Chapter 14
VASILY
Getting through the airport and security was never fun under the best of circumstances. When one of us was on crutches, the other had his mouth wired shut, and we were both hopped up on pain meds? Not great.
Fortunately, Ryan and another staff member were flying with us. They helped us both navigate checking in, getting through security, clearing customs, and finding our gate.
By the time we’d reached our gate, my injured leg was throbbing mercilessly, and my other hip and knee were pissed off too.
Taylor looked even more miserable than I felt.
His face was swollen and bruised, and I knew from experience that having the jaw wired shut was uncomfortable as hell.
Especially when it was still sore from being freshly broken.
I eased into the chair beside his and leaned my crutches against the one beside me. “How do you feel?”
The miserable sound he made was answer enough.
Ryan peered down at both of us. “Well, I’d say don’t go anywhere, but I think I’d be preaching to the choir. Do either of you need anything?”
I shook my head. So did Taylor, though the gesture was subtle.
Ryan nodded. “All right. I’ll be back.” He and the staffer left, probably in search of food.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything?” I asked Taylor. “I know there isn’t much you can eat, but…”
He gave another subtle shake of his head. “I want coffee, but I can’t have anything hot or cold yet.”
I grimaced. “That sucks.”
“Eh.” He shrugged tightly. “Not much I can do about it.”
“I’m sorry. And I hate that you got hurt because of me.” I paused, then chuckled. “Though, fighting for my honor? That’s kind of romantic.”
He rolled his eyes and gave a quiet huff of laughter; probably the best he could do with his face swollen and his jaw wired shut.
“Seriously, you didn’t have to.” I paused. “But I did watch the replay. You’re hot when you’re angry.”
That made him laugh a little harder, which made him wince.
I grimaced. “Sorry.”
“Eh. I was thinking the same about you. You just score when you’re mad. I…” He gestured like he was punching someone.
“I do that too sometimes.”
He eyed me, some interest sparking in his expression despite the pain and swelling.
I just laughed. “ After my knee heals. Again.”
That got me a subtle smile. Even with his face bruised and puffy, his faint smile was adorable. God, I was so ridiculous for this man already.
Though we were out in the open, I slipped my hand into his. “Well. For the moment, I guess we have time. You know, to just be together before we’re reactivated.”
Taylor turned to me, his eyes endearingly pitiful above his swollen cheeks. “I won’t be able to do much with my mouth.”
I smiled, let go of his hand, and wrapped my arm around his shoulders. “Is all right. We’ll be together.”
He sighed, but didn’t speak. I pressed a kiss to his forehead. For a long time, we just sat like that.
Then Taylor tensed. “Shit. We’re out in public. I don’t?—”
“I don’t care.”
He looked up at me, his eyes tired but clear.
“If people find out…” I half-shrugged, smoothing his hair.
He swallowed. “Are you sure? Because I don’t mind, but if you’d rather…”
“I thought I did. But… now it just doesn’t seem as important.” I tilted my head. “Are you sure?”
He nodded slowly, and the corner of his mouth twitched as if he were trying to smile but couldn’t quite manage it.
“I’m dating Vasily Abashev.” He struggled to pronounce my name, thanks to the state of his mouth, but he got it out.
“I just hate that things went to shit right after we got started. We didn’t even get a chance to enjoy being together before… ” He gestured at his face, then my leg.
“I know. It sucks.” I pulled him closer and kissed his temple. “We can still be together, though. It just might not be as fun as the other night. Not for a while.”
“Dammit,” he grumbled.
I chuckled. “I still want to do this, though.”
“Me too.” He looked up at me again. “Guess this will give us time to get to know each other. And we won’t be on the road for a while.”
“It will. I think we’ll be fine.”
He nodded a little, then relaxed against me.
Someone walking past shot us a look I couldn’t quite read.
I was still kind of fuzzy from drugs, pain, and lack of sleep, but I wasn’t even sure if I could’ve read their mind on a good day.
Maybe they recognized us. Maybe they just weren’t expecting to see two men cuddled up together.
Or, hell, maybe they were wondering what the fuck happened to us, since we were probably a sight.
It occurred to me that if someone snapped a photo of us and posted it online, people would know we were dating.
Even if they didn’t immediately recognize Taylor, anyone who knew how I’d gotten hurt would quickly realize that the man sitting next to me—the one with the broken jaw and my arm very comfortably around his shoulders—was Taylor Wilson.
They would know that I was seeing someone else within the Seattle Rainiers organization.
Not a teammate right now, but possibly one in the future.
And since we’d both been in Vegas prior to coming to this club, I could see rumors flying that something had started before one or the other of us came to Seattle. Maybe that was why I’d come to Seattle—to be with my boyfriend who’d been traded to Everett.
During my time with Drew, the thought of those rumors flying would’ve had me panicking and wondering how in the world I could ever do damage control.
With Taylor… I don’t know. It just didn’t bother me. If people knew, they knew. If rumors started spreading, then rumors started spreading. I had nothing to hide, and Taylor clearly didn’t feel the need to hide me. That was a huge switch from what I’d had before.
A season or two ago, I’d have worried about being openly gay on a team managed by Jack Hayes, but his homophobic ass had been fired before I’d signed with Seattle.
There were multiple openly gay players on the Rainiers.
Hell, the head equipment manager—Jack Hayes’s son, no less—was marrying one of my teammates this summer.
And apparently the Orcas had pretty much clocked Taylor and me from the start. If the Rainiers found out we were together—oh well. If the public found out—fine. I just wasn’t as stressed about it as I thought I’d be.
I’d always expected that it would take a long, long time for me to trust again after Drew.
And maybe, to some degree, it would. Taylor and I had only just started seeing each other—hell, even getting to know each other.
Relationships took time, and trust took time to build, but I wasn’t anxious about it with Taylor.
I wasn’t waiting for the other shoe to drop.
We’d take our time and see where things went, and by some miracle, he didn’t seem to think it was a massive imposition to be patient and let things happen organically.
Even now that sex was off the table for a while, he was still leaning against me.
He’d been asking for me at the hospital, driving Coach Bower, Ryan, and the nurses nuts until Ryan finally acquiesced and rolled me over to his room.
There was no telling where things would go with Taylor, especially not this early on, but I wasn’t stressing over it. I was looking forward to seeing where the future took us.
Even while we recovered from our injuries, we had months to just be together.
And when we both eventually returned to the ice…
I believed to my bones that I’d still have this beautiful man.