Eastshore Tigers 01 - Strong Side by Alison Hendricks Read Free Book Online Page B

doesn't feel right to use his nickname right now. And since he's actually using my given name, too, I guess this makes us even on the familiarity scales. "There's no way I would've ever had a case. I just wanted it to go away."
    He sits back down again, and the bed jostles beneath me. As I watch him, he rakes a hand through his hair and lets out a hefty sigh. "Sorry. That shit just gets to me."
    "It's okay," I say quietly, not knowing what else I can offer. This definitely isn’t the reaction I expected from him.
    "No, it's not. I had a friend in high school. Nathan. We went to different colleges, and the first year I was here, I found out he got the shit beat out of him behind some bar. Some guys thought he was hitting on them."
    Now it's my turn to look surprised. "Shit. Was he okay?"
    "Yeah. Spent the night in the hospital. They broke a few ribs, and he had to get stitches. But he was okay." Hawk—Jason—hangs his head down past his shoulders, putting both hands on the back of it.
    "People are really shitty."
    I came into this thinking that if I ever told him I was gay, I'd have to offer him an out. Give him an easy way to put some distance between us. But knowing Hawk has a friend who's gay puts me at ease. Even if what happened to him is terrible.
    "Yeah, they are." He lifts his head a little to look at me. "If anybody on the team even starts to give you shit, you tell me, okay? I'm not going to let this happen again."
    A flutter makes its way through my chest, and I have to remind myself he's only defending me because he feels guilty for what happened to his friend. "Sure. But it's not really something I want to broadcast to the team. If they find out, they find out. You're the first person at Eastshore who knows, aside from my roommates."
    "Nobody will hear it from me."
    It's easy to believe him. Jason Hawkins doesn't exactly seem like a gossip, and he looks like he's trying to atone for past sins. It rankles me a little, but beggars can't exactly be choosers. At this point, I'm just glad I'm not going to lose him as a friend over this.
    Now I just need to get my head on straight and stop fantasizing about him.
    He doesn't ask me any more questions, and we both get settled into our respective beds. I'm glad for the quiet. There are some things I'm just not ready to talk about. As I lay on my back, staring up at the ceiling fan, on top of a roll-away that's a little too small for me, I think about what it would be like to tell Hawk everything. We’re not there yet. But maybe someday we could be.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    - Jason -
     
    I don't know what time it is when my door slams open.
    It's Sunday morning, I know that at least. Griff’s been here for one day, and my dad had him watching his favorite tapes from past seasons. We cooked a few stakes in the backyard, and had an okay time. Griff and I headed out to the Y to play some hoops, and when we got back, dad was gone. Probably hit the bar, but I'm not his keeper, so I didn't worry about it.
    I guess I should worry about it now.
    "What the fuck is this?"
    It's the first thing I hear, yanking me violently out of a dream. My heart pounds as I sit straight up in bed. I try to catch my breath, feeling like I've just run a marathon, but he isn't giving me the chance. He shoves a folded paper in my face, and my eyes are still bleary from sleep. I can't make out what it says.
    "Answer me, Jason. What is this?"
    I hear Griff rustle on the roll-away beside me, and my stomach lurches. I can't smell any alcohol on Dad's breath, but he's pissed as hell. Taking the paper, I squint and try to make sense of it, hoping if I give him an answer he’ll leave me alone.
    It's a list of the classes I'm taking this semester. Eastshore always sends them out the week before classes start so we can get our books and anything else we need. As I look it over, I realize what he's angry about.
    "Can we do this somewhere else?"
    "No, we do this here. Now."
    Out of the corner of my eye, I see Griff