Chapter Fifteen

Blake

Five Years Ago

I woke up with a cum hangover and Tommy’s large body draped over me. He had his face pressed into my neck as he slept, his arm wrapped around my waist. I smiled as I took in the moment. We could do this, Tommy and me. He could get drafted, go off to play hockey, and I could go tour the world with Mulligan. We would meet up when time permitted, have hot, hurried sex in my tour bus or his hotel room, and send dick pics to one another. Texts about how much we missed being together, countdowns to when we’d be able to kiss again, get off together, or simple ‘I love you’ messages. Yeah, I could do that. I wanted that.

“What’s got you smiling like that already, Bug?” Tommy’s sleepy voice had my green eyes meeting his dark ones.

“You want to marry me, Gretzky?” I asked.

His eyes widened, and a smile spread over his face. “Is that a proposal?” he teased before he moved his heavy body to press me into the mattress. “You should work on the delivery.”

I chuckled. “No, I was just asking a general question.” I closed my eyes as Tommy pressed wet kisses against my neck and throat.

“What brought that on? What were you thinking about before I woke up?”

“Our future. Touring, meeting up, and what it would be like.”

Tommy hummed softly. “Is that so?” He dragged his tongue over my skin. “Yes.”

“Yes?” Warmth blossomed throughout my body.

He chuckled, then slid his lips over mine. “Yes, Bug, I’d like to marry you. Settle down somewhere and have a life with you. Maybe a couple of kids. Have a big yard so they can play outside.”

“Kids?” I met his gaze, and he nodded. “You want kids with me?” I hadn’t thought about a family, but that would be nice. We would be good fathers.

Tommy dropped onto his side, eyes tracing my face. “I hope I get drafted, you know, like Jax.” He had never spoken much about where he wanted to end up, only that he wanted to go pro. “What if I’m not good enough?”

“Stop. You’re amazing.”

“I’m not as good as Jax.”

I tilted my head. “What’s bringing this on? You’re a great goalie, Tommy. I’ve seen you in the crease, blocking the shots.”

“I’m not Jax,” he muttered. “Never mind, pretend I never said anything.”

I dragged the back of my hand over his cheek. “Where do you want to end up? Somewhere warm? Because that’s where we’ll live. Maybe Florida or Vegas? Oh, Vegas would be different. So much desert, though. Sand in my ass all the time.”

“In your ass?” Tommy smirked. “You know we won’t be living in the sand. They will be a house, four walls, a roof over our head.” He leaned forward to kiss me. “I thought Arizona might be nice.”

I nodded. “Scorpions and spiders, though.”

“Again, the whole four walls thing,” he reminded me, then gripped my shoulders and tugged me closer. “Promise me something, Bug.”

“Anything, Tommy, you know that.”

“If I don’t get drafted, promise you’ll never give up on me.”

I started to remind him that he would but decided to let it go for now. “I promise,” I whispered and leaned my forehead against his.

My stomach let out a soft growl, and I grinned at him.

“Hungry?” Tommy ran his thumb over my cheek. “I can whip us up some eggs and bacon.”

I nodded. “Toast?”

“Duh, of course.”

Only we stayed there, staring at one another for a little while longer. Until we heard the sound of his parents moving around outside his room, and we had no choice but to get up before they came looking for us.

***

“That’s bullshit!” I shouted as I jumped from my seat. I turned to look at Matthias, who was sitting next to me. “You saw that, right?”

He gave me a shy smile. “I saw, but I can’t say I understood what was going on.”

We were at one of the Canfield hockey games. I had dragged Matty with me, and to be fair, this was the first game he had ever been to. He wasn’t really a sports kind of guy.

“So, Keith Newman is the right defensemen,” I told him as I sat back down. “He’s supposed to stop the left winger on the other team from scoring. He’s supposed to stay in the right corner and in front of the net. To help Tommy.”

“What you said made absolutely no sense but keep talking. Your face lights up like fireworks when you get excited. All pretty and sparkly,” Matthias teased.

I stuck my tongue out and tossed a handful of popcorn at him. “I’ll show you pretty.”

I chuckled, then turned my attention back to the ice. Canfield was up three to one, but that didn’t mean the opposing team couldn’t pull off some miracle before the timer ran out.

“No offense, Blake, but you’re not my type.”

“Sorry that I don’t have blue eyes and dark, curly hair. Or those dimples you like.”

Matthias made a noise in his throat, and when I looked at him, his face was bright red. “Right, well, we all know I have a thing for Killian.” He kept his gaze on the game.

“How does your new boyfriend feel about that?” I asked. When Matty didn’t answer, I leaned closer. “Or is your silence telling me that Killian is your new boyfriend?”

He swallowed nervously. “What if he was?”

“Jesus Christ, Matty, what are you doing?” I sighed softly as I watched Tommy squat in front of the goal.

He was so damn flexible. I shouldn’t find that so damn hot, right? He tried to take me skating once, to teach me, but all I ended up doing was falling over and over again until I was afraid I would end up black and blue. I was pretty sure Tommy came out of the womb wearing knee pads, a mask, and carrying a hockey stick.

“How do you think this is going to end for you?” I asked quietly.

Matthias ducked his head, and his blond hair covered his face. “That maybe Killian feels the same way about me that I do about him. He’s sweet to me when we’re alone.”

“He’s hiding you. He doesn’t want anyone to know he’s dating you.”

I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth when I realized that’s exactly what Tommy and I were doing. I wasn’t ashamed of being with him, though. I knew exactly how I felt about my best friend.

“Matty?” He looked up at me. “Don’t let him treat you like some dirty secret.”

A commotion on the ice had me turning my attention to the game. A player from the opposing team skated full blast right into Tommy and shoved him into the goal. Tommy went down, but he was back up in a heartbeat, and that’s when the fight broke out. Gloves were thrown, and fists went flying. That was a rare thing to see with a goalie.

I was back on my feet, as was everyone else, as I tried to make sure Tommy wasn’t hurt. The crowd went wild, screaming and hollering. This was what I hated about hockey, while everyone else seemed to love it. The fights, the way everyone was rooting for blood and carnage. I just wanted my boyfriend to be okay.

The referees dragged the players apart, and I finally got a good look at Tommy. His mask was missing by the time it was over, and I felt my heart leap into my throat. This was a high school game, not NHL. I had watched plenty of them with Tommy. Pucks and sticks to the face, giant men beating the hell out of one another. That was something I was going to have to deal with when we got married.

“Does that happen a lot?” Matthias asked.

I shook my head. “No.”

My stomach clenched. I wanted to go to him, but that wasn’t something a friend would do. Even a best friend.

“You should go check on him,” Matthias told me as I eased my body back into my seat. “He’d want you there.”

I tried to force myself to smile. “He’ll be fine.”

“Not for Tom, for yourself. You look pretty shaken up.” Matty reached over to squeeze my arm just as the buzzer went off to announce the end of the game. At least Canfield won. Now all we had to do was wait.

I stayed glued to my seat, waiting for Tommy. I always waited for him after a game. My leg bounced up and down with nerves while Matty rattled on about Killian. He was already too far gone for me to tell him to be careful. It was obvious to me that he was in love with him and had been for a long time.

When I looked over at him, Matthias gave me a shy smile. “What?”

“I’d tell you to be careful, watch your heart, but I think we’re past that point.”

Matthias blushed. “It’s way too late for that.” He sighed and looked out across the ice. “We’ve already kissed and done some other stuff.”

“Oh, Matty.” I reached over to squeeze his arm. “If he breaks your heart, what am I supposed to do? Killian is my lead singer. I can’t kick him out of the band. I was the last one to join.”

He shrugged. “He’s broken my heart a million times already, Blake. A few more isn’t going to matter.” He let out a long sigh. “Is that Tom?”

Sure enough, it was.

“Come on.” We made our way down to meet him, and the moment I got a better look at his face, I wasn’t sure what I should do. He was limping, which was never good. He was also sporting a black eye. He’d had a couple of injuries that had kept him off the ice for weeks. This one didn’t look as serious as those.

“Holy shit!” Matthias gasped. “Tell me the other guy looks worse.”

Tommy nodded. “I think I knocked out one of his teeth.”

“You ready to go home?” I asked, unsure if I should touch him or not. I itched to wrap my arms around my best friend, hold him, make sure he wasn’t broken anywhere else. “We need to drop Matty off first.”

Tommy nodded. “Yeah.”

“Are you—”

“I’m okay, Bug,” he assured me, but his eyes flashed with pain. “I just need to go lie down. They gave me something, and I’m already feeling it.”

I chewed on my lip. “I can take you home first. Then take Matty home.”

“I can just walk,” Matthias suggested.

“The fuck you will,” Tommy grunted. “Come on.” He started walking, and we followed him outside. The limp seemed to get worse the farther he went.

No one spoke in the car, and Matthias let Tommy lie down in the back, which left him shotgun with me. The drive was short, and it was on the tip of my tongue to remind Matty to be careful with Killian, but I held back. I wasn’t sure he wanted Tommy to know about it, so I let it go. I would text him tomorrow instead. Once we got to the Olson house, I helped Tommy out of my car, and took him inside, where he slowly climbed up the stairs to his room.

“I need you, Bug,” he whispered as he sat down. “My head feels like it’s going to bust wide open.”

His dark eyes were tight, full of pain. Had he hit his head and not told me? Had he told the doctor? Should I be worried he had a concussion?

I nodded as I carefully removed his shirt and then he stood up so I could get off his jeans. He groaned softly when he lifted his right leg. There was a bruise that I was sure would turn a nasty black and blue, but that was the only thing I could see. I kneeled to press a soft kiss against it.

“Sit back down,” I told him. “You want pajamas?”

Tommy shook his head. “Just you.”

“How about some Tylenol?” I smiled. “Something to ease the pain?”

He moved to spread his giant body out on the mattress, wearing nothing but his briefs. The outline of his semi hard cock made my own twitch.

“No, Bug. I just need you. Only you,” he repeated.

I quickly stripped off my own clothes, grabbed the shirt Tommy had been wearing, and pulled it on over my head before I turned back around. He had already passed out from whatever painkiller they had given him. I turned off the light before I slid onto the bed.

“Poor baby,” I murmured and dragged a hand through his hair.

I wanted to snuggle with him. I wanted to wrap my arms around Tommy and whisper that I would take care of him. That I loved him, and that no matter what happened, he would always have me by his side. But instead, I tucked the blanket around both of us and fell asleep.