Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“Awesome. Come on, you can give me some pointers on how to play with Life-threader.”
“Let me lock up,” I said. Dylan headed out of the training room as I grabbed my keys and closed the door to my office. I knew I wasn’t making a mistake by saying yes, but I also knew that I wasn’t making the wisest decision either. Only time would tell if this would bite me on the ass or kiss me on it instead. I clearly hoped for the latter.
I met Dylan outside the training room. The wide hallways of the Bobcat Arena were mostly empty now. The game had finished and everyone had either raced home to rest or went to hang out with friends and party. There was a janitor mopping up and a pair of security guards strolling through, nodding their goodnights to us as we passed. I briefly wondered if they suspected anything was happening between us but I tried to ice that worry out of my head.
We were toward the exit when a friendly shout stopped us. “Miles!”
I turned, immediately recognizing that voice. “Macie?” Sure enough, Emmy’s little sister was running over to greet me. She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a hug tight enough to crack a couple ribs. I returned the friendly hug, surprised as hell to see her. It’d been something like three years since the last time we hung out. She’d grown since then. She was taller—reaching my shoulders now—with braided hair that fell down over her shoulder and was tied with a bright red ribbon. She had the same nose as Emmy and the same smile, too. I broke from the hug and said hi to her brother next.
“Macie’s going to be staying with me for a little bit,” Emmy said. “She came to see the game tonight and so I wanted to give her a backstage tour.” He was older than her by about six years and was always incredibly protective of her. He also tried to include her in his life as best he could, even with the age difference. A lot of his friends had become her friends just by virtue of being around so often. It warmed me to see their bond. Being an only child and raised by a single father meant my life was ruled by a subtle—and sometimes not-so-subtle—sense of loneliness. I envied the blood bond that people shared with their siblings.
“You guys did great tonight,” she said cheerfully.
Dyl scoffed at that. “I’ll take it, but I also know you are as good of a liar as your brother. And that doesn’t make you a very good one.”
She laughed and shook her head. She looked between Dylan and I. “Where are you two off to tonight?”
Ah fuck. I wasn’t expecting to be asked that question. Thankfully, Emmy knew the situation and likely suspected something, so he stepped in. “Probably going to bed. They’ve both had a long day.”
“Oh, right, duh,” Macie said with another bubbly laugh. Neither Dyl nor I expanded on that.
“All right,” Emmy said with a gentle hand on his sister. “I want to head to bed too. Let’s get going, Mace.”
“It was great seeing you again, Miles.”
“I’m sure we’ll all hang out soon.”
“I hope so,” she said and gave me another hug. She hugged Dylan too before following her brother down the hall.
“Ready to go to bed, then?” Dylan asked, his white-streaked brow arching suggestively.
I rolled my eyes and started down the hall with a laugh. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Thirteen
Let’s Play
DYLAN
Miles was in my house.
Holy fuck.
Thankfully I’d decided to clean this morning to try and get rid of my pre-game jitters. The floors were freshly vacuumed and mopped, the dishes were clean, the socks and random underwear were put away, and I had even grabbed a fresh bundle of sunflowers that sat on the center of my coffee table.
I wasn’t a very messy man by nature but some things did slip, especially when I was busy with practice or on the road for games. I wondered if Miles was the same. Would I ever be able to see inside his house or was this a one-time thing? I was a little surprised when Miles had agreed to come over. I still felt like there was a wall between us even though I’d had his dick in my mouth days earlier. Since then, our random texts to each other had become less frequent, and I’d only get a cursory hello from him whenever I saw him around the arena.
Maybe it was all in my head, though. Because here he was, standing barefoot in my living room, looking around and taking it in as I took him in.
“Beautiful place,” he said, turning to me. He wore a simple black T-shirt and a pair of black athletic pants that hugged his ass perfectly. A single gold earring glittered in his right ear, catching the light from my floor lamp. He had a little bit of dark brown scruff growing on his face which made him even more attractive to me. I didn’t really enjoy the clean-shaven look all the time. Although Miles could pull off both exceptionally well.