Page 90 of Brace and Chase

“I have an idea for later,”Nik whispers right by my ear while we’re getting our bearings in the locker room.

It’s the second intermission and we’re tied at two against Pittsburgh. We’re better than them, have the better team, so it’s been frustrating to see them get two goals on us. It won’t stop us from winning, though, but I am surprised that Nik wants to talk about something other than the game right now.

“What idea?” I ask, speaking just as quietly.

“For where to take Beau to feel better. What if we go to Chris’s club?” His eyes are alight with excitement.

“Isn’t it a gay club?” I ask with a frown. Why would Beau want that? “You know he’s straight, right?”

“Please.” He rolls his eyes in the over-the-top way he always does. “We thought we were straight too. Besides, tonight isn’t about him hooking up with someone, it’s about him getting shitfaced and feeling all his feelings.”

“I don’t know if that’s healthy,” I hedge.

“Fuck healthy,” he says a bit louder. “The guy needs to get angry and stop being sad.”

I open my mouth to answer, but Laney comes into thelocker room and starts tearing us apart just enough to put us in our place and remind us who the fuck we are.

It works.

We spend the third period with a ridiculous percentage of possession, and Spiderman gets a beautiful goal thanks to an assist from Nik. Pittsburgh has no answers, and with just a minute to go, Jules puts the nail in the coffin and scores again—there’s a reason why he’s legendary even before he’s hit his thirties.

We come out of the locker room feeling higher than Mount Everest, and though my smile dims a little when I see just how subdued Beau still is, it comes back when they congratulate us over the win. They look sideways at Nik, so I stop that right there.

“Don’t ask,” I warn Beau, who I could tell was about to do just that.

“We are going out,” Nik says happily when we climb into the back seats of the SUV I rented for my brothers. Nik insisted we ride with them after asking them to call him Santa. I rolled my eyes but didn’t say anything to that. “Benny has a boyfriend who owns a club in the Winner resort. We will go there after dinner and Beau can drown his sorrows.”

I look out my window and bite my lip to snicker at how thick he’s laying on the accent.

Finn and Beau don’t protest, thank God, and we end up at the steakhouse inside the same resort.

Nik and I mostly listen while Finn—with minimalcommentary from Beau—tells me everything that’s happening back home. His dark eyes, the same as mine, keep shifting to Nik, though, so I pat his arm discreetly before I stand. “Going to the bathroom,” I announce, happy I don’t have to say anything to Nikolay, he just follows me.

“What?” he asks as soon as we’re inside the bathroom.

“Why aren’t you talking?” I demand.

“I’m listening to your brother,” he protests, putting his palms out. “He’s talking about your home so much, and I want to hear about it.”

“Okay, now I feel like an asshole.”

“What am I even supposed to talk about?” he mumbles and his shoulders droop.

“I don’t know,” I say honestly, feeling defeated. I just want him to get to know my brothers and for my brothers to get to know the real him. “Just be yourself and say whatever you want. Don’t hold back.”

He raises one eyebrow and I relent.

“Okay, hold back a little. We’re almost done here.”

And it’s only twenty minutes later that we’re in the elevator going to the top floor. The club’s named Lure, and I understand why when we enter and I see all the writhing bodies, hear the sensual music.

I’ve never been the club type, but this one makes me want to pull Nik onto the dance floor, press my whole body against his, and grind like I’m getting paid for it.

I resist.

Barely.

Instead, I follow Nik, my brothers in tow, to the VIP area, where he’s greeted like a celebrity—which I suppose he is—and ten minutes later two big-ass bottles of vodka are put on the little glass table in front of us.

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