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Buck pushed his way through the crowd as he made his way to his seat. He loved basketball nights with his Eddie and May, but he’d never been to a game in person before. Add in that May had somehow gotten courtside seats for the Lakers vs Devils game, and he was in paradise.
… Or he was, until he saw Pax fucking Lowe hitting on his baby sister. Suddenly, May’s explanation that she got the tickets as a bartending tip made much more sense. His blood went ice cold with rage as he approached only to hear May deflecting his invitation to an afterparty at the infamous Devil’s Playground.
“No, seriously, I’m not alone. My brother and his friend must have gotten held up at work.” May was calm, but Buck could hear the unease in her voice.
“May! Heads up!” he called and launched her pack of Red Vines into the air. She turned and did her best to catch them, but wouldn’t you know it, they were just a little too high. Luckily, Pax was there to catch them with his now-livid face.
Buck hopped across the center railing before vaulting over the chairs, landing with an audible thud as several audience members looked on in aggravation or, in the case of Lionel Davenport, admiration. “My bad, man. I guess that’s why you’re the baller. May, sorry about being late. Shift ran over.”
May gave him a smile tinged with relief. “No worries. Where’s Eddie?”
“Getting the beers. We figured it was best to divide and conquer.” He turned to Pax and held out his hand. “Where are my manners? I’m Buck. May’s brother. You must be responsible for this. I’d been wondering who tipped with ten-thousand dollar tickets at a cop bar.”
Pax ignored his hand, but looked back and forth between the two of them. “You’re her brother? Sorry, you just seem a little old to be her brother. And a little white.”
“Well, technically, she isn’t our sister.” Eddie’s voice rang out from behind him. “But her step-dad’s our station chief at the LAFD, so close enough.” Eddie passed Buck the beers and climbed over the seats to drop next to May, giving Pax a look of pure contempt. “Sorry we’re late. We had to break someone out of a chimney, and it was brick, so Buck and I had to go at it with the sledgehammers.”
May gave a snort of disbelief. “Again? How many chimney idiots is that?”
“Third this month.” Buck groaned, taking the spot on May’s other side. He looked back up at Pax. “Some free advice, man: hallucinogens are a sometimes food.”
“Also, if you’re going to climb down a chimney while tripping balls, try to pick a metal one.” added Eddie. “Then we can just use the jaws.”
Pax looked back and forth between Buck and Eddie, then to May, then to Buck and Eddie again. Finally, he seemed to get the message that May had no interest in him, but she did have two beefy guys ready to kick ass in her name. “Well, I hope you enjoy the game. It’s always a pleasure to meet two to LA’s finest.” He turned and headed back towards the locker room, head hung in defeat.
“So,” Buck turned to May. “Is there a reason you didn’t tell us Pax Lowe gave you the tickets in an attempt to get into your pants?”
She was hoovering down some Red Vines strands, doing her best to look innocent. “Because if you knew, you would've told Mom, and then I wouldn’t be center court at the Devils vs Lakers.” She snagged her beer from Buck and took a large swallow. “Besides, there’s no way for him to start shit without getting his ass kicked. If he does it here, you’ll do it, and if he stops by the bar, one of the half-dozen off-duty cops will.”
Buck gave her a serious look. “You realize I am going to tell your mom. In a month,” he added at May’s panicked look. “When all she’ll do is give a quick lecture.”
She burst out into a huge grin. “You’re my favorite brother, you know that? Now, switch seats with me.” At Buck’s scolding look, she rolled her eyes. “Pax is gone, and I don’t want to be stuck in between you two whispering the entire game.”
Buck and May made the swap, with Buck wrapping one arm around May as she curled into his side like normal. His other grabbed Eddie’s knee. Their eyes met, and for one glorious moment, Buck could pretend he saw lust-lust in his gaze instead of basketball bloodlust. “So what do you think? Will Devils vs Lakers be the game of the season?”
Eddie almost seemed to smolder as he looked over Buck. “Brother, no matter what happens on the court, this is going to be the best game of our lives.”
And it was, at least for the first half of the game. Then a t-shirt cannon exploded.
Buck and Eddie were on their feet and running over before the man wielding it hit the ground. Buck winced as he ripped his shirt open; the cannon had turned into close-contact shrapnel. Bits of metal and plastic were sticking out of his torso, arms, and most concerningly, neck.
The team doctor ran over, demanding to know who they were.
“LAFD, which, no offense, makes us far more qualified for this then you. But we’ll happily take some extra hands and your med kit.” Eddie said in a clipped tone. “Got any anticoagulants?”
The doctor nodded and prepared the medication, while Buck and Eddie finished assessing the man.
Luckily most of the cuts were shallow, but there was one major problem. “Eddie, look at his throat. That metal piece is piercing his windpipe, so he can’t breath but--”
“It’s also staunching the blood flow from a lacerated jugular, maybe the carotid too.” Eddie finished. “We’re going to have to pull it out. All the blood in the world doesn’t matter if he’s brain dead. Okay, I’ll pull it out. Buck, you apply pressure, and doc, trach him as soon as I’m clear.”
On Eddie’s count, they did as he’d instructed. The good news was they were able to restore airflow and stem the bleeding. The bad news was that when both major blood vessels in the neck are cut, it spurts like the Bellagio fountain.
Once care was passed off to the responding ambulance crew, Buck looked at his clothes, which were drenched in blood, then back to their seats where May was waiting. A glance at Eddie told him they were thinking the same thing.
“Are we seriously considering watching half a basketball game looking like extras from Carrie and letting all this blood just . . . dry on us?” The other man asked.
Buck met his gaze with a rueful shrug. “Man, if they were nosebleeds, I’d say we just go, but when are we going to get courtside seats again?”
“The next home game.” A voice interrupted them. A straight-laced brunet man in a terrible suit walked up to them, holding out a hand in spite of the gore coating the two of them. “Jude Kinkade, Executive Vice President of the Devils. We’ll be happy to comp you tickets for our next game. In gratitude for all you did today.” He had a cutting look in his eye, one that belied the shark beneath his nice guy exterior.
A blond man came up and wrapped himself around Jude, giving him a look just as cutting and perceptive as Jude’s. “Or they could stay for this one. Feel free to shower in the locker room and maybe stick around for a little fun.” He gave both of them a leering once-over, ignoring the annoyed look Jude shot him. He nodded at Eddie. “I’m Zero, by the way. Devil’s captain.”
Eddie rolled his eyes, causing Buck to jump in. “Honestly, that sounds perfect. That’s Eddie, and my sister May is both chatting with Lionel Davenport and eighteen, so if you could get Lowe to quit stalking her, that’d be great.”
Both men’s gaze darkened at that, Jude turning angry, Zero sadistically gleeful. “Consider it done.”
Twenty minutes later, Buck and Eddie got out of the showers, finally clean. Two pairs of sweats had been left for them, and as they pulled them on, Buck could feel the silence in the room shifting from “hot water, hallelujah” to a tenser, more uncomfortable one. He looked over at Eddie one last time before sighing. “Just spit it out.”
Eddie kept his back to him. “Spit what out.” he growled out as he laced his boots.
“I don’t know, whatever you’re pissed about.” Buck snapped back. He loved Eddie, he really did, but that man got angry over the most random things. Last week it had been a news report on blowflies.
Eddie dropped his foot back to the ground before turning to Buck, glaring so hard Buck could practically feel holes being drilled into his chest. “You fucked Zero Kinkade. Don’t bother denying it; he looked at you like a piece of meat he’d had and enjoyed.”
Buck could feel his heart stop in disbelief. Out of all the things Eddie could have said, that was completely unexpected. “Are you serious?”
The look Eddie gave him was filled with disgust. “Of course I’m serious. What in the world would make you think I’d be okay with that?”
Buck barely noticed the rest of the game. All throughout the night, into overtime, and up into the Devil’s Playground where he and Eddie sat with May tucked between them, the only thing on his mind was Eddie’s word’s echoing in his head.
What in the world would make you think I’d be okay with that?
The revulsion in Eddie’s voice . . . god, Buck had no idea Eddie had problems with queer people. He certainly never showed it towards Hen. Didn’t make a scene when Buck explained that he’d picked the Devils as his team after Zero’s infamous center court kiss and his own subsequent coming out because the 118 is blind.
His thoughts were interrupted when a pretty latina girl dropped off drinks for the three of them, plus her phone number and a wink for Eddie. They had just gotten the first shots downed when Jude and Zero joined them on either side, Jude next to Eddie and Zero slid in close to Buck, which just made Eddie’s eyes fill with more rage. They were building to another parking lot fight, Buck could feel it in his bones.
With an overly calm smile, Jude placed three tickets in the center of the table. “As promised, courtside seats to our next game. Consider it a token of our appreciation of LA’s finest.”
“Finest looking, maybe.” Zero chimed in, turning his signature smolder on Buck. “May, right?”
May squeaked slightly and nodded, unable to find words under the dual effects of alcohol and Zero’s intense gaze.
He gave a slight chuckle and passed her a business card. “I read Paxton the riot act about how the Devil’s don’t harass people who aren’t interested and certainly don’t attempt to buy sex with tickets. If he does anything to you other than apologize, let me know.”
She took the card with a trembling hand. For all her earlier bravado, Buck knew that Lowe had seriously freaked her out when he started coming by the bar every couple of days. “Thanks. I really appreciate that. I just didn’t think anyone would care.”
“And that’s on us. The NBA as a whole, really. But we want the Devil’s to be a beacon of change.” Jude cut in smoothly. He held up his glass in a toast. “To new friends and new beginnings.”
May, Zero, and Buck all toasted along with him, but whatever was eating Eddie up finally broke its leash. “You do know you just gave five-figure tickets to someone who fucked your husband, right?”
The table went so quiet that you could hear ice clinking in the glasses, despite being in the middle of a club. “Yes, I am aware. What I am unaware of is why you think that matters.” Jude responded, his voice so cold it dropped the temperature five degrees.
“You seriously don’t care?” Eddie’s voice dripped with disdain.
“Be a bit hypocritical if he did.” Zero responded, his voice cutting like a knife. “Besides, if Jude refused to deal with any of my old hook-ups, he literally wouldn’t be able to talk to our boss.”
“Seriously, Eddie. It was years ago.” Buck bit off. “Why are you so hung up on this? Fine with bisexuals in theory but can’t handle the reality?”
In a heartbeat, the rage melted off Eddie’s face, replaced with shame and guilt. “Years ago?”
Zero burst out laughing. “Oh, god! You thought we’d hooked up in LA? That’s amazing. No, this was when I played in Ohio and he was still in his goth phase.” He sat back in his booth and took another drink. “Christ, Evan, how do you take him anywhere?”
Jude snickered into his own scotch. “And here I thought Zero’s possessive streak was bad. Babe, next time I call you jealous, remind me of this.”
Buck’s brain finally managed to catch up with everyone else. “Um, we’re not together.”
“Because you’re both idiots.” May broke in. “Buck, Eddie was angry because he thought you’d gone back to being Buck 1.0. Eddie, Buck was hurt because he thought you were being a homophobic toolbag, you’ve both been in love with each other for years, and you two need to get your shit sorted out in the next 10 minutes because I want to win the pool!” She slumped onto the table and pouted into her left hand.
Jude gave her an appraising look. “Did you pick today because you had the tickets and wanted them on the kiss cam?”
She gave him a reproachful look. “Duh. I just had to show the camera guy a picture. Didn’t even need the bribery cash. Like, the rainbows just explode off of them, then two years of feelings would explode, then I’d win the pot. It’s over two grand.”
“Two grand?” Buck asked in disbelief. “How much is the buy-in?”
“Twenty bucks, but it’s been going since the day you met.” May responded matter-of-factly.
“Miss Grant, have you ever considered a career in public relations?” Jude queried. “We have some excellent internship positions, if you’d like to discuss them further.”
“Anything to get out from between these two. I swear, it’s like being caught in a lust tornado.” May scrambled over the top of the table, following Jude to the bar.
Zero clapped Buck on the back. “Good luck. Do everything I would.” With a last lecherous look, Zero got up, leaving Buck and Eddie alone for the first time since the locker room.
Buck spoke first. “Did you really think I’d hook up with someone married? How bad do you think of me, Eddie?” The realization that his best friend had no issues believing he was a homewrecker cut him deep, made him wonder if everyone at the 118 still thought of him as a slut.
Eddie looked down, as if his beer would provide all the answers. “I don’t know, man. When he looked you over like that, and I realized that you’d slept with him, I just . . . I saw red.”
Buck gave a wry chuckle. “If you wanted to sleep with me, all you had to do was ask.”
Before Eddie had the chance to process Buck’s words and start on his same pattern of self-denial, Buck moved over and straddled Eddie before kissing him hard and deep.
After a moment of shock, Eddie began kissing him back just and hard. Teeth knocked, nails scraped, tongues were bitten. This was a passionate, violent kiss; a fistfight without the fists. Eddie fisted Buck’s hair and yanked hard, hard enough for Buck to his as his head was wrenched back. “You’re not sleeping with him again. Fuck, you’re not sleeping with anyone else again, understand?”
Buck grinned and ground down, rubbing his hard cock against Eddie’s aggressively and biting Eddie’s neck and throat. He leaned back to admire his handiwork of purple bruises and blown-out pupils before smirking. “Only if you do the job yourself. Understand?”
At Eddie’s quick nod, he settled back down, only for both of their phone’s to start going off in rapid succession. Concerned there might be a family emergency, they grabbed their phones and opened their texts. . .
Only to be greeted by a video of themselves going at it, with a gleeful text from May that she won with a minute to spare, and everyone else complaining, especially Chimney, who apparently had the next day.
Buck looked over his shoulder to see May holding her phone up and waving at them from a gaggle of Devil Girls. Eddie sighed. “Are you suddenly afraid she’ll take over the world?”
“Nah, she likes us. We’ll be fine.” Buck brushed it off, preferring to focus on the far more pleasurable tasks. “Now, where were we?”