Page 24 of Two for Charging

Luca escaped to his seat and let out a shaky breath.

“Brutal, dude,” Mooney muttered. “Can’t believe she didn’t give you another foghorn.”

“She’s seen it.” Luca pulled his phone out of the seat pocket in front of him. Lindy had made clear from day one that as their coach she would be in their locker room, regardless of whether or not they had their dicks out.

They didn’t have the kind of locker room where guys sat around in the nude all the time. In fact, over the past year or so, Luca hadn’t seen anyone’s cock for more than a second before a towel or clothing covered it. Nonetheless, it would have been hard not to notice Breezy’s boxer briefs.

“Which ones are you wearing today?” Hayes called out.

Breezy, overcoming his mortification in a matter of seconds, made a show of pulling the waistband up out of his pants. “Flamingos,” he called back.

“Where do you even get those, bro?” Jax asked.

“There’s a special store online I order from. They do new patterns every couple of months.”

“Okay, let me revise the question. Why do you even get those, bro?”

“They’re the only brand I could find that fits.”

“How can underwear not fit you? They make different sizes.” Howie’s incredulous voice carried over the two rows between them with ease. Luca wanted to sink into his seat. He was the worst. He hadn’t merely embarrassed himself; he’d embarrassed Breezy as well, and now they both had to live with the consequences.

“I don’t know, man. I tried every store I could think of, but either they were so big the waist kept slipping or, uh, stuff kept, like, popping out.”

Briefly, blessed silence fell throughout the cabin. Luca wondered if now would be a good time to start a loud conversation about luxury car models or golf or something else hockey players cared about so the present subject was forgotten.

Then, in a voice so loud even the flight attendants around the corner from the main area must have heard him, Howie asked, “Dude, are you saying your dick is too big for regular underwear?”

“I mean, the colors are also fun,” Breezy offered.

“Oh God,” Luca muttered to himself. He wanted to eject himself from the plane. This was why his nonna told him to take a rosary to the States every time he left. She must have had some sort of prophetic vision about him being trapped on a plane full of teammates while the object of his affection admitted to having such a large penis he couldn’t wear regular clothing. She knew he would need divine intervention to survive.

The Catholic Church probably didn’t give out sainthoods for cock-related visions.

Next to him, Mooney collapsed into giggles.

“You gotta admit this tracks,” he said when he was able to breathe again. “He is big all over.”

An unhelpful image of Breezy splayed out on the couch, his big thighs spread under Luca’s touch, paraded across Luca’s mind’s eye.

“Yes,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Now we know why you can’t keep a girl around!” Vanderbilt hollered from behind him somewhere. “They’re all running in fear of your massive schlong!”

Luca saw Breezy’s shoulders tighten.

He twisted in his seat to stare down Vanderbilt. “Better than a married man fucking anything on two legs.”

Dmitriyev, sitting in the row behind Vanderbilt, flinched so hard his water bottle fell off his tray table and into the aisle. Lindy rose from her seat, presumably to interject, but the flight attendants bustled through with napkins and fresh water, and then the captain asked everyone to take their seats for landing, thus ending any further attempt at team bonding.

Luca sank low in his seat, the back of his neck uncomfortably hot. By unspoken agreement, no one on the team mentioned Vanderbilt’s extracurricular activities, even though everyone knew about them. Luca didn’t approve of the silence; it felt too much like tacit acceptance. Maybe some of the guys didn’t mind or thought it was none of their business. Misogyny was as pervasive in hockey circles as homophobia, and Luca had equally little patience for both. He had grown up in the kind of family where five different relatives called his aunt Stella when they heard her husband had lunch with another woman (who turned out to be a coworker). Still, he could acknowledge he’d been less than tactful.

With the fun over, everyone returned to their phones. Cursing himself as a coward and a bad friend to boot, Luca texted Breezy.

Sorry. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot.

Breezy answered instantly. It’s okay! I know you hate team bonding stuff.

Luca hadn’t hated it. He’d found it very cathartic for the team right up until his turn. Before he could formulate a reply implying as much without stating it outright, he got another text from Breezy.