Page 179 of Wrong Pucking Jersey

“Honestly, I saw it coming,” Liam admits with a shrug. “She loves designer and luxury shit. She came by my house to stay the night when we landed in Strattonville and wasn’t very impressed. Guess she’s been to Jayce’s place or something because she couldn’t stop talking about this mansion she recently visited here that’s newly built and all that jazz. I didn’t really pay attention to it much or take it to heart because I was tired, but I was going to bring it up in the conversation that I’m not the richest hockey player on the block. We’ve just established our team, after all.”

“Until we finalized our deals,” Felix points out.

“Exactly.” Liam smiles a little. “After she admitted to cheating and wanting to be focused on her potentially new relationship, I congratulated her and told her I just signed my one million dollar contract, so...”

“Ouch,” Ethan hollers.

“I could FEEL her shock!” Knox cheers.

“Feel? I can fucking see it,” Garrett laughs. “Her plastic face is going to need some Botox now after she realizes she fucked up and lost out.”

We laugh and agree.

“But you guys are right!” Liam comments. “Why the fuck is Jayce making advances on Mikayla if he’s with Britt.”

“And gay?” Marcus questions and looks at Felix. “Your hypothesis was wrong, bro.”

“Nah.” Felix shakes his head. “I always follow my gay radar.”

“Gay radar?” Wolfgang questions. “Is that a thing?”

Felix smirks but shrugs.

“You think the Pincers or whoever is getting paid to bully and leave death threats my way are doing it simply because I’m gay,” he begins and looks around us as we’re all staring at him in curiosity. “It’s obviously a way to bring the attention away from the ring leader of this hate parade.”

“Who you think is Jayce?” I inquire.

“It’s either Jayce or Oscar,” Felix states with a shrug. “Dimitri thinks so, too. Either way, I have a strong hunch those two don’t want to get out of the closet, so they’ll fake their relationship with a puck bunny or make advances just to look like they’re straight.”

“That’s not cool,” Ace’s voice is stern as hell. “He can’t just make advances on Mickey like that.”

“Mishka wouldn’t even take him back,” Wolfgang huffs. “She’s smarter than that. He doesn’t deserve our Heartbreaker Queen.”

“He tried to make a move on her, though,” Damien grumbles.

Just the idea of that when she was so vulnerable at the hospital riles me up. I would have beat the shit out of him if I’d made it on time.

Damien’s better than me, but he’s also smarter. He knew he could get payback where it hurt—securing our contracts and basically, getting me three times what Jayce managed to negotiate with his father’s connections.

“He did?” Clayton questions. “Why the fuck is he playing with people’s emotions like it’s a game?”

“Jayce doesn’t give a shit about anyone’s emotions, Clay,” Ethan points out. “He only cares about the Winchester’s legacy.”

“That and getting pussy to hide his apparent love for cock, too,” Knox grumbles. “Sorry, but I hate two-faced assholes.”

“Maybe he’s afraid to come out?” Liam suggests.

“The fact you hold an ounce of sympathy for the man who stole your girl is astonishing,” Marcus points out as he walks over to Liam and pats his shoulders. “Operation ‘Get Liam Laid’ is happening tonight. Drinks on us.”

Liam chuckles. “Nah, I’m actually happy it happened.”

“You sure?” Garrett inquires. “No crying when you get home to your empty bed?”

“It won’t be empty,” Marcus counters. “Cause he’s going to be fucking a girl tonight.”

“Or guy,” Liam adds, which surprises all of us. He smiles and shrugs.

“I guess ever since arriving here and being around you guys and how chill you are around the whole gay topic, I decided it would be dumb to keep chickening out around the idea of being interested in men,” Liam reveals. “It’s kinda the reason why I don’t talk much. I felt ashamed before. I was in California before coming back to Strattonville and well, thanks to the laws and shit, they’re not very LGBT-friendly. At least, not anymore. I thought I could just live with it since my life was already made with a decent job and having Britt as my girl, but this hockey opportunity seems to have opened a door to a new opportunity, so I figure, why not live and explore.” He looks nervous as he tries to smile. “Right?”

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