Page 43 of Skating to Him

Rowan eyed Joel. “You come here often?” As he sipped his beer, he kept his gaze on Joel.

“Not really.” Joel’s gaze landed on mine. “What are you doing here on a Friday, Tyler? Doesn’t ASU have a game tomorrow?” He raised his brows.

“Yeah, but we won tonight, and Coach called off the morning skate.” I glanced at Rowan, crinkling his nose at Joel.He was making it pretty obvious he didn’t like the guy being here.

“I see.” Joel glanced at the dancefloor. “I know Myles is a teammate. How about you, Rowan?”

“He’s a teammate too. He’s our straight buddy, but he doesn’t mind coming here.” With a chuckle, Myles drank more beer.

“Oh. You’re a brave man, Rowan.” Joel edged in closer to me and set his hand on the bar behind me.

I tossed a glare at Myles. Why did he have to say that? He was giving Joel the wrong impression. But then, Myles didn’t know any different.

Leaning in closer to me, Joel said, “So, do you want to go out and dance? Maybe a repeat of?—”

“No, he doesn’t. We’re here to celebrate our win with a shot they only make in this establishment, and then we’re going home. Right, Tyler?” Rowan lifted his chin at me.

“Uh, yeah.” I inched away from Joel and closer to Rowan. Hopefully, Myles would keep his mouth shut.

“Oh, I see. I don’t want to break up the little celebration you all have going on.” Joel slipped his phone out of his jeans pocket and held it up. “Maybe I could get your number, Tyler? I was kicking myself for not getting it last time.” He gave me a charming smile.

Rowan stepped on my toes.

“Ow, shit.” I startled and backed away from Rowan, grabbing the toe of my shoe and staring at Rowan’s satisfied smirk. The little shit did that on purpose.

“You okay?” Joel made to grab my arm.

Shoving Joel’s hand away, Rowan said, “He’s fine. He’s a hockey player. He can handle way worse than someoneaccidentallystepping on his foot, right, Tyler?” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Sorry about that, buddy. But you know how clumsy I can be out of my skates.”

Myles dropped his mouth open as he watched us.

“Yeah, okay.” Blinking once, I faced Joel. How the hell was I getting out of this? “I’m, uh…I’m seeing someone, so I don’t feel right handing out my number right now.” There, it was the truth.

Narrowing his eyes at me, Myles planted a hand on his hip.

Shit, Myles knew something was up. I knew that look on his face.

“Okay. Well, I guess I’ll see you around then. If it doesn’t work out with the new guy, maybe we can get together?” A flirty smile swept over his face, and he touched my arm.

Rowan’s gaze grew hard and his jaw clenched. “Yeah, we’ll see about that.”

With his brows furrowing, Joel tilted his head. “Anyway, nice to see you all again.” He walked off.

“Rowan and Tyler, what the hell is going on?” Myles stomped in front of us. “And don’t try to fake me out.” He poked me in the chest and then Rowan.

Glancing at me, Rowan huffed a breath. “Fuck it. I found out I’m bisexual.” He fixated on Myles. “It’s new, so?—”

“You and Tyler are hooking up?” Myles clasped his hands over his chest and his gaze softened. “I knew something was going on between you two.”

“Not so much hooking up as trying to see if things could work out between us.” How the hell else could I describe it? I took a few gulps of my beer.

With his gaze dipping to the floor, Rowan said, “Your friend Tyler here is something else. I think he’s turning me gay.” He snickered.

“If anyone could turn a guy gay, it would be Tyler.” With a nod, Myles patted me on the shoulder, and then his eyes widened. “Holy shit, did it happen while we were on the road?”

I glanced at Rowan, who was watching me. “Sort of. We had our first kiss.” How much should I tell him? Myles knew me best.

“Who kissed who?” His brows lifted.

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