Page 69 of Goaltender Interference

“Let’s give it up for the dancing man!” Liam shouted.

Jesse bowed with a flourish, waving to the crowd and blowing kisses.

Everyone in the bar hooted and hollered and clapped, clearly appreciating his showmanship. Connor gritted his teeth, irritated by the whole thing.

Still beaming, Jesse wove through the tables, heading toward the back of the bar and the bathroom area.

Connor was on his feet and following before he could stop himself.

He caught up to Jesse inside the men’s room. It was nicer than the ones in most bars, with stalls that had solid walls without gaps. They had little signs indicating if they were occupied or not, and Connor quickly scanned them.

They were all empty at the moment, so he grabbed Jesse’s arm and tugged him into the stall farthest from the door, locking it behind them.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Connor hissed.

“Me? You’re the one who pushed me into a men’s bathroom stall,” Jesse said with a laugh, apparently still in a great mood.

“You’ve been driving me fucking insane for the past half hour!” Connor said with a scowl.

Jesse shrugged. “It’s notmyfault you’re easy to wind up.”

That was, unfortunately, true, Connor thought with a tinge of despair.

“What the fuck were you doing dancing anyway?” Connor asked instead of admitting that aloud.

Jesse shrugged. “I like dancing. Why do you care?”

“I think you need to tone shit down. You’re attracting all sorts of attention and?—”

Jesse’s mouth covered his, swallowing the words he’d been about to say.

Connor groaned, intending to pull away and yell at Jesse for trying to distract him but Jesse kissed him harder, fingers digging into his shoulders. It finally occurred to Connorwhy, when he heard the sound of someone whistling tunelessly and the splash of liquid, like they were emptying their bladder.

He stilled, figuring Jesse would too, but instead, he flicked his tongue against the seam of Connor’s lips.

Connor felt a weird, guilty thrill shoot through him. He’d never done anything like this, never imagined he’d find himself kissing a teammate in a bathroom stall while someone stood a handful of feet away. He was growing hard against Jesse’s hip and he bit back a groan, threading his hand into Jesse’s hair and tugging.

Jesse responded by sliding his leg between Connor’s.

A rush of heat went through Connor and he used his free hand to grasp Jesse’s ass, pressing him even closer, until there was no space between them at all, until Connor could barely tell where his body ended and Jesse’s began.

But a moment later, Connor dimly heard the bang of the door and they were alone again.

Jesse pulled back. “I’m getting tired of this, Connor.”

Connor’s heart dropped to his toes. “What? No, I thought we were having fun.”

Jesse blinked. “Dude, we are. But I’m getting tired of the jealousy.”

“Oh.” Connor released a breath, relieved. For a moment, he’d thought Jesse was tired of being with him. Tired of what they were doing together. He could handle Jesse being annoyed. He didn’t like the thought of Jesse wanting to end what they were doing. “I’m sorry?”

Jesse scowled. “It’s getting really old, really fast. I’m fuckingyou. What more do you need me to say? You’re acting like you want to own me!”

“It’s notthat!” Connor snapped, because Jesse had it all wrong. “I don’t wanna own you, I swear.”

“Then what is it? Because you keep getting all tense and scowly when someone else gets close to me and you act like you want to take someone’s head off.”

“I am maybe a little bit jealous,” Connor admitted. “You’re so … you have all this experience and everyone wants you and I guess a part of me wonders what you’re doing with me.”

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