Page 87 of Zero Pucks

“Look, you know most of that shit is lost on us, but the grunting and the weird like monster noises? It kind of got me going.”

I sighed. “Well, it’s not lizard dick porn. It’s my contract.”

He perked up. “To be Team Daddy.”

“If you fucking start that, Jonah, I will trade you.”

He scoffed. “You’d never. You’re practically in love with me.”

I had sort of been once, a long time ago. It didn’t last. “Anyway, yes, it’s the coaching contract. They’re offering me three years to start at almost sixty grand more than I’m making here, plus a signing bonus.” I hesitated. “Are you sure this wouldn’t be better for you?”

His brows flew up. “Are you trying to fucking sabotage me? You want me to give up playing?”

“No! No…just. I’m not sure I deserve this.”

“Fuck you,” Jonah said, leaning forward. “You definitely do. And maybe you can, I don’t know, use the bonus to put in a hot tub so we can skinny-dip at your place instead of our condo complex. Micah almost got arrested last time.”

A hot tub…that was a thought.

I tapped my fingers on the desk. “Jonah?”

“Yes, best friend?”

“I think I’m in love.”

He sat back with a frown. “With me?”

I rolled my eyes. “No.”

His lips twitched. “So…your husband, then?”

I didn’t correct him because yeah, he wasn’t my husband, but I was ready to admit I wanted him to be. “I think he wants to stay here. Like, for good.”

“No shit?”

“Not even a skid mark.”

He grinned widely. “We’re gonna celebrate this, right? Big party. Booze and balloons?”

“More like plan a trip to California to scare the actual living fuck out of his abusive ex while he picks up all of his stuff.”

That knocked him back into his chair. His face twisted through a couple of expressions I couldn’t quite get a read on. “Wait. Is his ex actually?—”

“Yeah,” I said, cutting him off. “He’s a real, honest-to-God, piece-of-shit monster.”

Jonah’s lips thinned. “You, Ford, me…Boden?”

“Bode’s still kind of pissed at me, and anyway, that’s a long way to go, and last time he had to fly that far, the airline literally bent the wheel of his chair so badly he had to replace the whole thing.”

Jonah grimaced. “Fuck. Well. He can hold down the fort. Bake some cakes and…I don’t know, do some housewife shit.”

“First of all, I want you to say that to his face. Second, you’d really come with?”

He scoffed. “I mean, it’s not like I have a whole lot to do once the season ends. We’re…not going until then, right?”

Playoffs for the kids ran congruently with the other youth leagues, so we had a handful of games between now and the end of April. Jonah usually went into what he called his hibernation mode, which was actually just bulking for the remainder of his own playoffs, which didn’t end until May.

And then we’d have time. Time to help Amedeo with whatever was out there waiting for him. I just needed to ask him if he could wait until the season was over. I had a feeling he’d tell me yes to whatever I asked, so I reminded myself to be careful with him. He had to break the habit of doing things to please everyone else.

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