Home / LGBTQ+ / Crossing The Line / Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

All Chapters of Crossing The Line : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

96 Chapters

21

Marcus showed up the next day like nothing had happened.Same posture. Same controlled, measured steps as he walked onto the court. Same quiet presence that usually settled the space around him, like everything aligned itself the second he stepped in. If anyone else looked at him, they wouldn’t notice anything different. He was composed, focused, exactly what the team expected.Except—something was off.It wasn’t obvious at first. It wasn’t in the way he moved or the way he carried himself. It was smaller than that, buried under layers of control. But it was there, and once Ethan noticed it, he couldn’t unsee it.There was an edge to him.Not anger, not frustration, something sharper and deliberate.“Run it again.”Marcus’s voice cut through the court, and that was when it clicked.It wasn’t louder than usual. If anything, it was still controlled, still steady. But there was something under it now—something tight, something pointed. Like every word had an intention behind it.Ethan fr

22

The shower room felt smaller than usual.Hotter, too. Steam clung to the air, curling around metal lockers and tile, softening the edges of everything until it felt like the whole space was closing in.Marcus stood there like none of it affected him, towel slung low on his hips, posture relaxed, completely at ease in a way Ethan found… deeply irritating.Also—Impossible not to notice.Ethan’s gaze flicked over him before he could stop himself. The lines of muscle, the definition that came from discipline, from control, from someone who never did anything halfway. They trained together, sure, but this was different. Up close. Unfiltered.Ethan could see how the veins gathered at his hips and more dangerously, the blonde pubic hair peeking just a bit from his towel.Marcus noticed.Of course he did.“You’re staring again,” he said. His voice came out low and lazy, almost amused, like he was commenting on the weather outside.Ethan jerked his gaze upward. Heat flooded his cheeks despite

23

Something had shifted. It wasn’t dramatic. No thunderclap, no dramatic music swelling in the background like some cheesy rom-com movie. Just a quiet realignment that everyone on the court could feel without needing to name it. The change showed up in the smallest places first. In the way Ethan no longer hesitated when Marcus cut toward the baseline. In the way Marcus no longer second-guessed the angle of his pass when Ethan flashed open on the wing. In the half-second glances they exchanged that carried weight but never lingered long enough to draw attention. Practice that afternoon felt different from the start. Coach blew the whistle and ran them through the same half-court set they’d been butchering for weeks. Normally the play broke down somewhere around the third option—someone (usually Ethan) would try to go solo, someone else would stand flat-footed, and the whole thing would collapse into frustrated shouting. Not today. “Again!” Coach yelled, but the edge in his voice h

24

The gym slowly emptied out. Voices that had been bouncing off the walls all afternoon faded into nothing. Sneakers squeaked one last time down the hallway, then disappeared. The big overhead lights kept humming softly, like they were the only things left that hadn’t gone home yet. Ethan stayed. Obviously. He sat on the bottom bleacher, elbows on his knees, pretending to scroll through his phone even though the screen had gone dark minutes ago. His heart was doing that annoying thing again—beating too hard for no good reason. Marcus didn’t look over right away. He just kept packing his bag at his usual slow pace. Zipping one pocket. Unzipping it again like he’d forgotten something. Folding his sweaty towel with way more care than it deserved. It was so deliberately casual that Ethan almost laughed. The last teammate—Jason, probably—yelled something about grabbing food and let the side door slam shut behind him. Click. Silence dropped over the gym like someone hit mute. Ethan

25

The game was wild.Not as crazy as that Ridgeway mess, but close. Every single basket felt huge. The other team came ready to fight—they didn’t give up easy shots, they guarded hard, and they kept coming back every time the team pulled ahead. It was one of those nights where nobody could relax.Ethan played really well.Marcus played even better.And when they were on the court together? They clicked in a way that made everything look easy.Halfway through the third quarter the score was tied. The gym was loud—people yelling, feet stomping the bleachers, music blasting during timeouts. Ethan wiped sweat off his face with his jersey, caught his breath, and looked over at Marcus during a quick break.Marcus was already looking back—calm on the outside, but his eyes had that focused spark Ethan knew meant he was locked in.Coach drew something simple on his whiteboard: get the ball to Marcus on the side, let him shoot if he’s open, or pass it inside if they close out on him.They ran bac

26

It became a pattern.Dangerous.Addictive.Impossible to quit.Win the game.Celebrate with the team.Wait until the parking lot cleared out. Then disappear.The showers turned into their spot.Not the main locker-room ones with the bright lights and echoing voices. The smaller one tucked in the back corner—three showerheads, chipped blue tiles, a door that locked if you jiggled the handle just right. Steam hung thick in the air even when no one was running water. The fluorescent bulb overhead flickered once every few minutes like it was tired of staying on. It was quiet. Private. Hidden from the rest of the world.Marcus’s hands were always steady. Ethan’s were always a little restless—fingers twitching against skin, gripping too hard then loosening like he couldn’t decide how much he was allowed to want this.One night after a close win—some away game that ran long and left everyone exhausted—Ethan got there first. He stood under the spray, letting hot water pound against his s

27

They had just won again.Another game.Another step closer to something bigger. The final buzzer had barely stopped echoing before the locker room filled with shouts, back slaps, and the kind of wild energy that only comes after a close one you actually pulled out.Then, slowly, the noise drained away.Teammates grabbed their bags, still talking over each other about the last play, the refs, the party someone was throwing later. One by one they filtered out. Showers turned off. Lockers slammed. Footsteps faded down the hallway.Until it was just the two of them.Ethan leaned back against the cool tile wall near the back showers, eyes closed for a second, letting the adrenaline crash settle into something quieter. His chest still felt tight—in a good way this time.“…we’re actually good,” he said, almost to himself.Marcus stepped closer, towel slung low on his hips, water still dripping from the ends of his hair.“We always were.”Ethan cracked one eye open and rolled it dramaticall

28

Ethan couldn’t focus the next day. At all. His brain kept replaying the door opening, Jason’s wide eyes, the way the word “oh” had landed like a brick between them. Every time he tried to lock in during drills—dribble, pass, shoot—his mind flashed back to the locker room. To his knees. To Marcus’s hand in his hair. To Jason’s quick spin and the slam of the door. He missed an easy layup during warm-ups. The ball clanged off the front rim and rolled away. One of the freshmen chased it down, laughing. “Yo, you good?” someone called. Ethan forced a laugh that sounded fake even to him. “Yeah. Just tired.” He wasn’t tired in the slightest. He was freaking out. Jason jogged over during stretches, casual as ever, towel slung over his shoulders. He dropped into a lunge next to Ethan and started talking like nothing had happened. “Earth to Ethan,” he said lightly, bumping Ethan’s shoulder with his own. Ethan stiffened. His whole body went rigid. “…yeah?” Jason just looked at him. F

29

Marcus caught Jason just before he slipped out the side door of the gym.“Wait.”Jason paused mid-step, hand already on the push bar. He turned slowly, eyebrows raised like he’d been expecting this.“Yeah?”Marcus closed the distance in two steps, keeping his voice low enough that it wouldn’t carry down the empty hallway.“We need to talk.”Jason glanced left, then right— like he was checking for witnesses for some reason even though the place was dead quiet. Then he shrugged, casual as ever.“Sure, about what?”Marcus didn’t blink.“You know what.”Jason’s knowing smirk crept back—small, almost playful, but it didn’t reach his eyes.“Right.”A beat of silence stretched between them. The kind that felt heavier than it should.Marcus didn’t waste time dancing around it.“You’re not telling anyone, right?.” He askedf waiting for an answer.Jason held his gaze for a long second—long enough that Marcus felt the weight of whatever was behind those eyes. Then Jason nodded once, slow and del

30

Ethan was pacing again.Back and forth across the small space behind the bleachers after practice, sneakers squeaking on the gym floor. The rest of the team had already left, but he couldn’t sit still. His stomach had been in knots since last night.Marcus finally walked in, bag slung over one shoulder. He dropped it on the bottom bleacher with a soft thud.“What did he say?” Ethan asked immediately, stopping mid-step.Marcus looked at him. “He won’t tell anyone.”Ethan let out a long breath, shoulders dropping just a little. “Okay. Good.”He waited.Marcus didn’t say anything else right away.Ethan narrowed his eyes. “That’s it?”Marcus hesitated, just for a second. He rubbed the back of his neck. “He said I owe him a favor.”Ethan froze in place. “What kind of favor?”“I don’t know yet.”Ethan let out a frustrated breath and started pacing again. “I don’t like that. At all.”“Neither do I,” Marcus said quietly.Silence stretched between them for a moment. The gym felt too big and to

PREV

...

NEXT

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP

DMCA.com Protection Status