Page 184 of The Home Game

Matty bit down on his tongue to stop himself from making what would be a funny but probably totally unwelcome joke, then caught a flicker of a smile from Dustin, like he knew exactly what Matty was struggling with.

“So I met Christian that night. He was—he was, you know, he was an actor and in the closet too so we both had a lot to lose. We were really compatible and we had a great hookup that night. He gave me his number after, and I wasn’t going to use it but I scored two goals and an assist in my next game.”

“Ahh,” Dustin said and Matty nodded.

Dom was a superstitious motherfucker and if he did something before a great game, he’d do it again and again until the magic ran out.

“So, I texted him. I was nervous as hell. I had no plans to date a guy or anything but well … it just sort of happened and I had a monster season after we got together. LA won the fucking Cup that year and I won the Art Ross and a Conn Smythe too. And by then, Christian and I were more or less living together. Or, I was at his place all the time, anyway.”

Matty exchanged a look with Dustin. Yeah, that made sense. The Cup was everything and to top it off with the trophies given to the player who led the league in scoring points and the player who was voted MVP in the playoffs … well, it was no wonder Dom had leaned hard into the relationship.

Dom looked down at his hands. “I thought—I thought he was my good luck charm, you know?”

“Did you love him?” Dustin asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Dom whispered. “That was the worst part.”

“What went wrong?”

“After a while, he, uh, he wanted me to come out.”

“Shit,” Matty whispered.

“Yeah. We were—we’d been dating for a few years and the longer we were together, the more pissed he got about me staying closeted. He kept talking about how Hollywood was ready for there to be openly gay actors and I kept fucking arguing that didn’t mean hockey was ready for openly gay players but he—he blew up at me. We fought a lot in that final year and my scoring dipped too and then, well, I got traded.”

“To Toronto,” Matty finished.

Dom nodded. “Yeah. Exactly. And that was when it all fell apart. He gave me an ultimatum; he’d move here to be with me if I came out. Give up his career and everything. And you know, he’s an American. For him to stay here, I probably would’ve had to marry him and—yeah, I wasn’t ready for that shit. I’m still not. But it got nasty when I said no. We both said shit that … well, I know I regret it. No idea if he does. But it was an ugly ending. He—he threatened to out me. I finally had to have my agent pay him off to keep him quiet.”

“Fuck,” Matty spat, hearing Dustin’s similar exclamation of horror.

“So, yeah. You asked who hurt me, Matty?” Dom looked up, his gaze a little haunted. “His name was Christian Patton and he broke my fucking heart.”

“Dom …” Matty said helplessly. “Shit, I am so sorry, man. What he did was …”

“Unforgiveable,” Dustin finished grimly when Matty fell silent.

Dom’s mouth twisted. “Yeah, well, it was still shitty of me to take my bullshit out on you. I just—I saw too many similarities between what you have with Antoni and what you had before with Courtney. You’re just so fucking nice, too. You’re good and trusting of everyone. And it scares me. I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

Matty could see that Dom really did care. How worried he’d been. Had he been too paranoid? Sure. But it had come from a good place.

Dom continued. “Everything going on with you got all mixed up in my head with the shit from my past with Christian. Plus, my head’s been in a bad place to begin with because of where my game’s at. None of this is an excuse. I know that, but …”

“It’s a reason,” Matty agreed.

“Yeah. It is. But, uh, you’re important to me, man.” Dom looked Matty in the eye, then over at Dustin. “You both are. And I don’t want to fuck up what we have. Not just the team stuff but our friendship. And I know I haven’t been a good friend lately. Or, maybe, ever, because of the shit I keep bottled up but I—I’ll get better. I have to. Because I know I’ve been a dick.”

“Yeah, you have,” Matty agreed but he stood and pulled Dom to his feet, then yanked him in for a hug.

Dom sputtered because he really wasn’t much of one for physical contact unless they were in their gear and Matty had some ideas now about why Dom was that way but oh his heart really hurt for his friend because it was all so fucked up.

The whole situation from start to finish.

“Well, we forgive you, man,” Matty said, pressing a big smacking kiss on the top of Dom’s head. “We love you.”

Dom worked his way out of Matty’s grip, giving him a vaguely annoyed look as he smoothed down his chin-length hair but he turned to Dustin. “Ahh, well, maybe don’t speak for the captain.”

“Shit, of course I love you and forgive you,” Dustin said, scoffing as he rose to his feet. “Come on. Bring it in.”

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