Sidelined (3 page)

“I know, man.” He didn’t know. Not about that, anyway. He just didn’t know what else to say. “It’s going to rain soon.” Heat lightning filled the skies off in the distance, highlighting the dark clouds blocking out the moon.

“It’s been raining for months. More than a year.”

The man shifted against him, and with a grunt, he was on his feet. Tracy didn’t know what he meant by more than a year, the season ending injury was only last November. Not a year.

“It’ll stop soon. It can’t rain all the time. Not even here.”

“Yeah, here. Why am I here?” He moved again, taking his arm from Tracy’s grip, and a second later the door swung outward and warm light filtered out, as well as heat. “Place is like an oven. It’s never cool. Even at night.”

His face was rigid in the dim lighting; he cut his eyes to Tracy and then looked away as quickly. “Are you going to be okay? Do you want me to call someone?”

“There’s no one to call. No one who gives a shit anyway. Thanks for the ride, Coach, I owe you one.”

Tracy stood on the small stoop watching as Levi made his way deeper inside. He wondered if he realized he’d left the door open just as Levi opened the small amber bottle and shook out a pill, then chased it with whiskey straight from the bottle.

This was his high school nemesis. The damned reason he knew he was into guys. Levi Brody, the one who did the impossible…falling the fuck apart right in front of him.

He stepped inside and closed the door behind him without another thought. “And that’s not going to make it better.”

“It’s not going to make it worse either. Maybe I can sleep.” The hat came off and not because Levi took it off, but because he wanted to run his fingers through his hair and knocked it off. “What does it matter to you? You don’t know me.”

“I know you, Levi. Everyone here knows you.” He leaned against the closed door. His heart pounding, and he didn’t know why…why anything.

“And that’s where you’re wrong, Coach, completely wrong. Nobody knows me. Not here. Not anywhere.” He reached for the whiskey bottle again, and this time Tracy didn’t stand by and watch. He moved across the small room and took the bottle from him. “Fuck you.”

“Not with pain pills. Are you trying to kill yourself?” The look that Levi gave him said he’d gone too far. He reached for the bottle with his right arm, too fast, pain lanced across his face bad enough that his lips went white. Tracy grabbed him around his waist with his free hand to steady him, but Levi fell onto him instead of standing on his own. He hissed and tucked his arm to his chest. “How bad is it?”

There were several long moments when Levi didn’t answer. He didn’t move. His head on Tracy’s shoulder. Tracy’s hand pressed against the small of his back. Awkward didn’t exactly describe his dilemma. Holding his first crush as if he were a lover. Wishing…no use wishing anything where Levi Brody was concerned. Levi Brody didn’t seem to get that same memo; he wrapped his other arm around Tracy’s waist and leaned heavily against him.

“Career ending. They said I’d never throw again. I don’t know what to do now.”

Tracy set the bottle down on the nearest surface; he winced when it hit the floor. The place would reek of whiskey now. He didn’t stop to think or worry about what Levi would think as he wrapped him tight in both arms and held him. Bodies flush. He could feel Levi swallow and knew he was choking back tears.

“Go ahead. It’ll help.” This he knew from experience. Too many years of manning up just didn’t cut it anymore when he had to stop playing back in college. “I never went pro. I don’t know what to tell you.”

“That press conference caught me off guard. They were so cold. As if I brought this on myself. As if I did something wrong. They didn’t even tell the team until Wednesday. I was just let go. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. They drafted a kid. A fucking twenty year old to take my place. What the hell am I supposed to do now? I can’t play. I have nothing left.”

Tracy ignored the dampness on his shoulder. He rocked the man in his arms as if he were calming a baby. A baby nearly as tall as him and wide shouldered, who reeked of man, and Tracy didn’t care what Levi thought of him when he came to his senses.

“I thought I was in love with someone, and I lost that too. Shit is fucked up. Don’t care about the pills and the whiskey. I live in a fucking trailer.”

Tracy looked around the small room for the first time, noticing the pictures on the wall, pictures of him as a kid. And Jude. Other people, a mother, grandparents. This was where Levi grew up. His heart ached for him. He hadn’t known. Levi lifted his head, left arm going higher up Tracy’s back as he rubbed slow circles through his shirt. He hadn’t realized that they moved together. Side to side. A mimic of dancing. Levi’s stubbled jaw scraped Tracy’s. He sighed against Tracy’s ear. And Tracy couldn’t hide what his body wanted.

“It’s not such a bad place. Could use a decent air conditioning unit.”

“It was worse when it was out on Solley Road.” Levi seemed to be in another world. His voice gone rough with the tears Tracy pretended he hadn’t shed on his shoulder. His breath a whiskey-scented whisper along Tracy’s jawline. “You smell nice.”

Oh fuck, the drink and the drugs and the man was smelling him. “You do too.”

“Mmm,” he hummed deep in his throat, the sound doing nothing to alleviate the condition in Tracy’s pants. “Don’t want to be alone tonight.”

Tracy didn’t know what to say. Or do. He turned to meet Levi’s mouth when his breath ghosted over his lips. Slow dancing to no music turned to soft kisses in the middle of Levi’s childhood home. This wasn’t happening. This so wasn’t happening.

He ran his hands up Levi’s spine, one hand tangling in his hair to hold his head steady. Tracy felt his knees go weak as Levi’s tongue swept into his mouth. He caught it between his teeth and held him captured. Sucking him in deeper when he hissed. He tasted whiskey and tears and wanted to make it all go away.

“Levi?” He didn’t know what he wanted to ask; he just didn’t want there to be any misunderstanding.

“You want me. I can tell. I need it. I need to be with someone. Take me to bed.” Gold-tinged eyes stared into his. Pain and lust mingled there, taking away any reason Tracy might have had for saying no and walking away. He’d let Levi fuck him. Just Levi. If it made him feel better. Fuck, who was Tracy fooling? He’d fantasized about this since he was sixteen years old. Of kissing Levi Brody. Doing other things with Levi came later in his fantasies.

Tracy didn’t answer. He captured Levi’s lips again and kissed him softly. Standing in the living room beneath the light from one lamp, slow dancing and making out with Levi Brody. God, he was so fucked. Levi’s breathy gasps and sweet little whimpers when Tracy touched a sensitive spot didn’t help any. He slid his hand down Levi’s back to grasp his ass, pulling him flush against him. He lost all pretense and groaned as Levi’s rock hard dick pressed against his.

“Is this what you really want, Levi? Don’t play with me if this is the liquor talking.”

Those golden eyes met his again. He licked swollen lips that promised heaven. “I want you to take me to bed. Want you to fuck me until I forget. It’s been so long, I can’t even remember the last man I was with. Want it. Need it. Has nothing to do with the liquor.”

Tracy’s body clenched in need. God damn, Levi was a bottom. He was going to burn in hell for this. He knew it. “Which way?” But knowing this most likely was the drink talking didn’t matter anymore, not when he had his chance with Levi.

Levi moved against him, pushing him with his body until they were sidestepping their way through the kitchen and into a short hallway. He noted a washer and dryer unit in the hall, and a bathroom on the other side of that, and then they were in what would have been the master bedroom back in the time these models were made. A shallow but wide room with a bay window at the end and a king size bed in the middle taking up most of the room.

He spun Levi around and deposited him in the middle of the bed before climbing in on top of him. Soft teasing kisses became something else entirely. Levi held him close with one arm while Tracy devoured his mouth. Hips moved beneath him, arching into him as if Levi couldn’t wait to get his clothes off. Speaking of clothes, Tracy snagged the collar of Levi’s shirt and ripped it open.

“You’re a big man. And strong. I like that.” Levi wrapped his legs around Tracy’s thighs and pulled him flush to his body. “What’s your name?”

“Tracy,” he moved against him, grinding his dick into the denim-covered hardness. He didn’t care that Levi didn’t know his name. He’d remember him after tonight. “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time.”

“Well, I’m here now. What’s taking you so long? Stuff is in the drawer. Hurry.” Levi’s voice grew rougher. He growled in the dark as he pushed and shoved at Tracy’s clothes. “And turn the lamp on. I want to watch you fuck me.”

Tracy rose up on his knees, and his shirt disappeared over his head. He fumbled for the lamp, almost knocking it over in his haste to get to the drawer. New condoms and lube spilled from a drugstore bag, not a local store.

“I see you came prepared.”

“In case I met up with some old friends. I didn’t want the locals talking about what I buy at the RX Shoppe, now did I?” Levi reached for his waistband, undoing the top button, and with a deft tug, the whole row of buttons opened. “Help me out of these.”

Tracy didn’t take orders from anyone. Not even Levi Brody. He laid the box of condoms on the bed along with the bottle of warming lubricant. And leaned over the quarterback. “You didn’t say please,” he said, starting with the remains of Levi’s torn shirt, pulling first his left arm free of the tatters, then the right. The tattoo that started at the man’s elbow ran up and over his shoulder, then down his chest and side, covering most of his skin on that side.

“Please,” Levi looked up at him with pleading eyes and a pout on his lush lips. Tracy leaned over, took the bottom in his mouth, and sucked hard, pulling a low groan from deep in Levi’s chest.

“Please what?” Tracy dragged the torn shirt from beneath the sweating man and pulled it down his damaged arm without Levi seeming to even notice. “Damn, you have the prettiest mouth.”

Levi smiled with that mouth, the golden irises becoming even more golden in the dim light. The wicked hitch to those luscious lips made Tracy forget who was in charge here.

“Please get these damned hot jeans off me and suck my dick.” Now that was the Levi Tracy expected to see and hear. Not that he ever expected to hear those words aimed at him.

“And if I’d prefer to take the first option, of fucking your hot ass until you scream?” Tracy dragged the denim down over the lean hips, slowly, very slowly, revealing more of that delicious tattoo as he did.

“I don’t recall that being an option.” Levi lifted his hips to help extricate himself from the tight material. “But it can be.”

“What do you want? Suck or fuck?” Tracy growled as Levi’s knee hit him in his stomach, but the jeans and Levi’s flip-flops were on the floor, and fuck, his long narrow dick reached out to Tracy as if begging for him to worship it.

“Both. Why do I have to choose? God, you’re gorgeous. Blonds, I love fucking blonds. Makes me horny just thinking about…” he trailed off when Tracy grabbed his dick a little too roughly and stroked upward. “Fuck. Yeah. That.”

“I’m not bendy enough to suck and fuck, and I don’t share my toys.” Tracy couldn’t help wondering if there was a particular blond that Levi was comparing him to as he looked at him from behind spiky black lashes.

“And just like that the fantasy is ruined. I was going to ask if you had a friend, but…now, oh yeah, that’s good, just like that.” Whatever smart ass comment Levi was about to say, he forgot as Tracy stroked him. Pulling a little rougher than he would any other guy. Pre-come slicked his hand, and Levi threw his head back into the mattress, his breath ragged pants. “Fuck. Just how I like it.”

“Spread your legs. Let me see what you got.” Tracy settled on the mattress between Levi’s thighs as Levi opened for him. One leg pulled back to his chest, then the other. Fuck, this was Levi Brody lying here spread open and dripping for him. “Fucking beautiful.” He ran his free hand down Levi’s body, over his hip to the back of his knee where the tattoo stopped almost like the hem of a pair of shorts. Just that one leg. He pushed Levi’s leg back as far as it could go and leaned over him to lick his lips.

“I’m going to fuck you, Levi. I’m going to shove my dick in your tight hole, and I’m going to make you howl for more.” He whispered, dragging the tips of his fingers down the back of Levi’s thighs to tangle in the hair between his legs. Levi gasped when Tracy switched hands, his pre-come-drenched fingers slicked a path from his dick over his balls to massage the tight pucker that was the ultimate fantasy.

Fucking Levi Brody, god, he never thought…he shook his head at his sixteen year old self and licked the man’s lips again. “Tell me now, because this is about to hit the point of no return.”

“What part of fuck me didn’t you understand?” Levi braced his hands on the bed and lifted his hips, forcing his opening onto Tracy’s fingers. His gaze never wavered. Tracy couldn’t find a trace of the drug or any lingering alcohol to make him think this wasn’t— “take your shirt off, Blondie, and let me see if you’re that pretty all over.”

“Tracy.” He reached over his head and grabbed his collar, dragging the T-shirt off with one tug, his hands leaving Levi’s body for only a split second.

“Tracy. Nice bod, there, Tracy. Want to feel it over me, want to feel you pinning me to the bed. Want to feel those big arms under me. Now.” Demanding little bottom, wasn’t he? But Levi wasn’t exactly little, his stats had him as tall for a QB, tall and slim. Not some little twink Tracy picked up as a dick ornament. “I like big men.”

“You want to be my bitch?” Tracy opened the button on his cargo pants and eased the zipper down with one hand. He kept pressure on Levi’s dick, milking him until his hips fucked into Tracy’s hand. “Are you a good bitch, Levi?”

“Yeah, baby, you make me scream, and I’ll be a good damn bitch. I’ll even lick your shoes if you want me to. Make me scream.” He pulled his legs back and wrapped his arms behind his knees, exposing his now gaping hole. Tracy couldn’t catch his breath. His heart slammed fast against his ribcage. The condom felt cool against his heated skin. He pushed his pants and briefs down to his knees and grabbed the bottle of lube. Flipping the top open, he squeezed enough into his hand to slick himself before lining up.