Page 53 of Slew Foot (Scoring Chances #3)
Rafe had just pulled off the team hoodie and was smoothing his hair down after putting on the muscle shirt when Thad stepped closer to Graham and spoke quietly. “Hey. I know things got a little weird the other night, but if you don’t want to do these promo shots, you don’t have to.”
Graham offered him a weak smile. “No. It’s fine. I told you I would.”
“I know but?—”
“Drop it,” Graham snapped.
Thad held up his hands. “Dude. I’m sorry.”
Graham’s shoulders slumped. “No. I’m sorry. I’ve been a dick since …” His gaze landed on Rafe.
Rafe quickly looked away. Whoops . He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop.
“Uhh, anyway,” Graham continued. “Sorry things got weird. I want to be your friend, okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” Thad said.
“Want to go to the wing place tonight after work?”
“Sounds great. Now move your ass. We’ve got photos to take,” Thad said.
Graham laughed and, for the first time all day, sounded like himself.
“Dude, so what was that about?” Tanner asked under his breath as they waited for Graham to finish changing and for the makeup lady to powder his nose.
Rafe shrugged. “No idea.”
“Do you think they’re hooking up?”
Rafe elbowed him. “If they are, it’s none of our business. Besides, Graham’s straight .”
Tanner shrugged. “So is pasta until you put it in hot water, and that man is hot with a capital H-O-T.”
“Uhh, I thought the saying was ‘so is spaghetti until you get it wet’?” Rafe frowned.
“I mean, close enough,” Tanner said. “And, like, am I wrong?”
“Frequently,” Rafe joked.
“I mean about Thad .” Tanner jerked his head toward where he was fiddling with some camera equipment.
Rafe shrugged. “He’s hot, yeah. But I feel weird saying that since he looks a lot like Gavin.”
“Well, they are twins.”
“I know, I’m just saying …” Rafe squinted at Tanner. “Dude, don’t tell me you have a thing for Thad. Isn’t he kinda old for you? He’s, like, in his forties.”
Tanner rolled his eyes. “There is a difference between thinking someone is hot and wanting to fuck them.”
“Is there for you? Do you have actual standards?” Rafe teased. “That’s news to me.”
Tanner crossed his arms over his chest. “ Rude !”
“Are you two done gabbing?” Thad called out. “We’ve got some photos to take!”
Rafe jumped. “Sorry! Tanner was distracting me.” He elbowed Tanner in the ribs, then hurried back over to the backdrop they were shooting in front of where Jesse and Graham were waiting.
Tanner squawked in outrage and started arguing and it wasn’t long before Graham was laughing with them too.
By the end, Thad seemed pretty happy with the results and Rafe left to go in search of Mickey, who should be done with his meeting with Dr. Pope by now.
He found Mickey in the lounge with earplugs in, doing something on his phone. Rafe turned off the TV, then waved a hand in front of Mickey’s face to get his attention.
Mickey looked up, blinking, like he’d been lost in his own little world.
“So what is it?” Rafe demanded. “Did you get good news?”
“I don’t know,” Mickey said slowly. “Can we talk about it when we get home?”
Rafe frowned but hey, if Mickey needed a minute or whatever …
“Sure,” he said, pulling his keys out. As they left the arena and he drove them home, he told Mickey about the photoshoot and tried not to be too impatient to learn what the doctor said.
He got them home, anyway.
Tanner was there already, and he eyeballed them both when they walked into the living room. “Dude, Turtle, why do you look like you’re about to explode?”
“Because I told him I’d tell him how the appointment with Dr. Pope went when we got home,” Mickey said with a sigh.
“Oh. Uh, you want me to leave?” Tanner asked. “I mean, I wanna know too but if you need to talk to Rafe first or something, that’s cool. I get there are probably boyfriend privileges or whatever. And I don’t mean the sex kind.”
Mickey’s smile was weak. “No, it’s okay. You can stay.”
“So is it bad news or something?” Rafe asked.
“No,” Mickey said. “Not really.”
He set his phone down and started to pace as he talked.
“Dude, a pediatrician?” Tanner asked when he paused. “Did you get a lollipop?”
Mickey reached down to scoop up a pillow and toss it at Tanner’s head. Rafe knew the feeling. He wanted Tanner to stop interrupting so Mickey could get to the fucking point .
“No, asshole. He didn’t give me a lollipop .”
Tanner’s face fell. “Oh damn. I was hoping he did, and you’d share it. I fucking love those things.”
Rafe snorted, despite himself and even Mickey looked a little amused.
But then he started talking about the ear infection.
“Oh, shit, I feel so bad,” Tanner said, a horrified expression crossing his face when he realized the bug he’d brought home had started the whole issue. “It’s all my fault.”
“It’s not your fault,” Mickey said because he was nicer than Rafe was.
It was kinda Tanner’s fault, honestly. Well, and Rafe’s … Ugh. If Mickey hadn’t been looking out for him when he’d gotten so sick, this probably wouldn’t have happened either.
“No, it’s my fault,” Rafe said with a sigh.
“It’s not anyone’s fault,” Mickey argued.
“It’s just a thing that happened. I mean, Tanner, maybe you could chill on screwing around with every single person in the area and learn to use hand sanitizer and cover your mouth when you sneeze sometimes, but I don’t blame you.
And I don’t blame you either, Rafe. It’s something I have to deal with now though. ”
“But that’s good, right?” Rafe said. “You can treat an infection with antibiotics.”
“Well, no, it’s a virus and that’s only for bacteria,” Mickey said.
Rafe stared because he wasn’t sure what the difference was. Maybe he should have paid better attention in biology class? But like, there’d been hockey to think about which was way, way more interesting.
Tanner looked confused too.
Mickey waved a hand. “Look, it doesn’t matter. They can treat me with other stuff like steroids.”
“So that’s good news, right?” Rafe said again, because he wasn’t sure why Mickey didn’t seem happier.
“Well,” Mickey said slowly. “Maybe. This is just a theory of what’s happening. They have to do more scans to be sure it actually is what they think it is before they start treating it.”
That still seemed like good news to Rafe. Annoying, because it would take a little while, but treatment equaled good, right?
“Uhh,” he said, not quite getting the problem here.
Mickey hesitated. “But even once they treat it, we have to hope there’s no permanent damage.”
“Oh shit, dude,” Tanner whispered. “Now I really feel bad.”
“We don’t know anything yet,” Mickey said and even from across the room Rafe could see how hard he was trying to be brave and hopeful about it.
Rafe walked over to Mickey and put his arms around him, hugging him tight. “It’ll be okay,” he promised, kissing his temple, even though he didn’t know if it was true or not.
“Yeah, totally,” Tanner said, cheerful even though it kinda sounded like something was stuck in his throat. He flung his arms around them both. “We just gotta hope for the best.”
“I’m trying,” Mickey said, sounding a little watery, and all Rafe could do was squeeze him tighter.