Chapter 36 Evan
EVAN
Being a hot, sweaty, commy mess was normally my job, but as Alan and I eased Perry down between us, his blissed-out expression made my heart clench with a weird sort of pride that I had done that.
Not by giving endlessly and relentlessly, but by letting him give something to me he rarely let himself give.
He barely stayed awake long enough for me to wipe my come off his face and for Alan to clean his ass. By the time we were done, he lay bonelessly between us, back tucked against Alan’s chest, his hand curled in my hair, legs twined with mine.
Alan reached past him to rest a hand on my waist. “You good?” he whispered past Perry to me.
I nodded.
“Words, precious.”
“I didn’t think he’d truly let go,” I admitted. “I thought it would be more of a struggle for him.”
“It might be, in the morning. This will either leave him more relaxed and able to enjoy the game again, or it will screw him into a mess and we might not win if that’s the case.”
“We might not anyway. The Swiss team is good.”
“They wouldn’t be here if they weren’t.”
“I don’t care,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“If we win. It’ll be awesome. But gold or silver.
” I sighed and reached to sweep some of his long black hair away so I could see his face better.
“Doesn’t really matter. We got here. We made it to that match.
I know the whole world is watching. I know Jacob won’t sleep tonight for worrying and being excited for me.
I know Perry’s family will still hate him, even if they pretend not to after this and that he’s over them.
Mikko and Robbie will still be dancing awkwardly around each other.
Michael and Carol will still be… whatever they are. ” I let out a contented breath.
“And tomorrow, you, Perry, and me will get up, shower, and still be in love. So all that is our life. Our friends and family who will be there, still want to curl, some of them, still love us. The three of us, still together. All of that, while a medal sits on a shelf and collects dust.”
“That’s a lot of words.”
I grinned. “I’m like that. I have enough words for three people.”
“You are. And you do. I couldn’t have expressed any of that better than you just did.”
“You’re not mad?”
“Why would I be?”
“It sort of sounded like we spent the last year working towards something I don’t really care about.”
“You say you don’t, when I know what you mean is that you care about us more.”
“Yeah.”
“So do I. But I want to win gold too.”
“Then let’s do that.”
He took his hand back long enough to kiss his fingertips, then press them to my lips.
I don’t know which of us fell asleep first, or who it was that yelled at our teammates to shut the fuck up and stop knocking, but when we all crawled out of the tangle of arms, legs, sheets and hearts, we were ready.
Gold medal or no gold medal, we were absolutely on top of our game and the world.
If Perry had any reservations about what had gone down the night before, he didn’t say so. In fact, he was more relaxed than I could remember, even fielding a phone call from his mother that he unceremoniously handed to Michael.
“What am I supposed to say to her?”
“Honestly, Michael, I could care less. I have no interest in anything she has to say, so you can handle it however you see fit.”
“But—”
Mikko took the phone out of Michael’s hand and waved the rest of us on towards the rink, falling back as he greeted her politely.
“That was unexpected,” Robbie said, turning to walk backwards and watch him.
“He’s doing his job, I guess,” Carol said. “Managing.”
“You aren’t the least bit curious?” I asked Perry.
“Either she wants something, in which case, she can go fuck herself, or one of them is dying and she’s mean enough to call and tell me ten minutes before I go play the biggest game of my life.
So again, fuck her sideways. No. I’m not interested.
” He took Alan’s hand, lacing their fingers, and leaned in to kiss my cheek. “I’m good. Got my family right here.”
It seemed he was telling the truth, because he walked out onto the ice in full control of his emotions, acting just like the Skip I remembered from before we joined Alan’s team, except without any of the nerves. That, and he didn’t actually call the game, because that was Alan’s job.
The intensity of his focus wasn’t so single-minded he didn’t see or hear what was going on around him, like had been the case during yesterday’s game. He didn’t stare down the house like he was afraid if he looked away, he’d lose his magic. He was intent but calm.
He was the man who had casually walked into a room at a party, tossed my shirt at my head and told me to get dressed because we were leaving. Like I had then, I followed him now, no questions asked.