Page 66 of Broken Ice, Mended Hearts

SVEN: Hey tough guy. What’s up?

GAGS: Watching TV. You?

SVEN: Finally back at the hotel. After dinner, the guys insisted I go have drinks with them. You still want to talk?

What the almighty fuck? He’d gone out instead of calling me?

GAGS: You’ve been out having drinks? I was waiting for you.

SVEN: They cornered me. I’m sorry. I’ll deal with it better next time. Do you still want to talk?

GAGS: Yes.

The phone buzzed again, and I touched the icon to accept his FaceTime call. I teared up when he appeared on my screen, wearing his beautiful smile. “Hey, babe. It’s so good to see you.”

“God, I’ve missed you today, Pip.” His eyes looked heavy. Even though he’d had a long day, he sounded cheerful and widened his grin even more.

I had to hold myself back from kissing the phone screen. “I thought about you all day. The house is quiet tonight.”

“Probably a relief, eh?” His smile faded but didn’t disappear. “I’ve been cramping your style so long you’re probably glad to be rid of me.”

“No.” I tried to smile but couldn’t force myself to do it. “And don’t say that again.”

His face flushed. “Sorry, I was trying to be funny. It was stupid.”

“Imissyou, Sven. Never think I don’t.”

He put his hand in front of the screen, then didn’t seem to know what to do with it. His palm was toward me, like he was trying to touch my face, and he said, “I can’t tell you how sad I’ve been all day. I don’t know if I can handle this.”

I swallowed hard. “This isn’t easy, but we’ll get through it, won’t we? Drew and Cleevs did it last year, and so did Jack and Eckie.” Both couples had been married by then, and since Sven and I weren’t, things seemed more tentative. “We’ll see each other soon, you know.”

“When?”

“The Congressmen will be back in DC for a day before we leave for our first roadie, and we’ll make the most of the time we have then. We can do this, babe. We’re D-men. Everybody knows we’ve got the biggest dicks of all.”

He laughed, lightening the tension. We both took deep breaths and smiled while we talked. He told me about how their team bus had gotten caught in a traffic jam on their way from the airport to the arena in Charlotte, which is why their dinner had been pushed back so late. It had made everyone stressed, so the day was more grueling than it had to be. I talked about Shuford being in a shitty mood and Nick having to be Mr. Jinglepants to keep everyone from getting pissy. Over the next half hour, Sven’s deep, warm voice helped me relax.

An alarm went off on my phone, and I scrambled to mute it.

“What’s that?” Sven asked. “You have something to watch on TV?”

Laughing, I shook my head. “It’s a reminder to go to bed. You know me, I could stay up all night, but we start at eight-thirty in the morning.”

His smile collapsed, and he had no luck trying to resuscitate it. Glancing at his watch, he said, “We’re due on the bus at nine, so I should go to bed too.”

I didn’t want to hang up. My stomach was tied in knots, and I already knew I wouldn’t sleep worth a shit. Bringing out my biggest smirk, I said, “Before we hang up, I know of something that’ll make us both feel better.”

“What’s that?” He was still trying to find his smile, but it just wasn’t working for him.

I pulled the front of my shorts down far enough to pull my dick out and aimed the phone downward. “I’m gonna jerk this big boy before I go to sleep. Since I’ll be thinking about you anyway, do you want to help me check off another first and do it by FaceTime? You can watch.”

His smile returned. “I’ve got an even better idea.” The picture on his phone blurred, then focused on his cock, already getting hard. “What if we watch each other?”

The days dragged by. Between dealing with the press, undergoing intense physical tests, surviving punishing practice sessions, and playing scrimmages that left me ready to drop, I was exhausted. I wasn’t a kid anymore, but I was still in great shape; the physical activity shouldn’t have been so difficult.

But the empty house waiting for me made everything worse. I went out to dinner with the boys a few times, but my loneliness kept me from enjoying it much. I’d hurry home afterward to be sure I didn’t miss my phone dates with Sven. As we both becamemore tired, talking at night became a challenge. He fell asleep in the middle of a conversation once, and other times we were both too bleary-eyed to think of anything to say. The distance between us was already taking its toll.

When it got so bad we didn’t have enough energy to jerk off together, we tried to get up early in the mornings so we could do it then. That didn’t last long because we both had to watch the clock, and our orgasms were rushed and flat. Things were going to hell fast.

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