Page 24 of Ice Rivals (Desert Ice Hockey #3)

JETT

Ten Weeks Later

I glanced at the clock. We had two minutes to score and win this tied game. As I skated down the boards, I tossed the puck to Volkov.

A Colorado D-man pounded me into the board.

“Fuck.” With a wince, I bounced off and hightailed it around the goal.

Hopkins skated around a Colorado center with some fancy-ass footwork and grabbed the puck from Volkov.

I’d taught him that. I smirked. As I lined up to the net and eyed Hopkins, the roar of the crowd chanted, “Jar-Kins, Jar-Kins, Jar-Kins…”

“Oh my God.” I dipped my head for a beat. It was still hard to believe the outpouring of love we’d gotten since coming out. Or our new nickname. “Hopkins.” I slapped my stick to the ice.

With a flash of his eyes, he shot me the puck.

I slapped it at the net.

The puck soared past the goalie’s outstretched glove. “Fuck!”

As the horn sounded and the red light lit up on the goal, the clock ran down to zero and the crowd roared, jumping out of their seats.

“We won!” With a cackle, I dropped my stick and pumped my gloved hands in the air.

Hopkins bound toward me, wrapped me up in a bear hug, then threw off both of our helmets and planted a hard kiss on my lips.

He’s kissing me on the ice? My eyes widened and closed as I deepened our kiss, wrapping my glove around the back of his head. Of course he was. Fuck it.

Volkov and Carlson skated to us and hugged us, Volkov saying, “Save that for later, boys.” With a snort, he patted us on the backs.

After the game, I was finally going to see the inside of this gay bar Mason and his friends liked so much. I walked up a set of metal stairs along Mill Avenue, taking in the slow-moving traffic along the street and all the lights spilling onto the sidewalk and street from the many restaurants and shops below us. This part of town was cool, with older buildings hugging the streets and glass high-rises off in the distance. “Is everyone here already?” We were meeting the squad for a celebration before having our families over for dinner tomorrow.

“Yep.” Peering into his phone, Mason scrolled and tucked it into the pocket of his jeans as we came to the landing. “And Archer is on his way with Leo.”

After showing our IDs to a burly bouncer all in black, I stepped inside the place. Techno music blared over the speakers, and in the flashing lights of the dark room, a set of neon lips surrounded by butterflies glowed at the DJ podium behind dancing men. “This is cool.”

“Yeah? Wait until you see the shots.” Ticking his brows, he snatched my hand and tugged me to a long bar with a chalkb oard behind it, names of shots written out in neon colors. “The Dirty Boy?” I flicked my gaze to Mason’s.

“That one is perfect for you.” He gave me a wide grin. “Because we have a win to fuck out of our system, and you’re going to be my dirty boy tonight.”

“You never change, do you, Hopkins?” Ace lumbered to us and set his beer on the bar next to Mason. “Jett, how you doing, man?” He side-hugged me while Myles and Tyler stepped up behind him.

“Great.” I patted him on the back. It was always so good to see these guys, and over the last few weeks, we’d played a lot of video games at their place when we were in town.

“Hey, man.” Myles gave me a quick hug, followed by Tyler.

“So, the families are meeting tomorrow?” Tyler sipped a pink drink.

“They are. Jett is making us all a nice Christmas Eve dinner.” Mason wagged a brow. “We’re having Beef Wellington because he’s sick of making me chicken?—”

“Cordon bleu?” Shaking his head, Ace huffed. “I’m glad you’re broadening his food list, Jett.” He patted my shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah.” Mason jumped and slipped his phone out. “Oh shit, Jonah is trying to FaceTime me.”

“Well, answer it.” Tyler tapped on Mason’s phone and the call picked up.

“Hey, fuckers, what are you all doing?” He held up a drink and sipped it.

Mason held the phone out between us all. “We’re at The Club on Mill celebrating our win. I’m sorry about the Leafs losing to fucking Dallas.”

“Yeah, well, I checked that asshole Boyd so hard that not only was he a Star, he was seeing stars.” Jonah chortled.

“Way to go, Boehm.” Mason sniggered. “Did he say anything to you?”

“Not a word. He’s sticking to his promises.” Jonah’s gaze shifted. “I hear you and Jett are the new darlings of the NHL? I guess you take after your dad, eh, getting the best puck bunny in the league?”

“One, he’s not a puck bunny, and two, have you turned Canadian on me? What the hell is Ryan doing to you up there in the great white north?”

Snorting a chuckle, Jonah said, “Yeah, it’s growing on me. But remember, I’m from Minnesota. The accent isn’t all that different.”

We all laughed, and I said, “Jonah, it’s good to see you. I can’t wait to meet you in person when we play up there next month.” We’d spoken a few other times on the phone since the whole Dallas thing. He was another solid friend of Mason’s.

“Yeah, anyway, I’ll let you all get back to your celly.” Jonah pointed his phone at Ryan. “Say hello and goodbye to the squad, Ryan.”

With a smile and a wave, Ryan said, “I told him not to call when I was in the middle of prepping for Christmas Eve.”

“Hi, Ryan. Happy holidays to you both.” Mason hung up the call, shaking his head. “It’s so cool to see them still together and happy.”

With a chuckle, Tyler said, “It sure is. Now, if we can get Ace to quit moping about the guy he hooked up with at the gay?—”

“You shut up about that.” Ace slapped his big hand over Tyler’s mouth.

“What’s this?” Mason pulled Ace’s hand down. “Ace has a thing for someone? Our Ace ?”

Myles snickered and said, “Yeah, you should see how often he’s been looking at his phone for a text. I think the guy ghosted him after Ace tried texting him though.”

“Stop it, both of you.” Ace pointed his finger at each of them.

“Dude, the guy was a total twink.” Myles shook his head. “And totally Ace’s type. You should have seen them dancing.”

“Dancing? Damn, Ace must be in love.” Twining his fingers in mine, Mason kissed my cheek.

I faced Ace. “Listen, if there’s one thing I learned from my experi ences, it’s don’t be afraid to take a chance. If he didn’t text you back, try again. It might just change your life.”

After a fun night of dancing with the squad, we woke up later than usual, showered, and readied the house for our family dinner with me preparing the meal and Mason running around the house like a lunatic and telling me he was picking up and cleaning. Everything was already picked up, so I wasn’t sure what he was going on about, but he did run the vacuum for a time.

At four, the doorbell rang, and Mason ran by me to get it.

As I strolled toward the door, I wiped my hands on a dishrag.

He opened the door, and Dad and Iris stood there, Iris holding a pumpkin pie and Dad with a bottle of red wine. Dad said, “Hey, boys. We brought a little something.” They both stepped in.

Iris kissed Mason’s cheek, and then mine. “I’ll set the pie in the kitchen.” She ticked her shoulders and bounded off.

“Hey, Rod.” Mason shook his hand.

With a smile at him, Dad said, “You both looked great at the game last night.” He focused on me. “Jett, you’re all healed up?”

“I am.” Leaning in, I gave him a quick side hug. “What have you got there?”

“A pinot from Simi Valley.” He held it up to me.

“Perfect. I could use some now. I’m just waiting for dinner to cook. It’s all prepped.” I waved to him. “Follow me.”

Knocking sounded, and Mason said, “It’s got to be my family. Hurry back, Jett.” He waved his arms around.

After getting Dad settled in the kitchen with Iris, I strode to the entryway and looked Mason up and down. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this nervous.” He’d been frantic all day.

“I’ve never had my family meet a boyfriend or a boyfriend’s family…” His gaze darted over my face .

“Neither have I. Just relax. It’ll be fine.” I grabbed his arm. “Breathe, Mason. It’ll be fine.” For once, I was the one taking care of him.

“Okay.” He flung the door open, and his mother, father, and a young man who looked pretty similar to Mason with dark hair and light eyes all waved at us.

“Oh, Jett, you’re even more gorgeous in person than on FaceTime.” Jennifer, his mother, entered the house with a bouquet of colorful flowers. “I brought something to center the table.” She kissed my cheek.

“Thank you. You’re beautiful as ever.” I snuck a glance at Mason. He better not go off on me for saying that.

Scott, Mason’s dad, fist-bumped Mason. “That game last night was amazing.” He turned to me and held out his fist. “You two are unstoppable.”

With a fist bump, I said, “Thanks, Scott. It was Mason’s assist that made all the difference.” I brushed my hand down the back of my head. “Uh, make yourselves at home. My dad is pouring a nice wine if you’re interested. Or there’s beer in the fridge.”

“Thank you, dear,” Jennifer said and took Scott by the arm and led him inside.

Lucas entered last, his gaze growing wide as it landed on me. “Jett fucking Jarvis. I still can’t believe you’re dating my brother.”

“Why the hell not?” Mason planted his hands on his hips.

“Because you’re such a hoser.” Lucas sniggered and threw his arms around Mason’s shoulders for a tight embrace. “Love you, man.”

“Love you too, Lucas.” Mason squeezed him and let him go. “Lucas, meet Jett, my official boyfriend.”

“You two were awesome last night.” Lucas grabbed my hand and gave it a vigorous shake.

“Thank you.” I tore my hand away. Lucas was a slightly shorter version of Mason but otherwise had the same energetic demeanor. I was sure he played just as well too .

Laughing broke out in the main room.

I snapped my gaze to Mason. “Uh, we left the parents to meet by themselves.”

Mason darted his brows up. “Oh no…they’re probably trading stories about our worst hockey fuck ups.”

“Gotta hear this.” Lucas strode between us, twisted and stopped. “I’m having a beer. Mom said it was okay.”

“Fine.” Dipping his head, Mason scoffed. “I’m afraid to go in there.”

“You’ll take on all of the NHL and pummel guys into the ice, but you’re afraid of our parents getting along?” Wrapping an arm around his shoulders, I led him toward the main room. I kind of liked this side of him. It showed he wasn’t always as fearless as he gave off.

“You don’t know my mom. She’s going to tell—” He stopped us in our tracks, rounding his eyes.

“Oh yes, boys pee on everything, don’t they?” With a giggle, Jennifer faced Iris. “The only way we could potty train Mason was to let him run around naked.” She glanced at us. “He decided to water all of our indoor plants though.”

Smiling and chuckling, everyone was standing around the dining table, the bouquet now sitting in a white vase.

I busted out in laughter. “Really? Tell me more.” I brought Mason to them. I wasn’t about to miss out on this. Leaning into him, I whispered in his ear, “Whatever stories she tells, know that it only makes me love you more.” We were going to have the best night.

His cheeks reddened. “Yeah. I’m sure I can get a few things out of Iris.” He edged into my side. “Merry Christmas Eve, baby.”

Ace is ghosted by man he connects with during a gay bar hookup. When he sees the man again, giving figure skating lesson s to kids, will his relentless pursuit win the skaters heart? Grab your copy of Spinning to the Goal , the fourth book in the Desert Ice Hockey Series.