Save of the Game by Avon Gale Read Free Book Online Page A

wanted his mom and sisters to be able to come for a game, made the impromptu decision to throw them away.
    He didn’t need the money, but Ethan Kennedy was one of the proudest people Riley had ever met, and he’d never be okay with not paying his share. Riley already had to pretend he had a weird thing about eating leftovers so Ethan would eat when he made dinner, and he was sneakily replenishing the Pepsi—even though he drank Coke—so Ethan wouldn’t notice he was doing it.
    It was so stupid. Riley should just tell him about the money, because now he was lying. And Ethan wasn’t an idiot. He was going to figure it out and then be even angrier than if Riley had just offered in the first place. Why was everything so hard?
    Ethan finally got the door open, and then he was standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the hallway light. “Riley, I don’t want to be that guy.”
    “Okay,” Riley said, heart racing and stomach twisting unpleasantly. “What guy?” He already knew the answer. The guy who takes handouts from his rich friends.
    “The hypocrite guy.”
    Wait. That didn’t make sense. “You’re not a hypocrite, Ethan.”
    “I could be. I don’t want to, but I could be.” Ethan moved into his bedroom. “I have to make sure. Okay?”
    Riley couldn’t say anything, because he had no idea what an appropriate response was to his roommate climbing on his bed. And then on top of him. “Ethan?”
    “Yeah.” Ethan was all whiskey-soaked sincerity, staring down at him in the darkness. “Can I just make sure? It’s important.”
    Riley nodded, because he had no idea what else to do. “Okay. Sure.”
    Ethan leaned down and kissed him.
    Oh. Riley’s brain shifted like it was a game and he was facing a shooter barreling down the ice on a breakaway. I guess it’s not about the checks.
    Riley had gotten off thinking about Ethan plenty of times by then, but for some reason, it never included kissing. Which was definitely going to change, because Riley liked it. A lot. Especially when he moved and flipped them over so Ethan was beneath him and Riley could make him stop moving around so much. It was much easier to kiss him that way.
    It wasn’t all that different from kissing a girl, except Ethan was tense and wiry, all muscles and angles, instead of softness and curves. And Riley was kissing him like he was trying to make him understand something, about what, he wasn’t sure.
    Ethan kissed him back, and Riley could feel him slowly start to relax. It was a surreal moment, exactly what he’d been fantasizing about—making Ethan settle down. Except it was usually with a blow job instead of kissing, but Riley was nothing if not adaptable.
    “Do you feel better now?” Riley asked, his voice rough.
    “Yeah,” Ethan said, sounding unsteady. He seemed like he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t.
    Neither did Riley. He just stayed there for a moment longer and then moved, letting Ethan up. Ethan stayed on his back for a few moments, then carefully got up, walked out of Riley’s bedroom, and pulled the door closed quietly behind him.
    Riley had no idea why that had just happened, but Ethan seemed to feel better when he left. So there was that.
    Riley got himself off, quietly and almost frantically, imagining Ethan in his room doing the same thing. When he came his eyes were closed, but his head was turned to the side, facing Ethan’s room.
    When he opened his eyes, all he could see was the wall.
     
     
    THEY DIDN’T talk about what happened.
    The next morning Riley went running without waiting to see if Ethan was going to join him. When he got back, Ethan’s door was still closed. So he assumed his roommate was asleep.
    Later that afternoon he finally came out of his room and asked if he could borrow Riley’s car.
    Riley gave him the keys, and Ethan came back with some beer, a piping hot pizza, laundry detergent, and fabric softener—something Riley didn’t know about until he moved into his first