Page 57 of Back in the Game (Pride in the Game #1)

“You guys got a noise complaint?!” Arlo laughed so hard that he choked and fell into a coughing fit.

“Yeah.” Jett was red-faced with embarrassment, but he was grinning gleefully. “I’m glad I passed out, or I probably would have died. I’m pretty sure Ryan called; he wouldn’t make eye contact with either of us, even after we landed in Toronto.”

“Only if you give me étienne’s.”

Arlo sat up with another obnoxious laugh, wiping tears from his eyes. “No, man. If I were you, I’d stay away from étienne. I’m pretty sure he’s hung up on someone else.”

“Bracken didn’t make the noise complaint,” said Harrison, trying to move away from the topic of the Montreal captain. “It was someone else because he and Powers were sending me texts about how happy they were for us to find each other, but we needed to quiet the fuck down.”

“At least they’re being nice about it.” Arlo scowled, and Harrison mentally prepared himself for what was about to come out of his mouth.

“On my team, the new guy has to room with the captain for their first season. Some bullshit about teaching them the way and keeping them in line. I can’t even jerk off unless I find an unoccupied bathroom or something.”

Jesus, Harrison missed the old days when Arlo would tone himself down around him. Now that he was with Jett, sex was all his cousin wanted to talk about. He didn’t want to know any of this—he liked to think that Arlo was still a virgin and hadn’t moved past the handholding stage.

Not that Harrison lacked experience, but he didn’t talk about it all the time like the two men next to him did. They were feeding off each other’s chaos.

“Did Wolf at least treat you nice?” Jett asked, and Harrison was thrown momentarily into shock because there was no way they were talking about Detlef Wolf.

“It was more like me treating him nice…with my mouth.”

Harrison jumped up and hurried to the kitchen to pour another glass of water.

It was mostly an excuse to get away from the conversation, but also because the urge to drink around Arlo could sometimes get overpowering.

At least the kid kept him well-hydrated while simultaneously giving him grey hair.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, but one look at Jett and Arlo told him it wasn’t them. They were the only ones who texted him besides Bracken, so Harrison knew who it was. He wasn’t against inviting Ryan over too, if it would get the current company to settle down.

He wasn’t expecting to see Jin Park’s name pop up on his screen when he looked at it, followed by what looked like a link to something.

Harrison knew he would regret clicking on the link, but curiosity got the better of him. His screen switched to a video sharing website, and he watched confused as a countdown of his best goals in junior hockey started playing upbeat music.

He normally hated watching himself play, but froze when the video started.

He watched transfixed as a younger version of himself pulled off insane moves that still brought him some sense of pride to see on the screen.

He remembered scoring every single one of those goals, no matter how hard he had tried to forget over the last five years.

Jin: Isn’t that the thing Jett did during our game?

Harrison read the text and knew exactly what Park was talking about. Yes, he had beaten the flashy move into Jett’s head over the summer and had no regrets.

Harrison: It is. Jealous ?

Park seemed like a guy with an easy trigger, and Harrison couldn’t help the urge to set him off. Pissing people off was one of his favourite things to do in his spare time.

Jin: You fucking wish, Killinger. I’m not going to have sex with you.

Harrison didn’t understand how that correlated at first, but remembered that everyone thought Jett was getting private hockey lessons from him because they were sleeping together. He didn’t care enough to correct the Ottawa player, so he let it go.

He barely had time to put ice in his glass and fill it with water when his phone buzzed again. The screen showed another text from Park, along with another video.

Harrison opened it, expecting to see more hockey, but instead was greeted with a clip about crazy people hiding in the woods to wait out the apocalypse. It looked to be part of a documentary, but why there would ever need to be a documentary about the subject, he didn’t know.

Harrison: Haha, very funny.

Jin: I thought you would like that.

By the time he returned to the couch to rejoin the conversation, Park had sent him 4 new videos to open, and a series of emojis he couldn’t comprehend.

“Are you drinking water or piss?” Arlo asked, startling Harrison from his glaring contest with the phone. “You’re making a face.”

Harrison failed to hide his grimace as he looked at Jett. “Is Park texting stupid shit and making you watch videos?”

Jett picked up his phone from the side table and started typing. “Yeah, he’s been sending me cat videos all night, and stuff to do with books. Particularly the grumpy/sunshine trope? Not sure why though.”

Arlo scoffed loudly while eyeing them. “No, can’t imagine why.” Then he paused and asked, “Park as in Jin Park? You guys are friends?”

“Reluctantly,” said Harrison. “His captain begged us to distract him so he could get some peace.”

“Fuck, start up a group chat.” Arlo was already digging through his pockets for his phone. “I want to talk to him too, just to see if he’s a dick like everyone keeps saying he is.”

“I’ll save you the trouble,” said Jett. “He totally is, and I can’t imagine you with your temper would get along. ”

“I don’t have a temper,” Arlo said in total seriousness. “Fucking add me, Fraser.”

Jett said something rude under his breath, but he did what Arlo asked. And that’s how Harrison found himself a part of a group chat with Park, Arlo and Jett, watching his cousin curse when Park did as they all knew he would and started insulting him.

After a particularly scathing remark about how Arlo was a clone that Harrison made to relive his glory years, they were all in agreement that Park was a total jackass.

“Fuck, if I were a top, he would be my type,” said Arlo, cackling despite Park’s next string of crude words describing the ugliness of his face. “So fucking pretty and violent. Kinda makes me want to shut him up with my—”

“Nope.” Harrison smacked his already empty glass onto the coffee table. “Can we talk about hockey? Hell, I’ll even shut up and watch anime at this point.”

That comment only succeeded in digging him into a deeper hole. Now that they knew Harrison didn’t want to participate, all the attention returned to him.

Jin: What’s Killinger like in bed? Is it actually good, or is it shit because he’s disabled?

Arlo cackled with delight. “Holy fuck, he really doesn’t hold back, does he?”

“I’m not fucking disabled,” Harrison muttered. He didn’t bother correcting Park because it would only make him double down harder and keep pushing.

Jett: It’s Earth-shattering, actually.

Arlo deflated a little bit.

Good, at least there was something they could agree on. Harrison was positive that his cousin didn’t want to think about his sex life, like he didn’t want to hear about Arlo’s.

Jin: Hey, Townsend. You played against the Vancouver team recently, right?

Jett and Harrison shot equally nervous glances at Arlo, but Arlo didn’t react to being called by the family name he hated.

Arlo: It’s Killinger now, but yes, I played against them. Why ?

While they waited patiently for Jin’s reply, Arlo turned on an obnoxious and brightly coloured Anime that he and Jett had been gushing about.

“I would invite Max over to watch this with us, but I’m pretty sure Ryan is visiting him right now with Jason.

” Jett took a handful of chips from the bag on his lap and shoved them into his mouth, ignoring Arlo when he glared at him.

“Maybe we can all get together, get drunk and watch one of the classics.”

“How can you eat that processed shit?” Arlo asked, gesturing to the bag of bacon-flavoured chips Jett was eating. “It’s so unhealthy.”

“So is stressing over stupid shit like watching calories and eating healthy,” Jett shot back. “Life is too short, Arlo. Live a little.”

“I’ve been telling him that for years, but he doesn’t listen,” said Harrison. “It’s better to ignore his hysteria and pretend you’ve suddenly become deaf and missed the parts of the conversation where he bitches about it.”

Jin: Wow, you took Killinger’s last name? I can’t believe they let cousins get married in Canada. Good for you guys, but Jett must be heartbroken…

“Wow, this is a lot,” said Arlo. “I don’t even know how to respond.”

But Park’s next reply was already popping up in the conversation to distract them.

Jin: I’m asking because I’m curious how you feel about the Vancouver Bigfoots letting their mascot play.

“Really? They let their mascot play?” Jett looked very excited about this development for whatever reason. “That’s so cool. I want to play hockey with our mascot…”

When Harrison made eye contact with Arlo, he was glad to see the grin on his face, suggesting they were thinking along the same lines. He wrapped his arm around Jett’s shoulders and pulled him close so he could place a kiss on the top of his head.

“Jetty, Park is making a jab at the defenceman on the Vancouver team. August Snow is taller than me, and towers over the rest of his team.”

“For fuck’s sake.” Jett shoved him away and glared at Arlo when he burst out laughing. “I seriously didn’t catch on to that. I thought he was being serious. ”

Arlo: You got Jett

Jin replied with a series of laughing emojis.

“The guy is fucking massive,” Arlo said, wiping the tears from his eyes. “How tall is he? Seven feet?”

“It fucking feels like it when you play against him,” said Jett. “I took a bad hit from him last season and was benched for a week.”