Page 47 of Game On

Dorian pouted. “She doesn’t want to wear them.”

“When I was a kid, we had a dog who wouldn’t leave the house without his booties. And we also had a dog who turned her nose up at them. You should’ve seen it.” Jamie chuckled as he opened the door and waved Dorian and Poppy ahead of him. “Picture a border collie walking around with her nose in the air, like she’s too good for shoes.”

Dorian zipped his coat against the cold night. At the bottom of his walkway, they made a right onto the sidewalk. “Did you always have dogs growing up?”

“Not always, but we always had something. Cats, birds, guinea pigs, rabbits.”

“The pig you ate.”

Jamie let out a surprised laugh. “We didn’t actually eat him.”

“Sure.” In the dark, Dorian’s brown eyes were fathomless. “Were you fostering when you got traded to the Orcas?”

“Actually, I wasn’t.” Jamie shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked a rock in his path. Poppy chased after it. “I had an emergency foster in early February. She went to her forever home right around the time I started hearing rumours about Coach Shore being interested in me. When my agent confirmed the rumours were true, I stopped fostering. I couldn’t have a dog knowing I might be traded at any time.”

Poppy stopped to sniff at a row of hedges. Dorian’s expression was virtually unreadable in the dark, but his tone was gentle when he said, “What happened in Charlotte, Jamie? Aside from the ex absconding with the cat.”

Jamie looked away, down the street where one of the few streetlights spotlighted a car parked at the curb. He’d known this question was coming ever since he’d told Dorian that he’d ended his engagement the day before the wedding, back when he and Dorian had been brainstorming two truths and a lie for his introductory social media post.

“I was in a relationship with my captain’s younger brother for a few years,” he said, grateful when Poppy got them walking again and he didn’t have to look at Dorian. “We went through a bit of a rough patch last spring. We weren’t communicating properly, and when we did, it ended in arguments. We got through it eventually, and because of that, we thought, well... if we could weather that, we can weather anything. Clearly, we’re meant to be, so let’s get married.” Shaking his head, Jamie blew out a breath. “I don’t know what we were thinking. Getting married wouldn’t solve anything. It was a Band-Aid at best. A dressing to cover up our issues.”

“Which were what?” Dorian asked. He inched closer, allowing their arms to brush as they walked.

His way of providing comfort?

“We just weren’t right for each other in the end. We’d drifted apart, hence all our communication issues and petty arguments, but neither of us wanted to admit that our feelings for the other weren’t what they’d once been.” An ache hit Jamie in the chest, old pain that was as sharp as a blade. “We were at the rehearsal the day before the wedding, and everything just felt wrong. I sensed it; Scott sensed it. I could see it in his eyes. He looked like a trapped animal. When we got home that night, we kind of just looked at each other, and I said, ‘I don’t think this is a good idea.’ And the relief on his face.” Jamie huffed out a small laugh. “And that was it. The end of our story. We called off the wedding, Scott moved out, and...” He shrugged because what else could he say?

Dorian bumped their shoulders. “That must’ve been hard.”

“Yeah. It was.” Jamie swallowed the gruffness out of his voice. “I wasn’t in love with him anymore, but I’ll always love him. When he left, I basically watched my best friend walk out of my life.”

“Is there any chance for reconciliation there? Not as partners, but as friends?”

“Maybe eventually. Given time and space.” He’d love to have Scott back in his life one day. That hadn’t been possible when they’d broken up, both of them too sore, the hurt too fresh. Now, though? Maybe.

“Is that what brought you here?” Dorian asked. “The need for time and space? Is that why you told Matt you were happy to be here—and actually sounded like you meant it?”

“No, I came here to escape the Cobras.”

Dorian’s lips flattened, and his voice turned a touch growly when he said, “The ones who left you passed out on the floor and who stuck you with the bill and who sent you to the wrong restaurant?”

Jamie grimaced. He hadn’t exactly been subtle when he’d been asking about bad apples, had he? “Yeah. John Henty, the team captain and Scott’s older brother—he took our breakup as a personal offence. Turned half the team against me, saying I used Scott and broke his heart. I was persona non grata from that point forward, and they did everything they could to make my life hell. Intercepting room service deliveries so that my dinner never arrived. Hiding my equipment. Bleaching my uniform. Tossing my clothes in the garbage can while I showered after games.”

“Jesus.” Dorian scowled, his steps slowing, the hand holding Poppy’s leash clenching into a fist. “What the fuck? Why did this one guy have so much influence on the rest of the team?”

“His father is basically a hockey legend. Arnold Henty?”

Dorian looked at him blankly. “Who?”

“Never mind,” Jamie said with a laugh. He’d forgotten that Dorian didn’t do hockey, whatever that meant. “Arnold Henty was big shit twenty years ago, so John Henty holds a lot of sway. There were some guys who had my back, but even with their support, playing for the Cobras was stifling as fuck. Every time I went to work, I wondered what was coming next, and that’s no way to live. So when I heard that the Orcas wanted me, I more or less begged my agent to make it happen. And just when I thought I was safe from Henty here because our divisions hardly ever play each other, I recently learned that he got traded to Tucson.”

“A team in your new division,” Dorian said with dawning realization.

“Yup. Still, I can’t regret the move out here. It’s nice to be back in my home province. Never lived in Vancouver before, though. You sure get a lot of rain in the winter.”

Dorian snorted a laugh. “You should see what happens when it snows. The whole damn city comes to a standstill.”

They reached the intersection, where Poppy led them around the roundabout and back toward home. They walked in silence for a minute, arms brushing, Poppy trotting along happily ahead of them.

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