The Quarterback by Tal Bauer
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The lights werelow in Nick’s condo, but not so low he didn’t see the lump on Nick’s couch when they walked in. He hung back in the kitchen as Nick crossed the living room. “Hey,” he heard Nick say as he knelt. “I didn’t know you’d still be here.”
A hand rose, reaching for Nick, and Colton heard Justin’s sleepy voice. “Wanted to be here for you in case it didn’t go well.” A bone-cracking yawn cut off whatever else Justin was going to say. “Did you find him?”
“I did.”
“Did you guys talk?”
“Yes. He’s here with me.” Colton saw Nick’s gentle smile curve in the moonlight shining through the balcony windows. “I didn’t see your car in the garage. How did you get here earlier?”
“Walked. I needed time to think.” Another yawn. “Should I go? I can call an Uber. Wes passed out again, so he can’t pick me up.”
“No.” Nick tucked the blanket up around Justin’s shoulders. “Stay. Sleep.” He leaned forward and kissed Justin’s forehead. Justin made a noise, something between a grunt and a snore, and then rolled toward the back of the couch. Nick ran his hand over Justin’s head, fingers trailing through his hair, before he rose and came back to Colton.
“That’s one of the things I love about you.” Colton kept his voice low. “I love how you are with Justin. I love the kind of father you are.”
Nick’s cheeks flushed. He carefully set his car keys on the counter. “I don’t think I’m a very good father sometimes, or even a good man. I failed you and him. I thought I was doing the best I could for each of you, but all I did was let you both down.” He held out his hand and took Colton’s fingers in his. Kissed each of Colton’s knuckles. “I hurt Justin by keeping this from him because I thought it would end. And I hurt you by not telling you that I never wanted it to. And I hurt myself because I buried my own feelings.” Another kiss, this time to the back of his hand. “I got so busy taking care of other people that I forgot I could want, and need, and yearn, too. And after I left Cynthia… I didn’t imagine I’d fall in love again. But I did.”
“The only thing I ever wanted more than football was for someone to love me.” Colton’s voice was small and soft. His deepest secret, laid bare for Nick to have and to hold.
“I do love you, Colton. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. Every night, after you fell asleep, I’d stay up and watch you as long as I could. I didn’t want the day to end, because I didn’t want to be closer to the day you’d leave. I had to tell myself what we had was just summer and we were just a fling because I couldn’t face the idea of loving you and losing you. But all the lies I told myself didn’t matter. I fell in love with you anyway.”
“I should have told you what I wanted,” Colton murmured. His gaze traveled over the lines of Nick’s forearms, his moonlight-touched skin. “Everything changed inside me when I was with you. I didn’t know what to think or what to do when I fell for you. The only thing I knew for sure was that I loved you, and I wanted a life with you. But I didn’t know how to make that happen.”
Nick wrapped his hands around the back of Colton’s neck. His fingers played in the short strands of his hair. “We start again, with nothing hidden from each other.”
Colton nodded. He kissed the inside of Nick’s wrist, over his veins and delicate tendons.
Nick’s hands cupped his cheeks. “Come to bed? It’s too empty without you.”
Colton knew his way to Nick’s bed by heart, and he steered Nick there, leaving Justin and his snores in the living room. He tumbled to the mattress with Nick without breaking their kiss, then shimmied his way up the bed as Nick straddled him and they started pulling off each other’s clothes. “You’re wearing my favorite T-shirt,” Nick murmured. “Well, not really a tee shirt. You’re missing the tee part.”
Colton grinned as he threw the cutoff shirt to the ground. “I want to see you wear it.” His hands slid up Nick’s naked back, and he sucked a hickey into Nick’s pec as Nick struggled out of his jeans, groaning and uncoordinated, trying to hold Colton to him and undress at the same time.
Then Nick shoved him back and descended on Colton, tearing his athletic shorts down his legs and taking his cock into his mouth. Colton whined, spine arching, thighs quaking, hands sliding into Nick’s hair as he thrust into Nick’s hot mouth until his cock hit the back of Nick’s throat. Nick moaned, and Colton’s thoughts fled. Nick’s lips and tongue slid around him, slick with saliva, and suctioned hard around his length, sucking a little bit more down Nick’s throat with each glide. Colton’s fingers dug into Nick’s scalp, tugging on his hair as he burned the sight of Nick with his lips wrapped around his cock into his brain.
Nick pushed Colton’s spread thighs up, bending him in half so Nick could dive into his ass. Nick devoured him, and Colton’s spine melted as his bones burned. He panted, his head tossing back and forth on Nick’s pillow. He bit his lip, trying to hold back his cries. Justin was nearby. And yeah, Justin seemed okay with them now, but there was a difference between being okay with something and hearing your dad fucking your friend through the mattress.
He’d thought that night was going to be the beginning of so much more for them, and now that he was back in Nick’s arms, he wanted to feel Nick as close as he possibly could again. He fumbled on Nick’s nightstand, knocking Nick’s alarm clock and watch to the floor before finding the bottle of lube. He shoved it down the mattress and into Nick’s grasp.
Two slick fingers slid inside him. He grabbed his pillow—crumpled, like it had been held to Nick’s chest, like Nick had done exactly what Colton had—and pulled it over his face, screaming into the down. Lips wrapped around his cock again as Nick’s fingers curled toward his prostate.
An inferno shot up his spine, fire that tried to drown him and consume him all at once. He gasped. Shoved the pillow away and stared down at Nick, watching him as he moved his fingers inside Colton. Their eyes met. A third finger slid in. Nick sucked Colton almost all the way down to his pubes. “Now,” Colton pleaded. “Now, Nick, please.”
Nick swirled his tongue around the head before pulling off. He kept his fingers inside Colton’s ass as he reached for the lube, but he dropped it, his hand shaking too much to slick himself, and the bottle rolled toward Colton.
Colton grabbed it. He poured a small oil slick into his palm, but there was no such thing as too much lube. He reached down and ran his soaked hand over Nick’s rock-hard length.
Nick groaned, breathing in hard, short pants like he was desperately trying to control himself. His fingers curled again, digging into Colton’s prostate until Colton’s world went white. He fell back, a soundless scream tearing from him as he clawed at the mattress.
He was empty for a moment, and then Nick was there, his cock at Colton’s ass as he fell forward and caged Colton between his arms. Their foreheads rested together, eyes boring into each other’s, lips grazing with every shaking breath.
And then Nick pressed inside him, easing forward all the way. Like he was coming home.
They swallowed each other’s groans, their kiss so deep Colton breathed in the oxygen Nick exhaled. God, he was so fucking full of Nick, exactly the way he craved. Nick on top of him, Nick inside him in every way. He looped his arms around Nick’s neck and shivered. Nick thrust gently into Colton’s ass. He cursed as he broke the kiss, squeezing his eyes closed as he dug his forehead into Colton’s. “I’m so close.”
Colton was going to come any moment. His cock was aching, hard and heavy against his stomach. His balls were already sending warning signals, and he felt the clench of his orgasm rising inside him. He was going to come without ever touching himself. He was going to come because Nick was making love to him.
Nick kissed him again, thrusting in long, deep strokes that moved all the way in before gliding almost all the way out. Colton tipped his head back, whispering Nick’s name to the headboard as pleasure danced beneath his skin, from his toes to his fingertips, and then raced to his cock. Circling his belly and dropping into his balls. “I’m going to come. Nick, I’m going to come—”
He arched, and clenched, and started to cry out, but Nick captured his lips in a kiss as he came apart in Nick’s arms. Nick thrust through Colton’s orgasm, and then it was his turn to muffle a shout in their kiss as his wet heat spilled inside Colton.
“Colton,” he breathed, brushing open-mouthed kisses across his forehead, his chin, his neck. Nick’s lips landed on his pounding pulse. “I love you,” Nick whispered. “And I should have told you that the first time we made love.”
Colton wrapped his arms and legs around Nick. “I was thinking it the whole time. I swore I thought I was thinking so loudly you could hear me like I was screaming.”
“I wish I had.”
He kissed Nick, softly. Tenderly. “Tell me you love me every day?”
“I will. I promise.”
* * *
It was already almostthree a.m., but they stayed up talking, lying on their sides and facing each other, hands cradling cheeks and fingers sliding through each other’s hair. They talked about their future, about what it might look like when they built a life together.
“I’ll follow you anywhere,” Nick whispered. “Any NFL team. Any place you go.”
“I’m not going into the NFL. I’m not going to play professional football.”
“Are you sure? I know you can get back to where you were—”
“That’s not what I want anymore. And it’s not because of my shoulder. Yeah, I could get back to where I was, but… I don’t want to. I want to spend that time with you instead. One of the secret truths about the game is that you can’t have a life other than football. I never understood why that bothered Wes. Until now.”
Nick ran his fingers down Colton’s cheek. “What do you want?”
“I don’t know yet. I asked Kimbrough for a job. I wanted to escape, and I thought I could go work on an oil rig.” Nick’s eyes went wide. “He told me no. He said he didn’t want me out on the rigs, but that if I made it through this year, he’d give me any job I wanted.”
“You’d be amazing with Kimbrough. You and he would be a fantastic team.”
“He, uh. He knows about us. He figured it out. He said we looked at each other like we were in love.”
He’d thought Nick would be more upset about Kimbrough knowing he was dating Colton, but all he did was smile. “He’s an extremely perceptive man. He saw exactly how I was looking at you.”
“I talked to Clarence tonight, too. I was walking home from bailing him out of a potential arrest when you found me. I gave him some hard truths. I think he’s going to try to listen from now on. He might decide to be coachable.” He hitched his thigh closer to Nick, sliding it between Nick’s legs. “I think I might like coaching him.”
“I could see you as a coach.” Nick kissed Colton and ran his palm over Colton’s hip. “I could see you doing anything you want and succeeding—no, excelling—because that’s the kind of person you are, Colton.”
One year, he’d thought. One year to become the man he wanted to be.
He smiled at Nick, scooting closer, moving their bodies together as he cradled Nick’s cheek and kissed him back. Nick moaned and ground his hips, his hardening cock, against Colton’s already hard length. Colton rolled to his back and pulled Nick on top of him, his hands gliding down Nick’s spine to his hips and then to his ass. He squeezed, rocking up into Nick as he deepened their kiss.
He liked the Colton Hall he’d started to uncover. The man he was becoming. He wanted to meet this Colton, learn more about him. What made up his life and his happiness and his dreams. He wanted to see him in the mirror and be proud of him, the choices he’d made and the life he was living.
A life he would live with Nick.
They finally exhausted themselves, and he fell asleep with his head on Nick’s chest, Nick’s heartbeat thumping beneath his ear and Nick’s hand in his hair. Day broke across the bedroom too soon. Colton rolled into Nick’s chest to hide from the piercing rays, and Nick held him as he pulled another hour of sleep out of the sun-drenched morning. Eventually, after they kissed each other awake, they rolled out of bed and tumbled toward the kitchen.
Justin was already up and making coffee. He had three mugs on the counter and was in the process of filling them all. His eyes rose, and his gaze locked on Colton’s for a long moment. “Good morning, Colton,” he finally said. He pushed a coffee cup and the sugar bowl across the kitchen counter.
“Morning, Justin.” He smiled and took the coffee.
Justin then handed a cup to Nick, and when he did, Nick took Justin’s other hand and squeezed, holding on to his son for a long moment. Something passed between them, and Justin nodded to his dad, smiling softly as he threaded their fingers together before letting go. He sagged against the refrigerator with the last cup. “So, Dad, Wes and I are going to start planning the wedding. You’re going to help, right?”
Colton choked. He coughed, his coffee going down the wrong pipe. “Wedding?”
“Wes proposed. For real this time.” Justin grinned. “With more than just a football.”
Both of their gazes went to Justin’s hands. His ring fingers were bare.
“We’re saving the rings for the wedding. I’ll put his ring on the day I marry him.” His eyes glittered, something deep passing through his gaze.
“Of course, I’d love to help,” Nick said. “I’ll help with anything you want.”
“Okay, first, we need to pick a color scheme. I was thinking cocoa brown and ballet pink—”
“Aren’t weddings white?”
“Dad.” Justin glared over the rim of his coffee cup. He rolled his eyes to Colton. “You’re going to have to deal with this, you know.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you! You’re signing up for this whole package.” Justin waved his hand toward his dad as he drawled out the whole. He smiled, though, softening his words, and winked at Nick. “I was also thinking about mahogany and buttercup yellow. I might like that better than ballet pink.” He tapped a finger on his chin. “Decisions, decisions.”
“I like that one,” Colton said. “I think a soft yellow would look nice.”
“Colton.” Justin looked him dead in the eye. “You know Wes. You know he’s even worse than my dad is. If the color doesn’t come from a Crayola box, neither Dad nor Wes knows it exists, so you and I might end up planning this entire wedding together.”
He grinned. “I’m down for that.”
Justin smiled and set his empty coffee cup in the sink. “Well, I’ve got to go rouse my fiancé from the dead. He slept in your bed last night, Colton, and I fear I may never pry him out of there. You splurged on that mattress as part of your degree program, and Wes has always been jealous.”
“You guys can move into my room if you want. I think I’m going to be staying here for a while.” He turned his face up to Nick, arching his brow.
“Please move back in.” Nick threaded their fingers together on the countertop. “It didn’t feel like home until you were here.”
“Admit it,” he teased. “You really just want the PlayStation back.”
Nick kissed him. “I want you back. I’ll accept the PlayStation. But we need to get a stand or something for it so it’s not on the floor. The cables were everywhere.”
“I need to bring over my charging footrest, too. I bet you’ll love it. It’s ergonomic.”
“Oooo-kay,” Justin said. His gaze went from their joined hands to their brushing noses, their mirrored smiles. “It’s time for me to head out.” He dropped a kiss on his dad’s cheek and laid his hand over their joined ones, squeezing once, lightning fast. “I’ve got dance rehearsal this afternoon, Dad, but I’ll be at the stadium for the last half of practice. Want to meet there?”
“I could come to your rehearsal, and then we could go to the stadium together?”
Justin’s cheeks flushed. His eyes darted to Colton, then skittered away. “You sure?”
“Yes.” Nick squeezed Colton’s hand. Colton smiled. Nick was both Justin’s father and Colton’s lover, and it worked.
“Cool.” Justin shrugged, trying for nonchalance. His eyes gleamed, though, and he couldn’t quite smother the smile breaking through his cool façade. With him, there was a lot of noise, but Colton had learned it was more the quiet moments, and what Justin did rather than what he said, that spoke to what he was really thinking and feeling. He’d talked a big game when he moved into the jock house, but he’d also jumped into cooking dinner and joining the study sessions, becoming one of them almost overnight.
He’d stayed to make coffee and say good morning to Colton, too.
“Sounds good, Dad. I’ll see you guys later.”
After Justin left, Colton leaned into Nick, resting his cheek over his beating heart. Nick kissed the top of his head. “Can we go check you out of that motel today? I want to bring you home.”
He nuzzled Nick’s neck. Smiled so hard his cheeks ached. “Yeah. Coming home sounds awesome.”
