12. Tennant #3
“It’s no one. Look, who I have in my home is my business. Just as Ryker is. Yes, that’s my final word. Now drop this or I’m going to… Ev? You fuck, did you hang up on me?”
Face buried in the cushion, I heard the crunchy sound of cell phone meeting wall. I pushed myself onto my right side. Mads was standing in front of me looking like he was one blink from a full-on meltdown.
“You want a blowjob?” I asked.
Let’s face it, oral sex makes everything better. And he was naked and his dick was particularly tempting and I was kind of horny. Mads lowered his gaze from the phone-and-wall massacre to me. I gave him a quick waggle of an eyebrow. A creaky sort of smile appeared.
“I’m totally serious,” I said. “Blowjobs are the best.”
“Sex doesn’t solve every problem, Tennant.”
“So, are you saying you don’t want me to suck you off?”
“I’m saying that sex won’t make Ev less of a controlling… what’s that term you always use?”
“Dick sock?”
That one made him snort. “Okay, not that one, but it works.”
“Yep. So, about that blowjob…”
He sat down next to me, pulled me onto his lap, and just held me, his head cradled on my shoulder. He talked as he held me. Told me every damn sick thing that Ev—the cockmonkey—had ever done to him, his son, and Ryker’s mom.
“You okay?” I asked after several minutes passed with him stroking the tat on the back of my neck.
“I will be after a little more touching.”
“You want me to touch your dick?”
His big body shook with laughter. “My God, you’re single-minded. That will take you far in life.”
“Will it take me to your bedroom?” I wiggled around, bare ass rubbing on naked thighs.
“No, but it will take you a little deeper into my heart.”
He was lying. It did take me into his bedroom after just a little more wiggling. Never give up. Rules any coach and player should live by.
“Is there a reason you’re standing there staring at the closet?” Mads called as we were getting ready for bed that night.
I turned to look at him. “You made room for me.”
He nodded, and then went back to unbuttoning his dress shirt. I’d peeled my suit off as soon as we’d walked in and was now skipping around in just my briefs. Mads didn’t seem to mind.
“Are we sure this is what we want?” I asked.
“‘We’ as in ‘us’ or ‘we’ as in ‘me’?” He tossed the dirty shirt into the hamper.
“‘We’ as in ‘you,’ because I’m not sure if you get what that gesture means.” I waved a hand at the closet behind me.
“Tennant, I am fully aware of what making room for your clothes means.” A smile played on his lips. The man was so fucking lush, even with the shiner blooming. Fucking stupid Brady.
“If I do this, that means I’m going to have to come out. Like, there is no way we can live together with me not being out.”
“People do it all the time.” He picked my pants up from the end of the bed and chucked them in his hamper.
All this was getting overwhelming. Closet space, moving in, his clothes getting friendly with mine in his hamper, maybe coming out.
“Yeah, but we’re not ‘people.’” I tossed some air quotes up. “I’m Tennant Rowe. You’re Jared Madsen. We’re involved in professional sports. We have cameras in our faces all the time, Mads.”
“And that scares you.”
“I don’t know. Maybe a little, yeah.” I pushed my fingers through my hair. “I never wanted to be the gay hockey poster boy, Mads. I just want to play hockey and love who I love.”
“That would be me.”
“Yes, you massive dork, that would be you.”
He winked. I chuckled. The pressure eased off just a bit.
“Now I’m totally wound up because the thought of moving in here with you makes me feel like I just ate a live squid.”
“And that’s a good feeling, I assume?” He tugged his belt free from the loops of his pants, rolled it neatly and placed it into a dresser drawer. Mine was lying on the floor by the foot of the bed.
“Well, mostly, yeah,” I said, and then padded over to pick up my belt.
I handed it to him. He nodded, then rolled it up and laid it beside his.
I found myself staring at our two belts coiled up in that drawer.
“I really want to move in here with you. Bring my PlayStation and my piano and just be with you, but…”
“But the world.” He ran his hand over my biceps, pulling my attention off belts snuggling together.
“Tennant, I’m not going to rush you.” His eyes were so brilliant and warm.
Like a spring sky or a robin’s egg. “The space is yours whenever you decide to make use of it. I know you can’t just run home and grab your piano tonight. ”
“Right, because that old bitch is heavy and will not fit into any duffel bag I own,” I pointed out. My gaze moved to the mirror attached to the dresser. I saw Mads and me standing side by side in the looking glass. “What should I do?” I asked the blond man in the mirror.
“You do what feels right when it feels right,” he told my reflection.
“That’s no help at all.”
“It’s the best I can do. Let’s go to bed, Tennant. I’m tired and we have a game tomorrow.”
“Yeah, right.” I closed the belt drawer but left the closet open.