“We can kick the shit out the entire Steers roster,” he says. “That won’t fix anything, but we’ll feel better.” He takes another deep breath and shakes his head. “Your family is really fucked up. Do you know that?”
“No.” I bring one hand to my chest. “You think?”
He scowls. “Yes. I very much do think.”
“Don’t,” I say as I crane my neck to bring my lips to his. “They’re not worth it.” Because honestly, looking at him right now, they’re not. They haven’t been my family in such a long time. It just took until recently for me to stop blaming myself for it.
Taking a deep breath, I bring my hands to rest on Brandon’s hips. “I think it’s time for us to consider coming out.”
His eyes shoot wide open, and his lip slides out from between his teeth. I can’t stop myself from kissing it.
“You can’t be serious,” he says when we pull our lips apart.
“I am serious,” I say. “Quite, actually.”
He starts chewing on his lip again, so I bring my hand up to his face to tug it free. Then, I use my hand to keep him steady to look at me. “I’m not naive,” I say. “And neither are you. We watched what happened to Gavin, and then to Connor, not having control over their story. It was brutal. Do you want that to happen to us?”
He shakes his head. “No. But that doesn’t mean I’m ready to come out either. I just got here. We’re having an unbelievable run. Coming out could ruin that. It’s going to be a huge distraction.”
“I know,” I say. And I do know. He’s new to the league and everything feels so precarious when you first get here. You never know when they might cut you from the roster and send you back down or tell you you’re traded or nullify your contract. There are so many unknowns when you’re finally getting your shot. I understand why he’s nervous. And all of that needs to be considered without factoring in our playoff run. “But it’s like you’ve been saying, the closer we get towards the cup, the more eyes that there are on all of us. I’m just saying that maybe we should be prepared, have some control of the situation.”
His eyes have dropped a bit, and he lets out a heavy sigh. “How do you want to do this?”
“Well, to start, I think we need to tell the team. We need them to get behind us.”
“Do you think that will be a problem?”
“No,” I say, sure of my answer. There are lots of reasons why I love the Mules. The way we all embrace each other no matter what is at the top of that list. “You already know Danton supports us. The team will be the same. Sure, they’re going to chirp the shit out of us, but they won’t care. Plus Danton already said a few of them are suspicious anyway.”
“Yeah,” Brandon agrees. “I think there is some truth to that.”
I take a deep breath before I say this next one. “We also need to tell your parents.”
“Ugh.” He hangs his head. “They’re going to be insufferable about it.”
“Probably.” I laugh. Their support will be the best thing possible. “But that’s also why we need to tell them.”
“So when do you want to do all of this?”
“Soon,” I say. “We should probably notify the team first.”
“And what aboutmy parents?”
“They’re planning on coming to Dallas, right?”
“You know there isn’t a chance in hell they’re missing it.”
“Good. We can tell them in person. But tomorrow, before practice, we tell the team.”
THIRTY
Brandon
“So you’re sure you want to do this?” I ask Ryan for probably the tenth time this morning. We’re on our way to practice, early, and he’s already called Coach Chris, requesting a meeting.
“Yeah.” He chances a quick glance at me before taking his eyes back to the road.
He’s calmly driving. Meanwhile, my heart is beating like I’ve been mainlining caffeine all morning. In reality, I haven’t even finished my first cup of coffee; I’ve just been staring at the lid of the cup in my hand because every time I go to take a sip my stomach recoils before I bring it to my lips.
