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“Do you play for the Slayers too?”
He blinks, and a flash of jealousy drifts over his face before he wipes it away. “No, I’m down in Springfield. Hey, man, you want to give us a minute here?”
That would be a hard no. I really don’t. But I turn to Trevor, and the corner of his mouth is hitched even higher. “Is that what you want?”
For him, I would. But Trevor shakes his head and threads our fingers together. “Nope. You belong here. If Leo’s got something to say, he can say it in front of you. Or he can go. Either way, it isn’t going to change anything.”
I swallow past a surge of emotion, nodding with a smile I’ll give him the words to match when we’re alone.
Leo ducks his head. “Come on, T. You know it’s not over. Not for this guy.”
I raise a brow, but Leo just grinds his molars together and blows out a breath. “Fine. You want to get yours? Okay. I deserve it after how I hurt you. You’ve got another week. Screw everyone in the state if you like. Get it out of your system, and I’ll see you at training camp.” He bites his lip and flexes his chest. “Just like last year.”
I feel Trevor’s hand tense in mine, and my blood starts to boil. In twenty-two years I’ve never been in a fight. Never even thought about taking a swing at someone, but those careless, condescending words have me finally understanding the urge to do violence.
“There’s nothing to figure out, Leo.” Trevor shakes his head in disgust. “It’s over. If you’ve worked your shit out, I’m happy for you. If you haven’t… not my problem. But yeah, I’ll see you at camp. I’ll be the ‘out’ hockey player fighting for a spot on the Slayers’ roster. And you’ll be just another player on the ice.”
Leo pales, hands coming up. “Hold on. Out? You can’t do that to me, man. We were roommates. We lived together. What will people think?”
Trevor shrugs. “They’ll think you had a roommate who dates men. And I guess it’s up to you if you want to be someone who didn’t care or someone who did. Or even someone who dated me but made mistakes, learned from them, and is in a better place now. Whatever you do, Leo, it’s up to you and it’s on you. And… honestly, I wish you the best. But I’m ready to make some chicken and spend the night with the guy I love, and I don’t want to waste a single minute I have left with him.”
I’ve been listening, offering my quiet support to this point, but now—
Did he just say—
I turn to him, pulling his hand close to my pounding heart. He loves me?
Trevor ducks to kiss my knuckles as Leo rounds his SUV in a huff and slams the door. Neither of us look as he drives away. Because what matters is this. Now.
“Love, huh?” I ask in a voice choked with emotion.
“From that first night, Cam. I loved you then, and I love you now. And even though I understand the kind of life I have to offer you can never compete with the life you have here, I just… I want you to know that if it could… I’d love you forever.”
My heart cracks open right then and there. Pulling Trevor into my arms, I kiss him hard and deep and with everything I have. I kiss him like I love him because the truth of it is that simple. I do. And when I break away, it’s just enough to whisper against his lips, “I never stopped. I love you too.”
TREVOR
He loves me. I don’t know if my heart can take what those words are doing to it.
Kissing, we stumble toward the house. Our hands are everywhere, his suit is soaking my shorts, and all I can think is…
Keep him.
I need to find a way. I’ll do anything. But first, I need to show him how much I worship him.
We make it inside, and Cam whips my shirt over my head, growling as he pushes me toward the bedroom, his mouth on my neck, my shoulders, my chest.
“Love you,” I pant, when I feel the bite of his teeth followed by the pull of deep suction at my shoulder.
“Love you,” he rasps, maneuvering me down the hall to my bedroom. “So fucking much.”
My legs meet the bed, but before I tumble back, I shift my weight, pulling him around so it’s his body falling beneath mine. I lick through his navel and nibble the side of that sexy vee as I pry my fingers into the insanely snug jammers and peel them off.
“Christ, you’re gorgeous.” I can barely manage the words through everything I’m feeling. The love, the purpose, the need… and the knowledge that even with my soul so full of all of those things, it still might not be enough to keep him. If I gave up hockey, would he even want me to start a life with him here?
It’s a question I need to think through, figure out how to finesse and present in a way that doesn’t pressure or overwhelm him.
It’s a question that’s going to have to wait.
