Page 143 of The Blame Game

Then again, he’d meant what he said earlier. What were they going to do to him at this point?

Mid-morning, during a break between appointments, Shea poured himself a cup of coffee in the empty break room and checked his phone for messages.

He had quite a few already.

He laughed at the one Travis had sent him. Congrats to you and Olson. I had a feeling there was somethin’ going on there. The dude was shooting daggers at me during the game. Your man is the jealous type, huh?

Shea laughed and typed out a response. Thanks. I guess so.

We should all go out for a drink to celebrate some time.

Sounds fun! Let me know when you’re free.

Talk to me after the playoffs.

Shea laughed.

Your sport is fucking weak, man, Shea fired back. Try being a hockey player.

He got an expletive-laden response back and they exchanged a few more trash-talking messages as Shea sipped his coffee, grinning.

A message from Ethan popped up too. Hey! Congrats! I am happy for you and Olson. Didn’t see that one coming at all.

Are you being serious or sarcastic? Shea asked.

Serious! I thought you were both straight.

I thought I was too. Surprise!

Haha. Well, good for you! We’ll have to have you guys over for dinner sometime.

Shea felt a little twinge at the thought. He loved the idea of having dinner with Ethan and his family but he hated the fact that he was lying to his friends about him and Dom being together.

They were excited for him. Happy he’d met someone and had moved in with him and … it was all for the PR.

Did Shea hope that in the course of pretending, maybe Dom would realize how great they could be together and actually want a real relationship?

Of course. But he wasn’t holding his breath.

He sent a vague reply to Ethan, finished the rest of his coffee, then rinsed the cup and set it in the drainer.

As Shea left the break room, he passed Myles in the hallway.

“You fucker!” Myles thwacked Shea in the chest as they passed. “I can’t believe you were dating Olson this whole time.”

Shea gave him a small grin. “Well, he wanted to keep things quiet,” he protested.

“Yeah but … holy shit. How long has this been going on?”

Shea ran through the whole spiel he’d told Vince earlier, but modified a little.

When he was done, Myles nodded. “Well, that’s awesome. I’m happy for you, man.”

“Thanks.”

Myles grinned. “Damn, I didn’t even know you were into dudes.”

“You know, it took me by surprise too.”

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