End of the Innocence by John Goode Read Free Book Online Page B

another way my life had changed since Kyle. My whole gym experience had gained about twenty minutes on either side since I had to change out in the coach’s office beforehand and then wait after practice for the showers to open up so I could rinse myself off and not head out smelling like a dirty sock.
    I wondered every day what they thought I was going to do differently than I had for the past ten years.
    Coach Gunn came in to his office and jerked a thumb toward the shower. “All yours. Hurry it up. I want to get out of here.”
    I forced myself not to point out that if he was so damn stressed about time, he could have saved a good half hour by letting me shower like a regular person, but I refrained since it would fall on deaf ears. As I soaped up, I wondered if Kyle would be out there waiting for me. It was an odd thought because before today, I had never worried about it. I would come out, and he would be leaning against my car like he had always been there. I was sad for a moment because if he wasn’t there, I had no idea what to do. Should I go home? Should I go to his house? I used to have a life where I did whatever I wanted, but now it was all different shades of Kyle, and I didn’t want that to change.
    Of course, those thoughts led to the future and what happened after high school, but that was too terrifying to contemplate, and I shoved them away as fast as I could.
    “Quit stroking and move it, Greymark!” the coach shouted from the locker room. I quickly finished up and changed into my street clothes. I left the locker room with my duffel bag over one shoulder, Coach Gunn right behind me ready to lock up. As we walked out into the dying afternoon sun, he warned, “And don’t think I didn’t notice you wandering around like a zombie on the field today. You play like that after the break and you won’t have to worry about choosing if you’re going to play baseball or not.”
    Dammit.
    “Yes sir,” I replied in a low voice.
    “Get out of here,” he ordered gruffly, but I could see he wasn’t really mad.
    I turned to my car, and I honestly caught my breath as I saw Kyle standing there.
    He held up his arms and asked with a smile, “How do I look?”
    He looked fucking incredible.
    Now before I get ahead of myself, let me state I was the head of the Kyle Stilleno is Hot fan club. His baggy pants and oversized T-shirts drove me crazy. They went with his shaggy hair and clown-sized Converse shoes, making him look like a cartoon character sometimes. A hot, ridiculously cute, skater cartoon, but a cartoon nonetheless. But there he was, all dressed up in actual clothes, and let me tell you….
    Oh, fuck it. I instantly threw wood.
    He had on a pair of black jeans with a vest over a button-up shirt, the tails sticking out…. I can’t even describe it properly. He looked two years older and a thousand times hotter. He suddenly had a waist and a chest and… man, I am screwing this up something fierce.
    He just looked hot. Well, hotter than normal. Hotter than I could have imagined. I must have just stood there gaping because his face got serious, and he asked in a halting voice, “You hate it, right?”
    “I hate the clothes so much I want to rip them off your body,” I said, rushing toward him. “You look hot !”
    I saw him blush, and I knew he liked them too but would never admit it. I had spent most of our time together trying to convince Kyle how hot he was, and he always ignored me, but I could tell the way he wore these clothes that he liked them. A lot.
    “Seriously?” he asked in a warning tone. “’Cause if you’re just being nice, I swear I will get you back….”
    I dropped my bag and scooped him into my arms. “If I toss you in the backseat and take you right now, would that be proof enough?”
    He murmured a quiet “Shut up,” but I felt him lean into me and hug me back.
    “You really like it?” he asked after a few seconds of—oh hell, snuggling. There, I said it.
    I nodded