6. Power Play #2
They stayed locked together for a while, still moving faintly against each other. As Connor softened inside Caleb, their movements turned tender, and they held each other. This was more than either man could have imagined it would be, more than either was ready to admit it could be. Yet.
Connor eased out, tied off the condom and dropped it aside without looking, then pulled the edge of the blanket up and over both of them in one motion.
Caleb settled against his chest. Connor’s arm came around him, heavy and familiar, palm resting low on his back.
The room had gone dim around them. They would clean themselves later.
Neither wanted to move. Outside, the wind slipped through the trees, constant and distant.
The old verdict didn’t arrive.
Caleb knew the things about Connor that everyone knew. The smaller things mattered more now: the difference between his patience and restraint, the words he swallowed when he was tired, the instant before his laugh.
He could think the word sex without shame or judgment. He was already thinking about next time: the fire going, Connor standing at the door.
I want this again.
I want to know if he does too.
Dark settled over the lake. Connor’s arm stayed across his back beneath the blanket.
“I should get back,” Caleb said eventually. “Maya will…”
“Yeah. I’ll drop you off.”
After they cleaned up, they both dressed slowly. Connor grabbed his keys off the hook by the door, and they walked out together, the cold hitting them both at once. Caleb climbed into the truck while Connor scraped frost off the windshield, swearing under his breath at the cold.
The truck was warm and smelled of hockey gear. Connor drove with one hand on the wheel, the other resting on Caleb’s thigh. Caleb looked out at Veil Lake going past and tried not to think too much about that hand.
Connor drove him home the long way. They chatted easily and let the silences take care of themselves.
Connor pulled in behind the Sin Bin and cut the engine. The stairway door at the side of the building was directly ahead of them.
“I’ll walk you up,” Connor said.
Caleb didn’t argue.
The enclosed stairwell that ran up the side of the building to the apartment above was dark and close, warmer than outside but just barely. Below them, laughter rose from the bar, muffled by the old walls.
At the landing outside the apartment door, they stopped.
Caleb hesitated with his hand near the knob. He could have stepped inside and ended the night there. Instead he turned, close enough to feel Connor beside him.
Connor didn’t step back.
Neither moved at first. Then Connor’s hand came up to Caleb’s face, warm fingers brushing the cold skin of his jaw, and Caleb leaned into him.
While the kiss lacked the reckless abandon of earlier, it was far more than a casual goodnight farewell.
Caleb gripped the front of Connor’s jacket and held on.
That’s when the apartment door opened.
Light fell across them as Maya came through the doorway with her keys in one hand and a canvas bag in the other. She stopped hard enough that the bag bumped against her leg, a startled squeak escaping her lips.
For a moment they all froze, and Caleb’s stomach dropped.
Maya’s gaze moved from Connor to Caleb. Her mouth opened slightly. A sound escaped her, short and involuntary, almost a laugh before she pressed her lips together. Caleb’s blush confirmed she had failed to contain it.
“Okay,” she said, stretching out the last syllable. Then again, softer, “Okay.” She lifted the hand with the keys, not quite surrendering and not quite waving them away. “I was just heading back down.”
Caleb couldn’t make himself speak.
Maya’s surprise lingered as her attention returned to Caleb.
“We’ll talk later,” she whispered.
Then she slipped between them and went down the stairs, moving with exaggerated focus, suddenly desperate to reach the bar.
The landing went quiet behind her.
Connor stood rigid before the open door, jaw tight, hands buried in his jacket pockets. His shoulders had the stillness Caleb recognized from the ice, after a hard hit and before he’d skated it off.
For one awful second, Caleb thought he might step away. Panic rose fast, the prospect of it all collapsing in this single moment suddenly real. It couldn’t end like this, could it?
Then Connor looked at him. Not away. Not down the stairs. Not toward the door. At him.
When he saw the expression on Connor’s face, a pleading question, Caleb could breathe again, though it hurt a little.
“Connor,” Caleb said. “She won’t say anything. I promise.”
“I know,” Connor said, his voice tight. “It’s fine.”
“It is. She’s…” He stopped. “I know you didn’t want things to come out. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…”
The pained expression on Connor’s face shifted then, to concern.
“It’s not your fault. I don’t regret… I could never regret you.” Connor forced a half-smile, then checked the door and the street. “We’re good. I’m going to go,” he said. “Before the whole team bursts out of the apartment.”
Caleb smiled as the tension eased. Connor let him kiss his cheek once more, though he remained tense. He smiled again and descended the stairs.
Caleb went inside.