Page 20 of Goaltender Interference

Whoops.

“Christ, Webber. Please tell me you didn’t do something stupid.”

Honestly, it was like Mac didn’t know him at all. “Well, it could have been stupider,” he reminded him.

“Jesse …”

“I mouthed off a little,” he admitted. “Like, a tinyyy bit. But the woman had no sense of humor at all. It’s sad, really.”

“Tell me exactly what happened.”

By the time Jesse finished, he could practically see Mac rubbing his forehead all the way from New York.

“Get your ass to Massachusetts as quickly as you can,” Mac said with a sigh. “I’ll call Racine and see if I can smooth this situation out, though God knows, it’s not going to be easy.”

“I’m gonna fucking kill him,” Connor muttered. He stared at his phone following the informal skate for the guys who were already back in Boston.

“Who?”

Connor glanced up to see Luke Crawford drag a hand through his wet shaggy brown hair, tattooed arms and chest on display above the towel he had wrapped around his waist.

“Fucking Webber,” Connor said with disgust. “I mean it, I’ll fucking kill him when he finally gets his ass here.”

“Uh, good goaltenders don’t exactly grow on trees,” Luke pointed out. “I think you’re going to have to settle for yelling.”

“Oh, believe me. He’ll get plenty of that,” Connor said through gritted teeth. On the one hand, the less time he had to spend with Webber the better. On the other, this was gonna make Connor look like he didn’t have his shit together. “The kid was already supposed to be in Boston and now he’s gotten himself in trouble.”

There were pictures of him being detained at the border all over social media already. Fuckingfuck.

“What kind of trouble?” Luke unknotted his towel, tossing it in the rolling laundry bin.

Connor glanced away.

Luke was one of those guys who was pretty much always fucking naked in the locker room. It had never bothered Connor before but now that he’d had his hand on a cock other than his own, it felt a little weird to see dudes’ dicks all over the place.

Even if he wasn’t the slightest bit attracted to Luke Crawford.

“Uh, he got held up at the Buffalo border,” Connor said, standing and tossing away his own towel. He reached for a pair of underwear, dragging them on over his damp skin. “Sounds like he got searched and everything.”

“Like, full cavity search?” Luke asked with a snicker. “Wouldn’t he enjoy that? I heard he’s into that shit.”

Connor rolled his eyes. “No, numbnuts. Hiscar. And lay off. The kid is LGBTQ and all that and I wanna keep the bullshit to a minimum in the locker room.”

“Yeah, sorry. I forget.” Grimacing, Luke slid on shorts.

Honestly Luke probablyhadforgotten.

Despite his reputation in the league, Luke had always been a decent guy. Maybe not the most politically correct and all that shit, but he was like most of the guys Connor knew in the league. Oblivious. Occasionally insensitive. At times, downright offensive.

But Connor had never felt like he wastryingto be cruel.

Truthfully, Connor had been the same for most of his hockey career. He’d thrown some slurs around without considering the impact. He’d said offensive shit, not because he was trying to be a dick, but because he never thought twice about it what it actually meant and how it impacted people.

After the first guy in the league came out there had been all sorts of diversity and sensitivity training but honestly, it hadn’t hit home until his brother Kelly came out too.

Poor kid. He’d announced it in the middle of supper at a restaurant a few years ago, shocking everyone.

Connor hadn’t even been the Harriers captain then—Pat had been—but after that, they’d both doubled down on cleaning up the locker room. Guys still slipped up sometimes though.

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