CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Training camp was brutal as ever. Jesse was thoroughly wrung out by the time they wrapped up on Friday.
They had their first pre-season game scheduled for Sunday, and he’d be playing in it. Teams typically didn’t play their first-string goalies this early in pre-season, but Hoyt and Foley had said they wanted to get Jesse up to speed with the team immediately.
“We’ve been bleeding points in October and November for the past few seasons,” Hoyt had said grimly as they sat in his office. “We had to scramble to snag that wild card spot last spring and we need to get as many points this fall as we can.”
Which meant that Jesse was going to be seeing a lot of time in the net.
Honestly, that was fine with him. He loved playing. Loved that he was going to get to be the starting tendie this year. His goaltending partner would be a guy named Arkady Romaschenko, a Belarusian netminder with a thick accent and very little grasp of the English language.
Like Jesse, the guy had been traded this summer. Unlike Jesse, he’d expected to play at the AHL level, didn’t know anyone, and was the only Slavic-language speaker on the team.
Poor dude.
Arkady had looked a little wide-eyed and terrified when they met at the rink for the first time during camp, but his eyes had lit up when Jesse stumbled through a Russian greeting. He didn’t speak Belarusian and he wasn’t what anyone would call fluent in Russian either, but he’d picked up some shit from Macky and Elena.
Since then, Jesse had been doing his part to make life easier for his teammate.
Kady—as Jesse had dubbed him—had looked pathetically grateful to speak to anyone in one of his native tongues, even someone as inept as Jesse. He’d agreed to come out to the pub tonight too and although he probably didn’t have a clue what the guys at the table were saying now, he was laughing and looked more relaxed.
Then again, that might be due to the alcohol they kept pushing toward him.
Well, whatever worked.
“You’re good with him,” Connor said thoughtfully, nodding toward Kady as they stood by the bar, getting more shots for the team.
The team had played golf this afternoon, had dinner at a casual restaurant on the wharf, and were now at an Irish pub. It seemed like a place the team was familiar with, if the greetings from both the staff and the patrons had been any indication when they walked in.
“Who? Kady?” Jesse asked, absently scoping out some of the other people at the bar. It was an interesting mix of people. The pub was far from upscale—more working class than anything. Everyone was dressed casually; even the women were in jeans and there wasn’t a high heel in sight.
Way different from the places they’d usually gone to in Toronto, where they’d been in VIP lounges. Then again, the Fisher Cats had been a lot more worried about being approached in public by fans and photographed. Not to mention spied on.
Jesse suspected people here knew exactly who they were, but there seemed to be an unspoken code to leave them alone.
Of course, maybe that was because the season hadn’t officially started yet.
“Yeah. When did you learn Russian?” Connor asked.
Jesse snorted. “I don’t know it. I can throw out some words is all.” Most of them dirty and/or inappropriate, to be honest.
“Still.” Connor looked him up and down. “He seemed like he was having a good time hanging out with you today. That was really something, Webber.”
“Thanks, O’Shea,” Jesse said absently, eyeing a woman around his age wearing snug denim. She was bent over to take a shot at the pool table and presenting quite a nice view.
Under other circumstances, he’d be over there in a heartbeat, offering to help her with her form. Or—he watched her break cleanly—in this case he’d probably ask her for tips. She was a way better player than he was.
“Would you fucking stop checking that woman out and help me carry these?” Connor grumbled and Jesse glanced over to see Connor trying to juggle two trays that Jesse hadn’t even noticed were ready.
“Sorry,” Jesse said automatically, then narrowed his eyes at Connor. He dropped his voice, using the motion of grabbing one tray as an excuse to lean in. “Dude. Are you jealous ?”
“No.” But Connor’s ears were red when he turned toward the table.
Jesse snickered, letting his gaze linger on Connor’s ass in his pair of snug jeans while he walked away. God, he was so fucking predictable. Jesse so much as looked in someone else’s direction and Connor got all huffy about it.
Hilarious.
Unfortunately, training camp had wrung both of them out so much in the past few days they’d hardly managed more than sloppy handjobs in the shower one evening and some lazy making out and rubbing off together yesterday.
Which was a shame, because the kids would be back tomorrow night and Jesse knew Connor wouldn’t fool around with them in the house. Jesse couldn’t blame him, not when they had no idea their father was bi, but it was definitely going to put a damper on their sex life.
Oh well, at least there was tonight. He couldn’t wait .
Cheered by that thought, Jesse carried the drinks over to the table, then slid into the circular booth beside Connor, passing out shots to the guys who wanted them.
Connor held up his shot. Something with whisky in it, though Jesse couldn’t remember the name. “To the new season!”
Everyone toasted, then downed their shot. They’d bought a variety and Jesse had gone for a Lemon Drop.
It slid smoothly down his throat now, tart and sweet, and he made a happy hum. When he lowered his glass, he saw a sputtering Connor with a face nearly the same color as his hair and beard.
“You okay there?” Jesse asked, wondering what had gone wrong.
“Fine.” Connor thumped his fist against his sternum. “Just went down the wrong pipe.”
Luke Crawford snickered. “Aww, Captain can’t hold his shots anymore.”
“Fuck you,” Connor muttered, still coughing. Across the table, a couple of other guys laughed. He held up a middle finger to them. “Fuck all of you.”
Jesse snickered and glanced over at Tanner who was ignoring the table and staring at the woman playing pool. Jesse kicked him under the table and after he glanced back at Jesse, he winked and motioned for a couple of guys to get up and let him out.
When Tanner was free, he slid in beside Jesse, muttering, “So, I have an idea.”
“Yeah?” Jesse asked warily.
Tanner’s ideas usually spelled trouble. They’d gotten in plenty of it at the hotel where they’d stayed for All-Star week. They’d pulled all of the furniture out of one guy’s room and set it up in the hallway. It had been an epic prank requiring seriously perfect timing and luck but neither the hotel staff nor the event organizers were amused.
The guy they’d pranked had pitched a fit too but Jesse knew he loved it. Who didn’t love shit like that?
But Jesse was supposed to be on his best behavior now so he was a little wary about Tanner’s ideas.
“Yeah.” Tanner grinned, sliding even closer until their thighs touched. Jesse shifted, trying to give him room, but that left him plastered against Connor’s hip. He hadn’t moved an inch.
Oh well.
Tanner threw an arm up over the back of the booth, leaning in. “So, like, I saw you checking out the woman playing pool.”
“She was hot,” Jesse acknowledged.
“What do you say we see if she’s into either of us?”
“Like a wager?” Jesse asked, arching an eyebrow.
“Yeah. You know. Worst-case scenario, one of us goes home with her. Best-case scenario, both of us do.”
Tanner’s brown eyes sparkled as he pulled back, reaching for two shots. He pulled them toward their side of the table then nudged one at Jesse. “C’mon, it’ll be fun. You in?”
Under any other circumstances, Jesse would have said yes but he could feel the hard line of Connor’s body against his, sudden tension making his body stiff and rigid. Well, guess he’d been eavesdropping.
God, why the fuck didn’t he trust Jesse? Jesse had given him his word that it would just be the two of them through the end of the season. It wasn’t like he was going to go back on that.
“You know, I think I’ll pass tonight,” Jesse said casually.
Tanner scoffed. “What is up with you lately? I know you’re on probation and shit but you can still have fun.”
“I am having fun,” Jesse protested. “I’m just being more discreet about it now.”
Tanner laughed. “Discreet? You? You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“Oh fuck you,” Jesse said. “Just because I’m not hooking up with you and everyone else in Boston, that doesn’t mean it’s not happening.”
“Sure.” Tanner shot him a skeptical look, then tossed the drink back. “Whatever, dude. I’m going to go get my stick polished.”
Across the table, Bobby Tucker snickered.
Jesse hadn’t spent much time with him yet. He was one of the team’s forwards and … interesting looking. Jesse didn’t find him hot exactly—mullets might be making a comeback but it wasn’t his favorite look—and combined with the scraggly beard, Jesse mostly had the urge to give the dude a makeover.
But he definitely had his own style and Jesse could appreciate that.
“Dude, if you don’t want in on this, I will,” Bobby said. He glanced at Tanner. “But, uh, no swords crossing. I’m not into that like you and Webber.”
Crawford scoffed. “You seriously think you’re in Webber’s league, Tucker? Dream on, dude.”
“Aww,” Jesse said, fluttering his lashes. “You think I’m good-looking, Crawford?”
“Not like that,” he said, throwing Jesse a vaguely disgusted look. “But anyone can see you’re better than Tucker. Then again, so was the roadkill I passed on the side of the highway the other day.”
“Oh fuck you,” Tucker said. “I do fine.”
They started squabbling and Tanner disappeared with a laugh and shake of his head, making a beeline for the woman by the pool table.
“So, this is what the team’s like, huh?” Jesse said quietly, turning toward Connor.
He still felt a little tense, but not quite as bad as earlier.
“Pretty much.” Connor sighed. “I do my best but …”
“Right.”
It was no Toronto, that was for sure. Then again, Jesse had probably been spoiled there.
“Honestly, Crawford is harmless,” Connor said quietly.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. We’ve played together for a long time. He’s a bit coarse sometimes, but overall a decent dude. I don’t know much about Tucker yet.”
“Makes sense.”
Tucker had apparently been in Concord most of last season but had done well at training camp and looked like he might make it onto the Harriers roster this season.
Connor’s frown deepened. “You need me to say anything to them? I don’t want them to think it’s alright if they’re laying into you and Tanner for your sexuality or anything.”
“Nah, it’s fine.” Jesse waved off the offer. “Honestly, it was just chirping. No biggie. I’ll stand up for myself if I need to. Tanner will too.”
“Yeah, but the guys need to see you two have support from the captain.”
Jesse studied Connor’s face. He found the way Connor distanced himself so much from his own sexuality interesting. And like, sure, they were in public at the moment and Connor wasn’t out, but it wasn’t the first time Jesse had gotten the feeling that Connor put other guys in the LGBTQ+ community while firmly keeping himself outside of it.
And Jesse didn’t even think it was intentional. Connor might be fucking a man now but mentally, he was still very very much in a straight-boy mentality.
Whatever. Jesse wasn’t into pushing anyone to be anything they weren’t. Hell, he hadn’t understood why the entire Fisher Cats team had been so aggressively into the whole coming out in public thing anyway.
Jesse only brought it up in his own life when it was relevant.
Like his family knew, of course, but they hadn’t made it a big deal about it or anything. Hell, he hadn’t come out even. Just talked about people he was into. It helped that there had never been anyone he was that serious about, so he hadn’t had to do the whole ‘bring a person home to meet the parents’ thing, but his parents knew and they were fine with it.
Maybe a little less fine with him ending up bare-assed all over the gossip pages but really, if they didn’t know what he was like by now, they hadn’t been paying attention.
But it was still interesting to see how Connor dealt with the whole thing. How he compartmentalized his life.
“Jesse?” Connor said, frowning.
“Oh, uh, yeah,” he said. “I mean, I’ll let you know if I need you to have my back but I’m good right now.”
“Cool. I’m gonna go get some more shots. Wanna let me out?”
“Uh, sure,” Jesse said, sliding out of the booth to let Connor slip past him. “Have fun.”
Crawford shot him a skeptical look. “Our captain have fun? Not fucking likely. He’s boring as shit. I could sort of get it when he was with Viv but he’s single now and lame as ever.”
Connor rolled his eyes and walked back over to the bar.
“Oh, but you’re Mister Fun?” Jesse asked skeptically, turning back to the table. “I don’t see you out here fighting people off. You’ve had your ass parked in this booth since we got here.”
“Fuck you,” Crawford said. “This is our bar. I don’t want to make it messy.”
“I wasn’t talking about you fucking someone in the bar,” Jesse pointed out.
Crawford snorted. “Dude, I mean like … the drama and all that. I don’t shit where I eat and I don’t fuck where I want to relax. It’s neater and cleaner on the apps. I message someone, we hook up, then I delete and move on. No mess. No drama.”
“Wow, you’re a stellar guy,” Jesse said drily. “Bet people love that.”
He shrugged. “I’m honest about what I want upfront. I don’t go for any of this emotional shit.”
“Shocker,” Jesse threw back.
Crawford shot him a lazy smile. “Works for me.”
“I bet it does.”
Because while Jesse wasn’t particularly into the heavily muscled and heavily tattooed biker look, he knew plenty of people were.
“What about you?” Crawford narrowed his eyes. “If you’re not into what Tanner’s offering, what are you doing to get laid?”
Jesse shrugged, forcing himself to not look in Connor’s direction. “I’ve got someone I kinda know in the area. We’re keeping it simple and hooking up when we’re both free.”
“What, like friends with benefits?” Crawford shot him another skeptical look.
“Yeah, ever heard of it?” Jesse threw back.
“Heard of it, yeah. Don’t like it though. Like I said, I don’t like messy.”
“Who says it has to get messy?” Jesse protested.
“Oh, come on,” Graham Pennington protested, leaning in. “We’ve all been there. There’s always someone who starts to get feelings.”
“Not always,” Jesse said.
Pennington gave Jesse a skeptical look. “You’re telling me you’ve never had a FWB situation get like that?”
“No,” Jesse said with an amused shrug. “I haven’t.”
He’d done it plenty of times and it had always been great. It had always ended mutually, with both people perfectly happy with the outcome. Like him and Tanner.
“Shit, you must have a magical dick or something, Webber,” Crawford said with a shake of his head.
A weird sputtering noise came from over Jesse’s left shoulder.
“Excuse me?” Connor said, voice strangled as he carried more shots to the table.
Jesse rolled his eyes and shifted over so Connor could slide back in. “They don’t believe me that a friends with benefits situation can end well.”
“Why wouldn’t it?” Connor asked, his upper arm bumping Jesse’s when he settled into his seat.
“Like you would know,” Crawford said scornfully as he reached for a shot. “Hell, you probably haven’t even gotten your dick wet since you got divorced.”
“The hell I haven’t,” Connor said with a laugh. “The other day I?—”
Jesse nudged him hard with his knee to remind him to be careful about how he worded that.
Connor coughed. “I hooked up with someone.”
Crawford’s expression remained skeptical. “Suuure you did, dude.”
“Look, I’m not gonna go into details but I definitely fucking did,” Connor insisted, his tone turning stubborn. “The best head of my life actually.”
“Really?” Pennington shot him a surprised glance. “Well, good for you, man.”
The best head of his life, huh? Jesse tried not to preen. Well, that was nice to hear. He shouldn’t be surprised though.
He was amazing at what he did in and out of the net.