Page 77 of Stick By Me

Dana planted his hand on Devin’s shoulder. “Our little Devin grew up and made us proud.”

I ate more of my pastry, and it melted on my tongue. Fuck, this was good. “You know what? Can I have five more of these?” I set my backpack on the counter and unzipped the pocket holding my wallet. “I’ll buy them. I want to bring them back for the guys at the house.”

“Archer lives with five other queer hockey players.” Leo grabbed a napkin from a holder on the counter and wiped crumbs from his lips.

“Seriously? So we have a queer contingent on our college hockey team,” Dana said. “I’m not going to let you pay for these. And—" he held up his index finger “—I’m going to look into making a sizeable donation to the team.”

My mouth dropped open. Devin had said Dana’s partner had won the lottery. “What a nice gesture, Dana. It would be great to have this place’s name as one of our sponsors.” I ate the rest of my pastry as Leo did the same.

“Well, got to support organizations that are queer friendly.” Dana left for the back room.

“Dana and Nate are the best. They helped me so much and their friend group is something special.” Devin took our empty plates and set them on the back counter. “If there’s anything any of us can help you with, just say the word.”

Dana returned with a small, white box. “Here, bring these to your buddies and tell them to come up and see me sometime.” He waggled his brows.

“Was that a Mae West reference?” Devin held the back of his hand to his mouth and giggled.

“It was. You’re learning, young grasshopper.” Dana patted Devin on the back, then focused on me. “Okay, time to make the donuts.” With a cackle, he strutted into the back room.

“He’s kinda funny.” I opened my backpack and carefully settled the box into it, so the pastries stayed upright. I’d definitely be back in here with Leo. Maybe next time Leo would be out to his brother.

“Yeah, he loves to quote old movies and commercials he finds on YouTube. It drives some of his friends crazy, but he doesn’t care. It’s just who he is.” Devin set his hands on the counter.

“Anyways, thank you, Devin. And please, thank Dana again for us.” I flung my backpack strap over my shoulder. “We’ll be back in here for sure.”

“Good. And Leo?” Devin peered at him. “Axel will shit himself when he finds out about you, but he’ll be happy for you both.”

“I know. Thanks, Dev.” Leo patted Devin’s hand, then snatched mine and led me out of the store.

An ache started deep in my chest. It was time for me to go to class and say goodbye to Leo. I wasn’t looking forward to the goodbye.

It wasSaturday and we’d stomped on Cornell last night, but tonight wasn’t looking so good. I skidded my skates to a stop in my zone and waited, stick on the ice, while Hopkins readied for a faceoff. We were down by two with eight minutes in the last period.

I glanced at the camera turning on top of the glass. Would Leo see me?

The ref dropped the puck and Hopkins scrambled for it, but Cornell’s center slapped it away and passed to his winger. The winger hightailed around the edge of the ice and Bransky checked his ass into the boards, taking over the puck in the process.

“Fucking way to go!” I held my ground, stick ready in case he passed to me.

Bransky took a quick look around, then passed to Hopkins.

In a blur of red jersey, Cornell’s center slipped in and grabbed the puck, then made a beeline for Ace.

Ace crouched on his skates, looking bigger than ever, eyes focused on the puck. “Go ahead, come at me one more time, jackass. I got your number.”

As the Cornell center vied for an opening, the puck swishing back and forth on the blade of his stick. I watched his arm draw back.

“Oh, hell no.” I threw myself between the center and Ace and the puck launched, hitting me square in the chest. The wind whooshed out of my lungs as pain sliced through me. “Jesus fuck!” Even with pads, it always hurt like a bitch. The puck fell at my skates and fixating on their goal, I pounded it down the ice.

“Nice fucking save, Carlson.” Hopkins skated up on my right.

“Take it home.” I passed the puck to him and followed him down to Cornell’s defensive zone.

Hopkins slapped the puck, and it skidded between the Cornell goalie’s legs as he dropped to the ice. The buzzer and red light went off on the net.

“Fuck yeah!” Hopkins shook his arm in the air.

“Nice fucking shot!” I skated into him, and bear hugged him.

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