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“Have you met his team?”
Questions poured out of them, and I mean, I knew how this was. Kids were curious, and they got excited about celebrities and things like this. I could tell them all it was no one’s business and we weren’t going to discuss it, but they’d all be vibrating with curiosity and excitement for the entire period.
“All right.” I gestured for everyone to settle down. “I’ll take questions for five minutes, and then we have to get back to work. Got it?” Nods all around. “And… go.”
Instantly, they were shouting over each other, but when I called on Sara, everyone else quieted. “How did you meet him?” she asked.
Good thing Tanner and I had gotten our stories straight yesterday. “Through a mutual friend on a hockey Discord.”
“Pfft.” Oscar rolled his eyes. “Just admit you met him on Tinder.”
I shot him a look.
“What?” He spread his hands. “That’s how my mom met my stepdad!”
“Eww,” someone else called out. “No one wants to hear about your mom hooking up with randos.”
“Shut up!” Oscar huffed. “People date on there.”
“Your mom dated on there,” came a snarky voice.
Oscar threw his baseball cap in that direction.
“All right, all right,” I called out. “Enough. Oscar, pick up your hat. And no, we didnotmeet on Tinder.”
Jayson raised his hand. When called on, he asked, “Does this mean you get free tickets to Yellow Jackets games now?”
“He can get me tickets,” I said, “but he has to pay for them.”
Alli scoffed. “He’s a millionaire. He could buy out an entire section.”
“Ooh!” Amber piped up. “He could buy a whole section for your class!”
That had everyone shouting their support and pleading over each other for me to have my boyfriend hook them up.
I had to chuckle and roll my eyes. I was pretty sure it would’ve been a scandal and a half if one of my teachers had been openly gay, never mind dating a famous athlete. My students weren’t the least bit confused or bothered by the fact that I was dating a man. They just wanted Tanner to score them tickets to a Yellow Jackets game.
Things may have been bleak in the world these days, but my students gave me hope for the future.
The playoffs were no joke.Holy shit. I’d understood that on some level when I’d watched them in the past, but it wasn’t until I was dating one of the players that I realized just how wild it was.
I’d see Tanner briefly the day of a home game, but as soon as that was over, he was on his way to the airport for the next one. If he was home for a night, I’d stay at his place, but sex wasn’t on the table. Between playing and traveling, he had nothing left.
Still, he wanted me there, and as he slept soundly in my arms, I kept marveling that this was real. We were out publicly. He wanted me in his bed even when he didn’t want sex. That voice in the back of my mind was still there, but it was getting quieter and quieter as time went on.
Tonight, I was home, and this small house felt even smaller than usual. It was bigger in terms of square footage than Tanner’s condo, but there were four of us living here, and two of my roommates often had their girlfriends over. The third didn’t have a partner, but let’s just say he rarely slept alone.
None of that bothered me under normal circumstances. Even now, the arrangement itself didn’t bother me. The guys were free to do whatever they wanted within the terms we’d all agreed to when we’d moved in, and I was fortunate that all three of them (and their partners) were courteous and respectful. They were all reasonably tidy, and nobody listened to music or TV too loud, especially after nine at night.
Still, being in this house lately had been… overstimulating. Being around all these people and alone at the same time. Especially since I wasn’t particularly close to any of them. We were friendly and got along well, and we had perfectly pleasant conversations, but they werejusthousemates. Chris and Dion had been friends since college, but Mike and I had both responded toroommate wantedads.
Right now, even after I’d gotten to know them enough that they were slightly above acquaintances, they felt like strangers. I felt about as connected to the other people in this house as Chris’s various hookups, very few of whom stuck around past sunrise.
I felt disjointed and out of sorts and restless and alone, and I knew exactly why.
Because I missed Tanner.
Chapter 22
