Page 45 of Drop the Gloves
“You said Abs does mini-golf when he’s having a hockey crisis.What does he do if something else is stressing him out?”
The blank stare remained.“Abs doesn’t stress out about stuff that isn’t hockey.”
Riley suppressed the urge to shake Dalton.Why was he making this so difficult?“What if he’s having girl trouble?Or—” Dalton burst out laughing.“What?”
“Sorry, I shouldn’t.”He bit his lip in an effort to stop his laughter.Once he had it under control, Dalton said, “Abs doesn’t have girl trouble.”
“Because he’s good at picking up chicks?”Riley asked and hated himself a little for how much he dreaded the answer.Abernathy was nice and polite and handsome and in great shape.Of course, it’d be easy for him to get dates in any city, any time.
Dalton shook his head.“I’ve never seen Abs with a woman.Or a dude.Or anyone that wasn’t a hockey player or working for hockey players, y’know?Like, I was his roommate, and it never happened.I think he’s like ace or something.”
“Ace?”Riley had felt Abernathy’s hard dick pressed against him, had heard him moaning and felt him come.If he were asexual, it was more nuanced than Dalton was suggesting.Though that might explain a few things, like his embarrassment and surprise at what had happened in the gym.
“Why are you making that face?”Dalton asked, squinting as if he were mirroring Riley’s expression.“You’re not gonna make this a thing, are you?”
Riley relaxed his face.“Nah, I would never.Sorry, I was just surprised, is all.”
“Oh.Yeah, I get that.”Dalton looked about to say more, but he hiccuped.“I can’t believe I missed the mini-golf milkshakes.”
“They were pretty good.”The bartender dropped off their drinks, and Riley slipped them his credit card.“But hey, this chocolate milkshake looks pretty fucking fantastic.Cheers.”
For the rest of their evening together, Riley did his drunken best to forget about Abernathy.If he jerked off thinking about the gym later when he was alone in his apartment, well, no one would ever know but him.
20
Evan stretchedand groaned as some of the tension left his shoulders.His body was tense from all the things he’d kept bottled up, as though it took him physical effort to hold the words back.
“You okay, sweetheart?”his mom asked.The phone rattled with the sound of her chopping vegetables, but it did nothing to mask her concern.“You sound distracted.”
Evan tried to pull himself from his thoughts, but it wasn’t easy.How exactly did one rescue themselves from a sexual identity crisis where you’d not only kissed a guy for the first time but also gotten off with one?It was all that Evan had thought about for the last sixteen hours.It was what had driven him to call his mom in the first place, hoping that the news of Penalty Kill practice would take his mind off of it.
It hadn’t.
All he could think about were the things he was avoiding saying, half-heartedly filling that void with what he could and hoping his mom wouldn’t notice his mind was elsewhere.Because instead of being in his condo while he caught his mom up on the early part of the season, he was back at the rink gym.
Thankfully, they didn’t have practice today—a break that coincided not only with Halloween but with Evan’s need to escape Barczyk.But the clock was ticking on his time to figure his shit out before facing Barczyk again.
Did figuring it out mean I pretend it didn’t happen,he wondered,or acknowledging that it did?
If we acknowledge it, does that mean it might happen again?
…do I want it to?
The answers lurked just below the surface.He was pretty sure he knew what they were, but he didn’t want to think about the implications.
Compartmentalize.Focus on hockey.Don’t cause problems for yourself.
He could do this.
“You know how it is,” he said vaguely.“New season, same problems.”And a few new, very unexpected ones.
“Make sure you eat enough,” she said.“I don’t care what your dietitians or whatever say.You need a comfort meal every now and then.Cheat days are important!You've gotta take care of yourself, or you won’t play at your best.”
Taking care of himself used to mean sleeping and eating right, with the occasional mini-golf outing to refocus.It seemed there was another piece.
“I know, I know,” he said, then redirected her worry towards her upcoming ski trip.Luckily, there was no way thoughts of Riley Barczyk could derail that conversation.
* * *
