Page 56 of Skating to Him

“Yes. They’re all friends of Tyler’s.” I picked at a thread on the band of my sweats. At least he’d been discreet in how he’d described them. That was the lawyer in him.

“Okay.” He chuckled. “Guess you like hanging out with queer people, huh?”

My brows snapped together. What did that mean? Was I reading too much into what he was saying? “Yeah, guess so. They’re a good group of guys. They stick up for each other, you know?”

“Like how you stuck up for Teddy back in high school. I get it. You’re attracted to people like that.” His breath caught. “Hey, I’ve gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay.” I twisted my lips. “So, I’ll change the ticket and use the money for Christmas break?” Good thing I hadn’t bought the ticket for Christmas yet.

“Sure. I’m looking forward to seeing the contract, and, Rowan? Good job on finding an agent and thank this Tyler Hodge for me.” He snickered.

“I will, Dad. Bye.” I hung up the call and stared at my phone. I wasn’t sure what to think about the conversation. Didn’t matter I had time to see how things went before I came out and proud on him. A smile played over my lips.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

TYLER

Thursday at the morning skate, I was playing with Burns, our second-string D-man, and it wasn’t going well. We were preparing for our game against Denver this weekend and Coach had us running the standard blue-line drills. I grabbed a puck and glanced at Burns, crouched and fixated on me. He ticked his head.

I skated off, throwing the puck around the ones laid out for us, and shot to Burns.

Throwing his stick out, he barely caught the first pass and whisked it back at me. With a few short hops on my skates, I landed the puck on my blade and attempted to toss it around the next set. We were slow and not nailing the passes. I chucked the puck right to him.

He hit an edge on his skates and went down, sprawling over the ice. “Fuck.”

I glanced at Coach Hammett, chatting with another D-man at the boards. He hadn’t seen our mess, thank God.

Ace skated toward Burns, shaking off his netted glove, and held his hand out to him. “What’s up? Is Hodge too fast for ya?” He lifted Burns off the ice.

“No.” Burns straightened his shoulders and glanced at me. “It’s me. I’m off today.”

Hell no, the guy had been off all week.Or is it me?I chewed on my mouthpiece and skated toward them. Had I lost my groove since Rowan was injured? “Hey, man. We’ll get this.” I patted Burns’s arm.

“You two better figure out your shit before the game tomorrow night. I need a shutout, and with you two stinking up the ice, I might not get it.” He tapped my chest with the end of his stick. “And you, Hodge, still need to look pretty for the Blackhawks scout.”

I peeked at Burns and focused on Ace. “Who died and made you my coach?” I lifted the edge of my lips. He might be right, but I’d still give him shit about it.

“Your mama.” With a cackle, Ace shook his head and slid his glove back on.

My heart sank, and I took a hard swallow, grabbing a new puck with my stick. Ace didn’t know about Mom’s MS diagnosis, or he never would have said that.

Ace stopped and studied me. “What, no comeback, Hodge?”

I fixated on the puck, swiping it back and forth with my blade. Now was not the time to tell him. I didn’t need the whole team examining every spec of my game this weekend, thinking I was off because of Mom. Especially when it would really be because Mackenzie wasn’t playing with me.

“Hodge?” Ace skated to me, pulling off his glove again and his helmet. “What’s going on?” He narrowed his brown eyes.

With my eyes stinging, I sniffled, and my chest ached. Why the fuck was I getting emotional about it now? She was okay and in some sort of remission, and I’d stuffed the whole thing to the back of my thoughts.

“Jesus Christ, Hodge.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me in close. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it literally. You know that, right?”

I snuck a peek at Burns, skating in a circle with the puck, throwing glances at us.

Burns couldn’t hear us. In a soft voice, I said, “My mom was diagnosed with MS about a month ago.” I gritted my teeth as my vision blurred. Fucking hell, I couldn’t lose it here.

“Are you shitting me?” He wrapped his thick arm around my neck and pulled my head to his padded chest. “I’m sorry. Who else knows?”

“Cummings and Mackenzie.” I breathed through the bubbling emotions, forcing them deep inside me. “I should have told you. I’m sorry.” Keeping secrets from my friends was stupid, but I hadn’t known how to handle it.

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