Page 8 of Slew Foot (Scoring Chances #3)

“Buy you a beer?” Mickey asked the big man who was mopping at the mess on his chin.

“Sure,” Rafe muttered around a mouthful of food.

Rafe’s messy eating habits should be disgusting, but somehow, Mickey found it oddly endearing.

Oh no.

They settled at the bar and Mickey called over Liam, the white-haired Irish guy who owned and ran the pub. There were other people who worked here, of course, but Mickey couldn’t remember a single time he’d been there when Liam wasn’t pulling pints.

“What can I get you?” Liam asked, the lilt of his Irish accent audible even over the noise of the team and the music playing on the jukebox.

Mickey rattled off the name of a nice hefeweizen Liam kept stocked, then glanced at Rafe.

“Uhh, something light?” he said. “I’m exhausted and anything heavy will put me under the table.”

Liam nodded, suggesting a lager brewed in Dublin.

“Sounds good.”

“So, what made you decide to come to Boston?” Mickey asked when they had drinks in hand and had demolished a portion of their plates.

Rafe shrugged, dragging a sweet potato fry through the mix of mayonnaise and ketchup on his plate. “Just needed a change of pace.”

“You don’t talk a lot, huh?” Mickey observed. That was usually people’s line to him, but compared to Rafe, he was downright chatty.

“It’s been a really long fucking day,” Rafe said, rubbing his forehead.

Mickey winced at the circles under his eyes. “Oh, yeah. Your flight from hell.” It was amazing the guy wasn’t asleep under one of the tables already.

Rafe shrugged. “Yeah. I’ve been awake since … yesterday morning? Caught some catnaps here and there, but nothing longer than an hour, hour and a half, maybe.”

“Think you’ll make it to midnight?” Mickey asked.

Rafe huffed. “Maybe. We’ll see.”

“Well, I won’t be offended if you want to grab a ride share and duck out early. I’d offer to drive you but …” Mickey held up his pint glass.

Rafe gave him a faint smile. “Thanks. So, uh, you said you share an apartment with Tanner?”

“Yeah.” Mickey shook his head. “The kid rented a three-bedroom place right near the practice arena and then quickly realized he couldn’t afford it with an entry-level contract.”

Rafe chuckled, then tilted his head like a large, puzzled dog. “Wait, aren’t you guys right around the same age?”

“Yeah, pretty close,” Mickey admitted. “But Tanner …”

He wasn’t sure how to say Tanner didn’t have his shit together in any way without being rude.

But Rafe nodded, like it made sense. “So you moved in to help him out?”

“Sort of. I was looking for a place too and it was in a good location, so I figured why not?”

“Cool. Tanner seems … fun.” Rafe glanced over to where Tanner was chatting up a couple of women, gesturing wildly as he flirted with them.

Mickey laughed. “He’s entertaining. Good guy, good teammate. Just … a lot sometimes.”

“You don’t mind living with all that?”

Mickey shook his head. “No. We get along well. He leaves a mess everywhere he goes and can’t cook or do laundry to save his life, but he’s …” Mickey tried to put it into words, then switched tactics. “I’m … quiet. There’s a reason they call me Mouse.”

Rafe raised an eyebrow. “Huh. You don’t seem quiet to me.”

“You’re easy to talk to,” Mickey blurted out.

Rafe had this way of tipping his head to listen to him, like he really wanted to hear what Mickey said. Most people talked over him.

Rafe’s smile was faint but all he said was, “Maybe I’m wrong here but it seems like Tanner might be … kind of a player. I noticed him during warmups and …”

Mickey chuckled.

Tanner had been flirting with fans during warmups and Rafe had shot Mickey an amused, almost bewildered smile as he watched.

“He can be, yeah,” Mickey agreed.

“You don’t mind Tanner bringing home a lot of women though?”

“Not only women,” Mickey said, taking a sip of his beer. “Men too. Possibly non-binary people? I get the impression he’s open to anyone.”

“Got it.”

“I’m the same, so it works well.”

Rafe froze. “You and Tanner are …”

“Oh. No.” Mickey shook his head, laughing. “We’ve never … he’s … not my type. I mean I’m also pansexual.”

“Got it.” Rafe’s lips tightened and Mickey wondered what that was all about.

“You’re … gay?” Mickey asked.

“Yeah.” Rafe’s mouth twisted. “Dated one of my teammates on the Acorns. It did not go well.”

Mickey winced, the look on Rafe’s face suddenly making sense. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“That’s why I needed the fresh start.” Rafe gestured vaguely around them.

“It’s a great team,” Mickey said confidently. “You’ll like them. Everyone here is quite open-minded and supportive. Connor’s been working hard to improve that this season, from what I understand.”

Movement on the far side of Rafe pulled Mickey’s attention and he glanced over to see Gavin Racine wrap an arm around Dakota Crane’s waist, dipping him and pulling him close before laying a huge, showy kiss on his lips.

A huge whoop went up from the crowd along with Arkady Romaschenko’s shout of “Surprise!”

Around them, everyone burst into laughter.

Rafe glanced over at Mickey. “Uhhh, what’s that all about?”

“Apparently our general manager and yoga and Pilates instructor are dating,” Mickey said with a shrug.

“And, uh, Arkady is in on this?” Rafe asked, his forehead furrowing.

Mickey shrugged, glancing over at the Belarusian netminder who was grinning widely. “No idea.”

“Good surprise!” Kady said loud enough Mickey could hear.

Kady patted Dakota’s shoulder, nearly knocked him over. “Happy surprise!”

“For me too,” Dakota said, adding, “I didn’t like Gavin much when we first met,” when Kady looked confused.

The kid was picking up English quickly, but it could still be a challenge for him sometimes.

“Ahh,” Kady said. “I like Mandy from first moment we meet.” He hugged his girlfriend, Mandy, to his side, and she beamed.

Mickey smiled. Kady was a good guy and from what Mickey had seen of his girlfriend, she was perfect for him.

“And this guy is so sweet,” she gushed, pressing her lips to his cheek. “I was starting to think everyone on the apps was a jerk until I met him.”

“Congratulations,” Dakota said.

“You too!” Kady’s smile was so bright and happy. Infectious. “Life is so good. I buy drinks for everyone!”

A huge cheer went up from the team as they stampeded toward the bar where Mickey and Rafe sat, presumably to place their order.

Mickey glanced over to see Rafe frowning.

Deciding this was probably a terrible place to sit and it would only get worse as the night went on and people got drunker, Mickey slid off his stool and tugged at Rafe’s shirt.

“C’mon, let’s go find somewhere quieter to sit.”

They found a booth near one wall and Rafe sat sideways in it, stretching his long legs out. “Ahh, yeah that’s better,” he said with a sigh.

“Good.” Mickey wrapped his fingers around his pint glass. It was about half-gone.

“So the team’s GM and a trainer are together, huh?” Rafe asked with a lift of his eyebrow and a twist to his mouth that made him look like he’d tasted something unpleasant.

“You don’t approve?”

Rafe shrugged, staring down at his own barely touched glass. “Obviously I’m kinda biased against it but yeah, I think it’s asking for trouble to date someone you work with.”

“Must have been a rough breakup you had,” Mickey said sympathetically.

“It was but I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Sure,” Mickey said with an easy shrug. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Anything but that.”

Mickey ran through his choices and settled on something that was hopefully not a sensitive subject. “What kind of music are you into?”

“Oh.” Rafe brightened. “So, all kinds of things, but …”

Some time later, after they’d fetched a second round of drinks and had finished listing off all the concerts they’d ever been to, a piercing whistle broke through the noise.

Mickey glanced over to see Jesse standing on a table.

This could be … interesting.

“Alright, people,” Jesse shouted. “It’s New Year’s Eve, we’ve got ten minutes to go until midnight, and I don’t know about you, but I’m excited about all of the new changes happening around here! I think we need to do some shots to celebrate!”

Connor got a distressed look on his face as he stared up at his boyfriend, and he held up a hand.

“Liam and his crew were nice enough to arrange a variety of them on the bar there. Some have alcohol, some don’t, so grab whichever you’d like.

And remember, if you need a ride home tonight, talk to Liam. He’ll get you taken care of.”

The white-haired man behind the bar held up a hand and called out, “That would be me. There will be no drink-driving tonight on my watch.”

Mickey felt a momentary flicker of confusion before he remembered that was what the Irish called driving under the influence.

“Want a shot?” Mickey asked. “Of something non-alcoholic?”

“Uhh.” Rafe blinked at him. “You know, I probably shouldn’t have alcohol, but fuck it. The team’s celebrating tonight, yeah?”

Mickey chuckled and stood. “Okay. I’ll grab one for you. Is there any kind of liquor you don’t want?”

“No vodka,” Rafe said firmly and as Mickey crossed the bar to get shots for both of them, he wondered if the no vodka rule had something to do with his ex or memories of a particularly bad hangover.

Either way, Mickey grabbed him a butter rum shot to be safe. When he handed it to Rafe, he sniffed it warily, then nodded his approval.

Once everyone had their shots in hand, Jesse cleared his throat. “So, first of all, I’d like to say welcome to our newest Harrier. Glad to have you here, Rafe!”

To Mickey’s surprise, Rafe rose to his feet with a bright smile, lifting his shot glass in the air in acknowledgment. “Glad to be here!”

He sat again, still smiling, and Mickey downed his shot of tequila.

A passing server offered them more shots and Mickey glanced at Rafe. He shrugged and took one. Mickey had a feeling this wasn’t going to end well, but hey, Rafe was an adult. If he’d changed his mind about getting drunk tonight, that was his decision.

Mickey shook his head when she offered him one.

Jesse deftly plucked a second shot off the tray when she passed him, and he lifted it high. “I’d also like to say congratulations to our brand-new president of hockey operations, Finnegan O’Shea!”

“Glad to be back with the team!” Finn gave a brief wave, then threw back his shot to the sound of raucous cheers.

Mickey held up his beer, then took a sip.

“And it turns out we have one more thing to celebrate!” Jesse called out, reaching for another shot.

Rafe grabbed his third from the server when she passed by him, making the rounds again.

“Congrats to Gavin and Dakota for their relationship!” Jesse hollered.

Rafe threw back his shot and Mickey toasted too, taking a sip of beer and watching as Rafe licked whipped cream from his full lips.

He turned away to see Gavin press another passionate kiss to Dakota’s mouth. Dakota clutched at his shoulders, then pulled away laughing, lips still slick from Gavin’s mouth.

They looked happy.

Mickey idly wondered what that felt like. He hadn’t had a serious relationship in years. There’d been a woman named Emilia back in Germany. She was great, but she hadn’t wanted to move to the US, and he hadn’t pushed it.

They’d ended things amicably enough and the last he’d heard, she’d moved in with a boyfriend. He’d sent her a congratulatory message, and she’d thanked him and wished him well.

It had all been very civil.

He glanced back at Rafe who had his head propped up on one hand, his eyes heavy-lidded and threatening to close. He reminded Mickey of a very large toddler refusing to nap and Mickey felt a strong urge to bundle him off to bed and tuck him in with a kiss to the forehead.

Instead, Mickey pushed a glass of water toward him.

Around them, the team began counting down to the New Year. “Think you’ll make it to midnight?” he teased.

“Huh?” Rafe blinked at him, lashes thick and dark against his cheeks.

“Five … four … three … two … one … Happy New Year!”

Around them, people kissed, and Mickey held up his glass to Rafe. “To a better year for both of us,” he said softly.