Page 10 of His Secret Santa

Just the thought of it got his jeans steaming. They had been steaming for Lincoln since he was fourteen. He hadn’t had many opportunities in their school, or even their town, to explore his sexuality. The trip to the strip club on his sixteenth birthday remained his sole experience. And what a hell of an experience. The blowjob from the stripper had been his first, and his last… so far. Holden nearly passed out, it felt so damn good.

Stop thinking about it, he chided himself as he and Jamie walked along the corridor toward the other seniors… and his mind replaced the stripper with Lincoln Pratt, as he so often did in his fantasies. His crotch throbbed and swelled.

Not now. He struggled to cool the fires by focusing on McKenna Peterson. It wasn’t helping—until the cheerleader spied the two of them and a dark smile spread across her face. That did it, because although her face was pretty… the smile was not.

“Hold strong,” Jamie murmured from the side of his mouth. “Here she comes.”

McKenna didn’t approach them, exactly. She simply flaunted her goods, the skimpy cheerleader uniform clinging to her ample chest, the short skirt exposing her legs to mid-thigh. “Hey, boys.” She cupped her breasts. “Wanna taste? See what all the hype is about?”

Her band of cheerleaders snickered. All but one, their newest recruit. Holden didn’t know her name.

“What hype?” Jamie remarked with a heavy dose of snark. “Talk around town is those fun bags get more play than your boy toy gets on the field.”

“Don’t provoke her,” Holden whispered, picking up his pace. He didn’t want to look at Lincoln but couldn’t stop his eyes from darting to the quarterback’s face. As usual, the guy wasn’t paying much attention to the scene—and wasn’t paying any attention to Holden. Why would he? You’re nobody to him, or anyone else.

A couple of the football players hooted low at Jamie’s comeback and razzed McKenna that he wasn’t wrong.

“Shut up, dickwad,” she snapped at the one nearest to her. She zeroed in on the two boys again. “I hear talk around town, too.” She sauntered forward and Holden tensed as she stepped into their path, forcing them to stop. “I hear you two have been doing a lot of studying together.”

“I can understand why the whole concept of studying would be newsworthy to you,” Jamie quipped.

She turned on Jamie. “Everyone knows you two are butt buddies. Don’t even try to deny it.”

“Why would I deny it?” Jamie slung his arm across Holden’s shoulder. “My buddy here has the best butt in school. Definitely better than yours and your barbie brigade.”

“Dude, you’re disgusting,” Troy Miller chimed in. He was as tall as Lincoln and nearly twice as thick. Holden had seen him on the field, plowing through the rival team. Not the one to piss off.

A fact Jamie ignored. “You’re just sore because his butt is nicer than yours, too.”

Holden shifted anxiously when the large football player bristled. He clutched his books to his chest. “Jamie,” he whispered again, “come on… let’s just go.”

“Go where, baby?” McKenna moved closer, her breasts almost touching Holden.

“To class,” he mumbled, avoiding eye contact despite Jamie’s instructions.

She leaned in and brushed her lips over his ear. “I know you got a thing for my boyfriend,” she breathed. “But his thing is all mine. And it’s so big and feels so good sliding in and out… in and out.” She smiled against his ear. “He’s such a great fuck. Too bad you’ll never know how great.” Her smile faded. “You dirty little faggot.”

She knew he was crushing on Lincoln? How did she know? He was always so careful not to let it show. Did Lincoln know as well? Did they joke about Holden?

Holden suddenly felt sick, a cold sweat breaking out all over his body. He shoved past the cheerleader, not waiting for Jamie, and walked swiftly by Lincoln and the others.

“Where you going, darling?” McKenna called after him with a light laugh. “It isn’t a secret. He knows.”

Holden hurried down the adjacent corridor and rounded the corner, passing from their sight. He cut into the library rather than heading to class and weaved through the bookshelves to the far corner where he dropped into a chair near the window. Holden tossed his books on the small round table and leaned forward on his knees, hands flexing as he stared at the carpet, vision blurring.

Though he dreaded his encounters with McKenna, he didn’t usually come away from it feeling like this—shaken and queasy. He was used to McKenna and her type by now. So, what was different today?

It isn’t a secret. He knows.

This was the first time she brought Lincoln into it—and revealed his desires for the quarterback was no secret.

They all know.

Lincoln knows.

He was never supposed to know.

Chapter 2