“Bracken won the fight, so I’m not sure why he’s so upset,” said Holt as he passed Harrison the water and opened a beer. “I thought you Toronto guys were supposed to be friendly.”
Jett’s eyes hadn’t left the pink drink that Park was holding, which didn’t go unnoticed.
Park scowled and picked up his extra drink, smacking it on the table in front of Jett.
“Truce?”
Jett’s cheeks flushed red as he accepted the glass and took a drink, his eyes going wide at whatever he tasted.
“Aw, look,” said Holt. “He’s finally learned to share.”
Park’s features twisted into an angry glower. “Why don’t you go outside and play hide and go fuck yourself?”
“Oh my fuck.” Jett threw his head back and laughed. Harrison saw the moment when the switch finally flipped, and Jett gave up on hating the Ottawa player. “Where did you learn to swear like that? I know you grew up in Canada, but goddamn…”
Satisfied that Jett and Harrison no longer wanted to run away, Park got out of his seat and joined his captain on the opposite side of the booth so he could look at them.
“It’s called junior hockey in Ontario,” said Park. “I have the hoser accent too, I just choose not to use it. I’m good at languages, so it was pretty easy to pick up on the dirty shit you Canadians say all the time.”
Harrison had read that somewhere. Park knew like…five languages or something equally crazy. It was impressive compared to his two.
“We would have done this sooner, but the timing was off. I’m glad we caught you after the game today, Jett—and Harrison too. I didn’t think I would ever get a chance to meet you,” said Holt.
Harrison’s hand clenched firmly around his bottle of water. It was still weird to hear people say things like that, but it was the curse of being a Number One Draft Pick. Everyone in the hockey world knew who he was. Every player in the league had expected to play against him at some point. Every hockey fan had watched his stats as he climbed to the top.
It didn’t make it any less uncomfortable, but he understood the reasoning.
“I didn’t figure you were looking for friends,” said Jett to Park. “You’re always such an asshole.”
Park took another drink from his glass. “Yeah, well…get fucked.”
Holt put his hand on the back of Park’s head and forced him into an apologetic bow. “Allow me to translate. Jin knows he sounds like an asshole, but he’s actually a sweet guy who’s a little rough around the edges. He doesn’t have any friends on our team because they’re all chasing girls or are married with families, so he’s been lonely. He would really appreciate it if he could have your number so he can strike up a friendship with you, and finally have a reason to stop complaining about only having his captain saved in his contacts.”
Park smacked his hand away and sat up. “Joke’s on you, smartass, you’re not even saved in my contacts. You’re just a number, but Evie has a name and all kinds of hearts next to it if you’re wondering.”
“I wasn’t, but thanks.”
Scoffing, Park pulled his phone out of his pocket and set it on the table, sliding it toward Jett for emphasis. “Number, blondie. Let’s go.”
“I’d tell you to suck my dick, but you’d like it too much,” Jett shot back, but he took the phone and input his number.
Harrison smiled until Jett passed the phone to him and gave him a pointed look. He didn’t bother arguing; he just took the phone and did what he was told.
“Okay, I’m a romantic,” said Holt, drawing the attention back to himself. “How did you guys fall for each other? I know it has something to do with that practice game in Nova Scotia, but there has to be more to it.”
Harrison placed his arm around Jett’s waist, unable to keep from touching him. It was driving him crazy that they had to act professional in public to avoid ending up in some news article the next day, when all he wanted to do was claim Jett’s mouth in front of everyone to show who he belonged to.
“He followed my cousin from the rink onto my private property and harassed me to be friends with him until I gave in.”
Holt’s mouth went slack with surprise.
“That’s not—” Jett spluttered and smacked Harrison’s arm. “Dude, that’s notexactlyhow it happened. You make it sound like I forced you into it.”
Harrison raised his water bottle to his lips, staring at Jett until he cracked.
“Jesus, okay, it was just like that,” said Jett, turning to look at Holt. “But drastic measures had to be taken. He was becoming one with the trees out there, his beard was more alive than the wildlife living under the porch, and he’s too hot to go down like that. I did the world a service.”
That was…a colourful way to word it. Harrison didn’t disagree necessarily, but damn.
