OffsideChanceFormat2 (4 page)

“I
was going to say ‘drunk.’ But I’ll take your word for it. Where’s his
boyfriend? I don’t see the giant.”

“Tracy
has school tomorrow. This is the first time Levi has left him since he got out
of the hospital.” Jude watched as Jasmine and the angelic blond quarterback
disappeared out the door. Probably off to another party or the quarterback’s
place. Well, that’s it, he was riding home alone. He may as well do it now.
“And I’ve got a full day tomorrow. Going to head to the townhouse.”

Jude
left the man standing at the bar to say goodbye to his brother.

“What
did you say to Slayer?” Levi said as he dragged Jude into another of his
brotherly hugs. Jude quickly ducked out of his brother’s embrace. Friendly Liv
was a tad too friendly.

“Nothing,
he just grunted at me and that’s about it.” He turned to look at the behemoth.

He
looked tired. And completely unlike a man who’d just advanced one step closer
to a major goal. “I think he’s taken your sudden change of lifestyle a bit
hard. But I just met him yesterday, what do I know.”

“Ah,
yeah. I should probably have a talk with him. Where are you off to? What
happened to your lovely friend?” Levi’s lips drew up into a little pout as he
scanned the room. Jude didn’t have to tell him what he already knew. “Should
someone warn the kid?”

“She
has more money than she knows what to do with. He’ll be just another notch on
her bedpost.” He dragged his hand over his face. Seems every woman he met was
just like Jasmine, or Tiffany. “I have lousy taste in women.”

“If
you say so.” Liv disappeared for a moment as Levi turned serious. “You’re just
looking in the wrong place, baby brother. These women,” he looked around the
penthouse at all of the beauty that had gathered, “are only after one thing.
And they think happy ever after is fame and fortune. It’s not. Look for someone
who isn’t interested in your money.”

“Or
your face. Yeah, brother dear, I’ve tried that. When it comes down to it, they
only see you when they look at me.”

“And
I am completely and irrevocably not on that particular meat market. Never was.

They’ll
figure it out sooner or later. As they forget about me. And then maybe I’ll be
free to live in peace.”

Jude
could hear the resignation in his brother’s voice. He knew that losing football
had been the worst thing to ever happen to him. After the past few rocky months
though, he seemed to have made his peace with it. “And that helps me how?”

“Oh,
you’re screwed. There’s no helping that.” The smile was teasing, his brother’s
gaze warm as whiskey. Levi with a real smile on his face was something he
hadn’t seen in more years than he could remember. “Of course if you wanted to
swing the other direction, I could help you out with—“

“Levi!
No, okay, thank you for thinking of me and my sex life but I’m pretty sure I’m
not looking to be some leather bear’s little friend.”

“Who
said you have to be the little friend. You could be the leather bear. Well,
leather something.” Levi was laughing at him. And damned if Jude didn’t smile
back.

“I’ll
take it under advisement.” He glanced around the room, his gaze resting on
Slater.

Two
women had taken up residence in his lap. And somehow Jude knew his night of
sleep was going to be loudly interrupted. Again. “Are you coming back to the
townhouse or crashing here?”

“Depends
on who’s in my bed. You or super stud over there.” Levi nodded to Slater and
his expanding circle of women.

Jude
sighed, oh yeah, he would not be sleeping tonight. At least not without ear
plugs. “I’m sleeping in the bed every little girl dreams of.”

“Especially
this one.” Levi speared him with a dazzling smile and flounced away, leaving
Jude to wonder if Levi was fucking with him or…had to be fucking with him.

Please
let him be fucking with me.

*
* * * *

The
second week of playoffs saw them done for the season. Will spent the Friday
after the loss walking through the remains of his house now that it was cleared
for him to get inside.

There
was nothing left. He rooted through the char until he found the wall safe. He
hoped like hell it had survived the fire. His rings were in there, along with
all of his important documents. The dial looked melted but it still worked. A
fire marshal stood watch as the structure was unsound.

“The
source was a heater in the upstairs bathroom. Most likely a towel fell onto it.
And these old houses aren’t exactly fire proof.” The marshal told him before
they’d made it past the doorway into the burned out structure.

Will
pulled the box containing his jewelry and papers out and tucked them into his
backpack. He followed the marshal through the rest of the downstairs. It was
all charred or water damaged.

“Guess
I should have double checked everything before I left for the holiday.” He
couldn’t say what he really wanted to say. Not in front of the marshal. “I’m
clear to have it demolished now?”

“Looks
that way. Sorry this happened, Mr. Slater. Really and truly. Just a lousy time
of year. Usually it’s the tree.”

“I
didn’t have a tree.” He nodded again, almost in shock. They’d told him it was
all gone.

He
just didn’t believe it. “And insurance has already covered everything worth
covering. I didn’t have much. Anyway, I’m just happy the safe wasn’t damaged or
looted.” He flashed one of his Super Bowl rings. “I’d hate to lose this beauty.”

The
marshal clapped him on the shoulder and walked him out of the back of the
house. What was left of his car rested under the melted garage door. Will
couldn’t wrap his head around any of this. He didn’t have a heater in the
upstairs bathroom. Hell, he didn’t have a space heater at all. Will tried not
to think of how this could have happened while the marshal made small talk for
fear of voicing his suspicions. Right now that was all he had, a suspicion.
There was no proof his cousin had anything to do with this. “Too bad about the
playoffs this year, we were all hoping.”

“There
was just no stopping San Francisco this year. Luck of the draw. We’ll get it
next year,” he replied absently while he zipped his jacket and buckled his
helmet. Time to go before the man started telling him everything he could have
done to win the game. He got way too much of that. Except at Levi’s house. He
didn’t have to talk about football at all or anything else for that matter. It
was refreshing. Sort of.

He
knew the geek would be deep in some book when he went inside. He respected
Jude’s space when it came to his school work and Jude left him alone
completely. After a week of classes they’d fallen into a routine. Jude left
early and came home around five. He was only taking two courses but he was
doing something with a legal clinic. Will zoned out after the word “free”. And
for some reason the guy liked to cook. Will would stumble in from practice to
the scent of real food cooking; he tried not to remember a time when he’d actually
had home cooked food on an almost daily basis. He usually lived on take out and
cafeteria food at the practice facility.

Will
tried to repay him by keeping the fridge stocked, since he was doing most of
the eating. Jude didn’t seem to eat that much. He didn’t work out either. But
he stayed slim.

The
day was cold, colder than usual. Gray clouds gathered as the afternoon wore on.
Someone said there might be snow flurries. He snorted and the glass on his
helmet fogged up as Will crossed over Canal Street and headed to Royal.

In
the four years he’d been in New Orleans it hadn’t snowed once. Not one single
flurry. But damn, it was cold enough. The leather jacket and jeans he wore
really didn’t protect him from the cold. After nearly three weeks he should
probably go out and buy new clothes; all he had left was in the one suitcase he
had with him when his house burned. Somehow he’d managed to put the loss from
his mind long enough to get through the last couple of games. But now, having
been in what was left of his house, there was no denying the sad reality.
Everything was gone. He’d have to rebuild. But maybe he didn’t want to.
Rebuilding meant he was staying. What if his contract wasn’t renewed? What
then? He had nowhere else to go.

He
pulled into the alley behind Levi’s house and walked his bike in through the
gate. The kitchen light was on. He could smell something cooking. Walking into
the house was like walking into a wall of heat and kitchen humidity. Will had
to step back outside to catch his breath.

“It’s
like a fucking sauna in here,” Will shouted to be heard over the radio. More
damned classical music. Didn’t the man like anything with guitars? Or even
words?

“It
was freezing earlier.” Jude, dressed in nothing but a pair of black workout
pants with a gold
fleur de lis
on the
leg, closed the refrigerator door and opened a bottle of water. Will had that
same exact pair. Which either meant Jude was a liar about not liking football
or he had raided Levi’s closet.

“Yeah,
but now it’s hot. And there’s only two times I like to sweat, on the football
field or during sex. And this is not one of those times.” He placed his helmet
on the counter under the key rack and shrugged his jacket off, leaving it
hanging over the back of the chair he’d claimed for himself. Heat wrapped
around him nearly suffocating him. But at least he could feel his nose again.
He stepped out of his boots and left them by the door. Still hot, he pulled off
his socks and stuffed them inside. The sweatshirt went next, tossed toward the
stacked washer and dryer over in the corner, which then left him almost as
undressed as his roommate.

“Then
go turn the thermostat down.” Jude turned to the stove, his back to Will. Jude
was flushed from the heat. All that creamy white skin… hell, the man didn’t
even have a freckle. Even his brother was tatted up. For the hell of it, Will
ran his cold fingers down the man’s spine as he passed by. Startled, Jude
dropped the tongs he held, a piece of bacon hitting the floor as he shouted,
“Jesus Christ….your fingers are like ice.”

“It’s
cold outside,” Will laughed. Picking up the bacon, he popped it into his mouth
just to see Jude’s nose turn up in disgust. “You dropped something.”

“Disgusting
pig,” Jude called after him as he walked out to turn the damned heat down from
ninety to something bearable. Like seventy-four.

“Don’t
forget it, baby,” he called back as he relieved himself in the tiny
under-the-stairs john. “What’s for dinner, honey? I’m starved.”

“Why
do you assume I cooked for you? You’re a grown man, you can fend for yourself.”

Jude
bent over the open oven door and pulled a pan of something delicious smelling
out. Will leaned against the door frame, becoming aware that he was watching
the man’s ass when his dick chose that moment to twitch in his jeans. The thin
work out pants barely covered the firm twin ass cheeks.

He
cleared his throat and went to the fridge for a beer. Anything to distract
himself from this strange…he didn’t even like the man, or any man, what the
hell was wrong with him?

“Because
I clean up the kitchen. And I gather up your chewed up pens and leave them on
the coffee table upstairs. And I don’t complain about it.”

“Your
idea of cleaning up the kitchen is to throw everything in the dishwasher and
call one of your girlfriends to do everything else during the day when I’m in
class.” Jude placed a large round pan of some kind of noodle casserole on the
table then sprinkled the chopped up bacon on top. “Just mac and cheese. I was
cold. I wanted something warm.”

“Smells
good to me.” Will handed him two plates and went to get forks. “Do you want a
beer or are you sticking with water?”

Jude
stood for a moment, his head tilted sideways, Will had seen that exact same
look on Levi’s face when he was thinking too hard. “It’s Friday. I don’t have
anywhere to be tomorrow. Sure, why not?”

Will
grabbed two more beers from the fridge. “We’re getting low on supplies. I’ll
call up and place an order for delivery. Make a list if there’s something special
you want.”

“Wine
would be great.” Jude moved around him to put a bowl of tossed salad next to
the casserole pan. “Pardon me for saying so, but you reek and you have smut on
your face.” Jude stood next to the table, his hip jutting out in a way that
exposed his hip bone just above the low waistband. Will couldn’t seem to take
his gaze off that particular patch of skin. Jude, whirling around with a snap
of his fingers, brought him back to himself. “Forgot the bread.”

“What?”
Will held the beers to his chest as if he hadn’t just zoned in on a nearly
naked patch of man skin.

“You
reek of smoke. And you have a streak of smut on your face.” Jude placed the
basket of garlic buttered bread on the table, and before Will could move away,
he reached out and swiped a thumb down Will’s cheek, drawing back a black
smudge. “See.”

“Oh,”
Will said with a shrug and set the bottles on the table. His hands shook but he
wouldn’t think about that. Or that his cheek tingled where Jude had touched
him. Or worse, that little Slayer was starting to think things were happening
that weren’t happening. He waited for Jude to move around to the other side of
the table to adjust his crotch. “The fire marshal opened my house up today. We
walked through. It’s a total loss. Everything burned or water damaged…it’s just
a big fucking mess right now.”