Page 51 of Blitz
Noah nodded. “You’re not alone, Trick. And whatever you decide to do, it’syourdecision, onyourtimeline. Brody and I have your back.”
I closed my eyes for a second, breathing in the smell of coffee and safety, and let the truth of that settle over me like a blanket I didn’t know I needed. “I need to call Tom.”
He smiled, then took his cup to the sink. “Stay here tonight. Spare room with a bathroom, top of the stairs. I’ll open the door so you can see it and throw some Railers stuff in there for you to wear. Talk to Tom down here.” He clapped a hand on my shoulder. “You’ve got this.”
I waited until Noah disappeared upstairs before pulling out my phone and calling Tom. It rang once, and then he answered.
“Trick?” His voice was bright as if he hadn’t been sleeping.
“I’m sorry I left,” I said, my voice cracking. “I’m a mess. I couldn’t breathe. I talked to Rebecca, and now I’m at Noah’s. I didn’t mean to come here, but… I guess I couldn’t face the rental. I told him that I was gay, and that you and me…” My voice cracked. “…Did I fuck it up? Is there still a you and me?”
Tom sighed. “Very definitely a you and me, babe.”
I took a breath. “I don’t know what happens next. Everything feels out of control, but I know for sure I love you.”
Another pause.
Then Tom said, “I love you, too. We’ll ride this storm, ignore the shit online. What happened doesn’t mean you need to dignify any of it with a response. When you’re ready, we’ll make it public and live our lives one day, but I understand it might be after you’re done playing, Trick. Okay? I’m not going anywhere.”
I was nodding, belatedly realizing he wouldn’t be able to see. “I can’t ask you to do that, not when you’ve come out?—”
“That’s my choice.”
“No, Tom, I want to tell the world who I am, but not today, not like this. I need to talk to my lawyers, sign the new wills to pass everything to Rebecca, stop the payments to my father, get my head fixed. Shit, that’s a lot. But I’ll do it, for Rebecca, for you, and me. Forus.” I felt immediately lighter because it was almost as if I was making a plan. “I need to mend what’s in my head. Or at least give it space for me to think properly.”
“Anything you need, I’m here.”
“I know. And I have the biggest incentive to get myself on an even keel.”
“Love?”
“Well, duh, but also… if you think I’m missing out on Thanksgiving dinner with your family, you’re out of your mind.”
We both laughed at that—an honest, helpless kind of laughter, not forced, but warm. A tiny crack of light breaking through the storm clouds I’d been carrying. For the first time inwhat felt like forever, I believed that maybe I could be myself. I felt nauseous and panicked at the thought, not even sure who I was, but it was a step in the right direction.
“We’ll figure it out,” Tom said gently. “Day by day. You and me.”
“Yeah,” I whispered. “You and me.”
EIGHTEEN
Tom
Never didtwo men ever need comfort food more than Trick and I did.
To say the past couple of weeks had been akin to taking a stroll through the seventh and eighth rings of hell would have been close to the Mount St. Helen’s worthy explosion of shit that had rained down not only on Trick and I, but on our teams as well.
The Pumas hadn’t exactly been expecting a romance—alleged, I had pointed out several dozen times—quite so quickly. Not having the base of knowledge of how to handle that sort of flood, my team sort of fumbled the ball a few times until I was forced to address things. I’d kindly told the press what Trick had asked me to tell them. That Trick and I had met while working with BoltFuel—who were still eerily quiet about us being involved with their product, but oh well—and became friends. I had also added that it was entirely possible for a gay man to have male friends and not be fucking them. Yes, I had dropped the F-bomb. The Puma PR team birthed a squad of mooselings, but the message was delivered. Firmly. After that little tidbit of profanity, the bro dudes backed off. Maybe someof the straights just needed to be reminded that you could be friends with the sex you were attracted to. Or, maybe, my FAFO face while I had made my little speech had intimidated the het boys. Hell, maybe they were impressed that I had told it like it was. Whatever the case, things began to settle. A blessing for Trick, who was juggling a dozen personal balls while trying to concentrate on hockey.
It wasn’t easy to focus on your sport when people were deluging you with stupid shit from left, right, front, and center. The Railers stood by Trick without being as glaringly crude about it as I had been. They had lots of experience dealing with queer players. The Pumas would learn. Maybe my team needed to steal Layton Foxx from the Railers.
So, now that we had the world convinced—mostly maybe—that we were only friends, our lives could go on normally. And on Thanksgiving, that meant family and food. The start of the family part was welcoming Trick’s sister Rebecca into my home. She had arrived last night, won Winnie over instantly, and had charmed me wholly. Trick was different around her. Softer, gentler, less prone to snark. I enjoyed seeing it. He desperately needed the support a sibling offered. And I really needed a sister. I had adopted her into my heart the moment she kissed Winnie.
Now, I was waiting for my new sister—yes, she would legally be my sister-in-law someday, but I wasn’t tossing that at Trick just yet—to join us in the living room so we could drive to my parents’ house.
“Is she always this late?” I asked Trick while checking my smart watch for the tenth time in five minutes.
“I’m not sure. We just met.”
