OffsideChanceFormat2 (11 page)

 
    
“Yeah,
I told Dylan I’d be back by two o’clock to help set up a couple of extra big
screens. And I’m supposed to pick up beverages on the way back.” Levi let go of
the railing, his voice changing to the overly perky strains that signaled to
Jude that Liv had taken over the brain. “So, Slayer found my porn, and you got your
dick sucked! How was he?”

“Jesus!
Livy!”

“You’re
a lousy liar, Jude. Well, you’re a great liar, but I figured out your tells a
long time ago.”

“I
do not lie.”

“And
I am straight as a two-by-four. Now, tell me, how was he? And are you planning
to take this curiosity to the next level?”

There
was no use denying anything anymore. “God, no. There’s not going to be a repeat
of last night.”

“So,
it was more than just a little rubbing and sucking?”
 

“Levi.
I swear to god, one day I will suffocate you in your sleep.”

“Speaking
of sleep, Will snores. I mean, like really loud, shakes-the-rafters snores.”

Jude
stopped walking, he couldn’t seem to catch his breath. The world around him
seemed to spin. “He was your roommate in college wasn’t he?”

“I
never had sex with him, Jude. I never even thought about it. He was my first
real friend. I didn’t want to mess that up.”

“I
didn’t ask that.”

“You
didn’t have to. I can tell you like him. And it might just be a one-off thing
that is never going to happen again. But I know you. He’s not one of my former
lovers. But, he is a man whore. He will fuck anything. I just never thought
he’d go after dick. So be careful. I love him, but you’re my brother, I don’t
want you to let some asshole jock get in your head. And yeah, he can do that.
I’ve seen him do that. Just be careful.”

“I’m
always careful,” Jude said taking a sharp turn on a sidewalk leading up to the
street leaving Levi behind to follow if when he stopped gloating long enough to
notice he’d been left behind.

*
* * * *

The
game was a shutout. Green Bay tore a hole in the San Francisco defense and
never let them close the gap. Bo had it up on four big screen televisions in
the living area and kitchen such that wherever Will looked, he could see
exactly what would have been their fate if they’d made it past San Francisco
the week before. They wouldn’t have stood a chance in hell. Green Bay was out
to prove something, fuck whoever got in their way.

He
found a never ending tub of long necks and a spot in the corner to nurse a
serious bad attitude. Bo and Levi both circled him like a couple of vultures,
trying to prod him out of his bad mood. Or peck him to death. Did the two of
them get some kind of mothering instincts just because they were the women in
their relationships? Levi, with his drag queen bottom boy personality, was a
given. But Bo, of course Bo played the girl role, that’s why he never cut his
damned hair.

After
giving up on Will and leaving him alone through half time, Levi left his giant
of a boyfriend during the third quarter to welcome his brother. Will had hoped
not to have to deal with Jude Brody today. He never even thought that Jude
might show up here. But there he was, standing in the kitchen drinking a beer
with Levi. His eyes sparkling with laughter, and those lips… Jesus, when the
man smiled, his whole face lit up. Levi stepped close to him and draped his
arms over his brother’s shoulders. They stood forehead to forehead laughing
about something that had Will gripping his fifth beer tight enough to kill it.

“You
look ready to explode, Slayer,” Bo said as he fell onto the seat beside him
jostling the beer Will was just about to drink from.

“Fuck
off, Murphy.” Will wiped away the miniscule drops of beer and growled at his
teammate. He wasn’t in the mood to talk about his mood.

Bo
ignored him, pointing off in the direction of the kitchen. “They are going to
go all the way, you know that, right? We didn’t stand a chance.”

All
Will could see was Levi wrapped around Jude like one of his feather boas as he
all but pushed his brother into a dance that made Jude look like the Scarecrow
from the
Wizard of OZ
—all arms and
legs, all goofy. Who was going to go all the way? Levi and Jude? What the hell
was Bo talking about?

“But
you’re not watching the game at all. You’re watching Levi. He’s a damned good
dancer.” Bo followed his line of vision into the kitchen where Levi was trying
to get Jude to twirl, but Jude wasn’t cooperating.
Jude never cooperates
.

“They
are seriously hot together,” a female voice behind them chimed in. Apparently
she’d tuned into the same show Will had.

“They’re
brothers. That’s a bit sick don’t you think?” Will growled without looking to
see whose wife he’d just offended.

“They
are
hot together. All that pent up
brotherly love. Makes you wonder what it was like when they were younger and
Levi was wild.” Bo winked up at the woman as if he were apologizing for Will’s
behavior somehow. Will hated when people did that. He had nothing to apologize
for.

“Levi
is still wild, what the hell are you talking about?” Tracy joined them on the
sofa and followed their gazes into the kitchen. “Wow, hell must be frozen over,
Jude hasn’t killed him yet.”

“Worse
than that, he’s smiling and playing along,” Bo said to Tracy on the other side
of Will. “Must have been some talk they had this afternoon.”

“Looks
like Jude finally got laid. Someone needed to get that bitch off his mind. I
hear things in town. He’s been mean ever since she ran off with that Brave’s
pitcher.
After
he built that ugly ass
house for her.” Tracy propped his feet up on the table beside Will’s. Bo did
the same on the other side. “Dylan’s leg is bothering him.” It wasn’t a
question. Will found the lanky Marine doing what he usually did in a crowd,
pacing the perimeter. Sometimes he wondered if the dude was one grenade shy of
taking them all out.

“It’s
swelling, he doesn’t like to sit when it swells. And crowds make him jumpy.
He’s getting better. We couldn’t have done this at the beginning of the
season,” Bo answered as if Will wasn’t sitting between them. “And Levi is about
to go stark raving back in Alabama.”

“How
can you tell?” Tracy returned his attention to his lover in the kitchen.

“Too
much purple, and his voice is higher pitched than usual. Liv is about to
explode in a glitter bomb all over the place.” Bo sighed and sprawled on the
sofa.

“Yeah,
it’s too quiet. The denizens are trying but he’s not fitting in. If he makes it
through the end of the school term I’ll be amazed.” A touch of sad entered
Tracy’s voice but Will wasn’t ready to stop watching the brothers dance
together to care. Jude finally pushed Levi away and went for a platter of
sandwiches. He pointed at Levi with the triangular bite and smiled.

“Have
you thought about what you will do if he does leave?” Bo continued to talk
around him.

“Go
with him. He’s not happy. If he leaves, it won’t be because we failed. But he
is fucking miserable. I can see it.”

“And
you’d just leave everything you’ve worked for behind for him?” Bo looked past
Will to the giant on Will’s left. “I’m impressed.”

“I
love him,” Tracy replied quickly, and Will snorted.

“And
the millions he has in the bank isn’t a factor in the slightest,” Will said
maybe a touch too loud.

“Jesus,
Slayer, I don’t know what bug crawled up your ass tonight but it’s getting old
man.” Bo snapped finally.

“I’m
just calling a spade a spade. Money makes people do stupid things… like quit
their jobs. Doesn’t matter what they got hanging between their legs when
there’s gold to be dug.” He knew he was being a dick, he just couldn’t seem to
stop.

“Fuck
you, Slater.” Tracy didn’t bother to stick around after that. Bo just shook his
head and went into the kitchen for the rest of the game.

Will
nursed his beer, he didn’t need any of them, fuck them…and the horses they rode
in on.

As
the party broke up Jude made it over to the sofa where Will sulked with another
beer. “You have a real talent for causing tension in a room.”

“Yeah
well just calling it like I see it. Levi—”

“Is
well protected from gold diggers, Will. No one can get into his pockets without
going through
me
first. And Tracy hasn’t asked for a
penny. In fact, he’s fairly stable financially. Not rich but with enough stock
in his family’s holdings that he’ll have an income even if he stopped
teaching.” Jude filled the seat Bo had abandoned. He propped his feet on the
coffee table beside

Will’s
and watched the post-game commentary. “You come off as jealous one minute and
bitter the next.”

“Like
Levi has anything I would want. He’s a cock sucker and…” the sudden memory of Jude’s
cock being in his mouth came flashing back to him. His skin ran hot, then cold.
Jude didn’t say anything. Instead he hummed along with the music that drifted
from the kitchen now that the sound from the TV was muted. “I’m not talking
about last night if that’s why you’re here.”

“I
have no interest in bringing it up.” Jude leaned back and closed his eyes. “I
shouldn’t have come. I have so much work to do, and now I’m behind.”

Bo
and Dylan moved around the room, clearing away clutter and talking softly while
Levi moved into Tracy’s arms. Much closer than he’d held Jude. Their mouths met
and the kissing began. Levi looked tiny in the giant’s embrace. And while Will
watched, Levi wrapped himself around Tracy—arms, legs, everything. And the
dancing became something else entirely. The purple plaid kilt he wore came up
to expose bare ass cheeks as Tracy gripped him.

“Jesus,
get a room.” Bo walked into the kitchen with an armload of trash. “Seriously.
If you’re not going to help clean up, find somewhere else to do that.”

Levi
answered with his middle finger extended. Tracy simply scooped him up and
disappeared down the hallway that lead back to the bedrooms.

“And
they are just going to go fuck while we’re sitting out here?” Will growled, his
mood growing darker by the moment.

“It
didn’t seem to trouble you when you brought home that set of twins last weekend
and kept me awake all night.” Jude reminded him.

“That
was different, they were girls, and my house—”

“Levi’s
house. They’d be there now, fucking, probably in his kitchen if we weren’t
living there.”

“Why
are you here? You don’t even like football.”

“Levi
asked me to come. And it was too quiet across town with no cable or internet.”

“It’s
still not up?”

“The
dish out back is damaged. I called the service line, they’ll have someone out
on Wednesday to replace it. Until then, no football channel.”

“And
no fucking Jeopardy.”

“We
can watch all of the gay porn we can handle though.”

“I
will kick your ass, Brody. Don’t ever forget that.”

“I’m
shaking, Slater. Really. This is me terrified.” Jude held up a hand that didn’t
tremble in the slightest and then yawned. “I damn near froze to death last
night and it’s just going to get worse with this next cold front. I need a
space heater or something.”

“No
space heaters. Just add another blanket and wear some damned sweats or
something. But no space heaters.” Will pushed up off the couch and gathered up
his beer bottles. Six beers had finally hit his bladder. He wasn’t going to
argue with the man. Not when it meant burning to death one night while they
slept.

He
dropped everything off and helped Bo gather up a load of trash. “I’m so happy
we used paper plates and plastic cups. I have nightmares of washing dishes.” Bo
started filling another bag with the remains of party platters that had been
picked over until there was nothing left but crumbs, while Dylan swept the
floor and wiped down the center island. They worked together like a well-oiled
machine. “Our housekeeper will get a huge fucking bonus tomorrow.”

Will
felt like he was just in the way, and the need to piss was something that he
couldn’t ignore anymore. “
Gotta
hit the head, then
I’m going to bug out of here too. Maybe see what’s up on Bourbon.”

Bo
tied off the now full bag and looked over at the clock, “It’s still early
enough, you could hang out here.”

“And
talk about what? Which nail polish goes good with what shoes? No thanks.”

“You’re
an ass, Slayer. Just really, man. I thought better of you but… he’s gay. Get
the fuck over it before you screw everything up. He’s still Levi. Nothing has
changed.”

“I
will say the black nail polish and eyeliner is new. The kilt is… well I guess
he’d need it for easy—“

“That’s
enough, William, I don’t know what the fuck crawled up your ass, and the six pack
you drank isn’t helping any, but that’s the last time. Next time you will keep
all that shit to yourself…” Bo stopped and took a breath. Will knew him well
enough to know that he was angry but trying to keep it nice. Bo liked to keep
things nice. Dylan on the other hand, didn’t know the meaning of nice. The
glare he gave Will chilled him to the bone. “Or there will be no next time, not
in my house. I took the homophobic bullshit for too long. I won’t from you. And
he won’t either. Right now he’s too caught up in Tracy to notice. When the new
of that wears off, you won’t have his respect anymore. If that’s what you’re
aiming for, then it was nice knowing you.”