Level Hands: Bend or Break, Book 4 by Amy Jo Cousins Page A

turkey sandwich, which Austin told him was properly called a grinder.
    A fourth tray slammed down at their table.
    Right next to Rafi.
    He jerked to attention as Denny dragged over a chair and slid into it, squeezing between Rafi and Austin.
    “What’s up, Musketeers?” Denny asked.
    “Dude, there are four of us.” Austin threw a french fry at him. How a cox could eat such shitty food and stay so tiny was a mystery.
    Before he could stop himself, Rafi was correcting Austin. Defending Denny’s casual reference. Like a boyfriend, damn it. Stop this. “There were four of them, actually. Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D’Artagnan.”
    The entire table stared at him.
    “It’s a really good book,” he said defensively. Had taken him forever to read it, because the language was old-fashioned, but there was tons of action. Sort of like a Jason Bourne movie in olden times.
    “If you say so.” Austin was skeptical.
    “The movie was cool,” said Bob, which was maybe the first time Rafi had heard him speak. “The old one. From, like, the nineties.”
    His roommates started arguing about the movie while Rafi tried to stare down Denny, who didn’t flinch.
    “Let me guess,” Denny said. “You haven’t checked your email today.”
    “I only barely unpacked my computer before bed last night.”
    “You need to get your campus email set up to forward to your regular server, my friend.” As if Rafi didn’t know that. He’d meant to set that up before he left Chicago, but the task had gotten lost in the shuffle.
    “I’ve been here less than twenty-four hours!”
    “Team business waits for no man to unpack. I am to be your guide for all things Carlisle. You are to be my shadow, grasshopper.” Before Rafi could protest, Denny said, “Captain’s orders. Since Coach is down for the count, we’re on basic training this week. No boats. And we can schedule it whenever we want, as long as we get our workouts in. Also per Ted, our fearless leader of the varsity boat, I’m showing you the ropes.”
    The calls canceling the morning practice had come late the previous night. Rafi hadn’t admitted to relief at postponing one more new thing, but he’d slept like a baby after learning he wouldn’t be heading to the boathouse before dawn for the first team practice.
    “So we have to go to practice together?” Which kind of sucked, but was also kind of awesome, because it was as if Rafi had been given permission to lean on Denny without having to look like he was doing any such thing.
    “Not just practice,” Denny said between bites. “We’re supposed to eat together, study together—”
    “Jerk off in the shower together,” Austin butted in with what Rafi was almost certain was supposed to be a joke.
    “Ha.” He kept his head down, refusing to look at Denny, who had sat up straight at Austin’s teasing words. “As if.”
    He spent the rest of lunch with a detailed—an incredibly detailed—porno running through his brain and drowning out everything his roommates said.
    Standing in line with Denny at the campus PO had been the most challenging bit of his day, and that was mostly because he couldn’t stop staring at Denny’s mouth, his hands. Rafi ended up calling home to talk to his sisters to stop himself—to distract himself—and got Lola and Mari on the phone while he and Denny waited for their mailbox keys.
    Rafi told them everything was fine. He was settling in. Class started tomorrow.
    He did not tell them Denny had kissed him in front of a vending machine and Rafi had spent lunch picturing him jerking off in the shower.
    Good call all around.
    Two days later, he was back in line at the post office, having found a slip of paper in his PO box, alerting him to a package being held for him at the counter. The entire system felt pretty old-fashioned, but he’d already heard students talking about it like it was some kind of Carlisle rite of passage, not getting email or text notifications about packages.
    Slips