Chapter 29
PERRY
The atmosphere in the arena for the first game was so light, so happy, it felt like a natural extension of the team itself.
It was clear where the crowds’ hearts were, and I put that down to Alan’s calm leadership, and Evan’s beautiful heart that he willingly put on display before anyone could rip it open for him.
I couldn’t help but feel a bit bad for the Pickering team. Then I remembered throbbing cheekbones and black eyes, and felt a little less sorry for them. After all, they had picked the Darrens so they could deal with that choice.
It wasn’t surprising to see that their team wasn’t as cohesive as ours. We’d already ironed out a lot of our glitches, making communication easy, so even when an end didn’t go our way, we could regroup because we were all in the same headspace.
“Do you think we’ll still be hearing from Curling Canada or the Olympic officials?” I asked Alan during a momentary break between ends.
“Maybe. The answer is the same now as it was yesterday though. If they say anything about our relationship, of how they would like us to behave, we ask them if they would like that in writing for our lawyers, and would they please make the same demands of the heterosexual couples on the ice.”
We already knew the mixed doubles team included a husband and wife duo who both already had Olympic records of their own.
“Fuck, I hope it doesn’t come to that,” I said, thinking how much it would suck for them to have a spotlight on their relationship, rather than their game. On the other hand, wouldn’t it be nice to show people their biases in simple black and white?
He put an arm around my shoulders and told me to look at the crowds in the stands.
“Those are the people who matter here. Organizations and committees don’t want to be on the wrong side of the people who bring in the money and attention, and that’s the fans.
Right now, we have them on our side. I feel bad for the twins.
They could have just as much support, have all the underdog energy, if they would just stop being douche canoes. ”
I grinned. “Yeah.” I touched my cheek. “Poor guys.”
Alan gently kissed the spot that had once sported bruises, then gently eased me away. “Go take your shot, darling. We have a gold medal to win, and a country to represent.”
We did win that first-of-three game. It wasn’t a blowout, but it wasn’t a nail biter, either.
We went into game two with confidence, and immediately, the twins engaged a new strategy, trying to distract and sidetrack us and run our game clock down with nasty banter every time we had to deliver a stone.
“Ignore them,” Alan advised.
Evan scowled at him. “If they say one more mean thing about Perry—”
“Ev.” Alan clamped a hand on his shoulder. “Who cares what they say? They want to take you out of the game. Don’t let them.”
“You’d think a grown-ass adult wouldn’t still react to bullies,” he said. “But I can’t help it, when they mock.”
“You’d think grown-ass adults wouldn’t still be bullies. Yet here we are. Don’t sink to their level.”
“He’s right, Ev,” I said. “They can mock me all they want. Seriously. If the best they can do is make fun of my hair and call me fem, whatever. Playgrounds are more vicious than that these days. Let it go and focus on the game. We’re here for a bigger reason, yeah?”
He nodded and I let out a relieved breath. “Good deal. Let’s get this end started.”
I got it. I really did. I knew they were picking on me because it got to Evan. It was the only way to get through his tough skin. He didn’t care what people said about him. He cared about me and they knew that.
So I spent as much time between him and them as the game would allow and noticed that Carol did the same when I couldn’t. The only good thing about the situation was that it kept me from getting in my head about the crowds and the cameras.
Going into the eighth end, having the hammer, with the score in our favour by three points, I felt good about the game. Not cocky. But optimistic.
Which, of course, is when Jason decided words weren’t enough anymore.
No one would be able to prove what was in his head, so we had no way to prove he’d done it on purpose, but as Evan was about to step onto the ice off one of the bumpers, Jason brushed past him and got his broom tangled in Evan’s legs, causing Ev to go down like a sack of potatoes.
I was halfway down the ice when I saw him fall and could have sworn I heard his head hit the ice from there.
“No fucking way,” I whispered as I stood, frozen, while Alan rushed forward and Michael ran from the coach’s area onto the ice.
The umpire called a stop to the game instantly.
Jason’s Skip stormed over and cornered Jason away from our team, looking furious.
I could not catch my breath.
True, it couldn’t be proved, but the asshole made it very obvious he had done it on purpose: he looked over his Skip’s shoulder, straight at me, and smirked.
He’d done it because he hadn’t been able to distract Evan from the game enough with his sly comments about me.
But he could take us both out of the game like this.
“Perry.” Robbie’s voice came through the fog to me. “Perry, my dude. Blink. Sign of life here, buddy.”
I did blink, managing to focus on him, and he smiled in relief. “Ev,” I said stupidly.
“He’s okay. Rattled, but okay. We have to regroup. Medical is taking him out because he hit his head, but he’s fine. And I got you guys.”
I nodded. “I have to…”
“Of course you do. Come on.” He took my arm and led me over to where Evan was getting up with Alan’s help.
“Ev?”
He didn’t even say anything, just took me in a tight hug and kissed my neck where his face landed. “I’m okay,” he whispered, then stayed with his arms around me until I finally hugged him back.
A cheer rippled through the crowd and got louder when Alan leaned in and kissed both our heads.
“Can we finish this game?” he asked quietly. “I want to bury these jerks.”
Evan nodded and let me go, but only to look into my face. “You got this, Pere. I promise you I’m okay. Do not let that asshole take you out of the game too.”
“N-no. Yeah. I got this.” My words sounded hollow. How was I going to focus without Evan there? Fucking asshole had known exactly how to get to us. To me.
“I’m going to sit with Jacob and Em, and Shaw and Darby. You are going to finish this game and trounce the fuckers.”
“Language,” Alan muttered.
Evan covered his mic with a hand. “I’ve been a very good boy, daddy,” he said without looking away from me. “I deserve a good bit of cussing right now.”
Alan chuckled and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him sideways against his chest to kiss his hair again. “Agreed. Now. Tell me how to get our boy back.”
“Perry?” Evan cupped my face. “You remember that night you quit your job? You said you had to focus on the new dream?”
I nodded.
“This is that dream. We are going to do this so, snap out of this funk and win this for me, yeah?” He leaned in so his mouth was close enough to my ear his lips brushed skin.
“You are going to get the best fucking of your life tonight if you win this for me. And I’m not talking about you inside me either.
” He kissed my cheek and slid far enough away I couldn’t reach him.
“Who’s your daddy?” he asked, winked, then let the medical team guide him off the ice.
I blinked after him.
“What was that?” Alan asked.
“I think…” I covered my mic and whispered, “I think he just pimped you out to fuck me if we win.”
Alan paused, watching him for a heartbeat, then he shrugged. “I like this incentive actually. Come on.”
As we got ready to resume play, it irked me that Jason was allowed to keep playing while Evan was not. The sympathetic look we got from the umpire told us even they knew he’d tripped him on purpose, despite the lack of proof. It hadn’t been an accident.
Well, fuck that asshole. If he thought that was going to take me out of the game, he hadn’t counted on my team rallying around me and the power of pissing me off.
Maybe his plan might have worked had Evan been truly hurt but since he wasn’t, all it accomplished was to further bond us in our desire to annihilate his team. RIP the rest of them, but they had chosen to play with a couple of snide, selfish asshats.
I knew when Alan sent me down the ice to provide a target for Robbie’s practice shots that he had done it to distract me.
It was a good move on his part and I leaned into it, giving Robbie a few harder shots to execute because I could see the lines and knew if he got his weight right, he could make them even without sweepers.
And he did because as he’d said at the press conference, he had our backs. He was ready and I loved this for him, being an even more real part of our path to the Olympics.
I probably should not have taken quite so much glee in the anticipation of watching Jason see his plan backfire in his face. But I was only human and he had come after one of the guys I loved, so…
Well, shit. I straightened as Robbie released his last practice shot, and searched out Alan. The other guy I loved. He smiled at me, like he knew exactly what was going through my head.
Jason Darren would not know what hit him when he realized he’d messed with the wrong family.