Hard luck, p.1
Hard Luck, page 1
Table of Contents
Hard Luck | A Straight To Gay Football MM Instalove Romance | (First Time for Everything Series) | By B.T. Haiyes
Copyright 2022 B.T Haiyes.
Chapter 1 | CHASE
Chapter 2 | JAKE
Chapter 3 | CHASE
Chapter 4 | JAKE
Chapter 5 | CHASE
Chapter 6 | JAKE
Chapter 7 | CHASE
Chapter 8 | JAKE
Chapter 9 | CHASE
HARD Wright
Chapter 1 | JOSH
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hard Luck
A Straight To Gay Football MM Instalove Romance
(First Time for Everything Series)
By B.T. Haiyes
Copyright 2022 B.T Haiyes.
All Rights Reserved.
This is a work of pure fiction.
Names, places, business, characters and/or incidents mentioned in this book are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used in a fictitious manner.
Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or places is purely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
All rights not mentioned herein are reserved to the author.
Chapter 1
CHASE
“Chase, get down!”
I ducked down with a yelp, as my best friend tugged at my shoulder, dragging me behind the low shrubbery.
Crouching awkwardly, I stilled as I held my breath. Hidden behind a bush, I tried to stay as quiet as possible, even though I knew I would not be heard over the thunderous noise coming from the nightclub across the street.
“How much longer are we going to have to stay here?” I whispered through gritted teeth. When Tyler didn’t answer, I lightly punched him in the shoulder to get his attention.
He cast an exasperated look over at me. “I know as much as you do right now.”
“Yeah, but this was all your idea,” I indicated the bush we were ducked behind. “By the time the waiters leave, the party is going to be long over.”
I shifted my weight as I tried to get comfortable. But, I still kept my body taut, ready to spring into action if Tyler gave the word.
The sun had long since set, and it was late into the evening. And yet, there was still just enough streetlight for me to pick out the ‘Minnie’s Food & Delivery’ signage on the side of the caterer van.
“Give me a second, I’ve got this,” Tyler assured me, his eyes remaining pinned on the caterers across the road.
The food delivery personnel worked tirelessly, moving in and out of the nightclubs side door. They were ferrying a seemingly endless supply of champagne bottles into the bouncing club.
“Let’s try and bribe the caterers. Worse that’ll happen is that they don’t let us through.” I shifted again, trying to keep my weight off my bum left knee. “Or maybe we could try bribing the bouncers at the door again,” I continued, as I brushed a touch of dirt off the other knee of my slacks.
Tyler’s eyes never left the side door of the club. Especially now that two of the delivery staff were taking a cigarette break. “Shh! We have to stay quiet if we want this to work,” Tyler told me, not noticing my rolling eyes.
I grunted a half-hearted acknowledgment, even though I thought Tyler’s admonishment was ridiculous.
‘Tyler really thinks we’re going to be heard over that din?’
It was a wonder the club hadn’t yet got hit by the cops citing a noise violation. You could hear the music all the way down two city blocks.
‘I guess that’s simply one of the many perks of being a play-off football team.’ I thought to myself. ‘You can turn up the music at the party of the year, and the city will turn a blind a eye.’
Still, I couldn’t quite shake off the feelings of annoyance at having traveled three hours to get here. And all the while I’d thought Tyler had actually gotten us invites into the Dashing Colonels football squads play-off celebration party.
Yet, as soon as we’d arrived, it soon became obvious that Tyler’s invite was less of an invite, and more of a plan to gate-crash the party.
Plus, to add insult to injury, it seemed like we were about to spend an entire wasted Saturday night hiding behind this bush.
“Right, I’ve got it,” Tyler said, and he turned to give me a mischievous smile. I eyed him cautiously as he continued. “I have an idea, but we’re going to need to move fast. So, stay low.”
I didn’t bother to keep the sarcasm from flavoring my words. “You know I am wearing dress shoes, right? If I’d known there’d be cardio involved, I’d have worn something else.”
“Hey, I’m not happy about this either,” Tyler indicated his velvet slip-ons, the ones he’d told me he’d spent nearly half a months pay check on. “You think I want to be running around in these beauties?” He cast a mournful look down at his brown velvet shoes. “But, it’ll all be worth it once we’re inside.” Tyler re-affixed his attention on the caterer van.
“And how are we going to do that?” I asked, as I curiously watched Tyler straighten up out of his crouched position.
He tapped me on my shoulder, indicating that I stand up as well. “When I say run, you follow after me,” Tyler told me as he began to move out from behind the shrub.
Completely non-plussed, I wordlessly followed. But, it took me a moment to realize what Tyler planned to do.
“Come on, you can’t seriously think we’ll get in through that side entrance...” Before I could finish my sentence, Tyler yelled.
“RUN!”
I didn’t hesitate. Running as fast as I could, I tracked Tyler closely as we both sprinted across the road, mainlining for the side door.
The delivery staff barely had time to shout after us, before we managed to slip in through the door unimpeded.
But we didn’t stop. Tyler and I continued to speed through the kitchen, skipping past one catering staff member after another, as we headed straight for the swinging doors that led into the nightclub.
As I kept pace with Tyler, my heart racing with adrenalin, one thought kept running through my mind.
‘I can’t believe that actually worked!’
Chapter 2
JAKE
I took a long slow sip from my champagne glass. Anything to distract myself from the inane conversation that I was somehow trapped in.
“...that’s when I decided I simply had to have the butt implants done as well.”
I made a non-committal hum sound, my eyes drifting away from the chattering woman, to scan the bouncing nightclub.
She placed a hand on my forearm, bringing my attention back to her, as she leaned in to whisper co-conspiratorially. “You can feel them if you like,” she said, twisting her hips to thrust her butt at me. Her short thigh-high glittering dress hugged her body in all the right places. “I won’t mind. They feel completely real”. She clearly kept her body in great shape — breast, lip, and apparently butt implants aside.
And yet, she did nothing for me.
I have no idea why she thought I would want to grab her ass. Maybe my other football team mates were still into those women who threw themselves at pro-players. But those days were long behind me.
At the grand old age — by pro football standards — of 26 years old, I’d soon come to realize that a different girl every night wasn’t what I wanted.
More than that, I’d long since figured out that I was less than straight. I was bi, for sure. And yet, relationship wise, I was always on the look out for a hard-muscled man to take to my bed.
But, life in the spotlight of a major football team meant I couldn’t take any chance jumping into the gay dating scene. The last man I’d dated — beyond the odd quick one night stand — was when I was 22 years old and still playing college football.
That relationship had ended disastrously. And I’d come dangerously close to being outed, all before my career had even started.
Ever since then, publicly, I’d only been seen dating an endless string of women. And those relationships had ended as fast as my discreet gay-dating-app hookups did.
‘Once bitten, twice shy,’ I thought to myself with a barely audible sigh.
The woman — Katie? Lacy? I forget her name — continued to shamelessly flirt with me, slowly dragging her hand up my forearm to rest it on my bicep.
“Damn,” she said the word with a long wanton moan, “you must work out all the time. You’re arms are so firm. Are you firm everywhere else too?” She didn’t bother to hide how her eyes drifted down to my groin, before trailing her gaze back up my body to meet my eyes.
And with that, I was done feigning interest.
I’d only left the VIP section of the club to get a breather from the celebrations happening in there. The entire squad were taking full advantage of the facilities. And the raucous VIP area was filled with drinking and shouting as everyone yukked it up.
I, on the other hand, didn’t feel much like celebrating. Sure, we’d won the play-off game and were through to the next round. But, my own performance as a running back was less than stellar.
Our captain and quarterback, Lou Howard, had told me to shrug it off and simply do better next game.
Still, I didn’t feel I’d earned the right to celebrate as hard as the other guys on the team. So, I
And this woman — Macy? Tracy? God, what is her name again?! — had latched onto me the moment I’d left the exclusive cornered off VIP area.
With my free hand, I gently grasped her hand and removed it from my arm. I wasn’t interested, and I certainly wasn’t willing to play along for the sneaky tabloid paparazzi that were no doubt in here waiting to snap a picture.
“I’m going to go get a refill.” I stopped her when she started to follow after me. “No, you stay here, I’ll be right back,” I said, not pausing to hear her reply. With a quick glance over my shoulder, I breathed a short sigh of relief, when I noticed she did not follow after me.
But, as I turned to face forward, I heard someone yell ‘on your right!’ as they ran towards me. Brushing my shoulder, the slight man breezed past into the crowd with a short whoop of delight.
“What the hell?” I called after him, while I heard shouts of ‘hey, you two!’ come from the direction he’d just run from.
Turning around to the shouts, another man ran right into me with an ‘oof!’, as he face-planted into my chest.
I noticed that this stranger barely came up to my shoulders, as he bounced off my six foot five inch frame.
Still, I barely felt it — I’d been rushed by guys 2 or 3 times heavier on the football field — but it seemed like the stranger felt the full force of my solid body.
The man rocked back from the recoil. Still, he managed to quickly mumble a ‘sorry’ in my direction, while snapping his head around to look over his shoulder.
The movement threw the man off balance, and he began to topple over. So, in a swift move, I reached out to grasp his shoulders, steadying him from falling down flat on his ass.
The weight of my hands on his body made this stranger finally drag his eyes away from the men chasing him, and he turned his gaze to peer up at me.
And when our eyes met, I found myself transfixed by the most beautiful green eyes I’d ever seen.
Chapter 3
CHASE
It felt like I’d just run into a solid brick wall.
When my forehead bounced off the man’s chest, that was embarrassing enough. But I was so distracted by the security guards giving chase, that I nearly tripped over my feet.
I didn’t know what would be worse. Getting caught by the burly security, or getting into a fight with this huge man mountain.
Yet, instead of a fist to my face, all I felt were surprisingly gentle hands steadying me.
I peered up at the man. He had to have had at least a half-a-foot advantage over my five foot nine inches. Yet, instead of finding anger, I was surprised to be met by a crystal blue eyed look of concern.
He towered over me, with shoulders so broad, you couldn't even see past them. His jawline looked like it had been carved from marble, and it was covered in carefully trimmed stubble.
We stood like that for a long moment — standing entirely too close — with his hands on my shoulders. But we were soon interrupted, as the two security guards rushed in.
“I apologize, Mr. Goode.” One of the guards addressed the blue-eyed stranger, before moving to grab my arm.
The stranger — or rather, Mr. Goode — dropped his hands from my shoulders, and moved to stop the security guard.
“What are you doing?”
“Apologies again, sir.” The security guard actually sounded embarrassed at having to haul me off. “This guy and his friend snuck in via the kitchen entrance. A lapse in security like that will not happen again.”
The security guards hand tightened around my bicep, as he started to tug me away.
“We didn’t sneak in...” I began in protest, but my voice faded a little underneath the glare of the guard. “Okay, look. It’s a funny story. Once you hear it from my friend, Ty...um.” I wasn’t going to land Tyler in it. If I had to go down, the least I could do was make sure Tyler's name didn’t come up. “Ty-Reese. My friend Tyrese is around here somewhere.” I made a show of looking around for Tyler, trying not to cringe at how obvious my lie sounded. “I’m sure we can clear this all up...”
Mr. Goode interrupted my rambling.
“He’s with me.”
My eyebrows rose at that, and I didn’t bother hide my surprise that this stranger was covering for me.
And the two security guards appeared as equally surprised as I was.
“Are you sure, sir?” The second security guard asked. He was stood a little aways from me, no doubt ready to block my escape, if I managed to slip from the first guards grip.
Despite the obvious looks of skepticism swapped between the two guards, the first guard loosened his grip from my arm.
Mr. Goode moved to pat the guard on the shoulder. “I know you’re just doing your job. So many people are trying to get into this party, it’s gotta be hard work. But we need you guy's looking out for us,” he continued, pointing between the two guards. “The team needs time to blow off steam, without hangers-on bothering us.”
The first guard seemed to puff up his chest, a a genuine smile drawing itself across his features at the compliment. “Absolutely! The Dashing Colonels are going to go all the way this year. So, this is the least we can do.” The security guard gave me a short nod. “Sorry about that. I believe we were mistaken earlier.” There was a color to the mans tone that clearly indicated that he didn’t believe that at all. Still, the guard turned back to regard Mr. Goode. “And if you need anything sir, my friend and I,” he jutted a thumb over at his security guard partner, “you let us know. We’re stood by the entrance.”
Mr. Goode nodded with a charming smile. “Good to know. And, Goode Luck!” He said, with a chuckle.
I watched the exchange wordlessly, feeling lost when the two guards both laughed along with him. “Damn straight! Goode Luck at the next game, sir.”
And with that, the guards both walked away.
I stood looking nonplussed, wondering what the hell had happened. Who was this Mr. Goode guy?
‘And whats with all of that weird good lucking?’ I thought to myself.
I didn’t have time to mull over it for long, because Mr. Goode then addressed me with his hand outstretched. I took it.
“And what might your name be?”
“Chase. Chase Mason,” I replied, confused as to where this was going. I then remembered my manners. “Thanks for getting those guards off my case,” I shook his hand. His grip was tight, but not painfully so. As we loosened our grip, I continued. “I’m sorry about all of that. Mr. Goode, was it?” I queried.
The tall stranger laughed. “Mr. Goode? That’s way too formal. Call me Jake. Jake Goode’s my full name. But, don’t tell me you didn’t already know that.”
I gave him a genuinely confused look. “I really don’t.”
Jake chuckled as he indicated the bouncing night club around us. “I mean, you’re the one here at the team party. You really mean to tell me you don’t know who I am?”
‘Should I be recognizing this guy? Is he on the team?’ I thought to myself. ‘Damn it Tyler. If he was here, he’d know who this guy was.’
As I racked my brain, trying to figure out who Jake was, I knew it was going to be hopeless.
I didn’t follow football, or any sport really. Ever since high school, I was always much more at home working with computer code. And I would always steer clear of any jocks that crossed my path.
And all throughout college, my friend group was made up of people who didn’t put much stock in any sports team.
Even my best friend Tyler, was more of a fair-weather football fan, than a die-hard sports addict.
But, Tyler had been closely following the Dashing Colonels more, as our states football team started to win games consistently. And with their recent winning streak, it was next to impossible to avoid some news bit on TV about how well the team was doing.
The whole reason Tyler and I even came to the party, was because Tyler had recently got it into his head to try and become a sports agent. And he wanted me along with him for support.
This trip was all about Tyler getting a chance to cozy up to the players and management on the Dashing Colonels, and begin making connections.
