Playing His Game: An Opposites Attract MM Romance Read online

  Playing His Game

  An Opposites Attract MM Romance

  Copyright Disclaimer

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  © 2019 Alice Layne

  Chapter One

  “Levi, you’ve got to come to the game tonight. My sister is going to be cheering and that means I’ve got to be there. If I’ve got to be there, you’ve got to be there. That’s just what best friends do!”

  I sighed into my phone and looked at the pause screen on my TV. The video game I was playing was much more entertaining than the football game would be, “I would love to go, but I’ve got to study tonight. College isn’t as easy as high school was, sorry, Ashley.”

  “That’s bullshit and you know it. You constantly brag about how you’re the only one in your class that understands anything, so I’m calling you out. Either come with me or tell me that you don’t want to spend time with me, it’s whatever,” she grumbled.

  “I don’t brag like that, I’m not an asshole. I just happen to be a little better at learning than my peers,” I said with a hint of snark in my tone. I pulled my phone away for a second to check the time and then muttered, “And when you phrase it like that, it’s kind of a bitch move on your part. You know I can’t leave you hanging when you put it like that. I’ll pick you up in fifteen.”

  Ashley let out a laugh that transitioned into a soft sigh. “I’ve just got to make sure you don’t hide in your room all the time. Your life isn’t going to start until you leave those four walls and do something.”

  “Yeah, so you keep saying.”

  “And you keep hiding.”

  “I’ll pick you up soon,” I muttered and hung up the phone.

  She wasn’t wrong about my life staying stagnant, but she didn’t seem to understand how difficult it was for me to pretend to be something I wasn’t. For most of the guys at my college, it was so much easier to find groups. They could be themselves and enjoy being around other people like them. They didn’t have to hide something that fundamentally changed how everyone viewed them. Being gay wasn’t easy.

  I looked over to my game and bit my lower lip. Ashley would probably have let me stay home if I really wanted to. The football game wouldn’t even start for another hour, but if I didn’t pick her up, she’d have to ride with her sister and that meant that she’d have to get a ride home with her as well. It took more willpower than I wanted to admit to turn off my console.

  After I got dressed, I drove over to Ashley’s house. Before I could even get out of the car to go knock on her front door, she came outside and hurried over to my car to get in. “Thanks for coming out with me tonight. You know, there might be a party after the game. Well, there will be a party, but I’m trying to invite you very subtly. Is it working?”

  “Definitely worked. I don’t think I’m much for the party scene, but we’ll see how I feel after the game. Maybe we’ll lose tonight and everyone would be all bummed out. That could be fun to watch,” I said. Her brow furrowed and I rolled my eyes. “I’m joking. The jocks don’t know how to let anyone else win.”

  “Why would they? They’re out there trying to get picked up by a professional team. It’s not their fault that the competition just doesn’t match up,” Ashley said.

  I reached over and put a hand on her shoulder, “And they all fuck like gods, don’t they?”

  “I know two of them do,” she said with a smirk.

  “More than me,” I mumbled.

  A few seconds after I pulled out of her driveway, she asked, “When was the last time you got laid?”

  “That’s a little personal, isn’t it?”

  “You just cracked a joke about me having sex, why can’t I ask about your sex life? Should I make a joke about it too?” she shot back.

  My grip tightened around the steering wheel as I fought back my instinct to shut her out. As much as we bantered, she was the one person I could count on since I started college. A bit over three years later, where everything else seemed to change, we hadn’t. If I could trust anyone with my secret, it would have to be her.

  “My sex life is the joke. Ashley, I really hope this doesn’t change anything between us, but I’m gay,” I mumbled.

  “Is that why you didn’t try to get in my pants?” she asked casually.

  I glanced over at her for a fleeting second before turning my attention back to the road. “You’re not bothered?”

  She laughed and reached over to pat my knee, “Levi, you’re a sweetheart and you’ve always been my rock. But let’s get real for a second, you weigh like, a buck thirty. You might be five foot seven if we’re being generous. To top that all off, you’ve got fashion sense out the butt. I’m not saying I would have assumed you were gay, but I’m not surprised either.”

  I never expected the first person I told about myself to be so accepting, but I wasn’t complaining. Being able to share that with someone felt good, but I wasn’t sure if anyone else could be as kind as Ashley was about it. My parents probably guessed, but I rarely got to see them anymore. Dad was always off on business and getting my mom to sit still long enough to have a conversation took an act of congress. I loved them both, but after high school, things changed. They cared about me, but they told me long before high school finished that once I was in college, they would probably take more time to themselves.

  The silence in the car didn’t last more than ten seconds before Ashley blurted, “I know a few other gay guys from around town. If you’re just looking to get laid, I could probably get someone to lay some pipe for you.”

  I nearly slammed on the brakes, “Ashley!”

  “What? I’m just trying to help.”

  “I appreciate the thought, but I really don’t want to have a stranger’s dick in me. That’s not the kind of person I am. Sex is probably nice and all that, but I’ve gone twenty-two years without it and I don’t need to have it on a whim now. I’d rather just hold on a little while and find someone I care about. I think that still means something, even if we do live in a hook-up culture,” I said as I turned onto campus and started looking for a parking spot. There weren’t a lot of vehicles crowding the lot yet, so I grabbed a parking space near the middle and turned off the car.

  Ashley let out a soft hum and unbuckled her seatbelt. “I’m not trying to assume too much about you, Levi, I’m really not. I just don’t know what you want or need. You barely talk about what you’re interested in, so I really don’t understand what I’m supposed to do right now.”

  “You don’t have to do anything different, Ashley. Just keep being you. We’ve been friends for years and if I didn’t love being around you, you wouldn’t have got me to put down my game to come out here to watch sweaty jocks hit each other,” I reassured her.

  She laughed and shook her head, “Bet you can’t wait to see those hunks getting pounded by each other, can you?”

  “Oh, you know I love it when they get rough,” I teased.

  Ashley smiled and bumped her fist gently against my arm, “Seriously though, thank you for telling me.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “So, is there a reason you don’t want to be open about yourself?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure what people would think. My classmates would probably go back to bullying me like they did in high school when the rumors were bad.”

  “Makes me wish we went to the same high school, I would have beat th
eir asses for you,” she grumbled. “You shouldn’t have to be afraid about being open about who you are, Levi. If people don’t want to accept you, fuck them. Not literally, they don’t deserve your cute ass.”

  “I don’t have an ass,” I murmured.

  “It’s small, but I’m sure the right guy would love to squeeze it,” she purred.

  I rolled my eyes, “Let me guess, you know that guy?”

  “Nope. No clue who that guy would be, I only know the guys that like my thickness.”

  “Get down with the thickness?” I joked.

  “Get out.”

  “It’s my car!” I said while giggling.

  She pointed to my door, “Get out!”

  “Whatever, we can just wait out in the cold until the game starts,” I said as I got out of the car.

  Ashley got out and spread her arms out wide, “It’s the perfect weather for football. So, why don’t we talk about which player you think is the hottest?”

  “I’d love to, but that conversation is too short. Hunter wins.”

  “I don’t know, he’s a bit too much of a douche for me. He’s hot as hell, but every time I’ve seen him at a party, all he does is sip beer and pretend to care about whatever conversation his teammates are carrying on,” she said.

  “Maybe he just doesn’t want to be a part of all the stupidity,” I said.

  She shrugged, “Come to tonight’s party and find out.”

  “You make it seem like people would want me there.”

  “I mean, people know we’re friends, Levi. They ask about you. Believe it or not, some people actually think you’re interesting. If nothing else, they think you’re really smart,” she said.

  I rolled my eyes again, “Yeah, because that’s what I want to be known for.”

  “What else do you expect them to know you for? You don’t tell anyone anything about you. For all we know, you’re a spy planted in our school to figure out who is boning who so people can blackmail us when we run for president or something.”

  “That’s… elaborate?”

  By then, a few more cars had made their way through and I gestured to the stadium, “I’ve got to get a ticket, I don’t know if you have one or not, but I could cover you?”

  “Dude, my sister is a cheerleader, we’re getting in for free,” she said with a smirk.

  I shrugged my shoulders. I never claimed to be a goody-two-shoes.

  After what felt like a lifetime of watching the one-sided game from the bleachers it was finally getting close to being over. The coach’s shrill whistle split pierced the air and the crowd around me roared to life. Our team scored another touchdown, but I couldn’t understand why it was such a big deal. We always won. It only made sense that people would be used to that by now, but still, they threatened to blow out my eardrums every time.

  My friend Ashley sat and nudged me with her elbow, “You could at least pretend to be excited, Levi! Isn’t your man crush out there doing most of the work? That’s gotta be a reason to cheer a little!”

  Number seventy-three, Hunter George, was the guy she was talking about. His short brown hair was matted down from sweat and I could picture his dark green eyes flashing my way. They weren’t, of course, but a guy could dream. A guy like him wouldn’t be caught dead even joking with someone like me. My cheeks warmed as I pulled my eyes away from him. It wasn’t good to let my mind linger on the things I’d like him to do to me…

  “Quiet down a little about that. I don’t want people to find out about me just yet. If nothing else, let me be the one that tells people. It’s not your secret, you know?”

  She sighed and looked out across the field, “Yeah, but I don’t think anyone would blame you for wanting him. You know, I could ask around and see if anyone knows if he ever experimented with guys or something. I’m sure someone around here would know.”

  “He’s hot and I’m a fucking nerd. What would someone like him want from someone like me? Sure, maybe with enough beer he’d do something with me and then regret it for the rest of his life.” The more I said, the worse I felt about speaking my mind. “Can we just drop it?”

  Ashley let out a quiet sigh that I could barely make out over the crowd and nodded her head. It stung to know that I shut my friend down like that. I didn’t want to be that way with her, but even with how progressive the times were, not everyone viewed being gay as being okay. If they did, my life would have been a lot easier up to this point.

  The second people in high school even suspected I was gay, the bullying started. That felt like a lifetime ago now, but college wasn’t much better. If anything, it was probably worse. If someone found out about me, they would probably tell all their friends and the only kind of people that would approach me would be the experimenting type. Discovering yourself was nice and all, but I didn’t want to be someone’s test subject. All I wanted was a boyfriend that cared. College wasn’t the place for that. Hunter George wasn’t an option.

  Chapter Two

  I looked across at Tommy and nodded at him. He shook his head, then flashed me a sign with his hand and nodded. Coach wouldn’t appreciate that we were changing up the play, but Coach could just deal with it. He didn’t seem to care about yelling at me when I kept scoring touchdowns.

  The ball was snapped my way and I caught it before looking down the field. Tommy was in position, but we both knew I wasn’t throwing him the ball. I clenched my jaw and bit harder into my mouthpiece as I dug in with my heel and then burst forward in a flurry of motion. Heavy footfalls thundered all around as their defensive line caught on to what was happening, but it was already too late.

  From down the field, I could see two guys coming my way. They were huge and if I got hit, I knew I’d be sore for a while. But I wouldn’t get hit. They didn’t want to stop me more than I wanted to get to the end zone. The faster of the two ducked his head as he came in for a tackle and I charged straight at him until the very last second. His arms swept out as if he were going to grab me. Instead of pivoting, I glanced over at Tommy just in time to see him slam into the second guy coming my way.

  I took one last step and jumped as high as I could in my bulky padding. As I soared over him, I heard the crowd let out a communal gasp and that brought a smile to my face. I impacted heavily onto the field and ran as hard as I could. Forty. Thirty. Twenty. Ten. Touchdown.

  My legs were on fire and my lungs might as well have holes in them by now, but the rest of the game was just a formality. Even if we let them run it down each play, they couldn’t catch up. With less than a minute on the clock, there was no way they could score five times.

  Another victory. Another impressive play for the scouters to watch again and again. Coach huddled us up and gave us a victory speech that took much longer than I wanted it to and then dismissed us to the locker rooms. Except for me. He pulled me aside and put a hand on my shoulders, “Son, the play was to throw it deep and let someone else get some of the credit. You’re a damn fine player, but you’re not playing for the team. You’re playing for you. Boy, you’re going to get recruited if you keep playing like you have been, but that’s not going to happen after tonight.”

  My stomach twisted into a knot, “What do you mean, Coach?”

  “I mean that you’re on the verge of failing three classes. Son, you’re not stupid, but all your time on the field doesn’t mean a damn thing if you don’t make it out of college. My hands are tied on this one, Hunter. Either get your grades up or I’m going to have to pull you off the team for good. You’ve got two weeks to show some improvement,” he said with a hint of cheerfulness in his voice.

  “Coach, I’m the only reason this team is worth a damn! You can’t just bench me like this,” I snarled.

  Coach turned away from me and shook his head, “This team is like a family, Hunter. We’re the best because we work together and get the job done. We don’t need you, especially if you can’t see that your selfishness is stealing the spotlight from your teammates. Do you think they wan
t to give up football after this? They could all have a career in this, boy. They could all live the life that they want, but you don’t give a fuck about them. Now, get off my damn field before I change my mind about letting you come back to the team at all.”

  Rage built in my chest and for the briefest of moments, I thought about my chances of beating Coach’s ass. He wasn’t a small man, but he was in his late forties. The flash of burning anger within me was quickly extinguished by the reality of what Coach said. If I got pulled from the team before the season ended, there would be questions. Maybe I’d still get a contract, but people would dig into things and maybe they’d find out about my temper. It worked well for me on the field, but there was no denying that it was a problem every now and then.

  I unclenched my fists and called out in as reasonable a tone as I could muster, “I’m sorry, Coach. I’ll try to get my shit together.”

  “I hope you do, son,” Coach lamented.

  I took a quick walk around the parking lot to clear my head and try to calm down. Everything about tonight was going so damn well until it just wasn’t. I scored four individual touchdowns, I made the guys on their team look like idiots. But I couldn’t take a damn test without nearly throwing up and that was what was going to kill my damn career. Playing football was so much simpler. It wasn’t about answering questions that wouldn’t mean a damn thing later in my life. It wasn’t about writing stupid reports that no one cared to read. It was my skill versus my opponents. It was my talent against theirs. It was me against them.

  My team was great, the guys were cool to hang out with and I enjoyed spending time with them. But they weren’t the ones that I was looking out for. Sure, if they got in a fight, I’d back them without hesitation. But my career meant more to me than theirs did.

  The anger quickly ebbed out of my system, that and I really wanted out of my gear, so I headed for the locker rooms to shower and change. Luckily for me, most of the guys were already gone. Tommy stood leaning against a locker with nothing but a towel around his waist, “What took you so long, Hunter? All the beer is probably going to be gone before you even get ready, man.”