Page 156 of Goaltender Interference

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

A few days later, Connor shifted restlessly in his chair outside of Gavin’s office while he waited for their meeting.

“He’ll be out in a moment,” Amelia assured him.

“Sure. No problem.” Connor smiled at Gavin’s executive assistant.

Itwaskind of a problem, because if Connor got any more nervous, he was gonna walk out of here and never come back.

But, thankfully, a few moments later, Gavin’s door opened and he popped his head out. “Hey there. Sorry to keep you waiting. Some GMs in this league are a little chatty.”

“No problem.” Connor rose to his feet and followed Gavin into his office, closing the door behind him.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” Gavin asked with a frown. “Am I putting on my GM hat or my friend hat?”

Connor shrugged. “A little bit of both?”

“Okay. I’ll do my best to walk that line.”

“Thanks.”

“So what’s going on?”

“Uhh, well …” Connor said, his heart beating a little too fast. Fuck it, he needed to rip the bandage off in one go. “I’m bisexual and dating Jesse.”

The words tumbled out of his mouth a little too fast and Gavin blinked like he was trying to fit them all together.

“Webber?” Gavin asked.

“That’s the one.”

Laughing, Gavin shook his head.

“Huh. Well, I guess Ididask you to keep an eye on him,” Gavin said with a rueful look. “This wasn’t quite what I meant but he’s stayed off the gossip sites and he’s playing great, so … keep up the good work, I suppose?”

“You’re not upset about it then?” Connor asked, because he’d expected some pushback after how worried Gavin had been about their jobs before the season started.

“No,” Gavin said slowly. “I mean, I need a minute todigestit because I really didn’t see this coming but …”

“If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t see it coming either,” Connor admitted.

Gavin shot him a grin. “Late in life bisexual awakening?”

Internally, Connor bristled. He was only thirty-five for fuck’s sake. This wasn’t late in life, even if he was old in hockey years.But mostly, it felt a little weird to have this conversation with his GM even if Gavin was more relaxed than most.

But … this was the friend hat part of the conversation, right?

“Not exactly. I—I sorta suspected. There was a crush on my college hockey captain that probably should’ve clued me in earlier. But Jesse was the first guy I—uh, yeah.” He cleared his throat.

Gavin smirked. “Gotcha. And was thisbeforeorafterI suggested he move in with you?”

“Uh, so this part of the conversation is definitely not me talking to my GM. It was before. We hooked up at my brother’s wedding,” Connor admitted, face a little warm.

“Ahh. No wonder you were freaking out at him moving in with you.”

“I wasn’t—okay, I was freaking out alittle,” Connor admitted.

“You could have told me then,” Gavin said, his tone gentler now. “I would have understood.”

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