Page 129 of Brace and Chase

The fans all cheer for me when the jumbotron shows my pretty face, and I reluctantly wave and even manage to not scowl at them, but I’m thankful when the attention is on someone else.

It’s too easy, I think, when we win the fourth and final game of the first round with a shutout.

Bear gets all the cheers and claps he can handle—as he should—and Jules, the top scorer as always, also gets his flowers.

The next day Charlie and I are at my neurologist’s office, talking about the results of the scan he just took and he gives me the good news. As predicted, I’m going to be able to play with the team for the rest of the playoffs as long as I don’t take a single hit to the head. It’s risky, I know, but I also know I can be careful if I need to, no matter how much Charlie grumbles about it.

As soon as we arrive home, though, I get some bad news.

“We arenotfucking during the playoffs, Nikolay, don’t be ridiculous.”

“But you’re always saying how ridiculous I am,” I argue, and okay, it sounds like a whine but comeon. “It’s been a month!” I cry. “Or more. I don’t even remember what your dick feels like inside me.”

His eyes heat immediately, and I know if I just push the right buttons...

“The doctor gave me the all clear,” I cajole.

He sputters. “Y-you asked the doctor about having anal sex?”

“No. Just about sex in general. I didn’t specify.”

“Whatever. You’re not getting this in your ass”—he points at his crotch—“until the season is over. If you missthe way my dick feels inside you so damn much then you can suck it.”

He says it like it’s a bad thing... but I just get on my knees and rock his damn world.

Then it’s one week of light training for me, of no talking about the end goal because most of these guys are superstitious as fuck, and of trying to ignore the way Charlie dissects every single expression on my face.

We knew it would be that way, but we still have to wait until the end of game seven to be sure we’re going up against Denver in the second round, and then we have a four-hour meeting in the morning to talk about strategy.

It’s going well, but we don’t have enough information on the third line, and that’s frustrating. I’m still fully immersed in it when the door bangs open and Silas, looking frazzled and... scared, comes in.

“Uh, sorry to interrupt,” he tells Laney, then looks around without waiting for our head coach to say anything back. “I need to talk to Charlie and Santa please.”

A murmur of uneasiness goes around, but I stand and walk out with Charlie behind me. Silas walks quickly to his office—fast enough that I have to quicken my steps even though my stride is longer.

And I understand his worry when he thrusts his tablet at us.

The picture clearly came from a surveillance camera, and from the setting it’s obvious that it’s the elevator camera at the Winner resort.

Our hands are interlaced and Charlie’s leaning up to whisper something in my ear. I’m sad to say that I can’t remember what he told me right then, but I do remember it was right after Sterling’s concert.

It’s intimate, and private. And the head of Pirates PR has it... This can’t be good.

“Where did you get this?” Charlie asks, his voice shaking.

I reach over his shoulders and squeeze his arms while I drag him until he’s pressed against me. The jig is up, and now...

Fuck, is this what Jules felt when the tabloids outed him?

No, it must’ve been way worse for him.

He’d been hiding all his life and had been fearing this very thing happening to him for years.

I honestly never thought anyone would care enough to take pictures like these of me, though.

People from all over the world know Jules’s name. Even before. He was married to one of the most famous rock stars in the world and he was already a household name. I’m just... Santa.

Not a trophy or medal to my name.

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