CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN #2
Last night, the biggest celebrity in the world could have tried to flag Luke down and he certainly wouldn’t have noticed them. All his focus had been on Sebastian and Harper.
But it was going to come out eventually.
Connor’s frown deepened. “Oh, you’re going to go to see Harper? That’s nice of you. Do you need the info about where they are? I could probably get it from—”
“I was at the hospital with them last night,” Luke said gruffly.
“Wait, what?” Connor asked, frowning at him.
“I was at the hospital with Sebastian and Harper and Brie last night,” he explained.
He’d talked to Mac about it this morning, wanting to give him a heads-up. His agent had definitely been surprised—probably more by the fact that he was in a relationship than the fact that it was a man he was dating—but he’d assured Luke he’d keep an eye out for any news about him.
Luke needed to tell his team before they found out on social media or something. Might as well rip the fucking bandage off now.
“I was with Sebastian yesterday when Harper collapsed,” he explained.
The locker room went suspiciously quiet and Luke glanced up to see everyone in the room except Jesse staring at him blankly.
“Yeah, Luke and Sebastian are a thing,” Jesse said as he walked by. “Right?”
Connor made a sputtering noise. “I’m sorry. What?”
Jesse shrugged. “Maybe I’m wrong but …”
“Nah, you’re right,” Luke admitted. “We’re, uh, dating.”
“What the fuck??” Tanner said, blinking like someone had hit him in the face with a two-by-four. “No fucking way. I thought you were dating Brie!”
“Nope.” Luke smiled. “Her brother.”
Jesse gave him a thoughtful look. “Huh. I thought you two were just fucking. I didn’t know you were dating. Guess I read that one wrong.”
“You and Sebastian?” Connor said. “But you hate that guy.”
“I did at first,” Luke agreed.
A solid thud landed on Luke’s shoulder as Tanner whacked him with his glove. “You’re gay?”
“No,” Luke said.
“Bi then?” Tanner said, still hitting him.
“I guess?”
“How could you not tell me, you assbag?”
Luke grabbed for the glove, trying to wrestle it out of Tanner’s hand.
“What do you mean you guess? Like you’re pan and don’t like the bi label or—”
“I don’t like any labels,” Luke pointed out, finally getting the glove away from Tanner. He tossed it across the room. “But if you must know, I’ve fucked more men than women and I don’t usually date anyone.”
“Yeah,” Connor said with a frown. “I thought you were aromantic! What the fuck?”
Tanner, who had apparently grabbed another glove, whacked him again. “Seriously. What the fuck?”
“Still am,” Luke said with a grunt as he tried to wrestle the second glove from Tanner.
“Aromanticism is a spectrum,” Anker called out.
“That,” Luke said, chucking the second glove after the first. “Don’t usually date or want relationships. Sebastian and I work though.”
“Dude!” Tanner said, slugging him with his fist this time. “What the actual fuck?”
Luke scowled. Jesus, Tanner was bad at throwing punches. He was going to break some bones at this rate. “Would you fucking quit it?”
“No!” Tanner slugged him again. “How could you keep this from me?”
“Because not everyone needs you up in their business, man,” Tom said with a laugh as he walked by them on the way to the shower.
Luke grabbed Tanner and pinned his arms behind his back, glaring at him. “See? I keep telling you. You’re too damn nosy,” he said.
“Wait, so you and Tanner aren’t dating?” Erik Wyatt said, glancing up and waving a hand. “I thought you two were dating and all this shit was just foreplay.”
Luke shuddered at the idea and dropped Tanner’s hands like they were burning him. “Me and Tanner? God no.”
Tanner made a gagging noise. “Dude, I have standards. No way am I fucking this guy, even if he is queer, apparently.”
“Standards?” Mickey said, looking amused. “What standards?”
“You have no standards,” Rafe added.
“I have enough to not fuck him!” Tanner said.
Luke shoved him. “Thanks, asshole.”
Tanner righted himself, then shot him a disgusted look. “I’m just sayin’. Besides, fucking you would be like fucking my brother. And I don’t even have a brother.”
“Agreed,” Luke said with a shudder. Gross.
“This is exciting though,” Tanner said, his mood shifting as quickly as the weather did. “We’ve got another convert to the rainbow side! Welcome to the club, bay-bee!”
He made a stupid little whoop-whoop noise that made Luke want to stuff him in the dirty gear bin.
“I’m not a convert,” Luke grumbled. “I’ve always been this way. I just didn’t tell you about my private life until I had to.”
“Sorry about that,” Connor said with a sympathetic look. “Didn’t mean to …”
“It was gonna come out eventually anyway,” Luke said with a sigh. “Everyone at the pediatric ER probably figured it out already anyway last night. It’s fine.”
Could he have gone his whole career without anyone making a fuss about him dating someone? Hell yes. Was he ever going to manage that with this crew? Definitely not.
“So,” Jesse said brightly. “The good news is, you’re gonna bring Sebastian to O’Neill’s tonight, yeah?”
Luke looked around at his teammates. “I dunno. Are you all gonna make it weird?”
Tanner and Jesse glanced at each other, then back at him.
Tanner grinned. “Abso-fucking-lutely,”
“I mean, probably,” Jesse said with a small laugh.
Connor scowled at his boyfriend. “Jesse …”
“What?” Jesse said, grinning too. “C’mon. This is going to be fun. Oh, that reminds me, I should add you to the Queer in the NHL group chat, Crawford.”
“No thank you,” Luke said, hooking his thumbs in his base layers and pushing them to the floor. “And will you all clear out and give me some space? I need to go shower. I’m sweating my balls off here.”
“Ugh, you’re gross and boring,” Tanner said, sounding annoyed as he returned to his stall.
“I’m gonna get Sebastian’s number and send him a link to Charlie Monaghan’s app too!” Jesse called out as he walked away.
“What app?” Luke asked, grabbing a towel off a nearby stack on his way to the showers. “What is he talking about?”
Connor followed him. “The SAPs app. It’s for spouses and partners of NHL players. Queer friendly and it includes a section for spouses of retired players. It’s pretty cool actually. Jesse and I are both members because … well …”
“Huh,” Luke said. “I dunno if Sebastian will be into that but …”
“Well, he’s welcome to join if he is.”
Mercifully, everything returned to normal after that as guys peeled off sweaty gear and headed to the showers.
As Luke ducked under a steady stream of water a few minutes later, he felt relieved that the whole ‘coming out’ thing was over. As funny as the idea of showing up with Sebastian on his arm to some team event would have been, this was easier.
Was Tanner obnoxious as shit? Yes.
Was the entire team too damn nosy for Luke’s taste? Also yes.
Were they genuinely decent dudes who he was lucky to play with … the jury was still out on that one but, well, all signs pointed in that direction.