Slippery Slopes (Winterhaven Series - Vol. 1)

Chapter 39

Focus. Lane rubbed his eyes, blinked, then lined up the shot. Pay attention to what you're doing. He steadied the stick and felt all eyes on him. Jude's stare was the heaviest. Did he see us? The uncertainty ground up his guts. Was he waiting till they were alone without Lizzy there before he called Lane on it?

"Sometime this century, Cassiter," Darren murmured with a note of humor.

Lane chanced a quick glance at Jude who was whispering something to Lizzy; both were watching Lane. Lizzy smiled, amused by whatever Jude had said. Lane cleared his throat and tried to focus again, but as he leaned over the edge of the table, he felt Nolan beneath him once more...the smell of his hair...touch of his hands. And his kiss...sucking your tongue. Lane's vision went hazy and heat surged through his groin as he took the shot. The cue ball hardly nicked its target and spun off to the other side of the table. Lane released a hard breath and straightened up. "Fuck."

Jude looked at him skeptically, smiling a little. "Let's hope you shoot better than that during the tournament."

Don't count on it, Lane thought. With Nolan right there at the table, he'd be lucky to make a single shot. If he and Todd played like shit and still won, everyone would know the game was fixed. And how the fuck could they even "fake" win if they couldn't get the damn eight ball in the pocket? Todd better be on his game because Lane sure as shit was not.

"Nolan is really good," Lizzy offered. "Drew is pretty good, too. Just fair warning."

Lane nodded. The girl gazed at him a moment; did she know about everything? She seemed to be close to Nolan and Drew. But they had promised not to tell anyone. Not everyone could be taken at their word, but he trusted Nolan. Even Drew came off as a man of his word. Lane looked away, feeling self-conscious. Just because she didn't know about that, didn't mean she wasn't aware of Nolan's attraction to him. Nolan didn't strike him as the type to be shy about admitting such things to his friends.

The "conditions" of the bet hung heavily over Lane's head, and he knew that was on everyone's mind right now. What would their friends do if they lost the bet? When it came right down to it, would they expect Lane and Todd to back out of it? What would they think of them if they went through with it? What would they think if they knew you already had – and not just "once", in your case?

Last night's 'dream' played inside Lane's head. Why had he gone running back to Nolan...so eager to be fucked by him again? Lane trembled with a concoction of excitement and debilitating fear; what if his dad and brothers found out? It wasn't often that Lane visited his family, but no matter where he went, he was never beyond the reach of his father's wrath. If it ever came to their attention that he was a fag, they would hunt him down and do their damnedest to beat the faggot out of him; of this he was certain.

But you're not a...

The thought hardly bloomed before wilting on the vine as Todd walked into the billiard room, a strained look on his face. Neither of them had been the same since their time spent with Nolan and Drew, and it showed on Todd's face. Was it as readable on Lane's face as well? Gay people insisted that they were born that way, that a person didn't "turn" gay. But how did that account for him and Todd? Could a guy like cock and still be straight? Were they bisexual? Problem was...Lane was feeling nothing for women. And in all reality – how long had it been since he'd had an actual relationship with a girl? He blamed it on his skiing career, insisted he didn't have time to cultivate a relationship. That wasn't really true, though. Plenty of his fellow skiers were in committed relationships. Some had wives. Lane's sex life consisted of brief one-night stands in which, as soon as the deed was done, he didn't hang around for small talk and cuddling. Except with Nolan. He hadn't just lingered in the guy's bed—he had exposed deep, personal truths about himself; things he'd never told a girl. Shit, some of it even Todd didn't know about.