Page 106 of Two for Charging

“You don’t have to,” Chris said. “I was going through some of my own stuff. It made me overreact. It’s always your decision, and I’d never take that from you.”

His leg pressed against Luca’s under the table, and Luca pressed back.

“Anything we should worry about?” Jax asked. “Because you’re our friend, not because of the team.”

Chris shook his head. “Just…family stuff.”

“Everything okay?”

“It is now.”

Luca couldn’t stop the proud smile from spreading across his face if he tried.

“Oh?”

Chris blushed again. The bloom of color on his pale skin made Luca remember how he looked last night when he came, all flushed and panting.

His days of having to suppress his libido in public had not come to an end, and so long as he had Chris to look at to his heart’s content, Luca doubted they ever would.

“We had a big talk at dinner last night. I’ve been seeing Michelle—you know, the therapist—and we talked about setting boundaries and stuff. It was…really good. I was always stuck in the middle and trying to make sure everyone got along at home. Now I’m an adult…I don’t know… I guess having to do the same thing for the team hit a nerve I didn’t know I had.”

Jax nodded in understanding. “You can love your family to bits and wish they hadn’t made you grow up so fast at the same time.”

Tom bumped his shoulder against Jax’s and left it there the same way Chris had done to Luca with his leg. The sight filled Luca’s stomach with a strange warmth at having this in common with other people on the team. He’d thought he would stay lonely his whole career, always the odd man out, unable to be honest with his teammates or with his girlfriends. Now, he wondered if everyone felt the same growing up, adrift and alone until they found their place in the world.

“We will tell the team,” Tom repeated. “It’s time. Enough people know now anyway, so it’s not tenable to keep it a secret, and we’d rather it happen this way than through rumors. We were thinking before the Christmas break, so everyone has a few days to process.”

“Sounds good.”

“So…” Jax drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “You’ll take the A?”

Chris sighed and looked between all of them. “I think I’m ready. But what about Luca?”

Luca startled. “What about me?”

“I know the coaches offered it to you too. Phil asked me first.”

“And I said no.”

Chris shook his head. “You’ve been so good with the guys this season though. And I wouldn’t feel half as confident as I do now without…everything you’ve done for me.”

“That was all you.”

“Nuh-uh.”

Across the aisle, Hayes cleared his throat and put down his phone. Mercifully, no one else in their section was paying attention; Vanderbilt, Nieminen, and Gustafsson all had headphones on. “Give it to them both.”

“What? No!” Chris shrank back in his seat as if the thought menaced him physically.

“Yeah, no,” Jax agreed. “We’re not taking your A.”

“Oh, come on,” Hayes said. “Half the team barely talks to me.”

“There are twenty-three guys on the team,” Tom said. “Only four of us had reason to avoid you, and you’ve been much cooler about—” He waved his hand to indicate the concept of homosexuality. “—than I expected.”

“Thanks, I’m not a dinosaur. I’ve met—” Hayes looked around as if unwilling to say the words “gay people” for fear of summoning a Pride parade on a crowded plane midair. Instead, he repeated the hand wave. “—before. But chances are, I’ll be off the team by this weekend.”

Luca frowned. “Why?”