Page 43 of Time to Shine

“A backup goalie fight would be fucking wild,” Nosey said. “Both of them jumping over the boards and meeting in front of the benches.” He laughed. “Can you imagine that shit?”

“Stacks,” Casey called out again. “Have you ever seen two backup goalies fight?”

Landon turned his back to him.

“Wow. Your roommate hates you already,” Nosey said.

“He does not.” Casey hoped it wasn’t a lie. He tapped Gio’s shin with his stick blade. “What’s the best way to annoy your cousin?”

“For you to annoy him?” Gio asked. “You could probably just talk to him. That’d annoy anyone.”

Casey tapped him harder. “Maybe I’ll flirt with him. Do you think I’m his type?”

“Nope.” Gio grinned. “He likes ’em tall.”

“His fucking loss.”

Casey wasn’t actually going to flirt with Patricio Rossi, but he was definitely looking forward to flirting with someone after the game. He was extra motivated to win tonight because he really wanted everyone to go out after the game. He badly needed to get laid. He’d had a sexy dream last night where Landon was feeding him grapes. They’d both been naked, and Landon had wings. It was weird.

Nosey raised his stick in the air like it was a sword. “For Calgary!”

“For Calgary!” the rest of the team roared back.

Casey silently added for victory sex in his head, then followed his teammates to the ice.

“Everyone is going out tonight!” Casey announced from where he was standing on the bench in his locker room stall. “Every fucking one.”

The whole team cheered its approval of Casey’s plan. Calgary had defeated Edmonton, and that meant it was time to party. Casey was definitely getting laid tonight. He could probably get laid five hundred times if he wanted to. In that moment, he felt like he could handle it.

He hopped down from the bench and darted over to where Landon was removing his gear. “Stacks. You’re coming out, right? We talked about this.”

“I guess so. Where?”

“I don’t know! Somewhere. Everywhere. This city is in love with us right now and I wanna fucking drink it in.”

Landon’s eyes twinkled with rare amusement. “Okay. Sure. I’m in.”

Casey put his hands on both of Landon’s shoulders. He squeezed the muscle there through the thin, slippery material of Landon’s athletic T-shirt. “Fucking. Right.”

Landon stepped back, out of Casey’s grip. “Yeah. Okay. Go get showered.” He rubbed his own shoulder, clearly uncomfortable.

“Sorry,” Casey said. “I forgot.”

“Forgot what?”

“That you don’t like being touched.”

Landon’s brow furrowed. “I never told you that.”

“You didn’t have to.” Casey was a tactile guy. Most hockey players he’d met were, but Landon clearly wasn’t. And that was cool. Casey could respect that.

“I—” Landon started, then stopped. He nodded and said, “Go shower.”

Landon would love bars, if it weren’t for all the noise and people and chaos. He wasn’t a big drinker, not enough to get to the point where he could relax and enjoy himself in the sort of place he was in right now.

The bar was huge and there’d been a line outside, but Landon and his teammates had been ushered right past it. The people waiting in line had cheered when they’d recognized them.

Loud country music with a driving beat blared throughout the room. The dance floor was packed, partially with Calgary Outlaws. Casey was in the mix somewhere; Landon got occasional glimpses of his long hair from where he was sitting with a few of the older guys, slowly nursing a beer. He’d noticed Casey leaning close to a handsome guy on the dance floor, lips against the man’s ear as he smiled and told him something. The other man had laughed, and Landon tried to ignore how jealous he was. The feeling had gripped him so suddenly and so completely, it had been shocking.

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