Page 31 of Scoring Position

That brought a round of laughter along with a coughed “Whipped!” Yorkie obviously couldn’t care less, which Nico thought was nice. He cared more about being a good husband than some dumb comment from a teammate who was stuck in the eighties.

“Bet the NHL makes you first star of the week,” Chenner said next to him, smiling. It looked a little strained, and Nico abruptly remembered he hadn’t gotten his first goal yet.

“Someone else will get a hat trick and everyone will forget about me,” Nico said, though he was pleased Chenner thought so.

Chenner shook his head and went back to his phone.

That brought Nico’s attention back to his own—he had missed three calls from his father this week. He could only pretend to have been asleep so many times. He’d have to call him back.

Tomorrow, though.

Today, he said, “Hey.” When Chenner looked up, Nico said, “Your time will come too.”

Chenner gave a small smile. “Thanks.”

Nico thought they’d get to the airport in Indy and go home and reconvene, but when the plane landed, there was a charter bus waiting for them. Bemused, he let Misha herd him onto it.

“I made a reservation,” Misha said in Russian. “To make sure you didn’t try to get out of this. We want to celebrate you.”

Nico could feel himself blushing. “You don’t have to do that.”

“It’s not about have to.” He leaned closer. “You are very young, so me and Yorkie looked up where people your age go.”

Oh Jesus.

“We thought you should celebrateproperly. We asked Doc where to take you, but he said”—Misha rolled his eyes as he switched to English and did a passable imitation of Ryan—“‘no tourists at the gay bars.’ So instead we’re going to a place by the college.”

At least Nico could finally be sure Misha didn’t care that he was gay. Unfortunately, he was now also sure he was going to spend the night with half the team attempting to hook him up with a biology major. It was… sweet… ish. “They know I’m not a virgin, right?” Thank God no one else on the team spoke Russian. “I’ve been having sex since I was fifteen. I don’t need their help.”

“You are very cute,” Misha said slyly, and he reached up and patted Nico’s cheek the same way Ryan had during the game.

Nico was not going to give Misha the satisfaction of answering that unspoken question. “Exactly.”

Misha laughed. “Maybe you can help me instead.”

It was Saturday night, so the bar was full, but someone must have called ahead, because a few tables had been reserved for them. Indy wasn’t a hockey city, but he could tell some of the students there must have guessed who they were; it wasn’t like you could be inconspicuous walking into a place like that in a suit.

“Shots!” Misha said loudly and was met with a resounding cheer not just from the team but from the assembled patrons.

Ah. So it was going to be one ofthosenights.

Nico let Yorkie herd him to a table while Misha went to start a tab. Even if a night out getting plastered with his teammates wasn’t the most natural thing in the world, after a few drinks, Nico wouldn’t care.

Somehow he ended up sandwiched between Ryan and Grange, obediently drinking whatever they put in front of him, even when it came with a little pink umbrella.

“What?” Ryan said, slinging his arm over the back of Nico’s chair. His fingers just grazed Nico’s shoulder. Nico fought not to shiver. Ever since the other night, he’d been fighting off thoughts of having Ryan’s hands on him again. Obviously it had been too long since someone had touched him if he was this fixated on a friend. Even if he did have really nice hands. “Look, there are only two advantages to being an out gay dude on a pro hockey team, and one of them is not feeling the need to drink shitty college-bar beer.”

He was right that the beer was bad. Nico clinked his plastic glass against Ryan’s, which held something green and slushy.

“What’s the other one?” Grange asked from Nico’s other side.

Ryan and Nico met eyes.

“Is he serious?” Ryan asked.

Nico shrugged helplessly. How dumb could you get?

“What?” Grange said.

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