Page 12 of Back in the Game (Pride in the Game #1)

But fuck, Fraser made him want to break the one drink rule, if only so it would help him relax and he could avoid catching a murder charge before the sun rose.

“Where did Jett go?” Arlo asked, as if noticing for the first time that Fraser hadn’t been helping him prep supper, and instead had been snooping around the house when he was supposed to be cutting tomatoes.

Arlo went to pass him the plate of hamburger patties he had just finished seasoning and shaping, only to pull them back. “Wait, I’ll get these on the barbecue. You can go find the raccoon-dog.”

Arlo shrugged. “It’s you he wants to hang out with. I invited Jett for Jett, not me.”

“Your distraction methods aren’t working,” said Harrison, just in time for the sound of something crashing in the direction of his bedroom to drown out the music on the speakers.

“Sounds to me like they are,” said Arlo, nodding toward the noise, silently telling Harrison to ensure Fraser was still alive.

“I’m going to kill him.” Harrison left the kitchen and stomped to his bedroom, giving Fraser only seconds to get out of his stuff before he found him .

Arlo’s laugh chased him to his bedroom, where he found Fraser on his hands and knees, his ass shamelessly high in the air while he dug something out from under the bed.

Fuck. Whoever invented grey sweatpants could go right to hell. Harrison had seen more than his fair share of hockey butts, but the sight of Fraser bent over like an invitation momentarily stunned him in the doorway.

“I found it, I found it, I found it.”

Fraser’s voice was muffled, but Harrison could easily make him out. He had no idea what the blond minx had found that excited him, but Harrison had heard enough.

He walked over and grabbed Fraser’s ankles, tugging him from under his bed in one fluid motion. Fraser squeaked as he was rolled onto his back, blinking at Harrison in confusion while keeping a death grip on…a hockey stick?

“I have a wood chipper in my backyard,” said Harrison.

Fraser’s eyes widened, and he clutched the stick to his chest. “No, don’t! I want it! I’ll pay you for it.”

Harrison groaned, his mood quickly worsening when the same pain that Arlo gave him between his eyes sprang into life.

No. He couldn’t handle two of them.

“I wouldn’t put the damn stick in the wood chipper. The stick is worth something to me.”

“Oh, thank fuck.” He watched Fraser sit and trace his fingers over the rainbow colours painted on the wood. “This was from that Pride event in Halifax. I saw you holding it in the parade. This stick is worth something to me too.”

Harrison raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

Fraser let out a sheepish little chuckle.

“Yeah, I saw you holding this stick and wearing your rainbow jersey, and something came over me. I turned to my dad and said, I’m gay .

No lead-up or easing into it. This damn stick, and the idiot carrying it gave me all the courage I needed to get the words out. ”

“Huh, I can’t tell if I’ve been complimented or insulted, but I’ll let it go for now.”

Not that he had the words to verbally spar right now after Fraser had just admitted he was gay, like it was nothing. Harrison suspected he was because he’d seen him use rainbow tape during games, but hearing the words out loud was different.

Damn it, and now he was getting distracted by gold-brown eyes and blond curls. Fraser was gorgeous even with the black eye overshadowing his golden features. Was Fraser talking? Did he ask a question?

Harrison was suddenly very aware of how small Fraser looked below him, his pale eyelashes brushing over his cheekbones as he blinked up at him.

“What?”

Fraser rolled his eyes. “I said ,” he paused, and Harrison made sure to listen this time, “it was a compliment. And I also said thank you, for you know, being gay.”

“Being gay?”

Fraser licked his dry lips. His cheeks were burning red. “For being you, I mean. For giving others like me courage and all the other amazing things I can’t think of to say because I’m not the most articulate guy in the world.”

“You’re fine, Fraser,” said Harrison, holding out his hand so that he could pull him up.

“Call me Jett,” said Fraser. “I hear my last name so often I’m starting to forget what my first name is.”

“I’ll think about it.” Harrison looked at his now messy closet, courtesy of the blond puckhead looking at him, and sighed. “And if you do what you’re told and stop snooping around my fucking house, you can keep the stick.”

Fraser’s eyes went wide. “Really?”

“Really,” said Harrison. “Now go ice that bruise so I don’t have to look at it anymore.”

Fraser left the room so fast he almost whacked Harrison with the stick. God, he was an obnoxious drunk. He could have sworn the guy was only on his second beer of the night, but maybe he was a lightweight.

He re-entered the kitchen in time to see Fraser nearly knock the salad bowl out of Arlo’s hands with the stick in his haste to get to the freezer.

Arlo took a few steps back, giving Fraser plenty of space to avoid losing an eye, and they both watched him grab a bag of peas from the freezer and dart to the couch .

Harrison pointed a finger at Fraser and said, “Fucking stay .”

Fraser saluted him.

“Jesus Christ,” said Harrison to Arlo as he rejoined him in the kitchen. “How many beers did you feed the golden retriever?”

Arlo quickly turned away, but Harrison saw the smile he was trying to hide. Fucking brat.

“No beers and one cooler. He likes the drinks that taste like strawberries.”

Harrison went to twist the top off his beer, but he stopped. “You’re telling me he’s sober ?”

Arlo pushed the salad to the side and bent over the counter, his shoulders shaking in laughter.

“Dude, no,” said Harrison. “He has to go home, because if I wanted to look after a puppy, I would have adopted one. I’m not a dog person.”

Arlo’s blue eyes landed on him, watery with tears of laughter. “Dude, you’re the one who gave the puppy a fucking stick.”

“Do you guys need help? I can watch the barbecue.”

“No,” said Arlo and Harrison together. The last thing they needed was to burn the whole forest down because Fraser couldn’t sit still for two seconds.

“Take the salad and set the plates,” Arlo told him. “The hamburgers should be ready.”

Fine by Harrison, that gave him something to do that didn’t involve sitting in the living room with Fraser, watching him pet his gifted hockey stick like it was a lazy cat sitting on his lap. The whole thing was confusing. Was it a blond thing? Taylor had been crazy too, and he was blond.

Fuck. Nope. Not going there.

Harrison took the salad bowl and three plates from the cupboard, dishing out large portions onto each one. He wasn’t allowed to add more salad dressing over what Arlo had used, so he sulked at all the green shit on his plate until Arlo came back with the burgers.

Don’t fuck around with Arlo’s food, you will find out. He had learned the hard way when his overdressed salad ended up in the bushes for the squirrels to enjoy because Arlo got pissed at the amount he dumped on .

Fraser didn’t appear to have the same issue with the tasteless rabbit food as Harrison when he handed him his plate. He even went as far as to say it looked good .

Yeah right, but Harrison knew better than to complain. Arlo’s burgers were always amazing and filling, even if they were lean beef instead of real meat.

Harrison fell into his chair with a loud, annoyed sigh and picked up the TV remote, only for Arlo to snatch it from his hands.

“Are you into anime, Jett?”

Harrison rolled his eyes and picked up his fork, stabbing a piece of tomato and shoving it into his mouth grumpily.

“Like, Naruto and One Piece?”

“Fuck yes.” Arlo sat beside Fraser, even though he had the entire L-shaped couch to choose from. “I’ve been trying to get Harrison into Attack on Titan, but he said it’s boring.”

“Yeah, only until everyone dies, maybe.”

“It was boring, and there were giant naked guys with no cocks running around,” said Harrison. “That’s a double negative in my books.”

“Your personality is the only double negative here,” said Arlo, and his words had Fraser laughing so hard he choked on his lettuce.

Harrison set his plate on his lap and gave them a double salute, which made Fraser laugh harder.

“I’m the one celebrating,” said Arlo. “We’re watching one episode of Attack on Titan, and then we can do something manly like go swimming or shoot squirrels with BB guns.”

Fraser’s frown of disappointment was immediately turned on him. “You shoot squirrels? They’re so cute though.”

The cutting look Harrison gave his cousin would have normally shut him up, but the punk was acting all brave now that he had backup.

So, Harrison decided to be an adult and proceeded to ignore them.

He kicked up his recliner and started scrolling on his phone while he ate, ignoring the annoying screaming coming from his TV.

He hadn’t had a chance to check what the media was saying after the game today.

Part of him hoped there would be nothing there, but he wasn’t surprised to see multiple shots of him standing behind the bench during the game.

Holy shit, he really did look like a mountain man .

None of the posts or articles said much about him other than he seemed to be coaching Arlo’s team to victory, but the focus was on Arlo and Fraser.

“Killinger’s Ghost: Returned to the Ice” was the worst one he found, but even then, his name was the only thing mentioned about him.

People were commenting on how Arlo looked like him, and how Fraser had attempted his move during the game, so it was like having him back on the ice.

All that shit was lighthearted and fine, but then there was the gossip about Arlo and Fraser being boyfriends since they were from the same province and both openly gay.

Really? Just because of those similarities, they were suddenly dating? Fucking media.