Page 85 of Bad Pucking Roommate

“Déjà vu,” Coach mutters as he turns to face us. “How long?”

“Officially, since the All-Star break. But it started right after Noah got hurt,” I say.

Coach pours himself another shot. “And you didn’t mention anything earlier, why?”

“And risk our shot at the cup by breaking up the team?” I balk, looking to Justus for approval, which is maybe a mistake since he looks even paler than usual.

“If you were already together before that rule came down, I might’ve been able to argue it shouldn’t apply.” Coach shakes his head as my jaw drops.

“That was an option?” Justus squeaks.

“We’ll never know, will we?” Coach tosses back the shot. “Why tell me this now? Are you retiring?”

“Not unless you tell me I have to. But this might be my last cup, and I want to celebrate that with Justus. I want to take him with me when I visit my parents and I want to go with him when he visits his. And anything else we decide to do with it, I want to do in the open.”

“You want to take me to meet your parents?” My head swings toward Justus when he gasps.

“I’m pretty sure that’s how dating works, babe.” I squeeze his hand before turning back to Coach. “Anyhow, the secret’s about to come out, so I wanted to give you the heads up.”

“Yeah. It’s always good to have some idea what I’m going to get reamed about before management hauls my ass in front of them.”

“Why would you get reamed?” Justus asks.

“Because this happened on my watch.”

“So did winning the cup,” I point out.

“Trust me, I’ll be sure to mention that.”

“You should also mention that it’s because we’re dating that we play so well together. You know, in case they want to split us up,” I add.

“And if they do?” Coach arches a thick brow.

“Like I told Justus, retiring at the top of my game is a pretty good way to go out.”

“That could cost you, financially,” he reminds me. “You might have to return part of your signing bonus.”

I wave the hand not holding Justus’s. “I’ve made enough.”

“You don’t want to try for a third cup?” He makes a final argument.

“Not if it means putting my life with Justus on hold.” I look at my boyfriend, who is a deep shade of red despite the fact his head is cast down so he doesn’t have to look Coach in the eye. Until he gets called out.

“Is this what you want Justus?”

His head snaps up, a guilty expression on his face.

Coach tips his head. “Luca can come clean and walk away from the game, but you’ve got your whole career ahead of you. I’d like to tell you breaking the no fraternization rule won’t matter if he’s no longer on the team, but I can’t promise that. I also can’t promise it will be an easy road to date a man in this league. There’s no guarantee you’ll be a Bulldog forever, and I can’t speak to the way other coaches run their team. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Justus gives me a weak smile before answering. “I do.”

“And you’re okay with that?” he prompts.

Justus takes a deep breath and gives Coach the same weak smile he gave me. “Part of the reason we didn’t speak up sooner is I didn’t want the outside world to interfere with our relationship. I knew it would at some point, and I didn’t want that to happen before we got the chance to just…be together. On our own terms. We’ve had that, and while I’m not sure I’ll ever be fully prepared to live under a microscope, I don’t want to live behind closed doors either.”

“Fair enough.” Coach exhales. “So, what are you hoping I can do here? Keep you both on the same team? Keep you from getting fined?”

“Ideally, we’d like to stay on the same team. I’d even explore a contract extension at a lower salary to make that happen.” I tell him. “But the most critical thing is that Justus stays untouched. No trades, no contract renegotiations, nothing.”

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