Chapter 2 #4
That was the reason Hank was so captivated, he told himself. He’d never wanted to join the joke before. Always been too focused on hockey. On the next step, and the next step, and the next. What he had to do to get there. All those expectations—others, sure, but mostly his own—pushing him forward.
“Not so little though,” Ethan teased.
Charlie shot him a faux-glare, and the whole group was laughing again.
An hour later, the group was breaking up, ready to head back to their condos and apartments and hotel rooms to get ready for the next day of work.
Hank was surprised to find Charlie next to him.
“Hey,” Charlie said, all deceptively casual.
Unlike his brother, there was nothing casual about Charlie Barnes.
It was so obvious to Hank that Charlie’s surface-level affability hid an intense inner drive.
Why? Because Hank had that same one, he just didn’t mask it nearly as well as Charlie did.
“Hey,” Hank said back.
Charlie had done the bare minimum the last few years, when Hank had been up with the Bandits.
Not unfriendly, but not exactly friendly either.
Like he’d told Ethan earlier, Hank hadn’t exactly been welcomed into Charlie’s clique of two.
Which was why he was a little surprised Charlie was approaching him now.
“That was a good night,” Charlie said, still easy. But there was an intensity about him that was just unmistakable. Like he was vibrating inside, on a level that nobody else could see.
“Yeah,” Hank agreed. He should say something else.
Charlie was the kind of person whose friendship he should be cultivating.
If Hank got the call-up he wanted and expected, then Charlie would be on the team, unlike Ethan, who, best-case scenario, wouldn’t be joining the Bandits until the following season.
“You and Ethan seem like you became fast friends.”
Hank told himself not to freak out. Charlie wasn’t here to interrogate him about Ethan—or to tell him to stay away from him. He was just making friendly conversation. Something Hank should be making an effort at, too.
“He’s a cool kid,” Hank said and then immediately winced. Ethan was nineteen; not a kid.
Charlie raised an eyebrow. “And he thinks I baby him.”
“I’m not—I just—” Hank quit while he was still ahead. Though he wasn’t sure that was actually true. Uncomfortably aware that he was probably turning bright, bright red.
“Dude, bud, Barney, are you making Tuck squirm?” Danny showed up then, slinging an arm around Charlie’s shoulders. “That’s not very chill of you. Not when he’s been cuddling up so nice to the baby bro.”
“You’re annoying,” Charlie said, shucking Danny off him, but Danny wasn’t deterred. Which was pretty much par for the course for Danny.
Danny turned to Hank. “He being cool?”
“Uh, yeah. Sure.”
Danny rolled his eyes. “Don’t be afraid of Barney, even with all his points and pretty-boy looks. He takes a shit just like the rest of us.”
“Danny,” Charlie squawked. “You’re such an asshole.”
“Kinda yeah,” Hank agreed.
He hadn’t been a huge fan of whatever Charlie was gearing up for, but he didn’t deserve for Danny to embarrass him about it, either.
Danny nodded sagely. “Taking Charlie’s side. Smart move, man. I respect it.”
“What’s going on here?” Max popped up then. And that was bad enough, but then there was Ethan, too, right behind him.
Charlie flushed. “Nothing. Just Danny thinking he’s funnier than he is.”
“Oh, so he’s giving you shit, like normal,” Max said, and Charlie made a face.
Max tucked an arm around Charlie’s waist, tugging him in, and Hank noticed that he didn’t immediately push Max away, like he had Danny.
When he looked at Ethan, Hank realized with a jolt that Ethan was already looking right at him. He shot a pointed glance at Charlie and Max and then waggled his eyebrows. Hank tried, but he couldn’t help the laughter that burst out of him.
“Okay, maybe I’m funny, but Tuck here thinks the baby is the funniest,” Danny observed.
Charlie cleared his throat. Max looked confused. Danny shot him a knowing look.
Hank was suddenly, uncomfortably aware that maybe these guys had all clocked it.
But clocked what. He wasn’t queer. He wasn’t into Ethan, not like that.
He hadn’t even thought Ethan was queer either.
Both his older brothers were out and proud, so it wouldn’t have made sense to hide it.
Maybe only if he wasn’t ready, but everything about Ethan Barnes screamed confidence.
“It’s cute,” Ethan said, dimple emerging again as he grinned. “You wanna share an uber, Tuck?”
He did. He really did. But he shouldn’t.
Not with Charlie looking on like that, not with the pressure of his own expectations weighing on him, too.
His own plans. Syracuse for a few months and then the roster.
And then next season? Off his entry-level contract and onto the NHL roster full-time, no moving back and forth.
“Uh,” Hank said. “I’ve got one on the way already.”
Ethan’s smile barely flickered.
“Come on,” Charlie said, “you should come with me and Max anyway.”
Ethan made an exaggerated grimace. “Ugh, not you two again.”
“What about us—” Max started to ask, always worried about how he, the captain, would come across to others. But Charlie just interrupted him.
“Ethan’s just being a sulky idiot,” Charlie inserted.
“Right,” Max said.
“It’s just the opposite way,” Hank said weakly.
Danny gave him a single nod, like he got it. Like he understood. But how could he?
Hank barely understood it himself.
Shit. Shit. Hank needed to get his head screwed on straight. There were only a few days left of development camp, and he needed to keep making a good impression on the coaching staff, and on Inverness—at least if he wanted to have a shot in hell of getting called up this year.
“Pavs, you’re at the hotel with Tuck, right?” Max spoke up, that certain tone in his voice that always appeared when he was captain-ing. “You guys can share. I’ll go with Barney and Ethan.”
It was the right call. One hundred percent the right move.
But even after Hank climbed into the car with their gigantic Russian rookie goaltender, all he could think was what if he’d followed Ethan wherever he wanted to go.
What would have happened?
Nothing, Hank told himself firmly.
He was here for hockey. Not to become besties with the youngest Barnes.
Even if the youngest Barnes seemed to want to become besties with him.