Page 45 of Back in the Game (Pride in the Game #1)

The walk around Jett’s neighbourhood had been…surprisingly fun. They’d stopped for coffee and bacon at Jett’s usual haunt, since breakfast had been a lost cause, and eventually wandered to a bench by the water, where they sat and talked.

He’d done everything he could to keep the topic of his brother off-limits with everyone, burying it deep and locking it down. But if he wanted this relationship to work—really work—then he knew he’d have to open up eventually. And maybe… now was the time.

“My parents put a lot of pressure on me, no more than anyone else, I guess, but it was their way of disapproving of my choice to aim for playing professional hockey. They had me and Luca when they were older, so they wanted me to find a career that would keep me settled in one place on the offhand chance that something happened to them and I had to care for my brother.”

Jett scoffed loudly. “Yeah, because that makes sense. If anything, providing for Luca would have been easy on an NHL salary.”

“Luca argued that too,” said Harrison. “He overheard our parents talking about it and defended me. I had no idea. I was only happy because Luca suddenly started coming to watch my games and began travelling with me, even when we travelled out of province. It was his way of showing my parents they were being stupid. He was…he was more stubborn than me sometimes.”

“It must be a Killinger trait,” said Jett. “That was good of him though.”

Harrison shrugged dismissively. He would have preferred it if Luca had spent his time with his friends instead of feeling obligated to follow him around, but the days spent together gave him more time with his brother before he died. Time that he treasured.

“He was a good kid,” was the only thing Harrison could say.

“Yeah,” said Jett. “I remember.”

Harrison looked at Jett, trying not to get caught up in how golden his eyes were in the sunlight. “I suppose you saw him around since we all went to the same schools.”

It was Jett’s turn to shrug.

“You guys were older than me, but yeah, Luca used to hang out at the comic book store with his friends. He found out I played hockey and spoke to me once—asked me if I knew you, and then when I said I didn’t, he asked if he could introduce us because his grumpy brother needed more friends .”

Harrison didn’t know how to respond, so he asked, “What did you say?”

Jett blushed and ducked his head, avoiding his gaze.

“I panicked and said something about not being cool enough to be your friend and left the store. I never came back.”

Harrison laughed. It felt better to laugh because if he didn’t, he was sure he would cry. God, he missed his brother. He missed having him as a sidekick, as much as it annoyed him when Luca pulled off stunts like that .

“You are a creature filled with gay panic,” said Harrison, swinging an arm across Jett’s shoulders. “Good thing I find that attractive and endearing.”

Jett finally turned to look at him again, and his cheeks were stained red. “You’re a jackass.”

“I’m your jackass,” Harrison corrected.

Jett leaned in to kiss him, and Harrison cupped his cheek to deepen it, brushing their tongues together in a slow, lazy dance.

A giddy warmth blossomed inside him. He wasn’t expecting love to feel this way, especially not for him.

He’d always thought he’d be immune to this kind of happiness, never believed he was worthy of it.

Jett made him feel worthy of it, which was all that mattered to him.

“I’m sorry if talking about Luca made you sad,” Jett said, pulling away enough so they could talk again. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. We can take time working up to things like that, you know.”

Harrison’s brow furrowed, and Jett gently touched his face, thumbs tracing soothing circles over his cheekbones.

“I’m not sad,” said Harrison, and was surprised to find it was true.

“I miss Luca…and Taylor—I’m not sure how I feel about Taylor sometimes, but I want to talk about them.

I’ve never felt the need to do so before, but it’s different with you.

” Harrison shook his head and chuckled. “Everything is always different with you.”

“Oh god,” said Jett. He smooshed Harrison’s cheeks. “Don’t say things like that. It makes me feel all floaty inside.”

“Don’t fly away yet,” said Harrison. “All of this was leading up to something we need to talk about.”

Jett took his hands away, and Harrison could see the fear in his expression.

“My family?”

Harrison was momentarily confused, but he quickly brushed it off. “Uh, no. This is about the asshole who’s been harassing you.”

“Mike?”

Jett’s heartbroken frown made the urge to kill that bastard surge forward in a wave of fury. He didn’t trust himself to talk, so he held out his hand and said, “Phone.”

Jett could refuse to show him, but Harrison hoped he trusted him enough to accept his help.

Jett hesitated, but then he pulled his phone out and unlocked it before placing it in Harrison’s hand. “It’s no big deal. I’ve been ignoring him.”

Harrison would judge that after he saw for himself. He opened the Messenger app and scrolled, seeing Mike at the top with unread messages. Opening it and flicking through, his anger levels continued to rise until his head hurt.

The amount of filth being hurled at Jett—at his boyfriend—made him violent. Mike was lucky he wasn’t in Nova Scotia anymore.

“Jett, he’s threatening you,” said Harrison, his fingers stumbling over one of the older texts that had a chill running down his spine. “He threatened to rape you.”

Jett’s lips trembled as they pulled into a smile. “I know. I’m talking to a lawyer about it, but all I’ve been told so far is not to contact Mike or go back to Nova Scotia, which isn’t an option.”

“What do you mean?” Harrison asked.

“We’re visiting my dad for Christmas,” said Jett. “He doesn’t know about Mike, and I’m not telling him. We’re going home to see him and staying at your place. Arlo said he might come too, so it’s not like anything will happen.”

Yes, because all Harrison needed right now was Arlo and Jett teaming up on him.

“Jett, I—”

“I handled it ,” said Jett. “Mike is a nobody. I’m not letting that fucker ruin my first Christmas with my first boyfriend. Plus, if we don’t go to my dad’s, he’ll come here, which will be a disaster. I’ll lose him in a place as big as Toronto.”

Harrison wanted to laugh at Jett’s attempt to lighten the mood, but it was hard.

He was scared, not because he thought Mike could hurt them, but because a threat was made against someone he loved.

It felt like too big of a risk to let the Mike thing go, not when Harrison had found a tiny bit of happiness, and there was a chance it could be taken away again.

Jett was right about their relationship being new, but Harrison could already tell that he wouldn’t be able to survive if he lost it. It was the toxic truth he kept fighting inside his mind, and he couldn’t do anything to change it.

“The subject isn’t dropped,” said Harrison. “But I’m willing to let it go for now so we can focus on you bringing the cup home. Just keep in mind that I have a shotgun in my house, and I will go to jail for you, Jett.”

Jett kissed him unexpectedly, and Harrison raised an eyebrow at him when he pulled away.

Jett’s cheeks went red again. “Sorry, you being dangerous and sexy does things for me. I think some wires are crossed in my brain.”

Harrison pressed their lips together briefly, smirking at him. “I mean, I’m not complaining. Most people would find shit like this gross.”

“The only gross thing is how fast I get hard thinking about it.”

Harrison smirked.

Jett muttered something he couldn’t hear, but then he smiled brightly. “Wanna go back to my place and do something about it?”

They would have to leave soon anyway to avoid being recognized by someone and ambushed for autographs, but Harrison was reluctant to agree.

“Don’t we have practice?” Harrison asked, already regretting the words as they left his mouth.

Fuck, he really wanted to return to the penthouse and fuck Jett again . This was getting ridiculous.

“My car windows are tinted in the back?” Jett offered.

Harrison groaned, the sound coming out rougher than he meant. “You’re sidetracking me from the topic of conversation.”

Jett blinked, distracting Harrison with his pretty blond lashes. “Is it working?”

Harrison tried to resist, but twenty minutes later they were in the underground parking garage, the world outside forgotten as he knelt in the back seat of Jett’s car with his mouth wrapped around his boyfriend’s cock.

Jett had pulled his hair free from its tie, fingers tangling effortlessly in the thick strands, tugging gently as a low growl rumbled deep in his throat. His thighs kept squeezing Harrison’s head, making it hard to accomplish the task of making him come.

Despite the difficulty, Harrison kept working, determined to show him how much he wanted him .

“I’ve never—never done something in public like this—”

Harrison moaned around the cock in his mouth. He loved being Jett’s first in as many areas as possible, because Jett was his first too in many ways.

“ Harrison ,” Jett keened, and Harrison’s gaze flicked to meet his. His golden boy looked wrecked with his swollen lips and flushed cheeks. He was gorgeous like this, breathless and desperately seeking the last push to send him over the edge.

Harrison could do this all day, but he did have a job he needed to show up for eventually.

“Close—I’m close.” Jett smacked a hand over his mouth, which did nothing to stop the sexy sounds coming out of it.

Harrison picked up the pace, taking Jett’s cock to the back of his throat and swallowing around it, only to slide back up and suck on the head. It took two more times for Jett to choke on a gasp, and then his body went tense under him.

Harrison’s mouth was flooded with bitter cum, which he happily swallowed before pulling off to give Jett a break.

Jett was shaking under him, his hands still tugging Harrison’s hair while he placed gentle kisses on his inner thighs. He was breathing hard, but the smile on his face was satisfied and happy.

“Good?” Harrison asked.

Jett pushed himself into a sitting position and leaned against the door, dragging Harrison along. “Yeah, even though I missed hearing your dirty mouth talk.”

Harrison kissed Jett’s hip bone, grinning when he flinched. “We should head to the rink.”

Jett gave him a grumpy frown. “We still have five minutes—”

“Nope,” Harrison shot him down. “I don’t always need to return the favour. We can pick things back up when we get home.”

Jett’s frown slowly melted away. “Coach is a hardass, isn’t he?”

Harrison refused to answer; instead, he pulled Jett’s pants back up and shook his hands out of his hair.

“Yeah, I get it,” said Jett. “We get made fun of by the other teams because our coach is so young and he looks like a teacher, but he’s damn good at his job. ”

Harrison kissed him, then slid out of the car, Jett’s laughter echoing after him as he closed the door. The sound was still ringing when Harrison climbed into the passenger seat and buckled up.

“Come on, Sunshine,” he said with a smirk. “Let’s go.”

The laughter immediately died.

“Oh my god, why do you call me that?”

Harrison turned in his seat to look at him. “Do you not like it?”

When Jett started fidgeting and playing with his messy hair, he chuckled.

“I like it, but I don’t know why that name stuck. It’s a little…cutesy.”

Harrison said nothing, giving Jett the answer he was looking for. Jett sighed and opened the door, climbing out of the backseat to fix his hair before he joined him on the driver’s side.

“Yeah, I definitely look like I got fucked. Great.” Jett used the mirror, attempting to fix his sweaty hair, but it wasn’t doing much good.

“You’re still walking, you’re fine,” said Harrison. “Get your shit together, Fraser. We need to work.”

Jett was blushing again. He ignored Harrison as he turned on the car and backed out of the parking spot. They hadn’t left the underground garage when Jett’s phone rang, and a call popped up on the Bluetooth screen.

Jett gasped excitedly and answered the call before Harrison could ask who it was.

“Max! I’ve missed you.”

The voice on the other end sounded exasperated.

“I was told not to visit until you and your boyfriend come up for air. I hear there was also an incident that involved my room, so…”

“Nothing happened in your room,” said Jett. “We slept in it because my bed was wet.”

Harrison pinched the bridge of his nose, unsurprised when there was a long pause.

“Max?”

“You guys into watersports or something?”

Jett shot a frown at Harrison. “No? We play hockey.”

“Christ,” said Harrison .

Laughter erupted on the phone, and Jett awkwardly joined in, still shooting looks at Harrison.

“I’m coming to hang out tonight,” Max said between laughs. “My brother won’t let me hear the end of it if I don’t socialize before you guys head out for your next game.”

“Okay,” said Jett. “We’ll bring home supper.”

“Great. See you then.”

When the line went dead, Jett asked, “What was the watersports comment? He knows what his brother and I do.”

Harrison didn’t see a need to sugarcoat things. “He thinks we’re pissing on each other.”

Jett didn’t drive the car into a building, which was a win, but he did look like he had been slapped in the face. “ What?!”

Harrison connected his phone to Jett’s car and found a description on Google, playing the text as sound for him to hear. With every word, Jett turned redder and redder.

“Okay! Stop!”

Harrison did stop, but when they pulled into the parking lot at the practice rink thirty minutes later, Ryan was there to greet them.

“You guys showered, right?”