Page 66 of Brace and Chase

The next week passes in a blur.

We lose against Boston in overtime, and because they’re the team with the best record this season, we’d expected to be demolished, but we held our own until the very end when they showed they wanted it just a little bit more.

The good mood of the team doesn’t wane, though, andso when Laney asks me to sit next to him on our flight to Montreal, I’m surprised by his question.

“Do you think we should try putting you and Sweetheart in the first line?”

I frown at him, not understanding at all where this is coming from.

“We almost had them, Laney,” I tell him, feeling defensive over the whole team. “We are only just getting into rhythm and we almost beat the best team in the league.”

“I know, but...” He trails off, and that’s when I remember something I’ve always known about him but seemed to have forgotten at some point.

“But you want to win every game,” I say, knowingly.

“I do,” he admits, then shakes his head.

“We will get there, Laney. It is not even February. We have more than enough time now that I am not jeopardizing the team. I promise you,” I tell him seriously. “We will get back to the playoffs and we will dominate. Charlie and I are the right guys to keep the baby forwards safe and good.”

He nods but dismisses me after that, and as I walk back to my seat next to Charlie, I hope he comes to believe my words eventually because right then he sure as hell thought I was talking out of my ass.

Our winagainst Montreal gives me a new sense of satisfaction because it waseasy.

Every game is tiring, every game is a battle—that never changes—but the easy games, where I get to watch Bear skate a circle around center ice when he’s named player of the game because he got a shutout? Those games arethe best.

Again, the celebration in the locker room is over the top—my favorite kind of celebration—and I hope we can keep feeling this way after every win this season. That we never take a single win for granted.

And it seems my wish comes true, because then we go to Detroit and win both games to finish the roadie the right way.

Sitting in the dark, silent plane, Charlie’s breathing steady on my right, I think back to all the moments on the ice from these two weeks.

Strangely enough, while we were playing, sitting on the bench, or even during intermissions, I wasn’t plagued with need for him. But the second we stepped foot outside the arenas we visited, he was all I wanted.

He’s all I wantall the time.

And right now we’re flying back to Vegas, where I live with him. Where I’m still supposed to spend every second of the day with him according to what Laney told me yesterday.

How am I going to keep resisting him?

Should I keep doing it?

What if... getting to know each other better is what’sactuallygoodfor the team? What if we only become more unstoppable if we kiss some more?

I mean, I’ve never jacked off more in my fucking life. It has to be okay to give my hand a rest, right?

I use it for my job, and that’s very important indeed. So yeah, maybe to become an unprecedented force on the ice, and to keep my body and mind healthy, I should definitely make out with Charlie.

For fuck’s sake, we’ve both been taking two showers a day, so he has to be going through the same as me, doesn’t he?

There’s no way this is one sided. Just no way in hell.

So . . . yeah, I need help.

“I, uhm,”I start awkwardly when we get to Charlie’s house hours later. “It’s a tradition for me to go have dinner at Bear’s place after roadies.”

No it isn’t, but I need some damn space before I decide to risk everything for a chance at another taste of Charlie’s lips.

“Oh, uh.” He hesitates, looking back at me. “That’s fine.” His throat bobs with a hard swallow and I refuse to feel shitty for this little white lie.

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