Page 27

Brad

I was pretty sure I’d seriously fucked up.

It wasn’t that Alex wouldn’t look at me. He spoke to me like everything was normal when we woke up, we had a laugh at breakfast with the other guys, he passed to me during warm-ups. But it was like there was this invisible wall that slammed down between us, one I wasn’t getting through.

On one side was me and the rest of the guys on the team, and on the other side was Alex and Lance.

Because Lance was the first person Alex went to this morning at breakfast, and Lance was the one who walked with him to practice, and fucking Lance was the one who did his fucking helmet when we were suiting the fuck up.

The crowds were already filing in, the music was blasting, people were cheering, and the Bradford Bulldogs were warming up on the other side of the rink.

“First line, you’re up!”

“Yes, Coach!” we all called out, pushing ourselves up from the bench and getting in.

Lance stood at the front, Alex behind him, then Tommy, then me, with two other forwards behind us. Basically blocked out from Alex by Tommy’s skinny ass, and giving Lance full access to him. They called time, just three minutes before Alex, Tommy, and Lance slid out onto the ice and faced off.

The rest of us would wait until Coach swapped us out.

I did a quick scan of the rink once I’d grabbed a stick. The Bulldogs had lined up, the refs were taking their positions, but it was the scouts at the north and south ends of the rink I needed to focus on.

And not the way Lance was all over Alex.

‘Faking it’ my ass. There was no fucking way they weren’t interested in each other when Lance smiled at him like that.

It wasn’t unusual for us to slap each other on the back, knock our helmets together, or hug before we went out on the ice. But Lance let go of the barrier, tipping forward to grab Alex in a full-on bear hug.

A hug that Alex and I were meant to do before every game.

I couldn’t see Alex’s expression, and he was too wrapped up in white and red to see if he relaxed into Lance like he did with me. But Alex’s arms went up around Lance’s shoulders as Lance murmured something to him.

And Lance looked straight at me and Tommy over Alex’s shoulder, giving us the widest shit-eating grin I ever saw.

He was such a bastard.

It was like he was staking his claim.

Like, it was hard enough lying in the bed next to Alex last night, when I knew he was totally awake because his breathing was different when he was asleep. And that I was lying there with a fucking boner and doing everything I could not to climb into his bed and show him what he was missing by rubbing my cock against the seam of his ass.

And Alex straight up told him? Did they really have the kind of relationship where he just ran off to Lance after we sucked each other off? It was the sexiest fucking thing I’d ever done, and he just told Lance?

Seriously? After all that?

As soon as I thought about it, a gross feeling pierced through my chest. If Alex did end up liking me, there was no way I was sharing him with someone like Lance. Yeah, Alex said they weren’t together last night, but he could have been lying.

The only time I’d had a threesome, there had been too many arms and legs in too many places, and it was so confusing I nearly left. I wasn’t going there with Lance. Hell, I wasn’t even interested in seeing anyone else’s dick apart from Alex’s

“Owens!” Coach shouted, banging me on the helmet.

The announcer was calling out names and players were already sliding out onto the ice, and I was just standing there, staring.

I wasn’t just fucking it up with Alex, I was fucking up the game. I couldn’t lose focus.

Alex and I had a plan, and I had to stick to that no matter what. I wasn’t letting Alex go to the big leagues without me, and definitely not if Lance followed him.

Alex was meant to support me too, because we were doing it together. Which made it a million times more shit to see Alex gliding out onto the ice with Lance, especially when Lance ran a hand along Alex’s arm before sweeping his fingers over Alex’s glove, giving him a soft smile before they parted on the ice.

***

“We’ll be in touch.” The guy in the suit reached out and shook my hand.

The scouts said their goodbyes as they left the small room, leaving me alone with my agent.

My agent knew everything I’d been through to get to this point. He’d been my main cheerleader apart from Alex. Most of the guys on the team used him, and he had my back.

“I’ll give you a minute,” he said. He placed a hand on my shoulder, giving me the same proud look he gave all the guys under his wing.

I nodded numbly before he left.

It was a special room for meetings like those, but it was just like an office, really. Dull white walls, a plastic table, and cheap gray padded chairs that nervously took my weight as I rocked back on one.

The chair legs squeaked against the wooden flooring, but I didn’t hear it over the ringing in my ears.

Under my hand, glued to the table, was a card I’d been praying to see all my life.

We absolutely slaughtered the other teams to come out on top and make it to the finals. I played like a tank, using the combination of my happiness at getting off with Alex and my pissed off energy to score three goals in the game, and prove to the Wranglers’ scouts I was the one for them.

We had the finals in one week, and then the season would be over.

Coach and some of the team were hanging around outside the room. They’d seen the scouts come and go. Some of the other guys were called into similar rooms, and my agent had left to help them out, too.

I looked down in shock at the white corner peeking out under my thumb.

I didn’t even want to stare too long in case it was a dream and it might vanish at any second.

Because on the front of the card was the big, bold logo of the team I’d been fighting for, a horned skull, and the name of the contact who would arrange my place with the East City Wranglers.

And it was right there, in my hand, the offer of an absolute lifetime.

The door suddenly clicked open, and my gaze shot up.

I clenched my hand around the card, squeezing it just in case it vanished.

“Brad!” Alex stood there, panting, still in his hockey sweats.

“I couldn’t wait,” he said as he stepped inside the room, the door half closing behind him. “I needed to see. They said who you were with. Brad, did you get it?”

He took two steps toward me and froze as I lifted a shaking hand.

I was still a few feet away from him, but he could see it.

As soon as he saw the logo on the card, the desperate tension splashed over his body evaporated, his shoulders dropped.

“Brad,” he whispered. “Is that it?” He stepped closer and I stood from the table, holding it out to him.

Right there, on the card, proof that we were going to be together.

He sucked in a breath, and I swear I heard a sob. One second Alex was standing in front of me, the next, he launched himself at me, chucking his arms around my shoulders and dragging me to his neck.

I let out an ‘oof,’ going stock still in surprise. He threw his whole weight at me, like I could carry him when he was so much heavier than me, but I’d fucking try.

“Thank God,” he gasped in my ear. “Thank God, Brad.” He plunged his face into my shoulder. “I didn’t think we were gonna make it.” His arms tightened, nearly squeezing the air out of me. “I’m so happy,” he choked out. “You did it. You really did it!”

I lifted my hands to press against his lower back, keeping him as close to me as possible, still not really believing it myself.

I didn’t want to let him go.

The whole time the scouts talked to me about the drafting process, all I wanted to do was see Alex. They took me to the room, and I wanted Alex to come. They put their card and the contract on the table, and I wanted to show Alex. They talked and talked to me about schedules and time frames and expectations and I was desperate to get the meeting done with so I could find him.

I wanted to know that it was all okay with him, to tell him we could do it, that we’d found our fucking dream.

I needed to say something to him. To just tell him how happy I was or apologize for last night or just do something other than pat him on the back while he basically nuzzled my shoulder.

“Hey,” I said softly. I really didn’t want to ruin the moment, but I had to ask. “Are you crying?”

He stiffened in my arms, and I instantly regretted it. I thought he would do his usual Alex thing of blushing and maybe getting a bit grumpy.

Instead, he laughed against my throat before he pulled back. His bloodshot eyes met mine, but I couldn’t see anything else there apart from his wide smile and the light pouring off him.

“You did it, Brad,” he whispered again, his voice so full of emotion that it felt like I was looking at a different Alex.

His hands slipped from my shoulders, up to my neck, his thumbs kneading my skin as he moved closer.

“You’re amazing,” he said in the same tone he used last night. That husky lilt that took him over when he’d begged me to fuck him. “You’re so amazing. Thank you. I just… Brad…” He trembled as he held me, and my heart caught straight in the back of my throat.

Fuck the draft and everything else that was about to change in my life. I just wanted Alex to keep looking at me like that.

He leaned forward, knocking his forehead against mine, and I knew he was going to kiss me. With his face so close to me, his confident smile, it was like our roles had been reversed.

Maybe having a few fingers up his ass had really changed him. If that was the case, what would happen if my dick—

“Brad!” Chase shouted from the door. Alex jerked, his hands suddenly dropping. Annoyance stabbed me right in the gut as he backed away from me.

I reached out to grab his hand, but Chase swooped in. “You did it!” he yelled and ran straight at me, just like Alex did, coming in to my left to hug me.

“Seriously! We were so worried about you!” Taylor leaped in, followed by Tommy, and suddenly, Alex was drawing back to let the other guys smother me in hugs.

But I didn’t care about that. I didn’t even care that they were all over the moon, and that a bunch of other guys on the team were getting drafted, too.

It was just his face. It was that look on Alex’s face that I’d seen a hundred times, but I’d never really seen .

He looked so relieved, so amazed, so totally happy that there were still tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

But why was he that happy?

Alex turned from me, and I felt the loss so strongly that I pushed Chase away just to see what he was looking at.

Porter stood in front of him, his arms folded as he said something, looking so serious that he must have been punched.

Alex quickly replied to Porter, his whole body tense as he looked back at me.

“Are you okay?” I mouthed at him, and he shook his head, all the raw passion he’d laid on me like a brickie vanished.

He held up a hand, spreading his fingers.

“Five minutes,” he mouthed before turning back to Porter.

The guys were still all over me, but the only person I couldn’t see was Lance.

My heart fucking plummeted as I guessed what was going on.

I was standing there, holding a card that fulfilled all our fucking dreams since we were kids, and Alex was leaving through the door with Porter.

“Alex?” I called out, but he just threw me a glance.

“I’ll be back,” he mouthed.

And then he was gone.

Just gone.

He just left me standing there alone with our teammates.

Porter gave me a rough fucking nod as the door swung closed behind them.

What the hell was more important than us achieving our dream together?

Why the fuck was he abandoning me?

“Hey, come the fuck on, it’s not that bad.” Tommy’s voice cut through my silent shock.

I looked at him, but his expression was as hard as mine. It felt like he’d guessed as well.

“Do you know?” I asked him, my throat dry.

“Not a fucking thing,” he growled. “But that shit doesn’t matter.” Tommy turned back to me. “Just ignore those dickheads. You just got a place with the Wranglers.”

“Yeah, you fucking did!” Chase shouted.

None of them were hugging me, and I took the chance to bolt for the door.

It swung open and hopes suddenly flared, praying that Alex had come back, that he knew he’d made a mistake by leaving me. But Coach stood there, filling the space.

“Well done, son,” he said, his deep voice bouncing through me as he clapped me on the shoulder. “I’m proud of you.”

But I didn’t want to hear that from him. I wanted to hear it from Alex.

I wanted him to smile at me again and laugh with me and tell me what he really thought.

Because that look on his face wasn’t just happiness: it was love.