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His phone rang in his pocket. His heart sped as he fished it out. Sure enough—
“Tyler? Hey! I can’t believe you’re up. Hi.”
“Hi, baby. It’s been… uhh. It’s been something is what.” On the end of the line, Tyler sounded hoarse and weary. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. It’s so good to hear your voice. Oh my God. We just finished. Hi.” He was smiling so hard it hurt.
“How did it go?” Tyler asked.
“What go?”
Tyler laughed. “Three Musketeers. The lock-in. C’mon, you’re killing me.”
“Oh! Amazing. I can’t even explain.” Josh paced down the hall to get a little privacy. “Way better than we hoped. Better than anything you could have expected.”
Tyler’s voice got low and sexy, which was even better. “Well now. I was expecting a whole lot, Coach.”
“Well, whatever it was, we topped it. Whatever you had in mind, we beat it by miles.” Josh reached the athletics office and unlocked the door. “Carver said thank you. The parents, the students, everyone sends massive thanks to you personally. We missed you.”
“Sorry. I tried to get there. I wanted to surprise you so bad. I would have given just about anything, but the coaches threw a fit.”
“Don’t worry about it. You were here all the same.” Josh skinned out of his shirt and sweats.
“Good.” Tyler exhaled, sounding happy and exhausted himself. “God, I miss you.”
“You don’t even know.” Josh sat down at his desk and tugged off his socks. He wiggled his toes. “As it happens, I was just about to shower.”
Tyler groaned. “Are you trying to kill me, Coach?”
“Long hot shower. Here I am, all alone in briefs, and I’m feeling pretty dirty. But that’s all you need to know, big guy.”
“Evil.”
Josh twisted to stretch and grunted.
“Come on!” Tyler made an impatient sound. “I can hear that.”
“Hear what?” Josh lowered his voice. “Tyler Fantana, I am not having phone sex sitting in school.” He stretched again, his bones creaking. “Mmmph. I’m just stopping to rinse off, and then I’m about to go home and sleep for a month.”
Tyler sighed in his ear. “Yes, please.”
“You’re welcome to join me. Open invite. You know the way. I’ll be naked and leave the door open.”
“I wish.”
Josh nodded. “You okay? You sound funny.”
“I… I think so.” Tyler didn’t elaborate, and the pause started to feel awkward.
Something had to be seriously wrong. “Tyler?”
“Yeah. No. They… uh… called me up to the office this morning. Well, yesterday now. I overslept and they sent the car. I met with Boris and the coaches to hear their dire predictions and stupid ideas.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s nothing. Dummies being dummies. My agent will take care of it. I don’t want you to worry.” Tyler sighed. “Congratulations, huh? I’ll call tonight. Or better, you call me whenever you wake up. Enjoy that big, lonely shower.” He chuckled. “Good luck getting clean without me.” Tyler hung up.
Josh looked at the phone in his hand a moment. Something way off there. He turned on the shower and tested the temperature with his hand, making sure it got hot enough to wake him up for the drive home.
