After The Snap (25 page)

“Okay, I trust you.”

“My oldest brother was gay.”

“Was?”

“He was born fifteen years before me. I barely knew him. My parents weren’t supportive and he ran off when he was seventeen. He sold himself and ended up with AIDS. My mom and dad found him before he died but it was too late for medicine to do much. He lived in our house with his boyfriend for the last three months of his life. He was nice to me. By that time, I was six. I remember the day he died.”

“What happened to his boyfriend?”

Kristen shrugged and pulled open a few drawers. Seth stepped into the kitchen and grabbed plates while Kristen found silverware. “He moved out and we lost contact. When I graduated from college I went searching for him but only found a tombstone. His parents never accepted him, but they did bury him in the family plot. It’s so sad.”

“It is.”

“You’re safe—careful all the time?” Kristen narrowed her eyes as she stared him down.

He chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, not that I’ve had many partners, but I’m always careful.”

“Good. Watching someone die like that is devastating.” Kristen’s eyes closed as she shivered.

Seth stepped close and pulled her into a hug. “I’m so sorry he passed away like that. It must have been terrible.”

“It was. He always tried to be nice, but he was so sick. Some days were worse than others and he yelled a lot.”

“It must have been horrible. It’s something he could have prevented. I think that’s the harshest thing about it.
If only
must have been a scary set of words for him.”

“Yeah, he was fairly broken up about the whole thing. My parents tried to keep a lot from me.”

Seth stepped back and wiped a stray tear from her eyes. “How are your parents about it now?”

“Before they passed away they were great. On the front lines of every Pride Parade they could drive to. They took me to a bunch of them. When I married my husband, I made sure he knew how I felt about the LGBT community. He’s good.”

“Football isn’t very inclusive,” Seth said.

“No, it’s not. But you’d be amazed at how many guys are gay or bi. Just like with you, I won’t say who, but you aren’t the only client I have who is gay.”

“That’s actually good to hear. How about we get the dishes out to the table and we can eat while we talk. I’m starving.”

“Good, because I brought a lot of food.”

They settled at the table, both of them eating a little before Kristen sat back and opened her calendar.

“I would like to put you in front of Nike. They pay well, and it wouldn’t be in conflict with your current marketing platform. There’s a few food companies I would like to get you contracts with.”

“Nike, aren’t they a little big for me?” Seth asked.

“You’re big time now, Seth Mercer. You’re a hot commodity.”

He shook his head and stared at the table, unsure how to feel about the fame. “That’s just weird.”

“Get used to it.”

He wasn’t sure he would ever get used to the way people acted around him. The woman across the hall was just one of a few dozens who were constantly flirting with him. It took him a few trips to the grocery store to realize that he couldn’t go to the store and not get accosted. He usually ended up shopping in disguises. Maybe his relationship with Colby wouldn’t work out, but he hoped it did because finding a new guy now would be almost impossible if he wanted to stay in the closet.

He and Kristen chatted about football, life, and endorsements. He picked up their dishes and moved to the kitchen, deciding to wash their plates instead of letting them sit in the dishwasher. It had been a while since he’d used the device. It seemed overkill when it was just him and he’d gotten used to hand washing. His hands were a mess when his phone rang but he wanted to talk to Colby and at least arrange a time later for them to chat after Kristen left.

“Could you answer that?” Seth asked.

“Um sure.” Kristen picked up his phone and swiped her finger over the screen to answer. “Seth’s phone.”

Seth pumped soap into his hands and ran them under the water. It worried him that Kristen wasn’t saying anything.

“Hello?” Kristen’s voice rose in pitch at the end of the word. Her gaze met his and she nodded. “Yes, he’s—oh, he’s done. Here he is.”

Seth reached out and grabbed the phone, praying it was Colby. “Hello.”

“Hey,” Colby’s voice was cold though he’d only said one word.

“Give me two minutes.” Seth put the phone on mute and turned to Kristen.

“It’s my boyfriend.”

“He wasn’t expecting me to answer the phone,” Kristen said.

“Yeah, so did we have—”

Kristen rolled her eyes. “We’re done. I was about to leave anyway. I’ll call you next week if I don’t have any updates on contracts this week.”

“Thanks. And tell your husband thanks for allowing us to have the meeting here. I don’t think we would have accomplished as much in a restaurant.”

“No, we wouldn’t have. I’ll see you later.” Kristen kissed him on the cheek and was out the door.

Seth unmuted the phone and brought it up to his ear. “Colby, are you still there?”

“Um, yeah. I just…who was that?”

“It’s someone I work with. We were having a meeting and I was washing the dishes.”

“Where are you?”

“At my apartment. Tell me, how did today go?”

“Um.” Colby was silent for a moment before he cleared his throat. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be jealous. I just—”

“Babe, I’m very gay and I’m not going to cheat on you. I know you weren’t expecting her to answer my phone, and really, I wouldn’t normally ask anyone to answer, but I trust her.”

“Okay.”

“Tell me, how was today?”

Colby sighed before he spoke. “It was really good. I toured Graceland and I’m at a hotel in Hot Springs. I’ve already taken a dip in the springs. I was going to go back out tonight before I go to bed.”

“I wish I was there with you.”

“I know. I—heck, Seth, do you really want me to be a part of your life? I mean, I’m moving to San Diego because of work, but us being more than fuck buddies wasn’t a part of the plan when we hooked up. You don’t even know my last name and I don’t know yours.”

Seth sunk down on his couch and leaned his head back. “I know. But I do want you in my life. I want you with me. Once you get here, and come over on Sunday, we can talk face to face about everything. It’s difficult long distance. Like the thing with Kristen, if you were here, you probably would have met her and we all would have had dinner together.”

“I didn’t think you were out at work.”

“I’m not and I don’t want to be, not yet. But there are a few close people who know me.”

“I trust you.” Colby’s voice was low and full of caring.

“Mercer,” Seth said.

“What?”

“My last name, it’s Mercer. Seth Mercer.”

“Colby Larsen.”

“I like it.”

“Well Mr. Mercer, it’s nice meeting you.” Colby laughed and it felt like a bubble had popped, making him feel better than he had about their relationship so far.

“It has been nice meeting you, Mr. Larsen. And I can’t wait to meet you again and again.”

“Fuck, Seth, you’re making me hard.”

“Are you in your hotel room?”

“Yeah,” Colby whispered.

“Take off your clothes.”

“Just a second.”

Seth heard the rustling of fabric and what sounded like a curtain closing. He pulled his sweats low and tugged up the hem of his shirt, exposing his chest.

“I’m back. Are you hard?”

“Yeah, very. Fuck, Colby, I want to feel you deep inside of me.”

“I’m not going to last long if you talk like that.”

“I want you on top of me, your cock lodged deep in my ass, your fingers digging into my flesh.”

“Ahhh. Jesus. I’m—” Colby was panting, his breath coming in gasps.

Seth continued to stroke his dick as he thought of Colby squirting his cum over his chest. That caused Seth to shoot off. He cried out, his mind blanking for a moment. When he could hear again, he heard Colby saying his name.

“Fuck, I needed that.”

“The first time we see each other I may not be able to contain myself,” Seth said.

“It’s only a few more days,” Colby said. “I’ll get there on Saturday. Is there any way I could just spend the night on Saturday night?”

“Fuck,” Seth breathed out. Colby was the only person he would even think of breaking the rules for. “I wish, but I won’t be home on Saturday night. I have to be there from about five on Saturday night until late Sunday.”

“Damn, I just can’t wait to see you.”

“I know. Why don’t you go out and soak in the hot springs again and then dream of me? What are you doing tomorrow?”

“I’m going to hop in the car and drive as far as I can. I’m hoping to get into Arizona, but I’ll be safe. I want to have time in Vegas to have some fun.”

Seth chuckled. “How much fun are you planning on having?”

“Not like that. I just want to go to a couple of shows. Maybe gamble a bit. See the fountains at the Bellagio at dark. Maybe do some other sightseeing.”

“Text me when you arrive at your next hotel and tell me where you are.”

“I will. I’ll be safe too.”

“I can’t wait until Sunday evening. I’ll text you when I’m done and you can come over.”

“Good, because I really want to see you.”

Seth ended the call and tugged off his shirt. He wiped the cum off his chest, and wadded the shirt up, tossing it into his laundry before heading to bed. Sleep was an important part of his workout plan and after the loss on Monday, he really needed to be at the top of his game.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Colby drove longer than he’d anticipated and ended up not stopping until a small town in Arizona called Winslow. He was exhausted and the road was playing tricks on his eyes. He texted Seth, telling him where he was and that he would be up early to drive into Vegas.

The next morning, he found a text from Seth wishing him good travels. He’d woken earlier than he’d anticipated and was on the road by six in the morning. After he left Flagstaff he realized he would be driving by the cutoff for the Grand Canyon and decided to go take a look. It would add a few hours to his travels, but he’d not seen it since he’d been a kid.

The side trip was amazing and he took a lot of photos, texting one to Seth before getting back into his car and heading to Vegas. The closer he got to the city, the less excited he was to be stopping there. At the cutoff that would take him to San Diego and closer to Seth he thought about skipping Vegas, but Seth had to work and he really wanted to at least go for the Cirque show he was planning on seeing.

At the hotel in Vegas, the line for the parking lot was long. The traffic was close to how bad it was in Atlanta, almost. Once he parked, he headed to the check-in desk and stood in another long line. A guy walked passed smoking a cigarette and he almost turned to leave.

Once he checked into his hotel, the Paris, he pulled on his swim trunks and headed to the pool. He was exhausted and just wanted to rest for a few hours. The pool was round with a huge deck with half of it deep in the shadows of the replica of the Eiffel Tower. He found a lounge in the sun and stretched out. After a few seconds he closed his eyes, relaxing in the warm sun. At some point he must have fallen asleep and woke to find a group of women sitting four chairs over. They were being loud and once they realized he was awake one of them came over.

“Hi, my friends and I were wondering if you would like to join us?” the woman asked.

“Um, I have a group I’m meeting in—” Colby checked his phone, seeing a text from Seth. “Sorry, I have to go up and get ready for dinner. Thank you though.” On his way up stairs he read the text from Seth, smiling to himself.

Seth: Only two more days. I’m so excited. Have fun in Vegas.

He checked the time again and realized that he needed to shower and get ready for dinner so he could make the show. Being alone in Vegas wasn’t really exciting and he missed Seth dearly. Maybe once they figured each other out they would come back, but Vegas wasn’t really his style. He’d enjoyed the Grand Canyon and Hot Springs more.

He’d purchased a ticket to see O, the Cirque show at the Bellagio, and had decided to eat dinner in the steakhouse in the hotel. The food was amazing, but when the show started, he was blown away. He’d never seen anything like it.

After the show ended, he almost didn’t want to leave. The fountains outside of the hotel were amazing. The music made him miss Seth even more. On the walk to Caesars hotel he had to weave his way through massive amounts of people. Drunks, panhandlers, perverts dressed in ridiculous costumes rubbing their privates, and hookers dotted the path. He was sick of it all and decided to head back to his hotel.

He played a few hands of blackjack before he won some money and was up by twenty dollars. That was his signal to quit. After grabbing a crepe, because he’d been told they were the best in the world, he headed upstairs to his room and sunk down on the bed, tucking into the food and moaning as the flavors hit his tongue. It was outstanding, and there was no doubt in his mind that if he lived here he would weigh a million pounds, or maybe just a few hundred.

Going back down to the casino held no appeal so he went to bed, dreaming of Seth and how much fun they would have together. He woke late, and had to wait to check out because of a line. Getting his car wasn’t as difficult, but he was ready to leave town. By the time he made it out of the parking lot it was close to ten thirty. He’d not eaten and was hungry so he stopped at a fast food joint on the way out of town.

The drive from Vegas to the mountains surrounding Los Angeles was easy, then the crazy started. When he finally pulled into the hotel parking lot in San Diego, he was exhausted. There was a Waffle House next to the hotel and he decided to just grab some food there and head to bed. Once he was settled at the restaurant and had ordered, he texted Seth.

Colby: The drive was terrible today. I swear there are just a bunch of insane people up by Los Angeles.

Seth: There are. I hate driving that way. Here in San Diego it’s not as bad.

Colby: Yeah, I appreciated the change once I was south of LA.

Seth: Which way did you come?

Colby: The eastern route, out by Temecula. It wasn’t that bad once I was past LA, but goodness, that was bad. I can’t imagine how crazy it would have been if I’d been in downtown LA.

Seth: It’s really only 24 hours until we see each other. I’m excited.

Colby: Can you talk?

Seth: I’m headed into a meeting. Get some rest because I’m sure neither one of us will sleep tomorrow.

Colby laughed and drew the stares of a few people around him. He ducked his head and replied.

Colby: Yeah, I don’t know that I’ll be able to sleep. I’m excited to see you.

Colby took a bite of his food, fantasizing about how life with Seth would be. It wouldn’t be perfect, nothing ever was, but he couldn’t see Seth cheating on him. Maybe he was being too trusting. Hell, when that woman had answered Seth’s phone the first thing he’d thought was that Seth was playing him for a fool. Truthfully, he didn’t know what Seth would do, but he did have feelings and those feelings told him that Seth was a man who was true to his words.

The next day, Colby shaved carefully and took care dressing. It wasn’t just for the work party, which he found out was going to be a football watching party. He wished he’d known because he would have begged off and told his new boss he couldn’t make it in early for the get-together. But he was going to play nice and head to the party and just try to spend the endless hours chatting and not showing his boredom.

The game was supposed to start at one thirty, so he planned on being there just a little before the game was supposed to start. He wished Seth wasn’t working because he really did want to bring him to this event.

His manager’s house was nice with a huge backyard that had a deck with a TV suspended from the roof. Most of the people were outside watching the pregame stuff. He shook hands, greeted people he knew, and met a few people from the office he’d only seen when he was in town but hadn’t talked to.

They had tons of food and beer. He’d just grabbed a longneck from a cooler and was wondering how he was going to sit through hours and hours of football when the announcer said a name that caused his breath to catch in his chest. He turned to look at the TV and almost fell down.

“Seth Mercer has been an amazing addition to the Chargers lineup. You know, Dave, when the Chargers drafted him last spring I was wondering if they’d chosen the right person. He’s a great quarterback, but he’s very young. I was afraid they were going to experience their own Tebow situation.”

Colby stumbled and grabbed onto the back of a chair, easing into the seat. The chatter around him dimmed as his head spun. He watched as the TV showed a player on the field tossing a ball to another player. They said it was Seth and the back of the jersey said Mercer, but he couldn’t believe it.

A headshot of Seth flashed on screen and Colby almost choked. His new boss slapped him on the back and said something about the team, but Colby couldn’t process the words. He was watching for any glimpse of Seth on the screen but they were covering the other team. Someone stepped in front of him and he almost growled. His head shot up and he saw it was Devon, his boss.

“Hey, Colby, this is Rachel.”

Colby sucked in a quick breath, suppressing his agitation. He was here for work, not because of the game. But how the hell had he not known Seth was the star quarterback?

He stood and reached out, taking Rachel’s hand, giving it a quick shake. “Hi, I’m Colby.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Rachel is the admin for your group. She’ll help you get set up on Tuesday when you come in,” Devon said.

“Yes.” Colby’s attention was drawn to the TV where the announcer was saying something about a kickoff. He shook his head and turned back to Rachel. “Sorry, I’m a little—”

“Distracted?” Rachel laughed and he chuckled too.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I’m looking forward to working in the San Diego office.”

“It’s okay. These get-togethers are a bit more about having fun than doing business. During the half I’ll introduce you to some of the other people who will be close to your office. It’s a good group.”

Colby nodded and tried to think of something to say but the TV announcer was talking about Seth and his attention was taken. Rachel laughed and patted him on the arm, walking away.

Not since getting beat up by a football player in eighth grade had he watched a game. He remembered some of the rules of play, but not everything. Every second of play was like a white-knuckle drive down a steep, winding road. Midway through the second quarter he realized that he’d not had anything to eat and hadn’t drank anything. He was too focused on the game, and he was floored that Seth, his boyfriend Seth, was a professional football player.

He stood and moved to grab some food. Devon came over and handed him a beer.

“Diane seemed to think you weren’t into sports. She said you would probably be bored.”

“I…I guess moving west just made me think differently about the game.”

Devon laughed. “Come on, they have two minutes left in the half and then we’ll chow down and talk about work.”

Colby nodded as he let Devon lead him back to the seats. Seth wasn’t on the field since the other team had possession of the ball. It was riveting, nail biting since he knew someone on the field. This explained why Seth had been working on the weekends.

Oh fuck, I’m fucking the quarterback.

Colby shivered and bit down on his lower lip. Seth had to stay in the closet. There wouldn’t be a coming out, no gradual loosening of the rules. Could he live that way? People who knew him from Atlanta knew he was gay. He didn’t flaunt who he was, but he didn’t hide it either.

The half ended and it was like the people he worked with shut off their football brains and started talking work, and food, and other subjects from houses to kids. He was stuck wondering what Seth was doing. Was he okay? Had he been hurt? Colby didn’t remember what the score was. How bad of a boyfriend was he that he didn’t know who was winning?

After using the restroom, he met a few of the guys in his office, Reed, Chris, and Leonard, and then he was introduced to Leanne, and Shiloh, two of the best sales people in their region. He was antsy for the game to start and when play resumed he breathed a sigh of relief.

The Chargers were behind by seven. He wondered how Seth felt about that. Did it matter to him if they won? Of course it would matter, or he wouldn’t play so hard. The Chargers didn’t score, then the Chiefs had the ball and they didn’t score either. It went back and forth like that a few times until it was at the end of the third period and Seth was on the field, touching the back of the guy in front of him. That had to be the center. The ball was tossed to Seth and for a second Colby thought Seth was going to throw, then he took off running. Huge guys were chasing after him, a few jumping but missing Seth as he dodged, and raced, carrying the ball down the field. When he made it to the twenty-yard line Colby jumped up and started yelling at the TV.

“Run, come on, Seth, run!” He watched as his boyfriend darted around another guy from the opposing team. Then he was in the end zone and the crowd was going wild. The guys and girls at the party were screaming and he was jumping up and down, tears of joy leaking out of his eyes.

Never in his life had he cried for any sort of sporting event. He was having a hard time breathing and then Seth was out again, doing something.

“Aren’t they going to kick?” Colby asked.

“They need the extra point.”

“Oh God, an extra point?”

Colby watched as Seth tossed the ball to a guy in the end zone and they scored again, giving them two points. They were ahead by one. He sat down and took a long draw on his beer. People patted him on the back and he nodded, telling them thanks and sharing in the festive atmosphere.

At the end of the game the Chargers had the ball and were still ahead by one point. They didn’t try to score though, which kind of confused him, but it made sense. After the game ended and he could breathe again, Colby looked around and realized that they had made a mess so he helped pick up, staying later than most of the guys, but not all. Seth was on screen giving an interview when he came back out from tossing a bag of trash into the big gray can in Devon’s garage.

“Thanks, Missy, it was a good game. I’m glad the men on my line are excellent players. They are the reason we won. No one person is going to win a game. It takes a team effort.”