Page 5 of The Best Parts of Him
Jason paused on his way up the house’s front steps.
Ryland pointed at his phone. “Viewers want to know which markets we’ll be selling at.”
“In Vermont?” Jason jogged back down the steps and joined Ryland. “We’ll be at the Maplewood farmers market every Saturday until mid-October, as well as various other markets across the state. Plus, a few in New Hampshire, although I’m blanking on which ones. They’re listed on our website.”
Ryland smiled into his phone and tilted his head in Jason’s direction. “You guys remember my brother, right?”
i.read.everywhere: I’ll come visit the market!
Ryland almost scoffed. People said that, but they never came, not unless they were local or happened to find themselves on vacation in Vermont.
LaurenPom: OMG Jason! Hi!
Alexis123456: I love me some Jason content.
JeffreyWStudio: Where’s Bellamy?
Ryland didn’t let his smile slip at the mention of Jason’s boyfriend—who was also Ryland’s long-time rival.
Former rival, dating back to their college hockey days at UMaine. They’d recently buried the hatchet, because Ryland wasn’t going to be the one to get in the way of his brother’s happiness.
Still, when he’d first learned of their relationship, all Ryland could think was This guy? Jason had chosen the one person in the world Ryland didn’t get along with, and it had made him feel as lost as he had when his parents had divorced when he’d been a kid.
Now wasn’t the time to think about how untethered he’d felt during those years though.
Jason, never one to pass up an opportunity to promote the farm’s offerings, was droning on about the products he’d have at this weekend’s farmers market as he led Ryland around the side of the house and into a temperature-controlled shed.
“We’ll have maple syrup, maple butter, maple candies,” Jason said, pointing at each one. He went on about the process of making maple syrup versus maple butter—which the viewers were eating up, judging by the comments—as the sound of a car door slamming closed echoed in their direction.
Ryland looked out the window, and there was Bellamy himself, all tall and blond and floppy-haired and pouty-lipped. Ryland had never been attracted to him, but he could understand what had drawn Jason to him. The man, it turned out, was incomprehensibly sweet.
Which just made Ryland feel like even more of an ass for the way he’d treated him for a decade. Egging him on and talking shit about him and starting fights on the ice and just being a general nuisance until Bellamy had no choice but to push back.
Hell, he’d once publicly claimed that Bellamy wasn’t first-line material, which . . .
Christ. Dirtbag, thy name is Ryland.
And Bellamy had let him make peace? The man was kinder than Ryland had any right to expect.
He forgot all about that, however, when a second person emerged from the car.
Kyle Dabbs, captain of the Vermont Trailblazers, the same team that had crushed Ryland’s in the second round of the playoffs.
Ryland’s stomach jumped into his throat, and he nearly dropped the phone as his palms went sweaty.
He’d been crushing on Kyle Dabbs since . . . well, long enough that he couldn’t remember how long it’d been. Probably since he’d started his NHL career at twenty-two, so . . .
He was nursing a seven-year crush.
Ryland would’ve been embarrassed by that if Dabbs wasn’t the coolest person ever.
And it wasn’t the fact that Dabbs was a tall, built, ginger with dark gray eyes that turned his crank—though it didn’t hurt. It was that Dabbs had an effortless confidence in his own skin, in who he was, in where he belonged, and in his abilities. That confidence came across in everything he did. During interviews, he was respectful and well-spoken and not easily provoked. He had a calm demeanor that invited a person to seek his advice. He could laugh at himself, was an expert at putting people at ease, and had somehow developed the skill of stating something plainly without hurting someone’s feelings.
All of that was what probably made him a damn good team captain.
Still, Ryland couldn’t say exactly why he had a crush on Dabbs—but could anyone explain a crush?
Maybe it came down to pheromones. Chemistry.
