Page 5 of Skating to Him

“What the hell is that?” This was about to get dangerous, I could tell. I flicked my gaze to Myles, now grinding on the dancefloor with the man he’d been hitting on. It looked like we would have barely-had-a-drink Myles and not fall-down-drunk Myles tonight. So I could probably have a few and not worry too much about it.

“Drink up, and I’ll order us one. Hopefully, they know how to make it here.” Looking around, he found a waiter in a Speedo and ordered. As he hitched into his seat, he pointed his thumb at the back of the waiter. “Nice guy. Really knows how to fill out a Speedo.” Throwing his head back, he cackled and focused on me. “But really, this place has got to be heaven for a guy like you.”

Nodding, I said, “Yeah, sure is a lot of eye candy.” My traitorous gaze trailed over Rowan’s body and my dick twitched in my jeans.Shit, calm the fuck down, Ty.“Anyway, you still haven’t told me what a Ward 8 is.”

“It’s a popular cocktail in Boston. It has whiskey, lemon juice, orange juice, and some grenadine shit in it. It’s good, you’ll like it.” His eyes sparkled and he raked his teeth over his lower lip.

The waiter dropped off our new drink and Rowan paid.

I looked at my glass. The drink was an orangish color and had a maraschino cherry sitting at the bottom. “Looks good.” I picked it up. “Is this what you drink back home?”

“When I’m out having a celly, yeah.” He held his glass up. “To new partners.”

“New partners.” I tapped my glass against his and sipped.The drink wasn’t overly sweet like the shot. “This is pretty good.”

With a nod, he drank his and set it down.

Was he evading my questions about him? Sure seemed like it. Setting my forearm on the table, I leaned in. “So why did you come to Arizona? You only had one year left, right?” Rowan was a senior, like me, and studying mechanical engineering. They had decent schools for that out East.

CHAPTER TWO

ROWAN

Because I couldn’t focus on hockey?My gaze darted between Tyler’s brown eyes and the infuriating way his dirty-blond hair fell to his cheekbones, almost straight and parted in the middle. The guy had perfect hair, a perfect body, and always looked so…perfect. He came from a hockey family and surely had an NHL contract coming his way. “I wanted to get away from the cold winters.”

Tyler’s brows lifted. “You’re a hockey player who doesn’t like cold winters?” He chuckled and sipped his drink.

“Yeah. The last one was wicked cold.” I eyed him. He was from Chicago. He knew what I was talking about. “Why are you here? And don’t tell me the weather has nothing to do with it.”

With a soft smile, he dipped his head. “This was where my friends and I could all play together and be ourselves. There were six of us who came here.” His gaze met mine. “Being queer and playing hockey wasn’t always easy.”

“Yeah, I know about the squad. It’s cool what you guys are trying to do, all being out and proud players.” I fingered the lip of my glass. “I commend you for it.”

“Thanks.” He glanced toward the dancefloor, the lightsflickering on his face, and then back at me. “Tell me about your family.”

Oh, here we go. We were getting personal now. It was bound to happen. “My father is a lawyer, and my mother doesn’t work anymore.” Fuck, I didn’t feel like talking about this tonight. I’d been trying to get away from all that bullshit. Mom’s illness…

“Brothers or sisters?”

“Two younger brothers. One plays high school football and the other’s, well, best described as a nerd.” I let out a sharp laugh. “Dad loves hockey and football, so two of us went into sports. Dad loved coaching our coaches.” Huffing a laugh, I shook my head. “You’ve seen those types of dads, right?” And with Dad’s money, we always had the best equipment and shit.

With a nod, Tyler said, “Yeah, I’ve seen them. My dad coaches the Cougars and?—”

“That’s where you came from, right? The best fuckin’ juniors league in Chicago?” We’d all heard of that league and the Hodge family. Getting to partner with him was a dream come true.

“Yep. My dad wasn’t easy on me though. If anything, I think he pushed me harder than the others.” His gaze dipped to his glass, and he sipped his drink. “He was just as hard on my brother though, and look where he ended up?”

“Yeah, with the Rangers. I know about your family history, Hodge.” I drank my cocktail and flicked my gaze at the men on the dancefloor. If I made moves on a girl the way these guys were grinding on each other, I’d have my face slapped. Gay men had all the fun.

“You said you had a friend back home who was gay?” Tyler chased my gaze and then focused on me.

“Yeah, his name is Teddy. We went to high school together. The jocks used to pick on him, so I put a stop to it. Been friends ever since.” I sat back in my chair. I owed Teddy a phone call.

“Is he at Boston College still?” Tyler cocked his head, watching me.

“Yeah, he’s studying mechanical engineering, same as me. We used to work on our cars together.” I huffed a chuckle. “I’ve never known another gay man who liked to do shit like that.”

“We like to do all kinds of things. It’s not all decorating.” Wagging his brows, Tyler downed the rest of his drink. “Are we getting another one of these?” He held up his glass.

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