Page 10 of Puck'n Bully
He freezes.
“I won’t tell anyone about it,” I reassure him despite wanting to punch his handsome face. “You don’t have to worry about me.”
“I need you to keep shut about the other thing as well.”
“What other thing?” I wrack my brains, trying to figure out whether he left me with any secrets. The asshole didn’t even tell me his name! “Wait, are you talking about being gay?”
A sudden vulnerability flashes in his eyes. He’s quick to hide it though. Reaching out, he grabs my hair and yanks me close to his face. “I swear I’ll finish you if you breathe a word of it to anyone.”
“I don’t need you to keep threatening me,” I hiss through clenched teeth, glaring up at him with a challenge in my eyes. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m gay too. Even though I’m open about it, I’d never out someone who’s still struggling to come to terms with their sexuality.”
Pirate looks deep into my eyes, searching for something.
“Liam! Are you out here?” Maggie’s voice cuts through the suffocating tension in the air.
Pirate’s hold on me slackens as he twists to look over his shoulder, allowing me to take the chance to push him away.
“I’m over here!” I shout to Maggie. “I’ll be right there!”
“Hurry up already,” her voice floats toward me. “It’s time to close up shop.”
I glance back at Pirate and find him studying me with a strange look in his eyes. He doesn’t stop me as I walk past him and hurry toward the diner’s kitchen.
I’m almost at the door when I realize I still don’t know his name. Turning around, I look for him around the dumpster area but he’s gone.
Adrenaline continues to course through me, my heart racing at a hundred miles per hour from my interaction with him.
Pirate is dangerous.
I have no doubt about it but a part of me also wants to soothe his fears.
Ice hockey is a brutal sport. People expect these players to be hyper-masculine and unapologetically aggressive.
Since Pirate is not open about his sexuality, he must always be living in fear, shame, and guilt. He must be constantly worried about the reaction of his teammates, coaches, and fans if they ever found out he’s gay.
Even though I hate the way he treated me just now, I can’t help but feel sorry for him. Balancing love for the sport and the fear of rejection can’t be easy.
Was this the reason he walked into the ocean in the middle of a storm without caring for his life?
I want to help him but my brain tells me to stay clear of him. He’s lethal and he might very well keep his promise and destroy both me and my heart.
4
Hayden
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m gay too.”Liam’s voice echoes in my mind as I walk down the dark street.
I got the biggest surprise of my life when Liam collided with me this evening.
Cheeks flushed with exertion, his damn big blue eyes staring at me with a dazed look, he looked like he’d appeared out of my dreams. He called me “Pirate”, the nickname he’d given me right after pulling me inside his beach house.
With my teammates around me, I had to pretend not to know him. I couldn’t risk revealing the circumstances that led me to get to know him.
I kept glancing at Liam all night as he served the tables tonight. The steady hordes of hockey fans kept coming in, keeping him busy for hours.
Liam looked like he’s used to waiting tables. Did he lie to me about being a Physics major? Or is this something he did part-time? And what the hell is he doing here in Knightswood?
Liam was never supposed to be a part of my world. He was supposed to be a memory I’d always keep locked in the darkest corner of my heart.
