Chapter Two #3
Both teams were in front of Gem’s net, battling for the puck.
Gem was doing his part, blocking pucks, but couldn’t get the rebounds as the LA Grinders were all over him. Luka leaned forward, bouncing his leg, wanting to get in on the action.
Finally, one of the defensemen managed to send the puck in the opposite direction. The skaters broke apart, stopping the pushing and shoving and heading for their benches for the next shift change.
Placing one hand on the top of the boards, Luka prepared to jump over to get on the ice.
Instead, Luka’s teammate was stuck on the ice as the LA Grinders raced back toward Boston’s net and Gem. Crowly was on the ice and Luka’s gut clenched when he saw the manic look in Crowly’s eyes. He wasn’t even looking at the puck. Crowly’s entire attention was locked on Gem.
“Gem!” Luka yelled as he and Tomas leaped to their feet, helpless to do anything. Their goalie wouldn’t hear them over the roar of the crowd, the players closer to him shouting, and every other sound that came from a frantic game.
The buzzer sounded, ending the second period before the Grinders could try to make another shot on goal.
Luka saw it.
Crowly was not slowing down.
Gem skated out of the net with his stick to his side as he started to skate for the bench. The goalie had worked his ass off keeping the Grinders from scoring and had to be exhausted. He also wasn’t watching for the missile headed right toward him.
“Gem!” Luka shouted again.
Gem’s head came up just before Crowly plowed into him. Hard. Luka was already over the boards, skating as fast as he could toward his goalie who’d been knocked back and off his feet.
Tomas was by his side as they dodged the players leaving the ice.
Crowly was standing over Gem, saying something. Luka couldn’t hear the words as his blood rushed frantically in his head. He launched himself at Crowly’s back, taking the other player down as they both hit the ice hard.
“Fuck!” Crowly cried out.
Luka didn’t give him time to brace. He began pummeling Crowly’s face with his glove before shaking it off to get some really good hits in. Crowly curled into a ball, trying to protect his head, even though he was still wearing a helmet that was absolutely ruining Luka’s knuckles.
Someone was pulling at the back of his jersey as someone else was grabbing Luka’s arms.
He wasn’t finished! How dare this asshole go after his goalie. The golden rule of any hockey league was that the goalies were off-limits! No one touched the goalies. Especially Luka’s goalie. He didn’t care if he’d only been a Boston Bean for less than twenty-four hours. No one touched his guy.
Eventually, Luka allowed himself to be yanked off Crowly when he spotted the refs were trying to help. He ended up on his ass, staring daggers at Crowly who lay bleeding from his nose and mouth. Behind Crowly and standing on the ice, Gem was being held up by Tomas.
Gem’s unique violet eyes were practically glowing as he stared at Luka.
Luka pushed up and slowly rose to his feet. He leaned over Crowly. “Do not touch my fucking goalie again or I’ll end you.”
“Fuck you!” Crowly yelled, holding a hand in front of his obviously broken nose.
Luka snorted. “Not even with someone else’s dick.” He left that gem of a chirp before skating to the real Gem of the team. “Are you okay?”
Gem nodded. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Thanks.”
Luka lifted his chin in acknowledgment before Tomas started to pull him off the ice. Luke turned and nearly ran into a ref.
“Come on, Kotov,” the ref said. “Let’s see what penalties you’re going to get.”
He bent and picked up his stick. “The buzzer already went off. Gem was out of the net. He deserved it.”
The ref sighed. “Come on.”
Following the ref back to the bench, Luka could hear that his new head coach was shouting all kinds of threats to the refs in regard to Crowly and the cheap shot on their goalie.
In the end, both Crowly and Luka ended up with a ten-minute misconduct penalty once the third period started. Returning to the locker room to prepare for the next period, Luka searched for Gem.
“He’s with the trainer,” Tomas said, coming up for him.
“Is he hurt?” Luka demanded.
“He says he isn’t, but we’ve all learned that he doesn’t always tell us the truth,” Tomas replied. “Actually, that’s not fair. Gem doesn’t lie. He just doesn’t always tell us the full story on his injuries.”
Luka shook his head. Fucking shifter hockey players were always doing stupid things like that. As if they believed just because they weren’t human, they didn’t need to take injuries seriously.
“Anyway, I wanted to apologize, man. I know you’re a good guy and not one of the assholes,” Tomas said. “It just seems more and more of the guys that I came up with in the NHL actually think that players like Gem don’t belong.”
“I swear I have no issues with it.” In fact, Luka thought the fruit bat shifters that were the top rookies of the league for the year added something special to their hockey games. They might be small, but they were fast. Luka had to push himself to keep up with them.
Tomas nodded. “Sorry, man.”
“It’s not a problem.” Luka patted Tomas’s shoulder before the other player left him alone.
Luka looked at the door where Gem would be with the trainer as it opened.
The harsh light of the locker room caught those violet eyes as Gem glanced up at him.
The trainer was saying something to Gem, but the goalie was staring at Luka hard.
Like he’d done something. Maybe Luka had.
He didn’t even know the goalie since while Luka was new to the team, he’d been around much longer in the league.
But Luka had gone after another player in Gem’s defense, not knowing how the goalie would take it.
Luka would have done it in Seattle.
And Gem was now his goalie.
Gem turned and said something to the trainer before he stomped toward Luka. Gem’s head was held high while approaching Luka even though Luka was both taller and broader than the small shifter.
Around them the locker room quieted, which was weird. Hockey players were never quiet especially before a third period in a game that they were winning.
Okay, maybe Luka had overstepped while out on the ice.
Even though he would have done the same for any teammate, that didn’t mean that Gem wanted his protection.
Luka was a protective guy though. He wasn’t sure how he would manage to turn off that element of his personality. Not even for the small scary goalie.
Luka braced himself as Gem approached, not knowing what exactly was going to happen. The hard look in Gem’s eyes reminded Luka of another one that made Luka weak in the knees. If Gem had brown eyes instead of violet, Luka would have thought it was his online guy stalking toward him.
Gem stopped a few feet away and held out his hand.
Luka swallowed hard before he took Gem’s palm into his much bigger hand. Rough callouses brushed against Luka’s skin and he shuddered.
“Thanks again,” Gem said.
“Anytime,” Luka managed to reply.
Gem released his hand and turned toward his cubie. He was still wearing most of his gear and they needed to get back on the ice but Luka still watched him go.
Those hands.
Luka would swear on a stack of bibles that he knew how those hands would feel on him. Caressing him, smacking him, jerking his cock.
It couldn’t be.
They had always worn masks. From the first time that Luka had met his online partner, they’d worn masks. At the few in-person scenes in the club. On video calls. They always wore masks.
And yet Luka could explain in great detail how it felt to have Beelz’s hands on him.
Beelz and Ty. Those were the names that they’d given that first night.
Luka had lied. Well not really lied. He’d given his middle name. Since he was Luka Kotov the third, most of his family called him by his middle name. But he had been cautious using his real name for what was supposed to be a one-night stand. Beelz was obviously made up as well.
It couldn’t be Gem.
Except the masquerade event had taken place the night before he’d played against Boston. The entire Boston team had been in the city during the event.
And Beelz lived in Boston.
Gem was pulling on a fresh jersey.
Gem and Beelz were the same size. Same build.
Luka’s knees went weak.
Coach Grimes was talking.
Luka didn’t hear a word. He just stared in Gem’s direction. So many intimate conversations had been shared with Luka’s online partner. Confessions that Luka hadn’t thought he would ever have to face. Little moments returned to Luka.
Wait.
Stalking to his cubie, Luka ignored everything around him. He grabbed his phone and opened the app that was his only connection to his online special friend.
‘Are you okay?’
Luka stared at the words. Was he? Luka didn’t know. He hadn’t decided on how or when he would reply. But if it was Gem… Luka started to type. He had to know the truth. He had to know!
‘Can we video call tonight?’
Luka stared at the phone in his hand as he watched Gem from the corner of his eye. Gem had his back to Luka but no sign of his phone. Would he wait until after the game to reply?
“Let’s go!” Coach Grimes clapped his hands. “End this game just the way you started it. Show no mercy!”
His teammates shouted and pounded on each other’s backs and they started to head back onto the ice. They walked between Luka and Gem, blocking Luka’s view for a few short moments.
His phone vibrated and Luka almost dropped it trying to get back to the messaging app as his screen had gone dark.
’11 p.m.’
Luka snapped his head up. Damn it! Gem was halfway to the door.
No phone in his hand. Had Gem responded?
Was it Luka’s Dom who knew nothing about his hockey world?
Fuck! If Gem had responded, it would have had to happen in literal seconds.
No, there was no way Gem could have pulled that off so fast.
Luka laughed and tucked his phone back into his cubie. Of course it wasn’t Gem. A seed of disappointment tried to plant itself in Luka’s chest, but Luka pushed it away.
Dating a teammate was the worst way to make an entrance onto a new team. That was a complication that Luka didn’t need. Yes, he was attracted to Gem the same way that he was his online guy, but Luka had always preferred smaller men with a dominant side.
Gem might carry himself with air of superiority but that didn’t mean that he was a Dom.
Beelz had already proven that he could give Luka what he needed. Luka needed to stop being a coward and talk to Beelz. He had no idea what he was going to say. That was a problem for later. Luka had twenty more minutes of hockey to play. Okay, ten more minutes as he still had a penalty to serve.
The locker room had emptied, leaving Luka alone.
He sent one last look in the direction of Gem’s cubie. There would have been no way that Gem had responded so quickly without Luka seeing. Right? Right.