Page 34 of Stick By Me

“Fuck, that hurt.” Mason leaned down and rubbed his shin.

“Oh, so you know about Angie? Have you met her?” Axel ate a big bite of burger.

With a glance at Mason, I rubbed my forehead. “Yeah, I know about her, but I haven’t met her yet.” Fuck, nowIwas lying to Leo’s brother. This was so not cool.

Mason stared at me, shook his head, then chomped off the end of a fry.

“What did he tell you about her?” Axel drank his drink.

“I don’t know, not too much.” I worried my lower lip. Shit, I had no idea what Leo would have said and if our stories didn’t match, Axel might figure something out. I forced a smile. “In fact, he didn’t say anything about her, just her name and that he had a date.” I gulped down my drink. This conversation needed to be over.

“So, Axel, when are you guys playing next?” Jonah, gave me a pointed look.

“Oh, in two weeks. We’re playing the bar at Talking Stick casino. Should be a good time.” He bumped into Mason’s side. “You should come.”

“I think we have an away game that weekend,” Mason said, furrowing his brows.

“Too bad.” Axel turned his gaze on me. “I heard you’re trying to steal my Remy away for another hockey game tonight.”

“Yeah, I invited Leo to another one and got him tickets for tonight’s game.” I met his gaze. Would Axel let Remy go and if not, would Leo come by himself maybe? He’d said to get the tickets and it was nice having him there when I played. For whatever reason, I played better.

Axel patted my shoulder. “Well, I told Remy he could go. I have some practicing to do anyways. We’re learning a new song.”

With a scoff and a shake of his head, Caleb said, “And in practice last week you almost ripped my eardrums out with that fucking solo.”

“Oh, be quiet. At least it wasn’t as bad as Silas’ weak attempt.” Axel snickered.

“Yeah, whatever. Just get it down.” Caleb stuffed some fries into his mouth.

Jonah crumpled up his bag. “Anyways, I have to get to back to class.” He flashed his eyes at me.

“Yeah, me, too.” I grabbed up my bag.

“Me, three.” With a sigh, Mason crushed his bag.

“Oh, okay. Well, nice talking to you guys. Good to know there’s a queer contingent on the hockey team here at ASU.” Axel slid out of the bench seat and stood up.

Mason shimmied his way out of his seat and threw his backpack on while Jonah and I did the same. I turned to Axel. “We planned that, by the way.” I lifted my chin. “It took hard work and bit of finagling from our parents, but I think we’re showing the older generation that queer dudes belong in hockey.”

With a sly grin, Axel squeezed my shoulder. “Right on. We need more queer dudes like you all.”

“Thanks. Your band rocks.” Jonah gave Axel a fist bump, then Caleb.

“See you around.” With a wave at Jonah and Mason, I threw my bag and empty iced tea container into a garbage bin and strolled out the front doors onto the sunny sidewalk.

“You and Leo are lying to those guys.” Shaking his head, Jonah grunted.

“I know. I’m following Leo’s lead on this, okay?” I headed down the sidewalk, toward the campus buildings, all in a similar clay color. “I have to, right? I have to let him come out when he’s ready.”

Jonah matched my steps. “I suppose, but it isn’t cool to be flat out lying to people. Especially those guys. They’re such nice?—”

“And probably would be happy for you two. Why doesn’tLeo want his brother to know he’s queer?” Mason stepped beside me.

“It’s complicated and I’m not even sure I understand the whole thing.” I huffed. I didn’t want to talk about this anymore. “Let’s leave it at that, all right?”

“Yeah, fine.” Rolling his eyes, Jonah pursed his lips.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

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