I had seen the love Gray felt for Chase. Damn it, Chase deserved to be loved like that. I didn’t know why Gray froze the way he did in front of his ex-boyfriend, but I was certain it was some kind of misunderstanding. I had tried to tell Chase as much, but he didn’t want to hear it. Luckily, Gray showed up not long after we arrived back at Chase’s apartment. I let them have their private moment while I waited in the parking lot for Gray to return.
“Don’t let him give up,” I told Gray as he approached his car. “He wants time to think and you should give him time, but not too much or he’ll convince himself what he felt wasn’t real.”
“I’m surprised you’re not trying to take advantage of the situation and get him back for yourself.”
“You’re who he loves and who he wants. He never felt about me the way he does you, Gray. Don’t you fucking blow this, either.” My voice cracked, showing him my one vulnerability – Chase. “I need for him to have his happily-ever-after, Gray.”
“Because you couldn’t give it to him,” Gray replied. It wasn’t a question. “You love him.”
“I will never be what he needs and I would only cause him more hurt, but you can give him the love and life that I can’t. So, it hurts like hell to see another man make him happy, but I love him enough to let him go. Don’t fuck this up, asshole.”
I did him a real solid that night and I should have asked him for Miller’s phone number in return, but I didn’t capitalize on the moment. I simply went home to my lonely condo and thought about the blue-eyed man who had been in my thoughts a lot more than I was comfortable admitting.
I FOUND MYSELF in unchartered territory once Gray met and fell in love with Chase Rivers. Alone. Even when Gray had been in a long-term relationship with Devon the Douche, he still made time for us to hang out. Once he and Preston started their own company, our buddy time had been reduced, but not nixed completely. That all changed when he truly fell in love; his whole world revolved around Chase and the private time he could carve out for them.
At first, I was concerned that he was rushing into another relationship too soon. Some people did that, they just didn’t like to be alone. Gray had been miserable the last several years of his relationship with The Douche Nozzle, so any good friend would worry. Then I met Chase and really got to know him, I could easily see why Gray was so enraptured with the guy. He was sweet, funny, and he loved Gray so much that I knew I could rest easy. Gray had done what so many dreamed about, but didn’t always achieve.
Gray found his happily-ever-after love; the kind that makes you sorta gag because it’s almost too sweet, but at the same time you can’t help but envy it just a teeny tiny bit. I never really got caught up in the one-guy-forever concept, because I just didn’t think I’d ever find that guy – the one I’d want to look at every single day for the rest of my life, forsaking all other tight asses until death do us part. The world was filled with tight asses just waiting to be claimed, so why would I want to tie myself to one? I just didn’t see it working for me.
I missed hanging out with Gray, but I understood that things changed and you had to adapt with the times or get left behind. That’s how I found myself joining a summer basketball league with a bunch of strangers, albeit some super sexy ones. I had a thing for basketball shorts and the way they hung on a man’s body. I loved how the silky fabric draped over the round curve of their asses then hung loosely over their legs. It made me want to slide my hands beneath the shorts to feel the hard length of their hamstrings and quadriceps. I was a complete sucker for a set of toned legs. My eyes locked on a particular scrumptious specimen on the opposing team. I had played against a lot of teams over the summer, but I was positive that I had not played against him. There was something familiar about him though.
I couldn’t see his face because he had his back to me, stretching in preparation for the game. The fabric of his navy blue shorts pulled tight against his ass as he stretched his hamstrings and then his calves. I found myself so completely distracted by his tall, lean body that I forgot my team had begun passing drills until a ball hit me upside the head.
“Miller, are you all right?” One of my cute teammates, Josh, questioned.
The current object of my lust turned around to see what the commotion was and looked right into my eyes. I found myself looking into the darkest brown eyes I had ever seen, the color of melted dark chocolate. I had looked into them on one other occasion a few months ago and the impact was enough that they often starred in many of my dirty dreams and even dirtier masturbation sessions. Therefore, my current object of lust was the same as the recurring one that kept me on edge every time I thought about him. Never once had I been so fascinated by one guy and it irritated the hell out of me. Maybe if I just scratched that particular itch…