Calling the Play (15 page)

Ty looked taken aback. “Thanks.”

“You need to be able to do that on the football field.” His words fell between them like a grenade.

“So I’m good at being a leader off the field, but not on?” Ty challenged him.

“Yes.” Brian sighed and walked over and sat down next to Ty. “I see what you’re trying to do on the field, Ty. The same thing you did here. You brought them together, you got the conversation started, and then you let them work it out themselves. That’s great. But on the field, you can’t do that. You can’t let them do whatever it is they need to do. You have to make them do what
you
need them to do.”

“That’s what this was about,” Ty said. “I knew Tom and Danny were having issues with what happened between us. Hell, the last couple of months, they barely talked to me, and could hardly look me in the eye. That sure as fuck isn’t going to win football games.” He ran his hands through his hair. “You need to hear the whole story.”

Brian held up a hand. “No. I don’t want you telling me their secrets, Ty. I don’t need that. I’m okay with whatever it was.”

“Yeah, well, this isn’t about your feelings,” Ty said. “Sorry to disappoint. But you’re right. I’ll just give you the information you need. We all had sex. Danny learned some things about himself that he didn’t know and it freaked him out. Tom learned some things about himself that made him want things he wasn’t sure how to ask for. And I was the source of knowledge for both of them. So I became the target of their fear and uncertainty. Tom is over that, and I think him telling you what happened, and that stupid race, was a big part of getting him past the hump. Danny is a head case. I love him, but he’s screwed up, man.”

“Danny Smith is one of the most hated men in football. But that wasn’t the Danny Smith I saw here tonight, was it?” Brian asked. He’d been worried about Smith, about his reputation for being difficult to coach and to play with.

“No, and I hope we don’t see that guy again,” Ty said. “What happened between all of us was to clean the slate. To start over. And I see that in Danny now. I see him trying. Trust me, you’re going to love him, too. I’m not at liberty to tell you what went down in his and Marian’s past, but suffice it to say that he was her hero, and what he did made him a hero in my eyes, too, and Cass and Beau and Tom’s. And we are the only ones who know, and that’s how they want it. So it’s going to be a hard sell for the rest of the team. And I needed him to stop acting like I was the enemy and realize I’m one of the only friends he’s got right now.”

“Then I was out of line, and I’m sorry,” Brian said. “But you haven’t been talking to me, Ty. You’ve shut me out this week. Let me in. Let me help. That’s why I’m here.”

“Is it?” Ty asked. He scooted his chair closer and invaded Brian’s personal space. Brian didn’t move. Ty rested his head on his crossed arms on the table, watching him. “Is that why you’re here? To help me with my game?”

Ty stared at Brian, letting every bit of his desire show on his face. He was tired of fighting it. He figured he’d always want Brian. Nearly ten years of it and it hadn’t changed at all. He was trying to get his life together, get his game on, get the team on track. Maybe it was time to put his head on straight and just admit what he’d known from the minute Brian had come back into his life. They were going to do this. He didn’t know for how long, didn’t really care. As long as it lasted, he was on board for the ride. Brian grounded him. When he was around, Ty’s life made sense. End of story.

“You know it is,” Brian said, answering his question. “At least, that’s the reason I’m here with the Rebels.”

“And why are you here, tonight, at my house?” Ty asked quietly, looking at Brian’s mouth. It wasn’t anything spectacular; he didn’t have big, pouty lips that begged to be kissed or fucked. He had a no-nonsense mouth, not too big or too small, usually set in a serious line. But right now the corners were tipped up just a bit, just enough to kick Ty’s heart into a higher gear.

“Because I want you,” Brian said. “I’ve always wanted you, Ty. I was just too scared to go for it. But I came all this way. I’ve had a lot of time to think this week when you were giving me the cold shoulder.”

“That wasn’t the cold shoulder,” Ty protested. “I was just trying to get a little space to do some thinking, too.”

“Well, it felt damn cold in my lonely bed at night,” Brian said, resting his arms on the table and his chin on his arms, imitating Ty. Their legs and elbows were touching, their faces less than a foot apart. Brian’s face was tight with desire. Ty had seen that look often, but only recently directed at him.

“Sorry,” Ty said sincerely. “If it helps, my bed was pretty damn lonely, too.”

Brian smiled. “It helps. Anyway, I decided I’d come too far to walk away without a fight.”

“Are we going to fight?” Ty asked, reaching one hand out and tracing a finger down the back of Brian’s hand, so close to Brian’s mouth he could feel the heat of his breath.

“No,” Brian said. He flipped his hand over and caught Ty’s finger. “We’re going to fuck.”

“You fight dirty,” Ty said, grinning back. “I like it.”

“If we’re going to do this,” Brian said, rearranging his hold on Ty so that they were holding hands, “then you can’t shut me out again. I can’t keep doing that. I went pretty crazy this week wondering what you were thinking. What was going on with us.”

Ty had to laugh. “You going crazy looked like business as usual. You are totally repressed.”

“I am,” Brian agreed. “I internalize all my stress. Someday I’m going to have a heart attack.”

“Don’t even say that,” Ty said, squeezing his hand as a cold chill made the hair rise on his arms.

“Sorry,” Brian said, lifting their joined hands and kissing Ty’s knuckles. “I’ll try to tell you when you’re making me crazy from now on.”

“Good.” Ty sat up and rearranged his chair, then pulled on Brian’s arm, spinning him sideways. He scooted in, one knee between Brian’s legs so they were even closer, facing each other. He ran both hands down Brian’s chest and dropped them to his thighs. “Am I making you crazy right now?”

“Yes,” Brian said, his voice a little rougher than it had been just moments before. “Don’t tease. I’m on edge already.”

Ty grinned and leaned over and kissed Brian’s neck just above the open vee of his collar. “Good,” he whispered. “I like edgy. Then you get demanding and rough, and I like that even better.”

“You’re poking a lion,” Brian said seriously.

“Someone has a high opinion of himself,” Ty teased.

Brian cupped Ty’s cheek and lifted his face up. “No,” he said, speaking against Ty’s lips. “I just know my brand of crazy, and you bring it out like almost no one else.” When he kissed Ty it was lightly, a whisper of a kiss, a barely there caress that left Ty hungry and panting and eager.

“How do you do that to me with just one little kiss?” Ty asked, amazed at Brian’s hold on him. How had that happened? Had it always been like that? He couldn’t remember now. They’d never been intimate like this.

“I don’t know,” Brian said softly, running his hand through Ty’s hair. “But if it helps, you have the same effect on me just by walking into a room.”

“It helps,” Ty whispered. This time he initiated the kiss, and while he tried to keep it tender, his kiss was rougher and more demanding than Brian’s had been. Brian rose to the challenge, took over the kiss. He placed both hands on Ty’s cheeks to hold him where he wanted him, and owned his mouth with a ravenous kiss that made promises Ty knew Brian was good for. He realized he was fascinated by Brian’s mouth not because of how it looked, but because of what he knew Brian could do with it. Brian broke the kiss with a groan.

“Ty, stop,” he said. “Listen to me.”

Ty didn’t want to listen to him. In his experience, talking first usually meant no sex. “Talk later. I promise I’ll listen then.”

“What do you want, Ty?” Brian asked, evading his mouth. He pushed Ty away, catching his gaze and holding it. “Who?”

“What do you mean?” Ty asked. “I want you. Isn’t that what this is all about?” For just a second, he let his mind slip back to the last time Brian was at his house, when they were with Randi. But he firmly shut down that line of thinking. He’d learned over the years not to want what he couldn’t have, because that kind of shit made you crazy.

“I know I wasn’t the only one you were thinking about this week. What about Randi?” Brian asked, reading his mind. “I thought you wanted her, too.”

“I do. Did. I did want her. But I told you, she’s not even talking to me now.” Ty pushed his chair back and stood up. “Come on. I actually do have a bedroom in this house. Let’s use it.”

“When Randi called the other day, you didn’t even hesitate to answer the phone with me still inside you.” Brian didn’t get up. He was watching Ty closely.

“Because I didn’t know what was going on with her,” Ty said. “I needed to talk to her, I’d been trying all day. You knew that. I’m sorry if that hurt your feelings.” He hadn’t even thought about it at the time. He’d just assumed Brian would understand. Brian had been with Randi; he knew what she was like, how she could tie a guy in knots. “I don’t want to talk about Randi. That’s over,” he said firmly, a catch in his throat. Why, when he finally had Brian here again and they were ready to move on, could he not get Randi out of his head? She’d certainly done a number on him.

“I don’t think it is,” Brian said. He stood up and came over to Ty. His face was sympathetic. “Ty, it doesn’t have to be either-or. But if it is, I think I deserve to know that going in, don’t I?”

“What does that mean, ‘It doesn’t have to be either-or’?” Ty asked, confused. “ ‘Either-or’ what?”

“Me or Randi,” Brian said. He took Ty’s hand. “I love you, Ty. I don’t think that’s a big secret at this point.” Ty started to respond, but Brian put his finger over Ty’s lips. “No, listen. This”—he gestured between them—“was never what we were about, was it?”

“Yes,” Ty said, suddenly afraid that what he’d always wanted was slipping through his fingers. “I always wanted you.”

“But you never said it, Ty,” Brian said. “You never tried to make it just you and me. And neither did I. Why?”

“Because we were both too scared,” Ty admitted. “Me, of losing you. And you of just the whole idea, I think.”

“Really? That’s why? Not because neither one of us wanted to give up women? Because I’m not sure I want to give up women.” Brian moved away and leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. “I think there’s a reason we were always searching for a new woman to put between us.”

Ty’s heart was pounding, but he wasn’t sure if it was from fear or excitement. Maybe a little of both. “Yeah. Yeah, we were.” He looked away, out at the patio where they’d made love to Randi. “Are you saying this—you and me—isn’t enough? That you want to go back to what we were then?” He turned back to Brian. “Threesomes? Is that what you want?” His phone rang and Brian didn’t answer the question. Ty let it ring, waiting.

“You better get that,” Brian said.

“It’s not important,” Ty said impatiently.

“Are you sure?” Brian asked. “See who it is.”

Ty pulled his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. His eyes went wide when he saw the caller ID. He looked up at Brian.

“Answer it,” Brian told him. “Go on.”

He hit Answer. “Randi?” he said into the receiver.

“All right,” she said, sounding impatient and slightly irritated. “I called. At nine. Is Brian there?”

“You want to talk to Brian?” Ty asked, confused.

“No,” she said. “He told me to call you at nine. I’m calling.”

“So you’re only calling me because Brian told you to?” he asked sharply, getting pretty pissed off.

“No, you idiot,” she said. “I’m calling because Brian told me I had to call at nine tonight. I would have called sooner, but you know how he is with his orders and shit. Is he there?”

Ty was starting to get an idea of what was going on. “Yeah, he’s here.”

“Tell him I said quack.”

“Tell him you said ‘quack’?” Ty repeated. Brian burst out laughing. “What’s going on?”

“I’m quacking to his tune,” Randi said, laughter in her voice. “I hope he appreciates it. I don’t quack for just anybody.”

“Say ‘quack,’ ” Ty demanded.

“Quack,” she said quietly. “Now tell him he’s got all his ducks in a row.”

Brian took the phone from Ty. “Hey, Randi,” he said.

“You said hey,” she teased him. “Not hi.”

“I’m trying to blend in,” he teased back. “Can you FaceTime?”

“Sure,” she said. “Are you going to do something kinky? If so, I need to change first.”

“Why? What are you wearing?” Ty made a face at him and Brian shrugged. He’d never had phone sex. Or video sex. Maybe they called it FaceTime sex. He had no idea.

“Lingerie. But I thought I’d put on my cop outfit for you.”

“I’m good with the lingerie,” Brian assured her. “We played cop earlier.”

“I’m kidding,” she said. “I’m actually still wearing my cop clothes. I had to go back to work for a little while, and I had dinner with Johnny. But if we’re going to FaceTime, I want to look good. Ty hasn’t seen me in a week. I’ve got to bring my A game.”

“It’s the only game you’ve got,” Brian told her sincerely. “But I’m dying to see you in some sexy things.” Ty was frowning at him now and motioning for the phone back. “Call us right back,” Brian told her, and then he hung up.

“What’s going on?” Ty demanded. “Why did you see Randi today?”

“I went to talk about you and her, and what’s going on with her,” Brian said. “When I got there she was having some trouble with the guy you two arrested last week.”

“We just chased him, although I think she got a lot of credit for the arrest,” Ty said. “What kind of trouble?”

“She saw him today at the station and got sort of freaked out,” Brian told him. “She’s having a hard time getting over some of the stuff he did to her while she was undercover.”

Ty looked worried. “I didn’t see him do anything, at least not after I got there. She left him almost right away to come over and try and save me from my stupid decision to go to Kitty Licks the same night a big drug deal was going down.”

“I guess you saved each other,” Brian told him. “Asshole had been grabbing her tits and shoving his fingers in her pussy all night.”

“What. The. Hell,” Ty ground out. “She didn’t tell me that. If she had I’d have broken his hand.”

“I had a similar reaction,” Brian said. “I took her to lunch to talk about you two and she got shaky, so I took her home. We talked, and I made her come twice.”

Ty took a step back, confusion and hurt on his face. “By talking?”

“No, by stripping her down and replacing bad memories with good ones,” Brian said. “And I had an epiphany.”

“Sounds painful,” Ty muttered, trying to walk past him. Brian reached out and snagged his arm. He leaned in close.

“We can have it all, Ty,” he whispered in his ear. “Each other, and Randi.” Ty stood frozen, not looking at him. “Is that what you want? Because I do. I love you, Ty, but I think we could have something special with Randi, too. You already feel it, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Ty whispered. “I can’t stop thinking about her.” He turned to Brian and his expression was anguished. “But she doesn’t want me, Bri. She opened up to you, she called for you. She trusts you. Not me.”

Brian was shaking his head before Ty was done talking. “Not true. She told me today that she walked away because she knew you would sooner or later. She thinks you’re out of her league, that she isn’t good enough for you. She worried that the press would have a field day, put her on some stupid worst celebrity girlfriend list or some shit like that. She called herself a major slut. But it’s all a defense mechanism, I think, because of her past. She’s had a lot of people walk away. Now she runs before it can happen again. I can relate to that.”

“Wow,” Ty said, his eyes wide. “She
really
opened up to you.” He shook his head. “But that’s all crazy. She knows I think she’s gorgeous. And I love her crazy and I love that she’s dirty. Although I only want her to be dirty with us, which is a new thing for me, and I’m trying to wrap my head around it.”

“Exactly,” Brian said, grinning. “Me, too. I also told her it was unfair for her and me to keep making your decisions for you. That she owed it to you to let you decide whether or not you wanted to be with her. I think maybe she listened to me.”

“We all listen to you,” Ty said. “You’ve got a thing going on that makes it impossible not to.”

“I know,” Brian said unapologetically. “I use that to my advantage whenever possible.”

“So you want to try to have a relationship with Randi? The three of us?” Ty asked. “What if it doesn’t work out?”

“Then it doesn’t work out,” Brian said, but he knew it would. It had to. It had never felt so right with a woman before. “But we have to at least give it a chance.”

“So what are we doing now? Tonight?” Ty asked, checking his phone. She hadn’t called back yet.

“I figure we have to make sure she knows all the facts before she makes a decision to be with us,” Brian told him. “So we’re going to show her what she’s getting.”

“Holy shit,” Ty said softly, a grin slowly spreading over his face. “I know I’m pretty jaded, but that’s still hot.”

“This is new territory for me,” Brian said, his heart tripping in his chest. “I’ve never really tried to make something like this work before.”

“No shit,” Ty said. He shrugged. “Me neither, not since you, which didn’t go so well. Since then I’ve just done one-night stands, group stuff that didn’t mean anything.”

Brian wasn’t sure what to say to that. “This means something,” he finally said.

“Good,” Ty said. “I’m ready for it to mean something.”

Twenty minutes later, Brian paced back and forth in Ty’s bedroom while Ty lay on the bed, his arm thrown over his face, his naked chest gleaming in the candlelight. They’d both stripped down to shorts while waiting for Randi to call back. Ty had lit some candles in his room and left a small lamp burning on the bedside table.

“She’s not calling back,” Ty said. “She changed her mind.”

“She’s going to call,” Brian insisted, staring at the phone screen. “Something must have come up.”

“That’s bullshit,” Ty said. He sounded tired. “She’s not into it.”

“That doesn’t sound like Randi, does it?” Brian asked. “The Randi we both know is up for anything.”

“Except a relationship,” Ty countered. “You said it yourself. She’s running before we do.”

“She stopped running today,” Brian said, wanting to believe it. But every minute she didn’t call made him question it. He thought he could read people. Thought he’d read her, but maybe he was wrong. He didn’t want to be, didn’t want losing Randi to mar their new beginning. Because it would be losing her. Somehow she’d gotten to both of them in the short amount of time they’d known her. It was like that sometimes, he supposed, for some people. It had been like that with him and Ty. Whether or not she called back, he knew it had been like that for her, too. Which made the loss even greater for all of them. He sat down on the end of the bed, slumping, and ran his hand through his hair, dejected. “At least, I thought she did. I guess I was wrong.”

Ty moved on the bed behind him and then Brian felt the warmth of his body against his bare back right before Ty’s arm slipped around his chest and pulled him back. The solid strength and heat of his chest was a comfort, and an unexpected thrill of desire shot through Brian. Even as he mourned Randi’s loss, Ty made him feel things he’d hidden away for so long, and it was like taking blinders off his eyes after years in the dark. “I was a fool,” he said softly, “to deny us this.”

“Yep,” Ty said. “Foolish Brian, that’s you.” He kissed the side of Brian’s neck. “But the truth is, neither of us was ready for this back then.” Brian pulled away and looked at Ty over his shoulder. Ty missed his warmth, but let him go. “It’s true,” he said. “I was scared when you told me you were leaving. I did love you. I still do. But the thought of that, of a commitment, of being with just you forever and ever, that scared me, too.” He climbed off the bed. “I was too young. You were right. Again.” He hoped his smile took the sting out of his words. “But I think we both handled it wrong.” He blew out a candle, cupping his hand around the flame first. “If you had stayed…I would have wondered.”

“Wondered what?” Brian asked.

“If you had stayed because you really loved me, or just because I begged you to,” Ty answered. “That would have bugged me. It would have driven a wedge between us even if my immaturity didn’t ruin it all anyway.” He stood there facing Brian, his arms crossed. “What you said tonight, that’s what I was thinking eight years ago. I wasn’t ready to give up girls, give up the threesomes. That’s what I like.” He laughed. “You knew it then, too.”

“Yeah, I knew it,” Brian said, standing up and facing Ty. “So what now?”

“I guess it’s you and me against the world,” Ty half-joked. “We’re older and wiser, Brian. We both know this thing between us is solid. It survived eight years apart and countless mistakes and bad decisions. Failed marriages, drug charges, and a stint in the CFL.”

“Canada isn’t so bad,” Brian said. “I shouldn’t have waited eight years to come crawling back.” He took a step closer. “I knew you needed me, but I was too scared to take a chance.”

“Winnipeg was damn cold,” Ty said with a forgiving smile. “I’m not sure you could have survived the winters.”

“I’m pretty tough,” Brian said. “We’d have been all right.”

“We’re going to be better than all right,” Ty said, taking two steps so that he was right in front of Brian. He put his hand on Brian’s waist, savoring the warmth of his skin and the firm muscle under it. “Maybe they have a Match.com for guys like us. We’ll find a nice, kinky girl and settle down like Marian and Cass and Beau.”

“Wouldn’t the press love that,” Brian said with a snort. “But I don’t want a nice girl. I want a girl like Randi.”

“I know,” Ty said softly, pulling Brian close and kissing his forehead. “So we give her some more time, huh?” He looked down at Brian. “Flowers? Do you think she’d like those? Chocolate? Beer of the Month club? What?”

The doorbell rang before Brian could answer, and then there was loud knocking, followed by more bell ringing.

“What the hell?” Ty said. He frowned at Brian. “It’s almost ten o’clock. If Tom and Danny fucking wrecked my car, I’m going to kill them.” He took off for the front door and Brian followed close behind. But when he yanked open the door it wasn’t the cops with bad news. It was one particular cop, and she looked absolutely delicious in a little hot-pink, see-through nightie. She also looked mad as hell.