Page 141 of Hockey Bois
“Hey Gail,” he started, fully committed to the small talk it would take to ask what he really wanted to.
“Jenna and Terry have suspicions,” she drawled before Nick could get further. “They have a pool.”
Nick leaned against the boards to help maintain his balance. He appreciated her bluntness, but his poor brain couldn’t handle it when he’d already planned out five hockey-related questions to ask first. “A pool?” he asked with a nervous laugh. “About what? If me and Brady are sleeping together?”
She snorted. “Oh, no, you’re definitely sleeping together. You wouldn’t go AWOL if you weren’t. It’s aboutwhenyou guys first hooked up.”
Nick groaned. He’d been avoiding talking to his cousins. His job was a great excuse—they knew his work cycle well enough to believe he was swamped and incapable of regular human communication—but they knew the busiest time had passed, and still he’d avoided making any plans to meet up with them.
If they saw him, they’d ask about the trip, and if they asked about the trip, he’d tell them about the drive home, and if he told them about the drive home, they’d grill him on whether the one-on-one time had been awkward. If he evenmentionedthe motel…
So, yeah, he’d been avoiding his family. Jenna would get the truth out of him within an hour—half that if beer was involved—and then there would be shrieks of delight (mostly from Terry) and demand for details he wasn’t sure he wanted to share yet.
He liked having Brady to himself.
He also hated it a little. Their…thing… was complicated enough without adding his cousins into the mix.
“Can’t avoid ’em forever,” Gail said with a shrug. “You should get it over with sooner than later. Get out their shenanigans when it’s just the three of you. Don’t want it happening when your boy toy’s around. He’ll clam up.”
His shoulders slumped. She was right, both about his cousins and about Brady, and it made him nauseous to think about Jenna and Terry (well… mostly Jenna) inadvertently scaring Brady off.
“I’m going out for drinks with them next weekend,” Gail offered. “They already want to invite you.”
“And they haven’t because…?”
“Because they wanted me to spy on you and Brady in the locker room first.”
“You’re a double agent, aren’t you?”
She smiled widely at him. “Something like that. Score a goal and I might ‘forget’ to forward that video I took.”
“Really?”
“Nah,” Gail said as she pushed off the boards. The refs were gathering everyone at center ice, and she was claiming first shift. “I already sent it.”
*
“Good game, everyone,” Benns said in the locker room. He had an unfortunate case of helmet hair, made worse by the red line his helmet had left across his forehead. He and Young Greg had double shifted in the third when Donno pulled a muscle; Benns had insisted they split the time evenly despite Young Greg being younger and fitter. “Hard loss, but I think we’re in a good position to move forward with Nicki back in the lineup.”
There were some half-hearted, exhausted claps, accompanied by Brady’s obnoxious whistle.
“I’m beat. Anyone have anything to add?” Benns asked as he collapsed onto the bench and started digging through his hockey bag for a Gatorade.
“Actually…” Mags stood up, looking bashful. “I know it’s super short notice, but I’d like to invite you all to my sister’s Fourth of July celebration. She bought a place on the Bay and wants to celebrate with a big house-warming type deal. She’ll provide the food if you provide the booze.”
“On the Bay? Sick!” Young Greg said. “Y’all doing fireworks?”
“Yep,” Mags said with a glint in his eyes. “I’m making the drive up to PA before I head there.”
“Score,” Lexi said. “I’m in.”
“Youwill nottouch the fireworks,” Mags said. “You can’t handle a fucking tape-to-tape pass; I’m not letting you near explosives. I don’t even trust you to carry my sticks.”
Lexi went red. “It’s not tape-to-tape if it’s going two miles an hour. Mygrandmacould pick that pass—”
Mags cut him off. “I’ll send you guys the address in the chat. Remember: anything you wanna drink other than water and iced tea, bring it yourselves. No house-warming gifts. Rosie already got pissed when we tried to get her a plant for her garden.”
“Because she kills plants?” Donno asked knowingly.
