CHAPTER EIGHT
Thad stood in his hotel room after dinner, still thinking about the way Graham had cornered him in the hall at the back of the sushi place as Thad came out of the restroom and muttered, “want to come to my room to watch a movie after dinner?”
On the surface, it wasn’t that weird of a question, even though it wasn’t something they’d done before.
Usually on road trips, Graham spent time with his teammates and Thad either hung out with the other people in the social media department or trainers or equipment guys, or, more often, went off on his own.
But there was nothing to say he couldn’t go to Graham’s room to watch a movie. There was nothing forbidden about it.
And yet, there had been something shifty and furtive about the way Graham had asked. A nervous, twitchy energy Thad had never seen him display before.
His thoughts immediately leaped to the reminder Graham was single now and he wanted to spend time alone with Thad in a room with a bed and …
Thad rolled his eyes at himself.
Jesus, was this what having a crush was like? It was honestly terrible. It made him start reading into things he had no business reading into. It was probably going to be a couple of guys hanging out and watching a movie, for fuck’s sake.
Which was why Thad changed from the charcoal trousers and dark blue button-down he’d worn to dinner into a Harriers tee and a pair of sweatpants that had been cut into shorts.
He exchanged his trouser socks for soft white crew socks and slipped his feet into slides before pocketing his key card and phone.
There, if that didn’t scream “buddies hanging out” he didn’t know what would.
Thad shot Graham a text saying he’d be there in a few, then walked to the elevator.
He caught a glimpse of Leah Fry—the strength and conditioning coach—disappearing into a room he was pretty sure belonged to Danny Foley—the video coach—but he looked away.
What his co-workers did was their own business.
Thad rode the elevator to the floor below where the players were staying. He could hear shouted laughter from one room he passed and some muffled explosions—guys playing video games, presumably—on his way to Graham’s room at the end of the hallway.
Thad took a deep breath, then rapped his knuckles against the door.
There was a bang and the muffled sound of swearing from behind it and Thad raised his eyebrows, wondering what the hell was going on in that room.
After a moment, the door flew open to reveal Graham had changed out of the tight white T-shirt and slim-cut black suit he’d worn to dinner. But unlike Thad, he’d gone for nice jeans and a maroon Henley that molded to his torso.
His cheeks were a mottled shade of red that clashed with his shirt, and he looked oddly flustered.
“Did I interrupt something?” Thad said, amused.
Mostly amused, anyway.
He was going to be pissed if Graham told him they were going to have to skip the movie because he’d gotten back together with Madison again and they’d been having phone sex or something.
That would be Thad’s luck.
Although, why could he smell movie theater popcorn wafting from the room? And too much of Graham’s cologne?
“What? No. You didn’t interrupt anything. Come in,” Graham said.
“Okayyy.” Thad took a couple of steps into the room and paused at the sight in front of him. “What on earth …”
The lights were off, the room lit by the TV and a bunch of what Thad assumed were battery-powered candles.
There was a huge pile of pillows against the headboard and a throw blanket draped on the neatly made bed.
Spread out on the desk was every movie snack Thad could imagine.
“Okay, so I kinda went overboard,” Graham said, sounding flustered and harried. “But can you like … at least come in far enough I can shut the door? I don’t want to have to try to explain this to anyone else.”
Explain what? Thad wondered as he stepped forward, still taking in the scene around him.
The snacks were all out of their packaging and neatly displayed in red and white striped cardboard containers.
What the fuck, Graham? Thad mouthed to himself as the door clicked shut behind him.
The room was even dimmer now and Thad suddenly realized they were alone. And this was kind of a … vibe. One that didn’t feel like buddies, that was for damn sure.
“What did you go overboard with, exactly?” Thad asked slowly, not sure if he was putting the pieces together right.
With his luck, Graham had set this up for Madison as an apology gesture—though how would that work if she was still back in Boston?—and was asking Thad for feedback or something.
“Umm, so I wanted to like … make this a thing,” Graham said, trying to wedge his hands into the pockets of his too-tight jeans.
“I can see that,” Thad said, still carefully choosing his words. “But I am not sure I understand why.”
“To like … impress you.” Graham’s swallow was audible.
“You wanted to impress me?” Thad felt a little dizzy.
“Yeah, you know. I mean I know we can’t like … be open about stuff. And I’m cool with that. But I am single now and I kinda wanted to like … show you I’m serious about you or whatever and—”
“Is this a date, Graham?” Thad asked, a little stunned.
“Um, if you want it to be.” Giving up on the pockets, Graham tugged at his shirt collar. “If you don’t then like … ignore it and we’ll go back to being—”
Thad stepped forward and cupped both of Graham’s warm cheeks in his hands. He abruptly fell silent, and Thad felt his jaw work as he swallowed.
“You fucking set up a secret movie night date for us in your hotel room?” Thad whispered.
“Uhh, yeah. Is that totally fucking dorky?” Graham’s face did something complicated.
“So fucking dorky,” Thad said tenderly. “But I am so into it.”
So into Graham’s earnest attempts at romance.
God, Graham was trying to romance him. What the actual fuck?
Thad had no idea how much he wanted that until it was offered to him but right now, he’d fucking fight with everything he had to keep anyone from taking it away.
Even Graham.
“Yeah?” Graham’s worried, miserable expression melted away into something hopeful. “You are?”
“You have no idea. I haven’t … God, I don’t know if ever went on a date to the movies,” Thad mused.
Graham looked startled. “Really? Cause all the guys said that was their first date. And like, obviously this isn’t my first first date but it’s my, um, first date with a guy and I thought that was kind of a big deal and—I should shut up now. I’m making myself sound even dorkier.”
“You are so dorky,” Thad agreed with a little smile. “But don’t shut up. I want to hear how you made this all happen. Tell me.”
He stepped back and took Graham’s hand, tugging him over toward the desk. “The snacks? Where’d you find all this?”
“I um, I went to a couple of places in the area and picked up food that seemed like it would be movie-themed, you know? Took a while to find the right containers but there was this party store. Not like a … um, liquor store party store but the kind with balloons and streamers and stuff for birthdays.”
Thad might actually die from how fucking adorable Graham was being, all nervous and rambly. And he didn’t think he’d ever called anyone adorable, unless they were under the age of about six.
“And the pillows and throw blanket?” he asked, gesturing to the bed.
Graham’s cheeks heated. “Well, I couldn’t do like … movie seating, obviously, but I thought it would be comfy, you know?”
“You carried all that through the lobby?” Thad said doubtfully. He and Graham were going to have a talk about how to fly under the radar.
“No! The snacks were in my backpack and I, uh, called down to the desk and asked if they could bring the pillows up. The throw blanket is from the boutique in the lobby, and they brought that up too.”
Thad whispered, “oh my God,” to himself because what the fuck Graham? What the actual fuck? Are you even real?
“The candles?” he asked in a louder tone.
“Umm, I thought they’d add some ambiance.
I know they’re not a movie thing, but I wanted you to know this was like a date, and I thought it was the most obvious date-like thing I could add.
They’re battery powered though because I was worried about setting off the smoke detectors and I figured the sprinkler system would turn on and we’d all end up on the street in front of the hotel and I’d have to explain why I had a shitload of candles burning … ”
Thad squeezed Graham’s hand, too overcome to manage anything else as Graham’s rambling slowed and finally halted.
This man. Seriously.
“I thought about doing a projector but that seemed a little over-the-top.”
Thad smothered a snort. No shit!
“But I got some speakers so we could have a surround sound experience.”
He looked so hopeful and eager Thad had to resist the urge to tumble Graham onto the bed and kiss him senseless.
Graham might have said he was fine with the idea of a penis, but Thad had a feeling he was maybe overselling how confident he was about shit.
And even if he was okay with that part, he was clearly nervous about the idea of dating Thad. Tonight was a big deal to him for some reason.
And, maybe it was a big deal to Thad too, weird as that was to admit.
So he tugged Graham over to the desk and surveyed what was on it.
Fuck, he wished he hadn’t eaten quite so much at dinner.
He’d gone a little wild with the nigiri and maki because he loved it and the team was paying for the high-end stuff instead of the grocery store shit he usually had to settle for.
“This looks great,” Thad said anyway.
He let go of Graham’s hand so he could dump a handful of popcorn into his palm and toss that into his mouth.
He shook half the container of Reese’s Pieces into the popcorn, annoyed when they immediately sank to the bottom.
Honestly, he preferred doing this in another container, when the popcorn was hot and he could shake everything up together and make the candy a little melty, but he’d have to make do.
He grabbed a cream soda—Graham definitely knew his favorite there—and turned to look at him.
“Okay, so I’m sorry I couldn’t get Reading Draft,” Graham said, biting his lip. “I couldn’t find it around here.”
Thad smiled at the reminder of the Pennsylvania-based brand. “It’s alright. I don’t even know if they sell outside of the state.”
“Do you want nachos or pretzels?” Graham asked, his tone hopeful. “I got those for you too.”
“Sure, sounds great,” Thad lied. “Gotta put this stuff down first.”
He carried it toward the bed, then abruptly stopped. “Which side do you want?”
“I don’t care, I’m fine with either.” The tilt of Graham’s chin was almost defiant.
Thad narrowed his eyes. Why did he have a feeling they were suddenly talking about something else? Something that had nothing to do with sides of the bed.
Whatever. They’d hash that shit out later. Way later.
Because Thad wasn’t getting his dick out tonight anyway.
He picked the far side of the bed and plunked the bottle of cream soda and container of popcorn and candy onto the nightstand before coming back to grab the pretzels and oozy fake cheese that had kinda congealed in the carboard tray.
Graham must have microwaved it.
Honestly, it reminded Thad of the shitty squeeze cheese from prison, but whatever. He would choke it down and assure Graham he loved it. Because he sure as fuck loved the spirit of it.
And he would have laughed at himself for being so goddamn into this whole dorky setup but he’d never … he’d never gone on dates.
He’d dated a few people in high school, but it had been more fooling around and hooking up at parties than anything formal. He’d gone to prom and stuff but only with hockey buddies and he’d never had a girlfriend.
Unlike Gavin who had been weirdly ballsy about dating guys in a time when that wasn’t done in the world of pro hockey, Thad hadn’t been open about the guys he’d fooled around with.
And then … he’d been in prison.
Thad had never fucking been on a date and while he thought affectionately of Teddy from time to time, they definitely hadn’t fucking dated.
Unless Thad counted Teddy occasionally giving him extra packets of ramen and zebra cakes from the commissary …
Thad kicked off his shoes, then got comfortable on the bed, stretching out his legs and throwing half the comforter over them, because they were cold from the AC.
Ahh, fuck, he was wearing sweats cut off into shorts and a ratty tee right now. If he’d known this was a date, he’d have dressed nicer.
He glanced up to see Graham staring at him from across the room, looking apprehensive.
Thad smiled. “C’mon,” he said. “You should get your snacks. Movie’s about to start any time, right?”
“Yeah,” Graham said a little hoarsely. “Yeah. It is.”
He grabbed food, then carried it over and set it on the nightstand, hesitantly sitting on the bed, then shooting Thad a nervous glance as if to ask if that was okay.
“What are you doing all the way over there?” Thad teased. “You don’t need to leave a whole seat between us. C’mon. Sit next to me. I don’t bite. Unless you want me to.”
He winked and reached for the beltloop on Graham’s jeans, tugging him closer.
Graham snorted and shifted over. “Oh my God. That was so bad. And you thought I was a dork.”
He reached for a cardboard container of nachos and cheese.
“Hey, I’m breaking out my best lines for you, baby,” Thad teased, knowing it would make Graham smile.
“Ouch,” Graham said, bumping their shoulders together. “That’s pretty sad then.”
“Hey, you’re the one who wants to date me,” Thad countered.
Graham got all flustered again, staring down at the food in his lap. “Yeah, I do,” he whispered.
And Thad had to reach out and squeeze his thigh for that.