Chapter 19
chapter nineteen
They arrived home midafternoon on New Year’s Day. Sandro kicked his shoes off and dropped his bag by the front door. “I hate flying west to east. You basically lose half a day with the time difference.”
“You had a good trip, though,” Bennett pointed out, kicking the door closed behind them, suitcase and camera bag in his hands. “Three goals and two assists, plus your team won all three games.”
“And I got to have lunch with a Hollywood producer.” Sandro headed upstairs, tugging his hoodie off as he did so. “Did you know David’s producing a small-town comedy about single dads? I didn’t know he did fiction too.”
“Yeah,” Bennett said from behind him. “He’s got his hands in a whole bunch of different projects.”
David, it turned out, was actually pretty cool. Bennett griped about him often enough that he obviously wasn’t always a cool person to work for, but as a human being, Sandro had enjoyed getting to know him.
He hadn’t quite believed that David was as blasé as he seemed about his and Bennett’s relationship, but when Sandro had asked him about it at lunch, David had shrugged.
“Do you know how many Hollywood directors have had affairs with their actors? Sometimes their much-younger actors?” David had shaken his head.
“Somebody might make a stink about it, but sadly, that stink will last maybe a minute despite the inherent power imbalance. This here?” He’d waved a hand between Sandro and Bennett.
“It’s not the same thing. Plus, the series is targeted at a very niche hockey-loving audience.
Your relationship will barely be a blip on their radar unless you start flaunting it, which I don’t get the impression you’ll be doing. ”
“My Instagram is all about my work,” Bennett had said.
“And I haven’t posted on Instagram in . . .” Sandro had pursed his lips. “Three years? We could be spotted out together though.”
“Guys, seriously.” David had speared them with a look over his menu. “Don’t stress about it. You have other things to worry about. You.” He’d focused on Bennett. “Concentrate on making me a good series. And you.” He’d transferred that focus to Sandro. “Concentrate on winning the Cup.”
Sandro had cocked his head. “Are you a Trailblazers fan?”
“Oh, I don’t follow hockey. Baseball’s more my jam.”
Sandro had laughed while Bennett had stared at his producer, slack-jawed.
“Did you know that David tried to poach me away from hockey?” Sandro said now from inside his walk-in closet.
“Tried to convince me to join his small-town single-dads show. Said he’d give me the role of the former hockey player raising a teenager on his own, which .
. . I’m not sure, but that feels like typecasting. ”
“When did he do that?” Bennett asked, placing their suitcases by the nightstand.
“When you were in the restroom.”
“Well, at least you’d have a plan for after you retire.”
Sandro snort-laughed and shucked his jeans, trading them for a pair of sweatpants.
“Yeah, I don’t think acting’s in my future.
Roman would kill me if I walked away from the wellness initiative.
Besides, David’s show starts filming this year, and I’ll be playing next season. I can’t be in two places at once.”
At first, accepting the responsibility of the wellness initiative had made him feel like the clock was ticking on his hockey career.
But after hearing about Eli’s and Bennett’s struggles, he couldn’t not try to do something about it.
For a long time, he’d been unsure about what his future would look like post-hockey, and this job would not only allow him to keep helping his teammates, it meant that he’d get to remain with his hockey family too.
Bennett said something from the bedroom that Sandro didn’t catch. “What’d you say?” he asked, leaning against the closet doorjamb.
Brows pulled low in a frown, Bennett sat on the bed. Stood. Sat again. “Your mattress is bouncy. What the hell?”
“I exchanged my other one.”
“You . . . what?”
“The store I got it from had one of those two-hundred-day guarantee things.” When Bennett looked at him blankly, Sandro said, “You know, try it for two hundred days, and if you don’t like it, exchange it for a different one. So I exchanged it. This one’s medium firm.”
Bennett stalked closer to him, making Sandro’s heart race, and palmed the backs of his thighs, hoisting him up. Sandro wrapped his legs around him, containing a delirious grin.
“Ro.” Bennett’s voice was a delicious rumble against Sandro’s senses. “Did you get me a new mattress?”
Sandro forced himself to keep a straight face. “I got me a new mattress. Just, you know, if you want to stay over sometimes, that’s fine.”
“Oh, it is, huh?”
Bennett toppled them onto the bed, and Sandro laughed as they went down. He was still laughing when Bennett’s mouth landed on his and when Bennett rolled onto his side next to him.
“I love you, you know that?” Bennett said.
Sandro’s laughter quieted to a happy hum of pure pleasure as everything he’d ever wanted slotted itself into place.
They didn’t have everything figured out yet, and with Sandro in Vermont and Bennett in California—or wherever his next project would take him—the future was a big question mark.
At some point, they’d be separated, just like they had been in their rookie seasons.
That was okay though. They’d be able to handle the distance in a way they hadn’t been able to when they’d been kids.
Neither was willing to fuck this up a second time.
“I love you too.” Sandro twined his fingers with Bennett’s and kissed his wrist. “This is for the long haul this time, right?”
“Yeah, Ro. The long haul.” Bennett’s smile turned teasing. “Plus, you gave me a Trailblazers hoodie with your name on it. I think that makes this officially official forever and ever, amen.”
Laughing again, Sandro pushed him onto his back and kissed him.