Page 170 of The Home Game

He looked way too upset for a guy who’d just gotten off.

“Hey, you okay?” Antoni asked, frowning.

Matty sighed heavily. “Worried that I caused a scene earlier. It’s going to make it onto JockGossip.”

Antoni winced. “Shit, and your coach is going to throw a fit, isn’t he?”

Matty shrugged. “Sure. Probably. I’m not worried about that though.”

“No?”

“Ehh, Gilly will strip me of the A if he really wants to make a point but I can handle that.”

“Strip you of the A?” Antoni asked, confused.

“Remove me as alternate captain.”

“Oh, like strip off the letter A on the jersey …” Antoni said, nodding. “Got it.”

“I guess that’s where that comes from.” Matty shrugged. “But seriously, it’s not the end of the world. Besides, I’m the only guy on the roster who can really fight. Even if he benches me, it won’t be for that long.”

“Still …”

“We’ll worry about that later. What about the custody? That’s what worries me.”

Antoni sighed. “I’ll call April and give her a heads-up. See what she says.”

Matty hesitated. “Do you think she’s a good lawyer?”

“I do.”

“Because I’ll pay for the best legal team in Ontario if you want,” Matty said earnestly.

Antoni gave him a soft smile, touching his cheek. “I know. But I’m confident in April. She’s—she’s queer too. She gets what’s at stake here. And I trust her.”

“Okay. Well, whatever you think is best.”

And Antoni melted a little because Matty was so good about that. So good at offering suggestions but letting Antoni say no. So good at being supportive and trusting his decisions.

“Thank you for sticking up for us tonight,” he said, cupping Matty’s cheek, rubbing his thumb across his beard.

“Always.”

“I believe that,” Antoni said and he meant it. “So don’t feel bad. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Matty swallowed, his voice sounding a little thick. “I hope not.”

Antoni opened his mouth to say something else when Matty’s stomach growled. He chuckled, deciding to shelve the rest of the conversation until later. “Okay, I’ll take that as a sign that it’s time to feed the bear.”

Matty grinned. “That’s Papa Bear to you.”

Antoni grinned back, reaching down to tuck his dick away and fasten his jeans. “Besides, we should let my dad go home. He came here after a long day of work meetings and he’s got to be exhausted.”

“True.” Matty stood with a groan and held out a hand to haul Antoni to his feet.

Once he was standing, Antoni sobered. “We should probably sit down and talk to Alexis and Eli tonight too. I’m sure they have some big feelings about what happened with their grandparents. Probably should have done that before we did this, actually but …”

“Ahh, it’s alright,” Matty said, patting his butt. “You blew off some steam and now you’re relaxed and can go into the talk with a clear head.”

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