Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

HUGO

When I follow my team off the ice at the end of practice, I notice Torin isn’t standing by the chute today. A glance around and I don’t see him. Frowning, I continue out. On my way past, I stop at his office. The light is on, so I think he’s here. He’s just not here where I can see him.

“You okay?” Winny asks.

I nod. “Just looking for Torin.”

“He usually picks up the pucks at the end of practice,” Coach tells me as he walks by. He claps my shoulder and nudges me back toward the ice.

With a smile for him, I turn back to the rink. Sure enough, I see Torin on the ice. He’s not on skates, but shimmying around with his sneakers, picking up pucks and dropping them into a bucket he’s dragging with him.

I wonder if this is one of the jobs he was given that allows him not to deal with people. He’s wearing black jeans, a black hoodie, and a bright pink beanie. I smile as I watch him for a minute before stepping back onto the ice.

Torin looks up and watches me as I approach.

We’ve been hanging out most days that I don’t have games. Usually after practice. But he doesn’t like to come out after games when we celebrate or commiserate, depending on how the game went .

I get it, so I’ve stopped asking. But I feel bad not asking him to come with us. I don’t want him to think we don’t want him to hang out with us. We do. Well, I do. I guess I don’t know about the others.

“Hey,” I say as I close the distance and skate straight into him.

Torin nearly falls backwards as his feet come out from under him, and his arms wrap around me, gripping onto my jersey. I laugh as I pick him up off his feet entirely.

“I’m not going to let you fall, silly.”

He laughs, breathless as he hangs on and I skate him around a bit while hugging him. I think I’m hug deprived. There’s almost nothing else I’d rather be doing than hugging this man. I love the way he hugs me. How he smiles into my neck and his fingers dig into my back. I love that I can feel the way his heart beats against his chest.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

Torin nods. “Just waiting for some big strapping man to sweep me off my feet. So thanks for that.”

I laugh. As long as we’re alone, I get to see more and more of his personality. He’s still soft-spoken. Always. That hasn’t changed. But he talks more now.

Not as much as I do. I’m not sure I’ve met anyone who talks as much as I do. But he definitely talks more.

“You know how to skate?” I ask.

He shrugs. “I can move around pretty well on my sneakers, so I feel like it can’t be that different.”

I pull him back so I can look into his face. He needs to see my horror. Torin flounders as he tries to keep his balance, laughing when he sees my face.

“Unacceptable. What size are your shoes?”

“Really, Hugo. I don’t need to know how to skate to pick up pucks.”

“You need to know how to skate! It should be taught to everyone when they learn how to walk.”

He sighs. “Eleven.”

Giving him a curt nod, I make sure he’s steady on his feet before heading to the equipment room. We have backups of everything. Ev-er-y-thing! Just in case. You don’t want something as stupid as a broken shoelace, a snapped cup strap, or anything else to be the reason you can’t play a game. I find some elevens and head back to the ice. Grabbing Torin’s hand on the way by, I bring him to the bench.

I know he’s humoring me as he takes off his shoes and stuffs his feet into the skates. When he laces them up, he gives me a scowl. “These are really stiff.”

“Yes. They’re supposed to be. Ankle support.”

“How do you move without bending your ankles?”

Grinning, I drop my stick and gloves on the bench and pull him to his feet. “I’ll show you. All you have to do is keep upright for now. Engage your core,” I tell him, pressing my hand to his stomach.

Torin flushes. I love the way his cheeks burn.

While I think most people would grab someone’s hands and haul them around, I place my hands on his hips instead. His hands grip around my wrists, his face a bright red as he looks at our feet.

“Watch my feet, but concentrate on keeping your balance. Okay?”

Torin nods.

He has a really small waist. I haven’t really noticed that, which is silly because we’ve cuddled and hugged and shit. But I guess I’ve never had my hands here like this. I can almost reach around him with my hands, he’s so narrow.

Okay, I’m exaggerating a little, but he’s definitely a very different body shape than mine.

Torin flounders suddenly, his right foot coming out from under him. He doesn’t fall because I have him steady. His dark eyes flicker up to mine.

“It’s okay. You’re doing great,” I assure him.

He rolls his eyes. “No, you’re doing great. I’m just not falling on my face, which isn’t due to my own skill but yours.”

I grin. Keeping one hand on his hip, I bring the other to his stomach. “Balance is about core strength. Most people don’t realize that because it comes naturally and you don’t have to think about it much. But here is where you want to retrain your muscles. Don’t let your entire body overcompensate when you slip.”

His lips are parted as he stares at me.

“Here,” I say and slide us to a stop. Taking his hands, I put them on my shoulders. “I’m going to go backwards. Use your muscles to keep yourself standing and your spine straight.”

He gives me a skeptical look but even through my pads, I can feel his grip tighten as I push off gently. He tenses and nearly falls, but I grab him.

“I really can’t believe you’ve never been on skates,” I muse, chuckling.

Torin glares and brings his body closer to me, then his eyes flicker to our skates. My hands rest lightly on his hips again, giving him that extra support.

“Why should I know how to skate when hot guys can just push me around on them?” he says. He’s speaking to our skates, so I’m not sure he meant to say it out loud.

I grin. “I suppose being a damsel… uh, what’s the masculine form of that?”

He shrugs. “Damsel is fine. I definitely feel like a damsel right now.”

Laughing, I grip him a little tighter, pulling him a little closer. His eyes rise to mine. For a while, we skate around like this. By we, I mean I skate around and bring Torin with me.

No words pass between us as we stare at each other. He does much better with his balance when he’s lost in thought. I nearly point this out, but I don’t want to disrupt it. He’s doing well. Even his feet are moving a little. I think if he remains distracted, he’ll learn to skate all on his own.

So I don’t speak; I memorize his face instead.

Strands of his blond hair are peeking out from under his pink beanie. His skin is flushed. I think it’s in a permanent state of being flushed. Though it might be because it’s cold in here. His big, pretty eyes are locked on mine. His perfectly shaped pink lips are slightly parted. He has a soft curvature to his jaw and he’s completely clean shaven. His neck is slender and smooth.

I’m not sure why, but I pull him closer. Now that he’s wearing skates, he’s nearly my same height again. So when I narrow the distance between us, our faces are really close. I lick my lips as I stare into his eyes. I’ve never seen such unique, pretty eyes before.

Closer. Our mouths are almost touching.

And then the back of my skate hits something and we go toppling over. Torin lets out a loud yelp as I pull him against my chest and angle my body to make sure we fall on my back with him on top of me.

The slam into the ice is jarring. I manage to keep my head from cracking, but that’s mostly from practice more than the way I fell. Which is lucky, since I’d taken my helmet off. Torin is on top of me, splayed out and gripping me tightly.

“Are you okay?” I ask, pushing his hair back so I can look at his face.

He’s breathing heavily but Torin nods. “Yeah. Just startled.”

I glance around and find the bucket he’d been dumping our pucks into. That’s what I’d skated into. I laugh and close my eyes, letting my head fall back to rest on the cold ice. “Sorry. Wasn’t paying attention.”

“It’s okay,” he says, voice quiet.

I drape both my arms around him and Torin settles, relaxing against me. Fuck, I could have hurt us both.

“Everything okay out here?”

Torin immediately tries to get up and ends up sprawled out on the ice beside me. Chuckling, I sit and look at Coach. “Yep. Wasn’t paying attention and fell over the bucket.”

Coach Ajo gives me a bemused look. “I expect neither of you to be hurt when you get off the ice. Understand me?”

“Yes, Coach,” we both call back. I throw Torin a grin because we spoke the words in unison.

Coach gives us one of his small smiles and a curt nod before turning away.

“He probably heard you scream,” I tease.

Torin huffs as he sits up. “I didn’t scream.”

Laughing, I get to my feet and pull him up too. “Here. Hang out by the bucket. I’ll toss the pucks to you.”

“You think I can bend down in skates and not crack my head open?” he asks, eyebrow raised.

“You can try.”

“You want to see that, do you?” There’s a playful smile on his lips and, for some reason, I stare at it for a minute.

“Kinda, yeah. I think you don’t give yourself enough credit. You’re pretty good on skates as long as you’re not thinking about it.”

Torin rolls his eyes. I press him against the boards so he has something to hang onto before grabbing my stick and heading for the rest of the pucks. There are half a dozen spread around and I fling them toward him.

He doesn’t bend down. Instead, he lowers himself to his knees and scrambles after the pucks I send his way. It leaves me laughing as I return.

When I return, I stuff the rest of my gear into the bucket too and load Torin on my back. Which he loudly protests to. It’s the loudest I’ve ever heard his voice. But he hangs on tightly as I carry him, the bucket of pucks and my gear, plus my stick, toward the chute.

I bring him all the way to the locker room, which is empty now, before helping him down to his feet. He quickly changes out of the skates and disappears to put the spare skates and pucks away before I’ve even peeled off my pads.

Chuckling, I begin my routine of stripping, showering, and dressing again before I go to find Torin. He’s in his office, sitting in a chair. He looks up when I stand in his doorway. As I’m coming to expect, his cheeks flush when he looks at me.

“Want to grab a bite to eat and then head to my house?”

Torin nods. “Yeah.”

I nod toward the hall and step out, Torin follows. I wait as he turns his light off and closes the door. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

He shakes his head. I’m not sure I believe him since he’s chewing on his lip. But before I can ask, he says, “Thanks for teaching me to skate.”

I grin. “You need more lessons.”

Torin gives me a demure look, which only makes me smile. “Then you can give me more lessons. Private lessons.”

Laughing, I nod. “Yep. I’ll get you skating yet. I’ll even teach you how to hold a stick.”

“I know how to hold a stick,” he blurts out as he looks away, his cheeks turning bright red.

“On the ice,” I correct.

Torin looks back at me, amused. “Right. ”

Once we’re outside, I stop, grabbing his arm so he stops too. “You’re sure you’re not hurt? I’m sorry I tripped over the bucket. I wasn’t watching where I was going and there aren’t usually buckets on the ice.”

He nods. “I’m fine. You broke my fall. I was just startled.”

“Me too. I’m glad you’re not hurt, though.”

Torin smiles, nodding again.

“So… Want Italian again? Or you want to try someplace else?”

“We had Italian two days ago.”

“Okay, someplace else. Follow me.”

Torin agrees and I watch him head to his car. He’s not in his hoodie or hat anymore. He’s in black jeans still but now he’s wearing a black tank. His hair is fluffed a little from the hat, but he has the strands tucked behind his ears. They’re only just long enough to reach, but not to stay there for long.

He glances at me as he reaches his car and gives me a curious look. Oh, right. I’m still standing here. I flash him a smile and head for my car. I’m starving.