Chapter 13
EVAN
We did not beat Alan Channing and his team of three that afternoon. Perry skipped an awesome game but the one thing no one expected to face that day gave Alan’s crew an advantage over us that we just couldn’t get our heads around.
Turned out the Darren brothers went straight to the press about being dropped from Channing’s team. The number of cameras and sheer volume of people crowded into the rink was so overwhelming Channing decided to hold an impromptu briefing to explain the situation.
“Curling has a code of conduct,” he said into the array of phones and mics pointed at him. “There are certain expectations the Darrens are not prepared to meet at this time, so we were forced to part ways.”
Shaw snorted. “No mention that one of them punched the rival Skip in the face, I see.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Perry said. “Let him handle it. He’s used to the press circus. I want to go inside and get ready to play.”
I caught Alan’s eye as we passed and he nodded, then said something I didn’t hear, but that drew everyone’s attention away from us and back to him. We walked into the venue undisturbed, and that was nice of him.
It was no surprise that the press was not nearly satisfied with Alan’s explanations so they hung around filming the game and asking questions of anyone who stood still long enough to have a recording device shoved in their face.
Thankfully, they didn’t bother the players on the sheet so we were spared once we were out there. That didn’t stop anyone else who’d heard the story from splashing it out though, and every one of the vultures wanted to talk to Perry the second the game was over.
Not surprisingly, the circus made it hard to concentrate and had me jumping and dancing and Perry getting quieter and quieter.
Oddly, the madhouse around us today did not affect his game play.
His focus was all on the frosty ice and the way the humidity from so many bodies affected the curl of the stones.
He made calls that wouldn’t have worked yesterday, but we trusted him, and I could honestly say we played one of our best games to date.
I wasn’t mad it wasn’t quite good enough to beat Channing, but proud it wasn’t a blow out.
“That could have gone better,” he said after the last end.
“It could have gone a lot worse,” Darby said. “You called a great game.”
“Thanks.” He smiled thinly. “I need to get out of here.” He said it into the small circle of our team, quietly, as the announcement of the winners was happening over the speakers.
“We have to stay for the awards,” I reminded him. “It would be rude not to.”
Perry nodded and took my hand. “Let’s just stay out here until we have to go up,” he suggested. “I don’t want to talk about this.” He indicated his bruised face and blackened eye.
“Yeah.” I kissed the back of his hand and we slid over to the near end of the sheets where we could stand out of view of the bar windows above.
“I don’t even know how we’re going to get past all of that.”
“Ask Alan to run interference like he did so we could come inside?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “First names?”
“He said so last night.”
That got me a snort. “I guess we’ll see.”
“I didn’t misread this morning, did I?” I asked, suddenly feeling queasy that I’d got his intentions wrong.
“No, baby, you did not.” He took the moment, under cover of the upper story overhang and out of sight of the cameras, to kiss me. Soundly. “We’ll see,” he repeated.
“If he comes back around?”
“We’ll see.”
Guess that was the only answer I was going to get.
“Don’t worry, guys,” Darby said. “While the media were ignoring me, I did some logistics. Mike said when we’re ready, to go down through the boiler room and out the basement door to the back lot. I’ll text him when it’s time and he’ll meet us in the basement.”
“Shouldn’t be any reporters back there,” Robbie agreed. “And I got us a ride so y’all don’t have to hoof it.”
“You guys are great,” Perry told them. “And I love your roommates, Robbie.”
Robbie sighed. “Same.”
Shaw shook his head. “Dude, just tell the guy you want to fuck his brains out and get on with it.”
“He’s not gay.”
Shaw leered at him. “Not yet.”
“Fuck off.”
“Come on,” I said. “We are fully taking advantage of Robbie’s crush to get the hell out of dodge.”
“He’s not my crush,” Robbie grumbled, but before we could take action, the announcements broke through, and a runner came to get us for the awards.
We weathered the cameras clicking and the weird pauses created by people filming what was going on.
“Why does anyone care?” Robbie whispered.
Standing next to Robbie, hair more purple today than I remembered from last week, Carol Renard chuckled. “They all want to know who almost beat their Olympic hopefuls.”
“Hardly almost,” I said.
“No, you guys made us work for it. That’s not nothing for a house team.”
I grinned at him, blew across my nails and polished them on my shirt, which got a laugh from him and a camera flash from somewhere in the crowd.
“God they never stop, do they?”
“Probably won’t until there’s a team again, but they’ll follow us, I think, and you guys can go home safely.”
“I hope so.” For Perry’s sake.
That’s when the tournament sponsor began naming off the winning team, and his wife handed out the prize mugs for Channing’s team, pens and notebooks for us, and keychains for the third place team from Thunder Bay.
To their credit, Channing’s guys accepted their rinky-dink mugs with huge smiles and handshakes, like they were gold medals. The rest of us took their lead, and a lot of pictures were taken.
As soon as we could slip away after that, Darby led the way towards the far door down to the sheets and from there to the service hallways, which were blessedly empty and quiet after the chaos of the rink and bar.
We’d made it all the way to the boiler room, through, and out the back door before the calm was shattered by a familiar, unwelcome voice calling out our location.
Darby groaned. “I’m going to kill him. And uninvite him to Christmas, but first I’m gonna kill him.”
His cousin Andre pointed us out as a few reporters and internet vultures ran around the corner of the building to cut us off from our ride.
“Fucking hell,” Shaw muttered. “Back inside?”
“I’m not getting trapped in the boiler room by a bunch of nosy assholes,” Perry decided, and stepped out of the doorway to get to Robbie’s friend’s SUV.
“Perry Hastings! Is it true you goaded Jason Darren into a fight to take his spot on the Olympic team?” someone shout-asked.
“Mr. Hastings, did you really proposition Mr. Darren, prompting him to defend himself physically?”
“They could at least get my name right,” Perry grumbled.
“Mr. Hastings, please tell our followers why you came to blows with the Darren twins.”
So many questions fired so fast, they all got lost in the noise. Perry ignored them all. Right up until someone asked if I had started the fight out of jealousy.
I swear I saw smoke spew from his nostrils as he turned on the questioner.
“Per—”
He held up a hand, catching mine and holding on tight.
“Take a good pic of this,” he said, pointing to his black eye.
“And of Jason’s face, and maybe his knuckles, then ask him again who threw punches and why.
I came here today with my team to play a clean game of curling.
We did that, and I’m proud of how my guys conducted themselves under all of this unexpected stress today.
Now if you don’t mind, we’d all love to get home to our families and celebrate a well-played game, and a well-played tournament.
Have a nice day, y’all.” He waved and turned his back.
“Is it true you and your second are your own family, Mr. Hastings?” someone asked.
Before Perry could even decided if he wanted to answer that, Shaw stepped up to the guy. “That’s no one else’s business. But if you insist on asking about private lives, I’ll let you know now, I have a huge crush on another guy. I’ll probably ask him out later.”
“Same,” Darby spoke up, waving a hand in the air. “Gay as a hatter over here.”
“Oh thank god,” Shaw whispered, though I think I might have been the only one who heard him.
“Me three,” Robbie chimed in.
“So the whole team is gay?”
“Who cares?” Shaw asked.
Perry squeezed my hand and I nodded. No one would talk to me for more than three minutes and not know I was gay. I had no interest in pretending otherwise, so it wasn’t like he was outing me to anyone with a brain and eyes in their head.
“I’m going to guess that most of you asking these questions have no idea how the curling world works.
If you did, you’d never ask such invasive questions.
Yes, if you want to know, Evan and I are together.
Yes, the whole team is gay. What that has to do with the game, I have no idea, but now you know.
Can we go home now, please? My face hurts. ”
The guy who’d asked the gay questions turned three shades of red and moved out of our way.
“And make sure you spell his last name right,” Shaw said as he passed. “There’s no ‘s’ on the end.”
“Right. Of course.”
The other reporters also moved.
“Thank you,” I said to them as they parted to let us pass. I leaned in and kissed Perry’s cheek. “Very nice.”
“Considering I really wanted to punch something.”
“That’s why you rock and the Darren twins do not.”
“Just get in the car, babe.”
“Getting.”
It was a crowded ride back to our building, where Shaw had parked. He and Darby said their goodbyes and left to carpool back out to the back of beyond.
“Think they’ll make out in the back seat?” Robbie asked.
I raised an eyebrow at him and glanced pointedly to the back of our ride’s head.
“No,” Robbie warned. “Do not.”
“I didn’t.” I grinned at him. “Good luck with that, though.”
He sighed. “I’ll need it.”
“Fortune favours the bold, or some shit.”
“Whatever. See you Tuesday for practice?”
“Tuesday.”
We waved them off and had only just turned towards the building, patting our pockets for the keys, when a familiar black pickup rolled into one of the visitor parking spots.
“Looks like he came around,” I said.
Perry drew in a shaky breath and nodded.
“I can make him go away,” I promised. “Just say the word.”
“Wait and see.”
Why was I not surprised that was his response?