But it still stresses him out to contemplate it.
Luckily, he’s got plenty of other things to both distract and distress him—like the fact thatConnor is here.
Yeah. That happened. Nick showed up for brunch with his sister only to find her sharing a booth with Connor goddamn LaPorte, milkshake already in front of her and a plate of steaming, syrup-drowned pancakes waiting for Nick. “What thefuck are you doing here?” Nick exclaims, staring at his ex-boyfriend in shock.
“Well there’s this hockey game happening… It’s kind of a big deal. Don’t know if you know about it,” he deadpans, then cracks a smirk. “Thought I’d fly down and root for you. Then afterward I’m booked on the same flight as Amy back to Vegas so she can break my fingers instead of some stranger’s.”
Nick’s sister hates flying—another reason she never visits him. He turns to her, eyes narrowing in accusation. “How long have you known about this?”
“Three days,” she replies cheerfully, sucking at her strawberry milkshake.
“Are you mad?” Connor asks, suddenly hesitant, those brown eyes all hangdog and sad. Nick sighs—he’s too tired to have feelings about this.
“No,” he mutters, shoving pancake in his mouth. “’M glad you’re here, jerk.”
Relieved, Connor smiles, nudging their feet together beneath the table. “I missed your last two cup wins, Nicky. I’m not missing any more of them.”
Jesus. Nick’s going to cry in the middle of a diner in Washington and it’s going to be all their fault.
It helps when Amy shows him her phone, open to a Twitter post. Someone’s taken a photo of her and Connor from before Nick showed up, speculating if the two of them are on a date. Nick laughs so hard he almost chokes on a blueberry.
He doesn’t think about what it means that Connor and Amy arehereuntil he’s on his way back to the rink with them, Amy with her arm linked through his, chattering excitedly about seeing Lindsay again—and his phone buzzes with a text from Matt, letting him know he and Spencer are on their way back from their touristy jaunt around the city. His boyfriendhad insisted on coming with him, not wanting to miss another second of his playoffs journey.
Oh, boy. He did not think this one through.
Amy, nosy younger sibling that she is, leans into his personal space to read his texts. She gasps. “Matt’s here?”
Beside them, Connor freezes. Nick nods. “Yeah, he brought Spence to make it look a little less suspicious. So, uh… surprise! Guess you get to meet him a little earlier than you thought.”
It’s fine. It’ll be fine.He doesn’t need to worry. Right?
It works out that Nick isn’t evenpresentwhen Matt meets Connor and Amy for the first time. He shows up at the hotel after a team meeting to find the three of them with Lindsay, Spencer, and Mars in the quieter area of the bar. Nick curses under his breath, wondering how pissed his boyfriend is at him for not mentioning the unexpected arrival.
“Hey,” he says as he approaches. “I, uh, see that you all found each other.”
“Amy wanted to see Lindsay,” Connor explains.
Nick stands beside his seated boyfriend, as close as he dares in public, leaning his hip gently against Matt’s shoulder. “Cool. And, uh, everything’s good?”
“You can relax, Nicky,” Matt assures him with a playful grin. “Everything’s great. Your sister is a delight, and me and Connor had a good talk.”
There’s a tightness to Matt’s jaw that makes Nick uncomfortably aware that their “good talk” was definitely about his teenage heartbreak.
Another thing to add to the list of things to process after playoffs.
Boy, that list is just stacking up, huh?
Sunny returns from the bar with two Cokes, and Nick squeezes a chair in between Matt and Amy, letting the conversation continue around him. Connor and Spencer aretalking college hockey, and Nick gets the feeling Matt was a much more active participant before he showed up. Now, the musician knocks his knee against Nick’s, leaning in and lowering his voice. “How you feeling, stud?” he asks, brown eyes all too knowing. The tension that’s been coiled within Nick all week twists that little bit tighter.
“Fine. Ready for tomorrow.” At this point Nick just wants to get the game over with and get back home. “You sure you’re good?” His eyes dart to Connor for the briefest moment. Matt smiles at him.
“All good here. I’ll tell you all about it when we’re home. Promise.”
With that assurance, Nick finally lets himself relax. His little family is coming together around him,forhim, and all he has to do is win two more hockey games for them.
He can do that, no problem.
The Washington home crowd is absolutely furious when the game ends on a 3–1 Nevada victory. Nick doesn’t blame them; now, even if their team wins the cup, it’ll be halfway across the country where they can’t witness it.
