“Jetty, Park is making a jab at the defenceman on the Vancouver team. August Snow is taller than me, and towers over the rest of his team.”
“For fuck’s sake.” Jett shoved him away and glared at Arlo when he burst out laughing. “I seriously didn’t catch on to that. I thought he was being serious.”
Arlo: You got Jett
Jin replied with a series of laughing emojis.
“The guy is fucking massive,” Arlo said, wiping the tears from his eyes. “How tall is he? Seven feet?”
“It fucking feels like it when you play against him,” said Jett. “I took a bad hit from him last season and was benched for a week.”
Harrison easily recalled the game Jett was talking about. He had watched it live alone in his house because Arlo had been at practice. Watching Jett’s games always made him grumpy, but there were no other options that night, so he had no choice.
It was mid-season, and Jett had looked solid on the ice surrounded by his team. The Sunbursts were on a winning streak that had the whole hockey world in a tizzy, and the game against the Bigfoots would be their tenth win in a row if they pulled it off.
Snow was on the ice with Jett, doing his best to catch up with the Toronto star player’s formidable speed, but his height worked against him. He had caught Jett in the corner, and normally bouncing each other off the boards didn’t do anything other than bruise, but Snow was huge, and Jett was a foot shorter than him.
Jett had crumpled to the ice, and the entire Sunburst team turned on Snow, who had stopped to check on Jett after the rough hit. Wolf had ended up with a two-game suspension, and every player on the ice, including the goddamn goalie, had been put in the penalty box for fighting.
Jett skated away with bruised ribs and was benched for the rest of the game. It was obvious to those watching that Snow had tried hard not to hurt Jett; otherwise, he would have had more than a few bruises.
Harrison had respected him for that. Some guys went on the rink and tried to injure other players, but Snow always seemed like one of the good ones. He was aware of his height advantage and kept control of his body.
“I like August,” said Jett. “He sent me an apology text and seemed genuinely upset by the whole thing. It was very Canadian of him.”
“He wasn’t that nice tome,” Arlo interjected, frowning at his beer bottle. “The jackass slammed me into the glass, smooshed my face against it and stole my puck. I didn’t get an apology, I got awelcome to the league, rookieas he skated away.”
Harrison wouldhave noted how Arlo was a lot bigger than Jett, so Snow didn’t have to hold back around him, but he didn’t want to listen to him whine about unfairness for the rest of the night.
Park must have been distracted by something because no more video links or texts came through, and Jett and Arlo got distracted by the TV, allowing Harrison to relax. He was more than a little tired. It had been a weird couple of weeks, but he could admit that he was happy—very happy.
He still froze sometimes before he got into the shower, his eyes lingering on the cold temperature label on the faucet, but he hadn’t felt thatneedto numb himself. No, not with Jett next to him to keep him warm and grounded.
Jett didn’t know how much it all meant to him. Everything. All of it. He wished there was something he could do to thank him—some gift he could give that would show just how much he loved and appreciated him for helping him out of a dangerous situation, but what could he possibly do?
Jett dug an elbow into his ribs. “What are you thinking so hard about? You’re making a face.”
Harrison relaxed his tensed muscles and pressed himself into Jett’s side, keeping his voice quiet so Arlo couldn’t hear them over the sound of the show. “Is there anything you like that I could buy you, Sunshine? Anything at all.”
Jett’s eyelashes fluttered, his cheeks already reddening at the pet name. “There’s nothing you could buy me…no.”
Harrison resisted the oncoming eyeroll. “Other than my dick or a baby, there’s nothing?”
“What’s wrong with those two options?” Jett muttered in a huffy tone. “You have an easy time keeping me satisfied in our relationship. You should be rejoicing.”
It was slowly dawning on him that Jett wouldn’t give him any clues because he had to be stubborn about this. Harrison dropped the subject, but he was already making a mental list of things to look at later that might be acceptable gifts for his annoying boyfriend.
“Are you two going to start sucking face, or can we get back to hanging out?” Arlo asked petulantly.
“Hey, Arlo,” said Harrison. “How is your goldfish doing?”
Arlo frowned, probably wondering why he had suddenly asked about Pumpkin, the fish his cousin had owned since he was a teen. Harrison had bought it for him so he wouldn’t feel so alone in his new apartment, and the damn thing had survived to this day despite Arlo being a busy scatterbrain.
“He’sfine, fuck you very much.” Arlo stuck his tongue out at him. “I have a pet sitter stopping by every two days when I’m away.”
“We’re not even watching the TV,” said Jett, picking the remote up so he could pause the anime. “Do you guys want to do something more fun?”
“Fun like what?”
