Chapter 20
JAKOB
Itook a couple of Tums before meeting up with Zane. Don’t ask me why. By now, you should know. I will admit that I had even more reason than usual for feeling mildly sick in Zane’s presence.
He stopped by my place after practice mostly because I was alone and he had a roommate.
That seemed fine at first. I felt determined that nothing would happen.
Not everything goes according to plan, though.
Once inside my house, I snatched Zane, pulled him in close so our chests pressed together, and trapped him in a lip lock.
I closed the door behind us with my free hand, and Zane backed me up against it.
We were hungry. Voracious even. To tell you the truth, words like ravenous didn’t sound inaccurate to describe what we felt when our lips and tongues met. Our mild grunting noises underscored our hunger.
I broke away from Zane’s embrace before he could lift my shirt over my head or relieve me of any other clothing. Judging by the intensity in his eyes, he didn’t feel deterred, so I wiggled and squeezed past him.
“Don’t think you can take the heat, huh?” he asked.
“We should talk about some things first.”
I strolled into the kitchen and sat at the table while Zane remained at the door like a horny baboon.
“Um, you should probably come and join me, Zane.”
He hurried into the kitchen like he really had missed a step and sat across from me. I laced my fingers, trying as hard as I could to take this seriously.
“What do you want to talk about,” he said.
“Us.”
“Yeah, what about us?”
“We’re a couple.”
I spat the words out. Zane’s expression didn’t change, like my words had flown right over his head… You know, like most things.
“But we’ve never actually said that,” he said.
“I know we didn’t, but we’re a couple.”
“We haven’t even discussed whether we want to be one. I only went on that stupid date with you because you wouldn’t have sex with me again if I didn’t.”
“I know that, Zane. Nevertheless, we’re a couple. We can’t resist it and certainly can’t argue our way out of it. It is what it is.”
Zane tensed up like he wanted to object. Of course he did. He was Zane Hirst. He relaxed once he saw that I wouldn’t give up this fight anytime soon.
The Remington Riptide stared at me for a moment like he didn’t know what to say and hoped I didn’t either.
“Sometimes being a couple isn’t something you sit down and consciously decide,” I said. “Even making everything official isn’t the be-all and end-all necessarily. Couples are who they are. They don’t always choose it.”
I might’ve only known Zane for a month or so, but I knew what he was thinking. I also knew my words had penetrated that thick skull of his. Why else would I feel like we were a real couple?
He didn’t roll his eyes or sigh, but I knew I had him on the hook and that he absolutely hated it.
“So, we’re what?” he asked. “Boyfriends?”
I detected no contempt in his voice yet I could tell the realization didn’t thrill him either.
“I don’t know what to call it,” I said.
“Okay, boyfriends it is.”
“Should I let you know what I want for an anniversary gift?”
He snorted.
“And I guess we won’t be changing our relationship status to reflect our newfound situation, huh?” I asked.
“Damn right. You’re lucky I’m willing to go along with this insanity.”
“Insanity? I’ve given you the best sex of your life. You wouldn’t have blown your load nearly that hard fucking any of your girlfriends.”
Zane flashed him a wry grin.
Once, he imagined him thinking. You’ve given me one night of earth-shattering sex. Do you want a medal or something?
“There’s one thing we need to talk about though,” I said.
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“The fact that the Lions and Riptides are set to play each other again.”
Zane’s face didn’t turn ashen. Nothing dramatic like that.
His expression didn’t change either, which concerned me.
Normally, he would’ve dismissed my concerns as a nothing burger, but even a tree stump like him would’ve known better.
We’d gotten caught up in fun and games and forgot about the serious business that dominated our real lives.
“When do we play each other again?”
“Next week, at Remington.”
Now his eyes widened like a man caught in bed with another dude’s wife.
“Surprised?” I asked.
“I guess so.”
“I would’ve thought you would’ve known already,” I said. “I’ve known right along. We circle the dates we play you assholes.”
“We circle the dates we play you fuckheads too, and let me tell you, it gets us all fired up.”
Zane was full of shit. I didn’t need to have done the horizontal bop with him to know that. Basically, if he couldn’t come up with a decent response to something, he would say the first convenient thing, to avoid the awkward silence. That was how I knew he was full of it.
Unfortunately, I’d seen him do that on far too many occasions.
“Okay,” he said, “so we play each other again real soon. So what?”
“So what? Zane, don’t you understand what this means?”
“Of course I do. It means we’re going to mop the floor with you guys. That’s a given, isn’t it?”
“It wasn’t a given when we embarrassed you guys last time.”
“Yeah, but that was only because you…”
Even facts couldn’t shut Zane Hirst up completely.
“Don’t shoot the messenger,” I said. “I’m just bringing it up now because I know it’s going to be hard enough being boyfriends with someone who makes me sick without worrying about what happens on the ice.”
Zane furrowed his brow like he couldn’t take me seriously.
Deep down, I knew that being boyfriends alone served up a tall order even before you considered all the other crap.
The idea that anyone could be my boyfriend still sounded crazy.
That meant our relationship was about more than sex, even if sweating up the sheets remained Zane’s number one goal.
Now we had to think about how we would balance our relationship with high-stakes competition.
Zane could dismiss it all he wanted, but the moment of truth would soon arrive.
“We can’t tell anybody about us,” Zane said.
“I’m not stupid, you know. Of course we can’t, and for more reasons than one.”
“We can’t see each other before games either.”
“Kind of like not seeing the bride before the wedding, huh?”
“Fuck off.”
“That makes sense. We’ll both be pretty busy in the hours leading up to puck drop.”
“I was thinking we shouldn’t see each other at all for a day or two leading up to the game.”
I wanted to ask him if he was pulling my chain.
If I’d placed sex at the top of the agenda, his tone would’ve changed in a flash, but I would keep that in my back pocket for now.
He didn’t change expression at first, probably hoping I would understand.
When I didn’t respond, he stood up and paced the room.
“You know what’ll happen to me if they see me with you, being all friendly let alone, you know, friendly.”
“I do. Probably the same thing that the Lions would do to me if they caught me being all friendly with you.”
“String you up by the balls?”
“I can only hope they’d be that gentle.”
A laugh spilled out of his mouth. Sometimes you’ve got to joke to ease tense situations. Still, I couldn’t deny we seemed to dig ourselves in deeper by the day. It all seemed like fun, like forbidden fruit, with consequences we just didn’t want to consider.
“And when we’re on the ice, we need to pretend we don’t know each other,” he said.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, I’m serious. Do you know what they would say?”
“Do you wonder what they would say about you dating a guy? Or all the other stuff you’ve done with me that you can’t undo?”
Saying that reminded me of how inherently complicated our relationship was.
Beyond a rivalry, we would have to explain a relationship (and secret desires) we’d kept quiet from everyone.
Part of me still didn’t regret it. We couldn’t help what we felt.
No, more like we couldn’t help what had grown overwhelming.
“So, what’s the plan then?” I asked.
“We play the game like normal. Forget the fact that we’ve been down each other’s pants and ignore that we’ve fucked each other’s brains out.”
“Lovely imagery.”
“It’s just business. We’re playing hockey and competing. It’s that simple. We get that out of the way, and we can go back to gobbling each other’s cocks.”
Though I hated how pig-headed Zane sounded, I couldn’t deny that he had a point. Any other time, I would’ve totally agreed with him. Each team had business to take care of, and winning was everything.
“So, will there be any hard feeling when we beat your sorry asses again?” I asked.
“Oh, okay, are you so sure about that?”
“We did it once this year. We’ll do it again.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
“You won’t see anything. You’ll be laid out on the ice just like you were at the Colter Bay Grill.”
I stood up, wanting to joke challenge him. He glided up to me with ease, and I wrapped my arms around him so casually and squeezed. I kissed him like we’d done this a thousand times before. Now it felt as natural as breathing.
We shuffled over to the couch. I fell back onto the cushions and Zane landed on top of me. His rock-hard cock announced itself through his jeans. An erection throbbed in my boxer briefs, and he took it in his hand, kneading it.
For a moment, my troubles drifted away. Contact of that kind with a gorgeous man would do that for anyone. Over the next few hours, I totally forgot that another game between the Larkin Lions and Remington Riptides awaited.