Page 20 of First Puck

He hit me with his breath-taking smile, his dimple popping up, unhinging me completely. I gave in to him. He’d had three beers with some of our housemates before we left, and it always made his smiles brighter.

We’d just stepped into the after-party at one of the hockey houses, and he already knew where the fun was. Brad was likea scent hound; one whiff of a good time and he sped off on the hunt.

Bare skin-on-skin meant absolutely nothing to him, but nerves jumped and weaved around me as he wound his fingers around mine and I let him pull me through the stuffy crowd. I used to let him take me anywhere as long as he kept touching me, but now I was more restrained.

“Hey, not too fast,” I said, tugging on his hand. We were surrounded by our teammates, puck bunnies, and random people from other majors who’d come to cheer us on.

It was just a chaotic whirlpool of noise, with different music playing in each room, guys shouting, girls screaming, and laughter bubbling all around us. And it was easy to get disorientated and lose him, even when he held me so close.

The hockey houses all had four bedrooms upstairs and two downstairs, and the layout of each one was exactly the same. A large living area, two rooms off to the sides, a yard, a kitchen way too small for six burly guys, and too few toilets on top of that. Considering how late we’d arrived, most of the upstairs rooms were probably already locked.

I was supposed to leave our town and go straight to the Wranglers after our summer together, which turned into a disaster. I couldn’t look at Brad without a stab of rejection. But living two of the three months of summer without him was so insanely empty that I gave in to the thought which had been floating in my head since the Wranglers drafted me. Take a year off, attend Redhill U with Brad, and train with him and the college hockey team the entire year to make sure we could follow our dream together.

The Redhill Kites were one of the most prominent teams in the college leagues, and Brad was bound to get noticed playing for them.

Which also meant I could be with him for another year, all while feeling like I was trapped in my own skin because I still couldn’t tell him the truth.

So, I got into Redhill at the last minute, told Brad what I was doing, ignored all his protests, and now April had come too quickly. We had one month of hockey and classes left, and that was it.

“Alex! Seriously! It’s been too long!” Porter suddenly swung in from my left, wrapping an arm around my neck and dragging me to his chest as he burst out laughing.

Brad spun around the moment Porter caught me, refusing to let go of my hand, even though Porter was trying to steal me away.

Porter was our housemate from day one, along with his cousin Lance, and my bedroom sat directly across from his.

“I just saw you this morning.” I chuckled as I ducked, awkwardly extracting myself from his bony fingers, getting a face full of his gelled dark brown hair. He was a forward like Brad and me, and he was known for being slippery. I preferred playing with him rather than against him.

“Yeah, but you never come out with us at night.” He pouted. “You know I always miss you when I’m out partying.”

His laugh was completely infectious, and I grinned shyly back at him.

“You really don’t,” I said, noticing he was already peering over the shoulder as cheers erupted from the pool table.

Porter’s bright green gaze smoothed over me before he flicked a look to Brad and shrugged. “Anyway, I hear a beer with my name on it. Brad, you coming?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely. Give me two, yeah?”

“Sure. Don’t go full lovey-dovey. You’ll miss the real fun.” He shot us both a wink as he spotted Chase, one of our housemates, and bounded off like an excited puppy.

I watched him go, fiercely aware of Brad’s stare.

“What’s wrong? I can stay if you want?” he asked, blinking and completely missing what Porter had said. No matter how many times Porter dropped bombs, Brad never got hit.

He squeezed my hand to get my full attention.

The people at college were more accepting than people from our town, but it didn’t mean it was safe to come out. You never knew what people really thought.

I looked down at our hands and back up to the haze in Brad’s eyes, my mouth parting to blurt out whichever one of the million words that were threatening to break free.

It was just like our first party after high school, or our first college game, our firstawaygame, or any other ‘perfect’ time I could have told him how I really felt. But, like always, whenever I opened my mouth to tell him I loved him, I balked.

It was as if someone had cursed me, and forbidden me to say the words. I usually would end up silently gaping at him until I found something else to say.

“Hey,” Brad said, stepping in close. His Old Spice scent suddenly surrounded me as he enveloped me in a bear hug.

“What’s up? You not feeling it tonight?” he asked, his breath sweeping my ear, his hard chest against mine, swaying slightly against me. With one arm around my neck, the other clasping my hand, his lips nearly brushing my throat like last summer, no wonder I was going crazy.

“Yeah.” I nodded, taking a chance to bury my face in his shoulder. I still had to lean down to get there, but it helped banish the thought of how easy it would be to kiss him. Even though there were loads of people around us, everyone was too wrapped up in their own fun to notice. And most people knew that Brad and I were close.

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