19. Chapter 19 #2
“Why aren’t we on the road?” Hank asked philosophically.
“Don’t worry.” Ethan’s grin turned sly. “I’m gonna take care of that.”
Hank almost told him no. Almost reached out and grabbed him again.
Stopped him. Because really, it was pretty fucking embarrassing.
They couldn’t wait to get their hands on each other enough that they were going to sexile Max from his own fucking apartment?
Embarrassment burned through Hank in an unsteady rush.
But accompanying that was a frisson of heat that had nothing to do with humiliation and everything to do with how much Hank really, kind of desperately, needed to get Ethan naked.
“Okay,” Hank said, and Ethan smirked.
“Finally,” Ethan said, tossing him one last promising look before he turned and started walking towards the locker room entrance, Hank trailing behind. “I knew you’d see reason eventually.”
The thing was, Hank just assumed—probably stupidly—that Ethan would be circumspect about it, and not announce thirty minutes later, in the middle of the locker room after narrowly edging the Senators, “Max, you need to go back to Charlie’s place tonight.”
Hank felt his entire face light up neon red as every set of eyes in the room turned in his direction.
There were some jeers. A few catcalls. Hank swore he heard someone say, “I’m not fucking surprised, not after that fight.”
Danny’s voice was more obvious, as it cut through the noise. “Yeah, you get it, baby bro.”
It was Charlie, not Max, though, who turned towards Ethan. “Oh, does he?” Charlie asked archly.
But Ethan just shot his brother a rather calm look back. “Yeah. You two are always snuggling up anyway. Do it at your place, instead of his.”
“Maybe we want to do it at his place,” Charlie said, more than a little self-righteously.
“Barney,” Max inserted gently, “it’s fine.”
“Is it though?” Charlie challenged. Not Ethan, though, Max. Which was really the only shocking thing—okay, maybe the only shocking thing after Ethan had decided to make this entire thing public—about the whole situation.
Charlie never disagreed with Max. Hank had never personally witnessed it, anyway.
It was kind of a whole thing: Charlie-and-Max-and-all-their-joint-fucking-decisions.
If Max was the team mom, then Charlie was the dad—or vice versa.
Hank still wasn’t quite sure which went where, but even though they weren’t the oldest guys on the team or the only guys who wore letters, that was how it was.
“Yes,” Max said, equally as softly. He didn’t touch Charlie, but the single word felt like a reassuring pat to the head.
Except that Charlie didn’t seem reassured. He was still frowning.
Hank had worried, at first, of course, that Charlie wouldn’t like it if Hank was obsessed with his youngest brother.
He’d worried about it for practically a whole fucking year.
But over time, that fear had melted away, because while Charlie gave Ethan crap about it, he seemed to alternate between gentle ribbing and outright acceptance.
Just when Hank was about to need to speak up and say, “I’m sorry, did I miss something?
” in a way that he really didn’t want to, because the whole team didn’t need to be involved in this, a dozen or so more voices joined in the conversation that should’ve stayed private to begin with, Avery spoke up.
Avery hadn’t said much in the locker room.
Sometimes Max would ask him something directly.
Sometimes Charlie would pull him in, deliberately.
But otherwise, he kept to himself. Quiet and focused, gaze locked on to his skates as he sat there, getting ready for a game or thinking about the game as it was happening.
Hank had heard the Mavericks had wanted to make him the captain when their C finally retired, but from what Avery had showed in the room so far, Hank wasn’t sure that rumor was actually true.
But Avery was the one speaking up now.
“Charlie,” Avery chided, even more gently than Max, “it’s alright. We can watch the Sea Monsters game. It’s on late. Sea Monsters versus Oilers. Who’s got the best power play, huh? I bet it’s Liv’s.”
If Hank was surprised, his own astonishment reflected back in Ethan’s face and maybe a few other guys on the team, then Charlie was shocked.
Max’s expression hadn’t so much as twitched, though.
“What?” Charlie asked, bewildered.
“Davo and Drai have nothing on Livvy, right?” Avery said, still casual, like he wasn’t picking his way in through the rubble and attempting to defuse a bomb.
Okay, maybe Hank had been wrong, and in fact, Avery was captain material. He was sure showing it now.
This was Max’s only blind spot when it came to his own leadership—Charlie and how deliberately careful he was about him.
“It’s fine,” Max said, cutting in now. He shot Ethan a reassuring smile and then turned it to Hank—who wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel right now. “We’ll watch the Sea Monsters game, yeah, Barney?”
“Yeah,” Charlie muttered and finished shucking off his equipment, heading to the showers without saying another word.
Hank might’ve thought that was the end of it, except for, naturally, Danny, who gave Ethan a not very subtle high five as he too headed towards the showers.
But then Avery came up to him, just as he’d finished stripping down to his base layer.
He and Avery hadn’t had very many conversations. Hank wasn’t dumb enough to think he had anything to say to Avery freaking Barnes. Never mind that Avery was also Ethan’s big brother. And Hank had stupidly thought that Charlie was intimidating. Ha.
“Don’t let Charlie get to you,” Avery said quietly.
Hank’s mouth dropped open and then he snapped it shut again because he probably looked dumb as hell. “What?”
Avery huffed out a little laugh. “Don’t let him intimidate you. He’s just . . . well, you and the rest of the world know what kind of baggage Charlie has—or else everyone thinks they know what kind of baggage he lugs around with him. But he’s a complicated person.”
“No shit,” Hank said and then wished he’d kept his fucking mouth shut.
But Hank jolted as Avery’s laugh deepened. He reached over and gave Hank a reassuring pat on the knee. “I like you, Tuck. You’re not freaked out by all this.”
That was absolutely not true, because Hank was, but the reality was Ethan was worth all the Barnes bullshit.
“Would you be pissed off if I said yeah, I actually am, but Ethan makes me want to deal with it?” Hank admitted.
Avery’s smile softened even further. He was a gentler, easier combination of his two younger brothers. Hank hadn’t seen it before but now he did. Wondered if Avery ever wanted to be seen apart from them, as entirely his own man, but had given that up a long time ago as a pipe dream.
“Told you I liked you, Tuck. Don’t worry about Charlie, okay? I know it seems like he doesn’t—well, that he might not like you and Ethan together, but that’s not true. It’s not about you at all. Not Ethan either.”
“It’s him,” Hank guessed.
Avery nodded. “You see it.”
Hank thought that he’d have to be a lot fucking dumber not to, but he didn’t say that.
“We’ll clear out, I promise,” Avery said, and before Hank could even parse that meaning and blush about it, he was already walking off.
“What did he have to say?” Danny caught his arm as he was heading into the showers and he was coming out.
“What did who say?” Hank asked. Surely Danny wasn’t interested in what Avery had said? Other than being a nosy gossip, Danny couldn’t possibly care about Avery’s opinion on Charlie and his hissy fit.
“Avery, of fucking course,” Danny said.
Hank shot him a look full of disbelief. “Really?”
“He just wants to run shit,” Danny muttered. “Max is our captain. Did you see how he undermined him in there?”
Hank hadn’t seen that at all. He’d seen Max have a rather . . . well, slippery grasp of the situation, which was par for the course when it came to Charlie, and then Avery step in and deal with his brother because he was his brother.
“Uh no?”
Danny rolled his eyes. “I don’t know where he comes off waltzing in like he’s God’s fucking gift to the blue line.”
Avery hadn’t really done that at all. In fact, he kept to himself and was generally pretty self-deprecating.
“First,” Hank said, trying for reason and to defuse the drama that was possibly brewing, “I kinda think he is. He’s really fucking good. Like Norris Trophy good. And, second, I don’t think he was really doing any of that. He’s kind of quiet, honestly.”
The look Danny shot him was knowing. “I get it, man, and I respect it. Defending your future brother-in-law.”
“What?” Hank spluttered. This was more ridiculous than anything Danny had spouted yet and that was saying something.
“Oh come on, you’re cozying up to all of them, and frankly, I can respect that. Knowing which side your bread is buttered on.”
Hank just stared at him. “My bread isn’t buttered.”
“No, it’s not,” Danny said, shooting him a sly smile and waggling his eyebrows. He looked really stupid, but Hank wasn’t about to meet him there and say that.
Ethan poked his head into the shower room then. “What are you doing, Tuck? I thought we were taking off.”
Laughing, like he wasn’t the one who’d cornered him in the first freaking place, Danny just poked him in the side. “Better get a move on it, lover boy.”
Hank refused to take Danny’s bait, and just told Ethan he’d be ready in a few.
Ethan took Charlie’s car back, Hank in the passenger seat. “I need to get my truck here,” Hank muttered to himself. “Now that I’m probably staying up.”
“Why? We should put the miles on Charlie’s car. He can afford it,” Ethan said, sliding a look sideways. “Are you still worried about him not approving?”
“After today? Maybe a little,” Hank admitted.
“Dude, you know that was only him. Him being dumb as fuck. Him denying himself something he wants and pretending like somehow that’s noble and self-sacrificing. He just doesn’t like seeing it when someone makes moves he won’t, and then they’re happy about it.”