Crossing lines (Noah and Aiden) novel Chapter 128

Chapter 128

Aiden

My boys had won the game. Noah was on everybody’s lips-his name shouted, repeated, carried like fire across the stadium. And me? My reputation had shot up like foam in just a few hours. I hadn’t even walked out before the comments started. Promises. Subtle offers. If we kept this up, they could turn into something bigger. Something better.

But for all the glory, there was always a shadow. And today, it had brought Devon Reilly.

My biggest mistake.

The truth? I’d known he was trouble from the start. High maintenance. Diva on and off the field. He was talented, damn good with the ball, but more trouble than he was worth. Always questioning orders, disobeying rules and acting like the team existed to orbit him instead of the other way around. I was hard on him because I knew what he could do-and how his reputation outside the field was going to bury any chance he had at a future.

And then that night happened.

After one of our best wins, the team dragged me out to celebrate. A few drinks turned into more, and for a few hours, I let myself feel like one of them again. I should’ve gone home. I should’ve known better. But what do they say? Man is the only animal that stumbles twice over the same rock. And I am a man. And I stumbled.

I walked away from the noise, back to my office, drunk enough to sink into my chair and sulk the way I always did. Glory days, regrets, the whole pathetic routine. I must’ve passed out, because the next thing I knew, I was waking to someone on their knees in front of me.

Devon.

For a moment, hazy and half-dreaming, my mind betrayed me. I thought I was somewhere else, with someone else-Micah. It took me seconds to snap back into reality. By then, my cock was swelling, throbbing, his mouth taking me deep, and my body betrayed me all over again. My hips thrust, my climax tore through me, and I came down his throat.

When I realized-really realized-what had happened, I shoved him back, horrified. Disgusted. Furious. I told him to get the hell out, to never pull something like that again.

But the damage was done.

From then on, I was trapped-terrified he’d say something, spin the story into a noose around my neck. Replacing him became ten times harder. And when he showed up intoxicated before one of our final games, it ended for good. He was out.

Until now.

And now I knew the truth: Devon wasn’t back for football. He was back for revenge.

If Noah ever heard about this? He’d be gone, He wouldn’t care about context, wouldn’t care that it had been forced on me, that I’d been half-drunk and half- asleep. All he’d see was a coach letting players get on their knees. A pervert who took advantage. Who used, then replaced.

I should’ve told him. A long time ago. Before it ever became a threat. But I couldn’t. Because the thought of Noah looking at me like that-like I was just another dirty man with a zipper problem-would destroy me.

He could never know.

In that paranoid state of mind, I watched Noah go with the herd of wild boys and probably just as many wild girls-to a party just like the ones where I’d fucked up the most. Just so we could save face, so he could blend in, so maybe I could stop my own pattern of risky, life-changing mistakes in the heat of

the moment.

Because that heat of the moment had nearly wrecked me tonight. It had been screaming at me to pin Noah against the lockers after the game and fuck him raw. And God, I wanted to. He wanted to. That promise was still cruising through my veins, burning me, fogging my judgment.

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Chapter 128

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Instead, I’d sent him to hunt with wolves. Again. And I was praying he’d make better choices than I ever had, so when my phone buzzed and lit up with his message, my heart skipped a beat.

I’m in trouble. We need to talk boundaries.

Boundaries. Noah Blake was not a boundary type of guy.

I went on instant alert. Where are you? What’s going on?

His reply was quick. At the party. In the bathroom.

Are you alone?

For now…

I called him. He picked up, whispering. “I was hanging out with everyone, blending in like you said. But Lexie came over and she wants to get out of here. Take a walk. And you know what that means…”

My chest tightened, pulse hammering. I didn’t like where this was going. Not at all.

With a voice like ice, I asked, “Are you seriously asking me for advice? Do you need guidance?”

His frustration crackled through the line. “I know how to fuck a girl, thank you very much. Been doing it since I was fourteen.”

“So is it permission you want?” I shot back.

Exasperated, he hissed, “This is what I meant by boundaries! I have a reputation to maintain. If we’re not going public, then I need to at least pretend I’m interested in girls.”

My breath caught. If we’re not going public… Did he want to? That was insane. It could never happen.

He kept going, whispering hard. “Tonight one of the guys asked if I’d gone gay. I laughed it off, but then Lexie sat next to me and suddenly they all assumed I was with her. If I turn her down too-and the only person they ever see me with is you-well…”

My heart screamed at me to go to him, grab him, drag him out of that house where no one could touch him. But my head clung to whatever shred of common sense I had left.

“I see what you mean. But they can’t expect you to be a QB star if you’re out drinking and partying like you used to. They’d see that.”

“I don’t need to be drunk or at a party to stick my dick in someone,” he shot back.

I closed my eyes. I hated this conversation. Hated that he was right. Noah wasn’t acting like his normal man-whore self anymore, and anyone who looked at his social media could see it-the boy had quite the reputation before…. People would start noticing. Today it was a joke from a teammate, a threat from an ex-player, an anonymous text. Tomorrow? We might be followed. Caught.

“Take that walk, Noah, if that’s what you need to do,” I said finally, my chest aching.

“I don’t need to, Aiden. Only if you want me to save face…” His voice shifted, tentative. Softer. Was that pain in his voice?

And why the fuck did he have to call me Aiden? That only made it personal. More real. More dangerous.

Why was he putting this on me?

“Did you enjoy the way winning felt tonight, Noah?” I asked. “People calling your name? The pride, the glory, everything suddenly within your reach?”

A beat of silence, then his whisper: “Yes.”

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Chapter 128

“All of that would vanish if you get caught. You’d throw it all away in an instant. So I’m leaving it up to you-whether you want to keep face or not.”

It was cowardly, maybe cruel. I could’ve chosen for him. But I didn’t have the willpower tonight-to break both our hearts or wreck both our futures.

So I let him choose.