Page 222 of Pucking Around

Behind us, Vicki and Poppy squeal with excitement, calling out their congratulations. Andrews steps forward to shake Ilmari’s hand. “Amazing,” he says. “So well deserved.”

“Oh my goodness,” says Poppy. “We’ll have to get started on the press releases pronto. And we’ll do a photo shoot, interviews—”

“Wait just a goddamn minute,” Coach Johnson says, holding up a hand. “Mars, we’re happy for you. But that isn’t the reason I’m delayed getting home to my wife and kids tonight. Now, we’re gonna get to the bottom of this right now. I’ve got Andrews here, the PR rep, Vicki from the team manager’s office. We’re all standing here looking at the four of you. What the hell is going on?” He glances between us, his gaze landing on me. “Price? Wanna enlighten us?”

I glance at Jake and Caleb, unsure of what to say. “I…”

“Okay, how about I start?” says Coach. “Just before you came in here, Compton was in the middle of telling us that he’s in a romantic relationship with our equipment manager.”

Ilmari and I both glance sharply over at the guys. This was never part of the discussion. We only ever discussed them coming out as all dating me. I definitely missed something big when I went to go take care of Novy.

“Is it true?” I say, tears in my eyes as I glance between them.

“Yeah, Seattle,” Jake replies with a smile, nudging Caleb with his shoulder. “The asshole finally wore me down.”

I bit my lip to keep from smiling as Caleb curses under his breath. “Can you try not to make a joke of everything?” he mutters. “This is serious.”

“Thank you, Sanford,” Coach replies. “Thisisserious. Compton are you telling us you want to come out? Is this a gay pride thing?”

“I mean…no one is really gonna be all that surprised, sir. Caleb and I already live together. The rumors have circled us since college. We’re just…not denying them anymore,” Jake says with a shrug.

Coach turns to the ladies by the door. “What are the rules here, Vicki?”

Vicki glances between us. “So long as they declare the relationship with HR, and they go through the proper briefings, technically speaking there’s no issue.”

“And the PR angle?” Coach adds at Poppy.

“Oh, goodness,” she says, flipping her sleek blonde ponytail off her shoulder. “Well, coming out is still a pretty significant thing in the sports world. It’ll cause quite a splash…if that’s what you want,” she adds, looking at Jake. “Are you wanting to come out to just the team and ask for a gag order on press? Because there’s only so much we can do…”

“No, it’s fine,” Jake says. “I want this to be public. I want everyone to know I’m with Caleb.”

“I sure hope you know what you’re doing wanting to go public with this,” Coach warns.

“I’m confused though, honey,” says Vicki. She points between Jake and I, her dark eyes narrowed. “Are you not together anymore?”

“We are,” I say.

Poppy’s eyes go wide, her mouth open as she glances between us. “What—I don’t—”

“Oh, hell,” Coach mutters. “Is this a love triangle thing?”

“It’s more like a pyramid,” Jake replies.

“Explain yourselves,” says Vicki, arms crossed.

“We’re together,” I say, glancing at the guys. “The four of us. Well, Jake and Caleb and I are together,” I clarify. “And Ilmari and I…but he’s not with them.”

They all stare at us with confused looks on their faces.

“I’m too old for this,” Coach says at last, shaking his head.

“You’re—is it like a swingers thing?” says Andrews, clearly trying to be hip enough to understand.

“No, it’s polyamory,” replies Poppy with an excited grin. “You’re polyamorous. Right, Rachel?”

I nod. “But I swear to you, I never—wenever planned on this. It just kind of happened,” I admit. “I met Jake first, before I ever joined the Rays. We met in Seattle during the off season. And when I got here, we started things back up again. Through him, I met Caleb. And Ilmari found his way to us,” I add with a smile, squeezing his hand. “We all live together. We’re together, sir. We’re a family. And we’d like to go public. But it’s complicated because of my family and my history. And the guys have their NHL careers to think about,” I add, glancing from Ilmari to Jake.

“We never meant to hide anything, sir,” Jake adds. “We’ve just been cautious as we considered how best to do this. Mars and I don’t want to hurt the team or bring anyone bad press. But we can’t live a lie either. It’ll just get worse if we do. We don’t want the guys chirping at us or feeling like we have secrets in the locker room.”