Page 81 of Goaltender Interference

“Oh,” Aiden was saying, and Matt could feel every flinch of his body, every shiver that wracked it, every shift of muscle underneath him, skin so warm it practically burned him. Matt, trapping him with his own weight, thought that maybe—“Oh, Jesus, if—if it’s anything like the jersey, everyone’s going toknow.”

“Know what?”

“Please, Matt, I’m so close—”

“Knowwhat?”

It was a knife’s edge, here, pushing him but not pushing him too hard. Aiden was capable of insane self-control when he wanted to show it. It was a side effect of being a goalie, of years of mental strength practices and meditation. And of Aiden’s own peculiar personality. But sometimes, when Matt did this to him—practically choked himself on him, fingers teasing his rim, ruthlessly using every single trick he’d learned about Aiden’s body over the years—it was almost too much. Aiden liked to suffer, and Matt liked to watch him suffer, but it was the balancing act on the precipice that was the hardest part. Aiden was sweating, moisture beading his forehead, and he was biting down hard on his finger to keep from crying out.

“Please,” he said, his voice very small.

Matt took his mouth and his hands away, shook his head. “Aiden. Knowwhat?”

Aiden was stubborn, hated crying even in the intense moments during sex, but his voice was practically sobbing when he gasped, “That I’m yours, that I’m yours, that I want to fucking—I want you to cover me with it, I want everyone toseeit—please, Matt, I have tocome—”

They hadn’t been messing around very long today, but something about the idea of it had always lit a fire in Aiden, an answering flame in Matt. Aidenwasclose, and Matt couldn’t deny him that. He stopped talking and took Aiden in his mouth again, pushed right up against his fist gripping Aiden’s cock, mean and merciless.

Aiden’s thighs clenched around his head, and all Matt could hear was the roar in his ears. All he could smell was Aiden’s skin. All he could see was Aiden’s body, close up in flashes. All he knew was how good it felt to do this to him, to figure out thepuzzle, the pins of the lock to slot into place to turn Aiden into this, a groaning, pleading, shifting mess of a man underneath him.

When Aiden came, he yanked Matt’s hair so hard that his eyes watered, made a strangled noise that was half a sob and half a groan. It took Matt a second or two to swallow and finally lift his head up, and he took the quiet moment to stare down at Aiden. He was still breathing hard, rumpled and loose and vulnerable, face still flushed.

“Matty,” he managed, “what do you want me to—”

“Just stay there,” Matt said. His voice was unsteady, strained. “We might not have the jacket, but I want—let me give you what you wanted.”

“Yeah?” Aiden might have looked languid, relaxed, but his whole body tensed again when Matt said it. “What are you...oh,” he said, when Matt moved up to straddle his thighs, hand wrapped around his own dick. “Yeah.Fuck, yes.”

Matt was so exhausted from the game and so worked up from getting Aiden off that he knew it wasn’t going to take long, especially when Aiden was looking up at him like that, eyes huge and dark, like he both wanted to devour Matt and be devoured by him.

Matt wanted that. Matt wanted to devour him, wanted to keep him here forever, wanted to take him everywhere and show him off so everyone who saw him knew he was Matt’s, that he gotoffon being Matt’s, that he wanted—that he wanted—

He had to grab the headboard to brace himself when he came, the force of it almost knocking him off-balance. It wasn’t a shiver as much as a punch in the face, so sudden and intense it was almost painful. When he opened his eyes again, Aiden was still staring up at him, except he had come striping his chest and a little splattered on his cheek. He took one finger and wiped it across his face. Then he put his finger in his mouth, meetingMatt’s gaze directly as he licked the come away, and Matt’s dick gave a pained little jerk, like it was trying to do it all over again.

Aiden sat up again and leaned forward to kiss him, so different from the hungry, desperate kisses they’d shared just a few minutes ago. It was a sweet press of his lips against Matt’s, almost grateful. “I don’t need a jacket.”

“I know,” Matt mumbled into his mouth, “but if we do make the playoffs, I’m going to make sure you get one.”

“Okay.” Something brief and strange shifted across Aiden’s face, a shadow Matt didn’t understand and didn’t want to see. “Look. I’m going to go use the bathroom and get cleaned up. I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be right in after you,” Matt said, but then he lay down and, before he knew it, was asleep.

It seemed like every time Aiden started to get used to things, Matt went on another roadie. This one was to Winnipeg, Minnesota and Chicago. He would be gone almost a week, and as the day of the first flight approached, Aiden could already feel the dread building up in the pit of his stomach.

The problem was, no matter how well things were going, until Aiden figured out how he needed to shape the rest of his life, it was always going to be like this. The problem wasn’t Matt, whether Matt was there or not: it was that Aiden was drifting through the water without any direction or anchor.

He got through the first few days just fine. He met Aino for coffee, and they went for a walk in Mont-Royal, sipping their drinks. She looked cute as a button, wrapped up in her huge parka with a beanie hiding most of her lion’s mane of hair. Aiden, on the other hand, was constantly swearing and shakingout his hand as hot coffee leaked out from under the lid and fell on the web of his fingers.

“I’m glad you decided to come!” Aino said, politely ignoring his problems. “I was worried about you, you know. You don’t often answer on the group chat.”

His phone had started buzzing not long after he’d attended that first game with Aino and he realized that he’d been officially added to the WAG chat. At first he’d scrolled through the messages—it was mostly welcomes from numbers he didn’t recognize. Aiden exhaled, and said,Thanks, everyone, it’s great to be here, and muted the chat. Saving their contacts seemed overwhelming. He hadn’t even re-saved Matt’s number yet. So he didn’t do anything else with that chat.

“I’m sorry,” Aiden said, unable to meet her eye. “It’s not that you all haven’t been incredibly nice and welcoming. It’s just I... I get a little weird with social stuff sometimes. I’m not very good at it.”

“You did just fine at the game. I especially liked getting a goalie’s perspective on some of the game.”

Aiden surprised himself by laughing. “It’s good to hear it from a defenseman too, I suppose.”

She glanced sideways at him, her blue eyes shrewd. “I don’t want to pressure you into doing anything, you know. I just know it can be lonely in a new city where you don’t know anyone, and these girls are really a good group. I know it’s not the same as what you’re used to, probably, but we’re more than happy to be a resource or company for you. Whatever you need. And it’s pretty busy. Matt hasn’t had a partner for a long time, so I’m the one who does a lot of the charity events and parties and organizing.”

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