Page 52 of Shift Change

Someone down the street started a snowblower, making Chuck snort. A groan and a sigh later, he moved, gave a sleepy chuckle, and pinched my ass. “You having fun down there?”

“Mm-hmm. You smell good, like a man who’s been working hard.”

“Glad you like my stink.”

“If I remember correctly, you liked mine the other night.”

“Goddamn right I did.”

I dragged my head out of its nest and winced at the daylight flooding the room. “Fuck. Why didn’t we close the blinds?”

“You passed out thirty seconds after we hit the bed.” He rubbed his eyes. “I couldn’t find the remote. Where do you keep it?”

“Hell if I know.” I yawned and stretched, still half-buried in warmth. “The remote’s basically a cryptid around here. We’ll find it eventually.”

When he closed his hand around my dick and squeezed, I couldn’t contain a groan of satisfaction. “That feels fucking fantastic,” I said. “Two can play this game.” I reached for his cock, slick with precum, and gave it a few tugs.

“Yessss.”

“You’re hard.”

“So are you.”

In unison, we asked, “Want to do something about it?”

On the roadie, we’d discovered how much fun it was to put on a jerk-off show for each other, and we agreed it was a good morning for that.

“I should brush my teeth before we get started,” he said.

“Fuck that.” I gave him a lazy kiss, followed by a teasing smile. “Your breath’s fine, but that scruff makes me feel like I’m doing the nasty with a guy.” I wrapped my fist around his cock again. “How the hell did you grow such a big dick, Chuck?”

“Good genes, I guess.” He chuckled as he ran his fingers around the head of my cock and spread precum over my balls. “Damn, you’re ready to go.”

“Hell yes,” I said. “Who goes first?”

“Hmm.” He bit my lower lip and kissed me. After a moment, he drew away and said, “Why don’t you do the honors this time? Beat it for me?”

“As long as I can jack you afterward and use my cum for lube.”

He gave me a crooked smile. “I know you like to get me begging, but this morning, could you not stop at the edge so many times? I hate it when you do that.”

“No promises. I love the way my Dog howls when I finally let him come.”

* * *

The next couple of weeks blurred past in a haze of flights, hotel rooms, early-morning practices, and games that left us sore, bruised, and wrung out. We played hard. Despite tough losses to Detroit and Toronto, the team’s energy remained high—probably thanks to decisive wins over several teams, including the dreaded Montreal Lynx. Dog was quickly becoming a fan favorite, thanks to his knockout looks and big, endearingly goofy grin. He’d racked up two more goals and made a gorgeous backcheck save in Philly that landed on the highlight reel.

Off the ice, we fell into a rhythm that felt both solid and dreamlike. We hadn’t defined anything, and we didn’t need to. Most nights on the road, we ended up in each other’s rooms, watching dumb movies, trading chirps, and falling asleep tangled together like it had always been that way.

The heat between us escalated so fast we could barely keep up, with every touch and glance igniting another level of need. It was sexual, no question, but deeper too, like we couldn’t breathe right unless we were close. Riley kept shooting us loaded looks, and Logan muttered “domestic” one morning when we showed up to breakfast with matching bedheads and shit-eating grins.

There were no grand declarations, only quiet moments stacked like bricks, unspoken proof that whatever we were building, it had a firm foundation. Whether we were ready to share it with the world or not, it was real.

One Tuesday night, we were crawling through traffic on the Skyway, headed to a home game against the New Jersey Fury. The heater blasted, trying to keep pace with the twenty-degree chill. Snow flurries danced in the headlights, and the windows fogged no matter how high I cranked the defroster.

Dog ran a finger along the dash’s wood inlay. “You like this car?”

“Love it. I’ve had Audis since I came to Buffalo, and they’ve never let me down.” I glanced at him. “Thinking of getting one?” His old Ford Escape had seen better days.

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