I'd hoped fucking Finn might get him out of my system and off my mind, but if anything, the opposite's true.

After he leaves, I head up to my room and get a shower. The plan is to just wash the sweat off my body, but every time my eyes close I see him; imagine him in front of me, pressed against the wall, hands splayed over the tile as I slowly roll my hips, filling him just enough to drive us both crazy.

I give in just as the water's losing some of its heat, and it doesn't take long for me to come with those thoughts in my head.

Clean and freshly dressed, I lie in bed and wait to feel tired enough that I'll actually sleep. My phone's propped on my chest and I'm talking to the guys as much as I can without seeing them in person, but still my mind wanders, and so does my hand.

Jesus Christ. I haven't been this damn horny in years. I'm so out of my mind with it that I seriously consider sending Finn another message; inviting him over to my room so we can use each other until we're both sated.

Thankfully common sense wins out, and I eventually do drift off to sleep, dreaming of lust-filled green eyes and soft lips.

* * *

The next morning I wake up at six, hit the hotel's gym for an hour, then make the rounds to wake up the lazy fuckers who are supposed to be getting in some last minute prep time with me. We take our laptops and steal away to an unused conference room Nat20 already gave us clearance to use.

As I'm getting set up, Calvin makes a low noise in the back of his throat and says, "God damn, Ryker. You'll do anything to get ahead, won't you?"

I have no idea what he's talking about and I don't care. "Yep."

"How'd he react when he found out you weren't really gonna fuck him?" Wait, what? My gaze snaps to Calvin, his own attention focused on a tablet. "Bet he cried like a little bitch."

"What the fuck are you talking about, man?" Bryson asks.

I'm wondering the same, but Bryson and two other guys saunter over there to see what's on Calvin's tablet before I can get to it.

"That is gay as fuuuuck," Calvin announces. "Way to take one for the team, dude."

"I hope you didn't let him blow you," comes Bryson's voice from the back. "You don't know where that mouth's been."

That starts a whole round of idiotic laughter, and I can feel my whole face burning with a mix of anger and embarrassment as I snatch the tablet right out of Calvin's hands.

"Dude, what the fuck?"

I ignore him and look down at what he's been sharing with the rest of the team. It's a YouTube video posted by one of the most prominent shit-stirrers in the industry. The title--Are they [email protected]!#ing?!--is stupid and clickbaity and the pictures they used for the thumbnail make Finn and I both look like complete pervs.

I hit "replay," expecting to find some moronic video essay listing all the evidence for why Finn and I are running some big scam, making people think we hate each other.

Instead I find actual evidence, in the form of a shaky phone video taken from right outside the hotel bar. The person shooting it captures us sitting a little closer than I thought we were. It zooms in to catch my hand move under the table, making it look like I'm going for the dick-grab even when I wasn't. And it captures me leaning in to murmur in his ear, and the dark, lust-fueled expression on Finn's face as I pull back.

My first thought is that I'm glad whoever shot this didn't bother following us any further, because the whole internet would be getting an eyeful now. My second thought is that it doesn't matter, because it's obvious to anyone with half a brain what's going on.

"I don't know," Josh says from behind me, his tone already grating. "I'd probably let him suck me off. A blowjob's a blowjob."

Calvin makes a disgusted sound in the back of his throat. "No, it isn't. What the fuck."

All around me they start arguing about what is and isn't "gay," and whether or not fucking a guy feels like fucking a girl if you close your eyes. It's the kind of stupid, ignorant ass shit they always go on about. Usually I just ignore them, knowing there isn't a gay man alive who'd want them anyway.

But right now all I'm thinking about is whether or not Finn has seen this video. The idea that he may be getting chewed out by his coach, slammed by his fans, and condescended to by his teammates makes me sick.

And angry. Really fucking angry.

"I'm only gonna say this once, so listen the fuck up," I growl. "You don't get to sit here and jerk each other off over some stupid clickbait video. What I do on my own time is my business. Nobody else's. Got it?"

"I'm just sayin', you da real MVP, Ryk," Calvin quips.

That little smirk of his just sets me right the fuck off, and I shove the tablet back at him. "We've been invited to the biggest event any of us will probably ever be a part of," I start, my voice rising at a fever pitch, "and instead of buckling down and getting your heads right, you're all in here talking shit about somebody we have to work with today. You're gonna make fools of yourselves and me. Nat20's going to regret ever asking us to come."

A few of them actually look contrite. I can feel my anger slowly dissipate, and I prepare myself to put all of this behind me and just focus on the raid.

That is until Calvin speaks again. "If I knew a few minutes alone with Finn would turn you into a PMSing little bitch, I would've stopped you from going."

I very nearly deck him, right then and there. My hand balls into a fist, I draw back to the point where he winces, and every cell in my body wants me to follow through with the motion.

Instead I shove my laptop into my bag and start for the door. "I'm out. Text me if you decide to grow the fuck up."

It's not going to happen, so I resign myself to practicing alone. I've been able to carry them in the past. Maybe I can do it again. Maybe if I work hard enough, it won't matter that they're incompetent man-children who act like they're still in middle school.

I tell myself that, but even as I head up to my room to work, I know I'm not going to make enough of a difference. We're going to make complete asses of ourselves tonight, and we'll bring the Cyclones down with us.

Somehow none of that even begins to compare to the fact that Finn probably thinks I set this whole video thing up just to fuck with him.