Page 13 of Skating to Him
Clearing my throat, I flicked my gaze to his book. “Yeah, study.” I was going to think about what he’d said for a long-ass time after this was over.
CHAPTER FOUR
ROWAN
Holy hell, I was losing my Goddamned mind tonight. What was it about Tyler that had me saying such stupid ass shit? I glanced at the clock in the corner of my laptop. We’d been studying this geochemistry stuff for almost two hours, and thank God, we’d just finished the last problem. “Okay, glad that’s over.” I shut my book and closed my laptop.
“Yeah, those were hard, even for me.” Tyler slapped his book closed. “Hey, you want to chill for a little bit and have a beer?” He rose and stepped into the kitchen.
“Oh, do I.” I stood, headed to the green sectional and dropped into the corner of it. “You get all this stuff from parents?” I brushed my hand over the soft cushion. I’d better keep this conversation sane.
“Yeah. Some of it is from the parents of the guys who’ve moved on. They’ve donated it to us.” He pulled two canned beers from the refrigerator, snicked them open, and strolled to me. “Here.” He handed me one and sank next to me. “We had Archer Carlson, Jonah Boehm, and Mason Hopkins all in the same house at one time.” He sipped his beer.
“Yeah? And they’re all in the NHL now.” Tipping back my can, I let the bubbly beer glide down my throat. Damn, this hitthe spot. “It’s cool you guys got to stick together like that.” I thought a moment. “How much chirping do you get in games for being gay?” Because I might have to beat the crap out of a guy if he started in on Tyler.
“I’m not going to lie. We do get some. We usually shake it off and chirp right back.” He drank more beer and relaxed into the couch.
I itched to get closer to him. Why? My gaze landed on his hand, resting between our thighs, and then crept to the generous bulge outlined in his sweats. Heat tingled low in my gut. Fuck me. Was I really eyeballing his junk? I flicked my gaze away, focusing on my beer. I needed to talk to Teddy about this. He’d have answers. “Just so you know, if I hear a guy say anything shitty like that, I’ll hit the guy so wicked hard he’ll be seeing stars for days.”
“You will, huh?” His smile grew wide.
“I will, I guarantee it.” With a nod, I toyed with the pull tab on my beer. “Nobody fucks with my partner.”
Bumping my shoulder with his, he said, “Good to know.” He dipped his head and touched the side of mine. “Just so you know, I’ve got your back too. We’ll be a good team.”
“We will.” Warmth fluttered through my chest, and I edged closer to his side, his body heat shivering through me. This wasn’t normal…I wasn’t feeling like myself with this guy, and the beer probably wasn’t helping, but fuck it. I should finish it and go home. I took a few gulps of my beer.
He moved the hand between us to his thigh. “Tell me more about your gay friend. What’s his name? Teddy?” He sipped his drink.
“Yeah, what do you want to know?” My gaze flicked to his profile and lingered, following the contours of his pointed nose and down to the pout of his lips. They looked soft.They looked soft?I needed to get out of here.
“How close are you? Like when you’re at home, do you hangout like this, do you two text every day? Weekly calls? What?” He gave me a charming grin.
With a nod, I said, “That’s a lot of questions, but yes, we hang out like this. No, we don’t text every day.” As a grin teased my lips, I dipped my head. “I usually text him funny TikToks when I find them. We communicate through TikToks.”
“Really?” Tyler freed a soft snort. “Okay, guess I should send you funny TikToks when I find them.” He drank more beer.
“Oh, please do. I love that shit.” My heart beat a little faster. I was probably going to hear from him more, and I was okay with that. The closer we became as friends, the more this phase I was going through would probably settle down. “I call him probably every few weeks. I’m due to call him now.”
He lowered his brows. “Does he know about me, Myles, and Ace?”
“I…” Had we talked about this? “No, I don’t think so. It never came up. We usually gossip about the people we know.” I twisted my beer can in my lap. I’d almost drunk the whole thing now. I should finish it and leave. “He doesn’t know very much about hockey.”
“Oh.” He nodded and drank the rest of his beer.
That was my cue. I tipped my drink back, finishing it. “I guess I should go home now.” I stood and stepped toward the dinette to pack up.
He followed me. “I assume Coach will have us bunking together at the away game this weekend?”
Setting my empty can on the table, I picked up my book and laptop. Shit, I’d forgotten about that. Would it be weird sleeping in a bed right next to his? With my pulse kicking up, I said, “He probably will. That would be typical.” Bending over, I slipped my book and laptop into my bag.
Myles strolled in from the hallway. “You guys done being cozy on the couch?” A smirk grew over his lips.
Blowing out an exhale, Tyler jutted out a hip, planting hishand on it. “Myles…we were just getting to know each other a little better.”
“Yeah, yeah…” Myles passed me on his way into the kitchen, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
What the hell was that about? “Tyler helped me out a lot tonight.” I zipped my bag and slung it over my shoulder as I straightened. Did they have some secret between them?
