Page 133 of The Home Game

Fuck! That reminded him. He needed to call his parents.

“Say no more.” Jordan smirked, though he quickly sobered. “You should know though, guys seem kinda hurt they didn’t hear it from you though. You might owe them some apologies.”

“Ugh, I haven’t told anyone yet.”

“Uhh, well, JockGossip got the scoop as usual. I don’t know how they always fucking manage it but there are pics of you guys all over it. You wanna see?”

“Not really.” Matty felt a little sick. He should have seen this coming, he supposed, but he could never quite wrap his head around that he was a celebrity in this town and that what he did always made the news.

Their officiant, Dave, had been a Fisher Cats fan but Matty hadn’t thought he’d do something like sell their private moments to the gossip blogs. “Are they pics from our wedding?” Matty asked. “Like the ceremony and everything?”

“No, no, not the ceremony. Looked like after, maybe? On the steps of city hall and in the restaurant.”

“Jesus,” Matty whispered. Still weird and invasive but they had been in public so he should have expected fans to take pictures of them. He’d never get used to Toronto though, where it felt like everyone and their brother recognized him.

Jordan gave him a sympathetic look. “They were cute pics, but—”

“So you are still alive, asshole,” Dom snarled.

Matty turned to see his pissed-off teammate and friend stalking toward him with Dustin and Colton on his heels. “What?”

“I thought maybe something terrible had happened to you because I couldn’t figure out why you were ignoring my fucking calls this weekend. And while we’re on the subject, how about letting me know you were getting married?”

“Shit, Dom,” Matty said, holding his palms up, surprised by Dom’s anger. He’d expected him to be pissed but this was a little more than he’d bargained for. “Look, I didn’t tell anyone.”

“Yeah, we noticed,” Dustin said, frowning. “What is going on, Matty?”

“Nothing!” he protested. “We just … Antoni and I wanted to keep the ceremony small.”

“Yeah, that’s not fishy at all,” Dom said, folding his arms and glowering. “A wedding a couple of weeks after you meet the guy and you don’t even invite your friends to it or tell them it’s happening? That doesn’t raise any alarm bells.”

“It was over a month!” Matty said heatedly. Not that that argument really helped that much but if Dom was going to call him out, he should at least get his fucking facts straight.

“Hey! Knock it off, guys!” Gilly hollered and Matty jerked in surprise.

He groaned when he turned to see his new coach and Kate Foster, the vice president of communications and public relations.

Kate pursed her lips. “Matthew, we need to have a chat.”

He stifled a groan. He should have known this was coming. But there was no arguing with Kate when she had that look on her face. Besides, she’d Matthew-ed him. That was always serious.

“But we have head shots now?” he said weakly, knowing it was futile but unable to resist.

“Too bad. You should have thought of that earlier. Come along.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, tugging on a pair of shorts and a hoodie and shoving his feet into slides.

She gave him an unamused look, turning on her heel and walking away, Gilly falling into step beside her, glowering.

Matty scrambled to catch up.

As they wound through the practice facility toward the offices, Matty thought about the way Antoni had looked this morning, half-asleep as he stumbled out of bed.

He thought about the sleepy smile Matty had gotten when he’d handed Antoni a travel mug of coffee and their slow, lingering kiss by the door.

Whatever lecture Matty got today, it would be worth it.

As Kate walked into her office, Matty spotted Birdie Pope—Colton Yates’ girlfriend—who was chatting with Kate’s assistant, Mitchell Nash.

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