Face Offs & Cheap Shots (CU Hockey Book 2)

Holy shit, last night was intense. So intense I can still feel the tingling in my balls … and my chest.

Yikes.

Not good, not good, not good.

When Rossi saw us, I’d been prepared for him to call us out on how much time we’d been spending together, and I’d had my answer prepared.

Kinda need to spend time with the guy I’m fucking.

Then I remembered Beck and I haven’t had that discussion. He’d agreed to keeping this a secret early on, but now we’re, what, dating? Things have definitely changed, but I’m not sure where he is with this whole thing. Because telling people we’re dating isn’t only about them finding out Beck and Jacobs are now Beck-and-Jacobs, it means coming out. Admitting we really like cock. Or at least, each other’s.

I roll onto my side and look down at where Beck is passed out on his back. His mouth is hanging open, and his big chest lifts and falls with each breath.

I lean down and brush a light kiss over his forehead, and my chest gives another little twinge. It’s not enough, so I kiss the bump in his nose as well, then brush the side of my thumb along the stubble on his jaw.

His arm closest to me snakes around my waist. “Why are you waking me up?”

Because I can’t sleep and haven’t been able to stop thinking about what the hell this is. “Horny.”

He grunts. “If you woke me every time you were horny, I’d never sleep. Do you have an Off switch?”

Not when he’s around I don’t.

I shift so I’m on top of him, preparing to launch into a serious talk, when he lifts his head and pulls me into a kiss. It’s slow and lazy, and I hug my arms around him tight. Considering how hard and fast our relationship has been so far, my thoughts are soft. Almost sweet. And even reminding myself this is Beck doesn’t change that.

He ends the kiss and leans back to look up at me. His hands cup my cheeks, and I swear his eyes are smiling at me. “That’s how you wake a man up.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

His face suddenly contorts in a grimace as he takes in the early morning light coming through my window. “Fuck, I better go. If Rossi sees us again …”

I mean to tell him not to worry about what Rossi or any of those assholes think, but then he lightly bites my shoulder and rolls me off him. It reminds me of that first bite and the shit I got, and now, it’s time for payback.

“Hey, come here.”

Beck pauses in his search for clothes and walks back over to stand by the bed. I swing my legs over the side and steer him to stand between them. Then I turn him around.

“What are you …”

I drag my fingers and lips down his back. “I have a favor to return.”

“Favor? Last night wasn’t a”—my lips brush over his tan line as I grab his ass roughly in both hands—“fuck, if you play around back there, I won’t be able to sneak out in time.”

I smile against his warm skin because this isn’t going to take long.

I drag my lips over the swell of his ass, and it’s so perfect it almost seems like a shame to mark it all up. But then I think of it being my mark, and my dick twitches.

I sink my teeth into his flesh.

“Argh!” Beck jolts at the sudden, sharp pain, and I quickly back off, dragging my tongue over the bite mark before inspecting it.

Oh yeah, that’s definitely going to last.

“You don’t think I was tender enough already?”

My smile is wide as I run a finger between his cheeks, and he jolts again. “Feeling sore?”

“My body doesn’t know what’s up. On one hand, my ass is clenching tighter than a bear trap, on the other, my dick is ready to make sacrifices.”

I laugh and kiss the bite mark before he turns around.

His eyebrow quirks, and he looks way too proud of himself for a guy who’s walking into a locker room in a few hours. “Are we even now?”

“We will be once the guys have seen it.”

“And you don’t think they’ll put together what those matching bite marks mean? They’re assholes, not idiots.”

“They’ll just assume we’ve been with the same chick.”

He frowns which sets little flutters across my gut.

“You don’t like that,” I say.

“Nah, it’s fine.” He kisses me before stepping back and tugging on his clothes. “I’ll see you at practice.”

I don’t bother to get up and check the hall like I normally would. I sit and watch as Beck peeks around the door, then quickly slips out.

No one notices it as we get in our practice gear, and I’m beginning to think Beck’s wrong. These guys are idiots. The mark is bright red against his pale ass cheek, and I can’t stop staring as he puts on his cup.

I quickly pull my gaze away before someone calls me on checking him out.

Practice is the smoothest it’s been all summer. We set the camp kids and some of the team up for a mini game that Cohen and Rossi referee, while Beck and I call out instructions. They hardly need it. Tamm in particular has caught my eye to be a potential mountain lion, and Simms, who’ll be a junior this year, has come a long way since last season.

It sucks we won’t actually be able to play with any of the campers on an actual team because by the time they’ll start here, Beck and I will have graduated.

That’s a depressing thought.

This is the last year I’ll be playing hockey before getting a “real” job.

Beck skates over to where I’m watching. “Who would have thought this was the same group of dickheads from the start of the summer?”

“I know. The last two weeks is always great, seeing how far everyone’s come.”

Beck’s quiet for a moment, watching the game play out. “I wish I’d done this sooner.”

“Really?” I nudge him with my elbow. “You regretting all those summers in Europe or wherever the hell you went.”

“I … maybe not regret, but …” He huffs out a breath. “It would have been nice to do this more than once. Maybe we would have been friends sooner.”

I like that, no matter everything else, he considers us friends now. I want to joke and tell him there’s no use hoping for miracles, but instead I shoot him a quick smile. “Nah, I think things happened the way they were supposed to.”

We wrap up for lunch a little later, and I can’t hold back my smile as we make our way to the locker room. We strip for the showers, and still no one says anything, so I take matters into my own hands.

“Hey, what’s that on Beck’s ass?”

There are a few sniggers, and as Cohen’s about to jump in, Beck gives me a cocky look I know too well.

“Staring at my ass again, Topher? Should I be worried?”

His words are followed by ooohs and laughing, and then I’m the one on the end of the teasing.

Beck shoots me a sneaky wink before he heads for the showers, towel over his shoulder and ass on full display.

And okay, maybe his ass wasn’t the smartest place to put it.

I quickly wrap my towel around my waist before I get hard at the sight of all his bare skin. That’s the last thing I need with Cohen jokingly telling the others to cover up before I check them out too.

“Whatever, Cohen. You’d probably like it.”

But I guess now I know why no one said anything. You’re not supposed to look at other guys’ butts. Maybe I’ve been queer longer than I thought.

After lunch, Beck and I are scheduled to take the campers through footage of games so they can dissect plays and pick out weaknesses, but while we normally have lunch with whoever is around, Beck pulls me away from the group and we go to a café a few blocks away from the usual one.

“So I’ve been meaning to ask you how you’re getting home next week,” Beck says as we sit down to eat.

“My brother came and picked me up last year—he’d just gotten his license—so I figured I’d ask him again.”

Beck nods. “Yeah, or I could drive you?”

“Do you even know where I live?”

“Dorset or something, right? I’m driving Baby to New York, so it’s not far out of the way.”

The offer throws me completely off guard. “Yeah, that’d be … yeah. Great. Thank you.”

“Cool.” He turns back to his food, but I get the feeling he has more to say. “So maybe I could drive up sometime and stay for a few days? Or maybe I could pick you up on the way back here and get to your place a few days early?” His words are so fast I’m not sure I’ve caught them right.

“You wanna stay on the farm?”

“I mean, I don’t have to.” He swallows. “But I bet I could win your family over. I bet they’d be all, Beck, please stay. Topher, we’re putting in for a trade, you go home to Beck’s family instead. In fact, could you? Could you go back to my dad while I stay on your nice, quiet farm and—”

“My family calls me Chris, not Topher.”

He screws up his face. “You don’t look like a Chris. That will be the first thing I do on the farm. I’m gonna get them all to call you Topher, and then we’ll have to look into changing it legally.”

I grin. “You’re rambling.”

He puffs out a laugh and drags a hand over his head. “Shit.”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“Yes, we’ll figure something out. Though, the farm is anything but quiet, just a heads-up.”

His smile makes the nerves all worth it. I wanna push things and ask if I can go back to his place as well, but I have the feeling his family dynamic is completely different to mine. My family will be welcoming; his … I get the impression his dad might not be too happy with Beck dating a guy.

I’m not going to put that kind of pressure on Beck or what we have. Whatever that may be.

We’re still figuring it out.