Chapter Fourteen
Beau
Ifucked up so much during practice this morning, it was mortifying.
I should be ashamed of myself. I wasn’t good enough to be captain of this team.
I should take this C from my jersey and give it to someone else.
Someone who was worthy of wearing it. But honestly, it wasn’t my fault.
It was the text from Cole that threw me off my game. And then the one from Dean.
Cole: Ran into Dean at the apartment this morning and he’s coming to breakfast with us.
Dean: Yeah, so funny story. Cole found me at your place and now I’m going to breakfast with him. Don’t be too mad.
With us. Us! Us had to be with his grandparents. What in the actually holy hell?!
“You doing okay?” Wyatt asked as he skated up to me. His brows were furrowed in concern. “You’ve missed every shot you’ve taken. I know West is good, but he’s not that good.”
“I heard that!” Scott West, our backup goalie, exclaimed. Jax would be sitting this one out tonight because he had played last night.
Wyatt laughed when he glanced back before he turned his attention back to me. “Seriously, you can talk to me. I’m here for you, man.”
“Just having an off morning.” Which wasn’t exactly a lie.
All I could picture was Dean talking to Trish’s parents and what they must have thought about finding a strange man in my apartment.
But I was an adult. Trish had been gone for ten years, and I was allowed to date, wasn’t t I?
Even if it was another man. That sort of thing was acceptable now.
They seemed to accept Cole’s bisexuality without a problem.
Besides, they would want me to be happy.
They had told me that themselves. Numerous times.
Trish had said the same thing. Not to spend the rest of my life alone.
“Whitaker!” Coach screamed my name, bringing me back to reality. “Are you with us today or not?”
Apparently not. Everyone was staring at me.
I grimaced. “Sorry, sir.” I really was having an off morning. It appeared everyone had left the ice while I was still standing there.
Coach skated over to where I stood. “Are you okay? Is it Cole? Do you need to take some time off? You know you can come to me if you need anything.”
“Cole is fine,” I assured him. “Like I told Wyatt, it’s just me.
I’m just having an off day today. We all have them, right?
” I had managed to sleep amazingly well last night, though.
Better than I had in a long time. But that text had really thrown me off, and I wasn’t going to be able to concentrate until I spoke with my son and with Dean. And maybe my in-laws.
Coach nodded. “Well, my door is always open if you need anything.”
I made my way to the locker room, which was went deathly quiet the moment I walked in.
Asher and Wyatt were standing together, smirking at one another.
I made a mental note to speak to them about what was going on with them, and when I glanced over at Jackson, he looked up from his phone.
Which meant he knew what was going on now, too. Awesome.
“Everyone stop fucking staring at me and finish getting washed up and dressed. We have a fucking game to win tonight!” I sighed as I slumped down on the bench. “Don’t say a word,” I hissed when Jax sat next to me. “I can’t stop thinking about it, and it’s driving me insane.”
He grinned. “Wait until you see this.” He shoved his phone at me, and I stared at the photo of Dean and Cole.
I took in the flush on my son’s cheeks. The sparkle in his eyes. The way Dean’s arm sat around his shoulders. And jealousy ripped through my body so fast I nearly crushed Jackson’s cell phone in my hand.
“It’s just a picture.” I clenched my teeth.
“You tell yourself that.” Jackson chuckled as he stripped off his compression clothing. He fist-bumped Dillon as he walked by. “Your son has literal hearts in his eyes. You’d better tell Cole before he gets hurt. This could end very badly.”
That was the last thing I wanted to do to Cole. “I think it’s going to happen no matter what we do.” I dragged a hand through my sweaty hair and dropped my chin. “He’s going to hate me.”
“Maybe, but he’ll get over it. He’s sixteen. Plus, think about what will happen if you get married.” Jackson wiggled his brows.
“Excuse me?” I gasped, and when everyone turned to look at us, I waved my hand at them. “We’re fine. Mind your own business. “We’re not... doing that.”
I hadn’t even thought about that. What if Cole hated Dean after this? What if Dean and I fell in love, and we did get married? Would this ruin my relationship with my son? I wasn’t sure I could handle that. We had always been close.
Jackson snorted. “But what if you do? Man, think about it. If you tell him now, Cole will have time to recover. If you wait, six months or a year, it might be worse.”
“Fuck. Me,” I muttered.
Jackson shook his head. “You’re not my type, Beau. You’re too big and not pretty enough. No offense.”
“Yeah, well, you’re not my type either.” I rolled my eyes and stood up.
Jackson raised his brows at me like he could read my mind. “We both know that’s the truth. We obviously have the same type.”
I really wanted a hot shower and a hot meal right now. But I also needed to speak to Dean, too. “Grab something to eat with me when I’m done washing up?”
He nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
I LOVED PLAYING HOCKEY. It was what I wanted to do the first time I put on skates and held a stick in my hand, but what I didn’t like were the puck bunnies.
The desperate women who thought they could sleep with a hockey player, convince them to fall in love, and marry them.
Unfortunately, it was something that came with the game.
And as Jax and I left the arena, there were plenty of them waiting outside.
“Jackson! Is it true you’re engaged to the drummer from Mulligan Downtown, Maverick Frost?”
“Jax! Can I get a picture?”
“Beau, can I get a picture with you and Jackson?”
“Beau, how about I give you my number for later?”
We ignored them, because it’s what you had to do.
Most of them were there when we showed up for practice and would still be there when we showed up for the game later this evening.
Some of them would travel to the next game in Montreal.
How they could afford to go from game to game was beyond me, but that was none of my business.
There was a time, after I lost Trish and I was lost, I might have engaged in it.
A lot of us did, but now I was older and a lot wiser.
Before I met my late wife, I’d had my share of one-night stands, but I didn’t do that anymore. And I had Dean now.
We slipped into the waiting Uber. “Jesus, they don’t know when to do stop, do they?” Jackson muttered. “How did they even find out about Maverick? We haven’t told anyone but our friends and family.”
I shook my head. “They’re vultures, man. They found out about Cole before Trish and I even announced his name to the press. They’re better than any private detective out there.”
Jackson didn’t say anything as he stared out the window of the car, and I knew he was worried about Maverick. He was already struggling with his mental health. “Do you want to take a raincheck on lunch? Do you need to call your fiancé? I totally understand if you need to make sure he’s okay.”
“I mean, he was going to hang out with Sam today. Your sister is good with him.” Jax dragged a hand through his auburn curls. “I’m just nervous Maverick is going to look at social media and see something that might upset him.”
I nodded. “Sam can handle Maverick. They were going to breakfast...” And that’s when I realized I hadn’t checked my own phone. I yanked it from my pocket.
Sam: You’ll never guess who we ran into at breakfast this morning, big brother.
And right there was a picture of Maverick, Dean, Sam, and Cole. Son of a bitch.
Sam: You didn’t tell me Dean was friends with my nephew. You wouldn’t happen to know where those hickeys came from, would you? The four of us are heading to my place so I can fix Dean’s hair.
“Why do you look like that?” Jackson asked.
I showed him the picture, and he threw his head back, laughing. “I don’t know why you think this is so damn funny.”
“It’s a little funny. I mean, if you and Dean are going to do whatever it is you’re doing, you have to start telling people. They’re going to figure it out,” Jackson reminded me as the car pulled up in front of the restaurant.
I huffed. “She’s going to make me suffer.”
“Isn’t that what siblings are for?” He held the door for me as we went inside. The scent of fried food hit me hard, and my stomach growled in protest. How long had it been since I had a big, fat greasy cheeseburger? It didn’t matter. I would stick to my diet because that’s what I did.
Once we were seated, our food ordered and water before us, I leaned toward him. “Speaking of siblings, how’s your brother? You ever see him?”
“He’s not good.” Jackson chewed on his bottom lip. “He’s back home with my parents now, but I don’t think he’ll ever play again.”
Tom, Jackson’s younger brother, had a hockey accident which had left him horribly injured and with a serious case of PTSD. “Do you talk to him at all?”
“We text when Tom wants to text. Which isn’t often. He only goes out to his therapy appointments.” Jackson sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “He’s angry. I get that, but he’s not going to get better by hiding away in Canfield the way he does.”
I couldn’t even imagine what that was like. I had seen the highlight reel. Hell, everyone had. It was gruesome. “You should go see him.”
“I’m planning on it. I want Tom to be my best man.”
My phone buzzed again, and when I opened it, it was a picture of Dean with his hair damp with green hair dye, a big grin on his face. My heart thumped against my chest as a smile slid over my face.
Which was the exact moment I realized I might be falling for Dean Frost.