Free Driven Snow by Tara Lain Page B

What?” Fred smiled, but he obviously wanted to move on.
    “I never told, I mean—” I should have practiced. “I never told you before, but I’m gay.”
    The guy next to him slapped his shoulder and snorted. “Funny you’re not, Prince.”
    Someone back near the kitchen door said, “What did he say?”
    Another voice replied, “He said he never told us, but he’s gay.”
    “Nooo shiiit.”
    Fred frowned, a scary sight on his big face. “Are you serious?”
    “Yes.”
    Fred just stared, although the whispering at the back of the group got louder.
    However hard he’d thought this would be, his fears had been one tenth of what it actually was. Riley shuddered. “I figured before I graduated you ought to know. You can’t kick me out because of the antidiscrimination crap, but I’ll quit the fraternity if you want. Since I don’t live in the house, that should take care of it.”
    “Like hell.” That icy-cold voice quieted every other sound in the room. Rog stepped out of the group he was standing in and faced Riley. “I still got to get your slimy fag sweat on me every time you pass. Fuck if I’ll do it.”
    LeRoy, the second-string running back, pushed past Rog. “You can pass to me, Riley. I figure you were my friend yesterday, and you still are today.”
    Bill raised a finger. “Pass to me, man.” Riley gave the tight end a nod.
    “Outhouse” Oliver Hanson, the biggest damned guard on the team, pushed between two other guys. “For that matter, you can pass to me.”
    A voice from the back Riley couldn’t identify said, “Pass to you or make a pass at you? Fags in the fraternity are bullshit, man.”
    Somebody else yelled, “Yeah.”
    Fred crossed his arms. “You just decide you’re gay?”
    “No. I’ve known for a while.”
    “So you been lyin’?”
    Shit. Facts are facts. “Yes. I mean, I never exactly said I was straight, but I lied by implication.”
    “You tell Courtney you’re a fag?”
    Double shit. “She must have suspected something, because she broke up with me.”
    “But you lied to her.”
    “Yeah. I guess.”
    “Against the honor code.”
    Riley frowned. “I never lied on a test.”
    “Still, Zetas aren’t liars.”
    The front door opened, and Danny slouched in. He glanced around. “What the fuck’s going on?”
    “You’re late for the meeting.” Fred scowled, but Danny could ignore King Kong.
    “Why’s everybody look like they want to barf?”
    LeRoy said, “Riley just told us he’s gay.”
    “No shit?”
    “Yeah.”
    A smile spread like warm maple syrup across Danny’s handsome face. “Hey, man, that’s dope. Never knew there was any other gay guys on the team.” He walked across the floor and stuck his hand out to Riley.
    What the hell? Danny? Riley slowly shook his hand.
    LeRoy asked the question for them all. “Are you saying you’re gay, Danny?”
    “Sure.”
    “You never said anything.”
    He shrugged. “Why should I? What the fuck business is it of yours?”
    Riley caught his breath, and it came out as a laugh. He laughed some more. A few guys joined in. Some looked confused, and the rest radiated anger. Riley shook his head and wrapped an arm around Danny’s neck. “Thanks, man. I think you just summed it up. I’m the same man whether I’m gay or straight.” He looked around the room. “You don’t want to play with me? Knock yourselves out. You blow the championship? Look in the mirror for somebody to blame. I’m out.”
    He strode out the door, made it to his car still looking like a bloody movie hero, got behind the wheel, and about passed out. He could so easily have avoided this whole ordeal, and all the shit that was still to follow, but then he wouldn’t have deserved Snow. He reached for his phone as he pressed his foot on the accelerator.

CHAPTER 8
     
     
    SNOW CLUTCHED the phone to his ear. “Of course you can come over.” Calm down, heart, so I can hear.
    “I know it’s short notice.” Riley sounded—what? Upset