Page 60 of Skating to Him

“Goal!” Mackenzie jumped up, along with the whole bench, hooked his arms around me, and squeezed. “That was wicked. Did you see that?” He erupted in laughter.

“Hell yes.” I hugged him to me. He shouldn’t be jumping like this. “Settle down. You’ll hurt your knee.”

“Fuck the knee.” He patted my helmet, his eyes twinkling. “You get out there, Hodge, and show ’em how it’s done.”

With a glance and a nod at Burns, we hopped over the boards and hit the ice. I stopped a moment, pointing a gloved finger at Mackenzie. “Don’t you jump up like that again, or I’ll…” Fuck, I’d what?

“You’ll spank me?” Mackenzie twisted his hips to me and slapped his ass.

“You wish.” With a wide grin, I fixed my mouthpiece, my dick plumping. Fuck, not a good time for a boner.

Coach Hammett patted Mackenzie on the shoulder. “Sit down and stop distracting him.” He rolled his eyes. “God, the two of you sometimes.”

“Oops.” Mackenzie touched his finger to his lips and dropped onto the bench.

Shaking my head, I skated to my spot to prepare for the faceoff.

Burns glided up next to me, eyeing me through his facemask. “You two are really close.”

“Yeah, well, we need to be.” I studied him. What was he getting at? Was he sensing what was really going on between me and Mackenzie?

“Yeah, guess so.” He skated off, glanced at me, and crouched, stick to the ice and gaze on the centers.

“Dudes, what do you say we make sure to keep the puck on the other end of the ice the rest of the game.” Ace skated from edge to edge in his crease.

“Then you’d get no action.” I chuckled, sneaking a peek at Ace and then focusing on center ice.

“I get plenty of action with my boyfriend.” He cackled and tapped his stick on the ice.

With a soft snort, Burns said, “So does Hodge.” He slid his gaze to mine for a beat.

“Hodge doesn’t have a—” Ace dropped his mouth open. “Fuckin’ A.”

“It’s go-time, boys.” As the puck dropped, I skated toward it with Burns at my side, the center scrambling to take control of it. Ace knew, and maybe Burns too. Was Mackenzie ready for this?

After the gameand our post-game meal, we made our way through the lobby to the hallway leading to our room. I hadn’t sat with Rowan on purpose tonight. In fact, I’d done my best to ignore him. If Burns was noticing shit, the others might be too, and I’d had to do something to dispel any rumors that might be circulating.

I stopped at my door, fished out my keycard, and unlocked it.

“Hey, what’s up with you tonight?” Rowan wrapped his hand around my elbow.

As my gaze slid to his, I caught Ace and Myles striding toward us. “Fuck.” I faced him. “Ace knows, and maybe Burns.” Yeah, we were going to have this out now.

“Burns?” Furrowing his brows, he blinked at me. “How?”

“Hey, a word?” Ace planted his hands on his hips.

“I didn’t tell him.” With his forehead wrinkling, Myles waved his hands.

Rowan straightened his shoulders. “Come on in.” He pushed the door open and limped inside our room, with all of us following.

After shutting the door behind us, Ace glanced at me, his brows knitting. “Hey, Rowan, I don’t want to force anything here.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s about time someone told you about Tylerand me.” He twisted around. “I’m ready.” He held his hand out to me.

Taking his hand, I walked to his side, my chest filling with warmth. He was proving to me, once again, that he was nothing like Cody.

“Tyler is my boyfriend, and I’m bisexual. I only figured this out about myself since Coach put us together.” He scratched his neck. “Hell, I can’t explain any of it, but I know we have something special here.” He flashed his gaze at me. “I’ll take good care of him. It’s not an experiment.” He lifted his chin as his attention drew to Ace.

---