Page 195 of Pucking Around

“He needs to learn his place, or the guys are gonna turn on him,” Morrow adds. “I don’t want my head of PT ribbing my teammates in front of me. That’s not gonna fly.”

“And hey—Sanford,” Novy mutters, stepping around the table to stand by me.

I glance over at him, trying to control my breathing, giving nothing away.

“The point here is that if you everdowant to tell us anything…you can. You or Compton. Because this is a team. It might be a new team, but the way we see it, we’d like to stick around a while.”

“Yeah, totally,” Morrow adds. “Team means family.”

“We want a good atmosphere here,” Novy goes on. “We don’t want bullshit and drama. Jokes is one thing. We all love jokes. Chirping on a guy for being gay is another,” he adds, his face solemn. “You just tell us which end is up, and we’ll make sure the next guy who chirps you is the last guy.”

I nod, surprisingly touched by this unexpected show of support.

“So…you telling us anything right now?” Novy asks, one dark brow raised.

I shake my head. “No,” I mutter, trying not to let disappointment lace my words. “There’s nothing. Jake and I are just friends.”

“Best friends, right?” Morrow adds with a grin. “Live-in best friends who sleep in separate beds but finish each other’s sentences. Total Bert and Ernie situation, right?”

I roll my eyes as he laughs.

“And if Jake ever pulls his head out of his ass and realizes you’re a catch and a half?” Novy teases. “You still gonna be just friends then, Bert?”

I shake my head. “Listen, assholes. If Jake and I ever become more than live-in best friends, you two will be the first to know, okay? For now, I’ll be sucking my own dick. But only if I get through with ironing all these first, and you’re both distracting me.”

Novy steps forward, slinging an arm around my shoulders. “As long as you’re distracted, come help us find Compton. We’re gonna lay the heavy on him too over breakfast.”

“And make sure he gets the tab,” Morrow adds.

Flipping the iron off, I follow after them. I won’t be able to focus until I deal with this. I need to talk to Jake. But first I want to find Rachel. She’s the one with the unparalleled experience handling online gossip. She’ll know what to do.

“Hey,” I call. “Have either of you seen Doctor Price this morning? I uhh…need to ask her something about an order shipment.”

“Yeah, we saw her when we came down,” Novy replies, leading the way out of the room.

“She was at the coffee cart looking cozy with some guy,” Morrow adds, his eyes on his phone as we walk towards the stairs.

I halt in the middle of the hallway. “What guy?”

Morrow just shrugs, eyes still on his phone. “I don’t know, some hunky guy.”

“He was a hunk, huh?” Novy says with a laugh. “God, not you too. Am I the only straight man left on the Rays D-line?”

“What? He was all tatted and cool.” At my blank stare Morrow quickly adds, “I mean, you’re tatted and cool too, Sanny. Don’t think we’re out here tryna replace you.”

“Yeah, Snuffy. You’re the coolest guy we know,” Novy teases. “Hot Doc wishes her arm candy was as cool as you.”

Well, if I thought I had no jealousy where Rachel was concerned, that just went out the goddamn window. A tatted cool hunky guy is acting as my girl’s arm candy? Forget Jake. He can take care of himself. I’m officially tracking a hurricane.

85

“Harrison!” I run down the length of the stands in front of the practice ice, not caring when I startle a pair of figure skaters working on a lift.

My brother and I have been circling each other like mice in a maze for almost ten minutes. I finally just told him to stand still and wait. So, there he stands, with his colorfully tatted forearms in the pockets of his jeans. He’s not a big, hulking athlete like my guys. He’s my height and build, with my same dark hair and brown eyes.

I rush to him, throwing my arms around his neck as I bury my face against his shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re here,” I say. The warm, woodsy scent of his Tom Ford cologne acts like a security blanket, instantly easing my worries and fears.

It will be okay. Everything will be okay. Harrison is here.