Page 81 of Back in the Game (Pride in the Game #1)

Jin: How are things in the great northern wilderness?

Arlo: You’re forgetting the part where he did go insane.

Bash: Do they even have electricity in Nova Scotia?

Arlo: -eye-roll emoji-

Jin: If there was no power, then Fraser would have no cell service. How stupid are you, Blanchard?

Niko: Is this the place where Team Bracken won lakefront property?

Jett: Yes, and other than the ghosts, it’s awesome

Niko: Ghosts?

Arlo: There are no fucking ghosts unless you count the soul of Harrison’s beard that he shaved off. Some say they still see it wandering through the woods, looking for its next home.

Jin: Gross

Jin: Killinger is wagering lakefront property?

Jett: For Sunburst players, not you obnoxious bastards

Bash: Why isn’t Bracken in this group? Are him and the goalie too good for us ?

Jin: ?????

Jin: Dude, they’re straight

Niko: They are?

Bash: Tabarnak. There’s no way

Arlo: Did you see Bracken stop Powers from getting into a goalie fight with Florida? I’m on the fence about them

Jin: He stopped Powers????

Jin: I would like to amend my opinion

Niko: I thought the joke was when everyone said they’re NOT a couple. Are you telling me they’re really not? They hold hands…

Jett: Yeah, because Jason can’t cross the street by himself without getting hit by a car. I know from witnessed experience

Jin: Who is Jason?

Arlo: Powers, Bracken’s goalie boy

Jin: Oh

Jin: Why are all goalies fucked?

Jett: Park, do you have an issue with remembering names?

Jin: Yup, but I remember your mothers

Niko: -laughing emoji-

Bash: hahahahaha

Arlo: Dude…

Harrison: The lake isn’t haunted

Jett looked up from his phone and saw Harrison grinning at him. He flushed at getting caught, but he meant what he said.

“Am I boring you?” Harrison asked, cool blue eyes shimmering.

“No.” Jett picked up a slice of his forgotten pizza and shoved it in his mouth. He had to chew and swallow before speaking again. “I was just riling them up. They’re all alone because they’re single, so I’m keeping them company.”

Arlo: That’s vague as shit, Harrison. The lake isn’t haunted, but that creepy house is. That shit is like…100 years old

Niko: Does anyone want my land?

Jin: ME

Bash: You’d have to drag me to Nova Scotia kicking and screaming

Arlo: Unless you’re retiring early…which you SHOULD…you’ll be coming here once the new team becomes officia l

Bash: -vomiting emoji-

“What is his deal with Nova Scotia?” Jett asked, frowning at his phone.

“Nothing is wrong with our province,” said Harrison. “Blanchard is a prime example of what happens when you take too many pucks to the head.” He paused, then said, “And when you’re from Montreal.”

Jett couldn’t argue with him there because Sébastien made losing teeth look like a hobby. His dentists had to be rich.

“Is the pizza good?”

Jett glanced at his boyfriend, immediately noticing his apprehension. It wasn’t because he thought Jett didn’t like his cooking—he had seen the pictures in the laundry room.

“Your family’s Christmas tradition?” he guessed.

The softness in Harrison’s expression made him want to crawl into his lap and hold on to him until the pain ebbed away.

In fact, there was no reason why he couldn’t do just that.

Jett put his plate down and went to the recliner, ignoring the weird looks he was getting as he awkwardly climbed onto the chair, knocking the breath from Harrison’s lungs when he slipped and smacked into his chest.

Harrison had his arms lifted in the air to keep Jett from tipping the food off his plate. “The chair is going to fall backwards.”

“Don’t care,” said Jett. “I want a hug, and maybe a kiss.”

He rose and fell with Harrison’s long sigh. There was a clanking sound as Harrison set his food on the side table, and then big arms wrapped around his shoulders, hands ruffling his hair.

“You’re ridiculous.”

Jett grinned and burrowed his face deeper into the softness of Harrison’s woollen sweater. The fire had made the room acceptably warm, but now that he had his man to cuddle, it was perfect .

Harrison alternated between rubbing his back and playing with his hair. It was pure bliss, and Jett couldn’t think of any other place he would want to be right now.

“I love you,” said Harrison, his rumbling voice a purr in Jett’s ears.

“I love you more,” Jett chirped back.

A hand cupped his chin, forcing his head up to meet Harrison’s gaze.

“ Impossible . ”

Heart fluttering, Jett smiled and made a big show of rolling his eyes. “You couldn’t stand me when we first met. I’ve been in love with you since the first time I saw you move on the ice, so by my calculations, I have you beat.”

Harrison raised his eyebrow in the cocky way that always made the butterflies in Jett’s stomach light on fire.

“When was the first time you saw me on the ice?”

Jett smiled as memories from his childhood bubbled up without the pain that usually accompanied them.

“I was ten and you would have been fifteen,” said Jett quietly, finding himself suddenly sitting in his father’s truck on a crisp Fall afternoon, marvelling at the red and gold colours of the trees as they zipped by them on the highway.

“My dad surprised me with an overnight trip to Halifax, our first one without Chase and my mom. He had bought tickets for a Jr. A. hockey game playing that night, so we could cheer on an older boy from our community. He thought it would be good motivation to see where that boy was now, and help light a fire under my ass.”

“You were ten?” Harrison chuckled awkwardly. “That’s a little young for love, Sunshine.”

“It wasn’t love, love,” Jett said, cutting him off before he thought too hard about it.

“I don’t know what word I would have used, but when I saw you on the ice—the name Killinger on your sweater and the intensity in your blue eyes—it was a powerful feeling.

We were in the nosebleed seats, and I sat beside my dad with my mouth wide open for the whole game.

The way you commanded your team on the ice, and the way you made every movement look as easy as breathing… it changed something in me.”

The arms around him tightened, and Jett smiled, allowing himself to be pulled in closer until his head was tucked under Harrison’s chin.

“Hockey is a violent and painful sport, but fuck, you made it look so beautiful. It was a humbling experience as much as it was life-altering because I knew there was no way I would ever reach your level with your effortless motion and unyielding strength. The only thought running through my head in that moment was holy fuck, Harrison Killinger was born to be on that ice. ”

There was a shift in Harrison’s breathing. Jett pressed a gentle kiss to his bare throat.

“You got a Hat Trick in the first period,” Jett continued, the memories unravelling so rapidly he could barely keep up.

“The captain on the other team was so pissed that he cross-checked you, and every guy on the ice jumped in to fight him while you glided backward, grinning and saluting him like a cocky motherfucker. I didn’t think you would start anything because of the age difference between you and the other guys there, but before the puck dropped for the second period start, you dropped your gloves and challenged him. ”

“ Oh .” Harrison brushed his fingers into Jett’s hair. “I remember the game you’re talking about. He called me a fag and the ref didn’t stop him, so I decided to kick his ass.”

“That makes the memory of his bloody face all the more satisfying,” said Jett. “You pummeled him and brought him to the ice, and I know you were a big bastard for your age, but it was awesome .”

Harrison laughed, jerking Jett along with the movement. “Most of the blood was mine because I cut my knuckles on his broken tooth. I can’t believe you were at that game.”

“I sure was.” Jett grinned when Harrison laughed again. “Does that mean you don’t remember talking to me?”

The laughter died, and Harrison went motionless. “I spoke to you?”

Jesus Christ. Jett was about to reveal his level of fanboy to the very man he had been fanboying over. This was going to be painful.

“You scored two more goals and almost got a double Hat Trick,” said Jett, continuing the story.

“We were sitting beside the runway where you guys entered the tunnel after the game, and when I waved at you walking by, you stopped and came over to bump fists with me. Dad starting talking out of his ass like he always does, and he told you that I played hockey too, and you pulled out your Hat Trick puck and tossed it over the glass. You said, your first Hat Trick is on me, kid , and then walked away.”

“ That was you?! ”

Harrison’s shout startled Jett so badly that he jumped.

Jett lifted his head and saw Harrison covering his eyes with his hand, his face so red he could have helped land an airplane. “Yes? ”

The hand fell away, revealing Harrison’s mortified scowl. “Please tell me you didn’t have a Hat Trick under your belt by that point. Please tell me I at least looked cool, even though I was acting cringe as fuck.”

“I didn’t,” said Jett.

Harrison glared. “You goddamn liar.”

Jett shrugged, looking anywhere but at Harrison’s face to keep from laughing. “It doesn’t matter, Grumbles. I thought it was badass. I even kept the puck and begged Dad to go to your next game in Halifax to get it signed for me since I was stuck playing my own game.”

“Take me out back and shoot me.” Harrison massaged his knuckles into his temples roughly. “Do you still have it?”

Now it was Jett’s turn to flush with embarrassment.

“I do…along with my Killinger jersey signed by you, and the poster—and your hockey card.”

He watched Harrison’s lips slightly part in shock.

“I never got the card signed,” Jett added. “If you could do that for me when we go to Dad’s tomorrow, that would be great. Then my shrine will be complete.”

He wasn’t prepared for the feeling of Harrison’s fingers digging into his ribs: his one weak spot.

Jett shrieked and tried to escape the brutal tickling, but he was trapped in a reclining chair with no way out.

He smacked a hand on Harrison’s face like that would be the move to save him from the torture, but he overbalanced, and in one fell swoop, the chair tipped backward and toppled to the floor with a crash.

Harrison grunted under him when he scrambled to safety, moving too fast to be caught by flailing hands. They were laughing and trying to stand up, but Harrison was tangled in the cord from his heating pad, effectively stuck.

“Don’t tickle me and I’ll help you up,” said Jett.

Harrison groaned, his face red from where Jett had smacked him in his panicky state. “If you don’t help me up, then you’re not getting sex.”

Fuck. Okay, he had two weak spots.

“Fraser, the blood is rushing to my head here—”

“Hold on, you big baby.” Jett grabbed the back of the chair, and even though there was 230 pounds of muscled man sitting in it, he easily flipped it up, nearly sending Harrison careening out of it.

“Christ, Jett.”

“Sorry!” Jett pushed the chair out of recline and helped Harrison stand, checking him to make sure he wasn’t hurt. “I didn’t mean to shoot you out of it like a cannon.”

Harrison scooped him into his arms and kissed him, stalling all further thoughts racing inside his head. He clung to Harrison’s large frame, moaning loudly into the sudden kiss, attacking his boyfriend’s mouth like he was starving for it.

Jett tugged on silky black hair, and a thrill of delight swept through him when Harrison groaned against his lips. Curious, he tugged harder and was rewarded with a feral sound bordering on a growl.

Harrison drew away from the kiss and looked at him with dark, hungry eyes. “Bed. Now.”

Jett hurried to comply, tearing his shirt off on the way to their room and tossing it in the hamper so he wouldn’t get in trouble later.

He rolled his eyes when he heard the sound of Harrison tidying their plates and turning the TV off like the neat-freak he was, but he knew if he complained, he would be forced to wait even longer.

Jett hooked his thumbs under his waistband and was about to pull them down when movement outside the window made him pause. His eyes weren’t properly adjusted to the darkness in the room or outside, but he could have sworn…

There was another small flicker of movement in the shadows, and then nothing.

Scowling, Jett stomped over to the window and yanked the curtains closed so he didn’t have to look at the forest and its creepy shadows.

“Stupid haunted house,” he muttered, returning to the task of getting naked as fast as possible.

“It’s not haunted,” said Harrison’s voice behind him, and Jett cursed and spun around to glare in his direction.

“Not haunted, my ass ,” Jett countered.

Harrison folded his arms, leaning on the doorframe arrogantly. “You and your ass better get on the bed unless you want it spanked. ”

Arousal overtook the rest of his system, and Jett forgot all about the shadow lurking in the woods.

“Is that a threat, Grumbles?”

The corner of Harrison’s mouth kicked up. “No, Sunshine. That’s a promise .”