Page 78 of Body Check

“Number 68. Rafael Moon.”

“What position does he play?”

“Defense. I want to pair him up with Mouse.”

“You know, I willneverget hockey nicknames,” Dakota said. He held out his spoon again, offering Gavin another bite. He took it, less because he wanted it than because he was enjoying this moment of ease with Dakota.

“Surely you had nicknames in soccer,” Gavin said with disbelief after he’d licked the spoon clean.

Dakota whacked the back of it on the small remaining section of caramelized sugar, making it crack. “I only played through high school, and I feel like we mostly went by our last names. Although pro football has a ton. What the rest of the world calls soccer, you know.”

Gavin snorted. “Yeah, I know.”

“ButMouse?”

“You know, Mickey Krause. Mouse.”

Dakota shook his head but didn’t argue. “So this Rafael Moon guy. What makes you think he’d want to play for Boston?”

“Well,” Gavin said. “He’s openly queer, so there’s that.”

“There aren’t any queer players on Minnesota’s team?”

“No, there are. There are at least one or two on pretty mucheveryteam in the league, and that’s the ones we know of. There are probably more who aren’t particularly into broadcasting it, actually. And in this case, thereisanother player for Minnie. Logan Walker. The problem is, the two of them had a messy breakup recently.”

“Ahh, you’re thinking a fresh start for the Moon guy then, maybe.”

“Yes. And maybe I’m projecting here,” Gavin said with a shrug. “Because I sure as fuck can’t imagine working with my ex.”

Dakota remained silent, intently scraping the last of the remnants of the custard from the foil container.

“Speaking of exes …” Gavin said softly after Dakota had set the container and the spoon on the coffee table.

“What about him?” Dakota sounded wary and he stared straight out the windows at the lights of Boston, but he hadn’t gotten up, so that was a good sign, right?

“He did a number on you, didn’t he?” Gavin asked softly.

“Why do you say that?”

Oh, about a million and one little things,Gavin thought with a wry twist of his lips. But he didn’t want to saythataloud.

“It seems like—like you’re pretty wary of guys who take charge. Like it’s maybe more than apreference.”

Dakota sighed, relaxing back into the crook of Gavin’s arm. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“Was he—was he abusive?” Gavin asked, his tone cautious.

“Oh.” Dakota released a breath. “Um, maybe in some ways. Controlling, definitely. It was never super clear-cut. You know, he didn’t hit me. He didn’t even say nasty stuff to me. It was … it was mostly this slow erosion of who I was, honestly.”

There was a roughness to his voice that Gavin hated, so he squeezed Dakota’s shoulder, then tangled his fingers in his hair, stroking through the soft, damp strands.

“You don’t have to talk about this, if you don’t want,” he offered, though a part of him really hoped Dakota would continue.

“We met when I was in college. He was a few years older than me, but not a lot older,” Dakota finally said.

“Not like me?” Gavin teased.

Dakota huffed softly. “No, not like you, old man.”

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