Page 120 of Two for Charging

Most of the team was gathered around already, chatting as they put on their practice gear. At the sound of Luca’s whistle, everyone fell silent and looked over. The only people Luca couldn’t see were Howie and Dmitriyev. He might as well get it over with.

“I know we had a ten-dollar limit for Secret Santa,” Luca said, “and that Furby cost twelve ninety-nine. But I also have something else for Chris.”

From the corner of his eye, he spotted Lindy and Phil entering the locker room. He hoped Lindy wouldn’t think he was doing this for her approval. He was doing it for his own peace of mind and, hopefully, Chris’s happiness.

She seemed distracted anyway, glaring at Phil. Odd. Lindy’s need for pathological friendliness tended to outweigh any animosity.

“A few months ago, Lindy asked us to play a very stupid team bonding game on the plane. Some of you may remember what I said about Chris.”

“Vividly!” Mooney shouted from the other side of the room.

“I think about it every time I see his stupid underwear,” Jax agreed.

“Yes, yes, we can all agree I fucked up.”

Chris made a sound of protest, but Luca waved him off. “My other Secret Santa gift for Chris is that I would like to make it up to him now. So here is every nice thing I have to say about him.”

Chris’s eyes went wide.

“First, he is very generous. He’s let me live in his apartment rent-free since I moved here, although I spent a lot of time mocking him for various reasons.”

“You have to let the rent thing go, man. I’m a millionaire,” Chris said with a fond shake of his head.

“Shut up. Second, Chris is friendly. I know you all know this, but he is always happy to meet new people, always welcoming and offering his time and his resources to others.”

Chris flushed. “I don’t do anything special, Luca. You—”

“No, you don’t get to talk now. I’m not done. Third, he is the nicest man I’ve ever met. He doesn’t let anyone else’s bad temper or cruelty stop him from being kind even when it is to his own detriment.”

“Luca.” A sheen of tears covered Chris’s eyes.

“Fourth.” Luca’s voice broke. He was going to make it through everything he had planned if it killed him, and he refused to get emotional in front of everyone. “He gives the best hugs of anyone on the planet.”

“Are you done now?” Chris asked hoarsely.

“Yes.”

Chris wrapped both arms around Luca’s waist and lifted him bodily off the bench, hugging him so tightly Luca’s ribs protested. “I’m surprised my dick didn’t make the list,” he muttered in Luca’s ear in Italian while the team gave a half-hearted smattering of applause.

“It’s number five,” Luca assured him in the same language. “Didn’t want to tell everyone about it. It’s mine.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Luca caught sight of Vanderbilt’s shocked expression before he schooled his face back into bored neutrality. Oops. He supposed some Italian words were recognizable to an American.

Would it be rude to jump the line for coming out to the team? Jax and Tom planned to do it in a few weeks, but Luca didn’t trust himself to wait that long. He’d never been so happy, and he didn’t understand how the whole world hadn’t seen it all over his face already.

Maybe they had and chose to be polite and circumspect, waiting for him and Chris to say something themselves.

Luca liked the thought of being so understood. He pulled out of Chris’s hold and looked around the room of teammates, half-in, half-out of their gear, smiling and talking, excited to play together for another day. The team wasn’t perfect, but Luca had found more than the person he hoped to love for the rest of his life here. He’d found a place where he could be vulnerable and honest and know he would still be respected tomorrow. He’d found a home when he hadn’t expected one, and no matter what the future brought, he would cherish these moments in this room forever.

“Are we done with the lovefest now?” Hayes asked, sounding more resigned than annoyed. “Only we’re supposed to be on the ice in two minutes.”

“I thought that was wonderful!” Lindy said, still clapping. “Thank you, Luca! We do have a few more announcements before practice, if everyone’s here?”

Phil crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway, expression thunderous. Lindy nudged him in the shoulder, but he didn’t budge.

After doing a quick headcount, Chris said, “I think we’ve got everyone but Howie.”

“That is actually our announcement,” Lindy told them. “I know this is a bit of a surprise, but Howie left for Chicago last night.”

Chris froze. “Chicago?”

“Yes, we completed the trade yesterday. Everyone, welcome the newest member of our team and our starting goalie until Dmitriyev is back on his feet—Arnold Henderson! He even switched his number for you guys.”

Phil stood aside. He paused in glaring at Lindy to give Henderson a smile and a handshake, but returned to his former scowl as soon as the goalie had passed by him to enter the room.

He wore a Sea Lions jersey with the number four sewn onto the sleeve.

“Well, fuck,” Luca muttered. Just when he’d finally gotten the whole team to like him.