will
threw his fork at Levi, who dodged and ran from the room, laughing all the way
until Will couldn’t hear him anymore. Jesus. He went to the fridge to get the
milk, sniffing the nearly untouched carton to see if it was still drinkable. He
poured a glass and leaned against the freezer door. Fuck, he’d had actual sex
with Jude Brody. What was worse, he fucking liked it.

His
life could not possible get any more fucked up. The slip of paper taped to the
wall beside the house phone caught his attention. He could read Jude’s
handwriting from across the room and his stomach did this weird little flutter
thing.

“Oh,
hell fucking no.” He stalked across the room and snatched the note down,
wadding it up, he went to toss it in the trash. Instead he smoothed the paper
out and glared at the words his new boyfriend had written.

I
don’t care if you take my advice or not, but call Davis at this first number
ASAP! He’s damned good at demolition, and he won’t cheat you. After that you’re
on your own. And don’t forget to wash the sheets or we’re switching rooms.

I’m
not sleeping in your spunk.

Will
smiled at the added on line. Yeah Jude was a damned bossy bitch. He picked up
the phone and did what Jude told him to do and called Davis.

Chapter
Ten

Two
weeks went by in a blur. The unusually cold weather messed with his school
schedule enough that Jude was trying not to crack under the stress. The
building where his two classes met had to be closed after the water pipes
burst. They went strictly to online assignments to finish out the term, but the
server at the school couldn’t handle the overload of traffic and crashed.
Assignments and meeting locations were changed due to the issues, and Jude
seriously thought about throwing his laptop against the wall and dropping the
classes altogether. But that would mean he’d have to go home, and right now he
didn’t want to go back to Alabama. And he certainly didn’t want to pick up his
case load where he’d left off.

Levi
had casually dropped the bomb on him that he was going to have spinal surgery
sometime soon. The possibility that he could be paralyzed if something went
wrong never even dawned on his brother. But Jude was a basket case worrying
about all the shit Levi had done to fuck up his body, ending with having his
neck sliced open and vertebrae fused together, and by the same doctors who had
fucked up his shoulder more than a year ago.

And
to top it all off, he couldn’t stop thinking about his roommate and the night
they spent… fucking. There was no better way to put it. It wasn’t love but it
was
more than just sex. It was rough,
and hot and sweaty and nothing pretty about it. He’d fucked a man who could
bench press him and now he couldn’t stop wondering what that would be like
without the artificial stimulus in the mix.