CHAPTER SIX

Satisfied all of his patient notes for the day were complete, Shea made sure everything had saved properly, then logged out of his computer.

He rolled back from the desk, stretching with a contented sigh. It had been a long day but he was glad to be back at work, back to his patients.

He said goodbye to a few co-workers on the way out, waved at the receptionist who was packing her things to leave for the day, then fell into step beside Myles Coleman, one of his fellow physiotherapists.

"How was your day?" Shea asked as they stepped out into the bright, February sunshine.

"Ugh, alright, I guess." Myles squinted, rummaging in his backpack for a moment before pulling out sunglasses. "Long."

"Yeah, some days are like that," Shea agreed. "See you tomorrow?"

"See you, man."

"Have a good one!" Shea called out as they went their separate ways toward their vehicles.

Shea had just tossed his bag on the seat beside him when his phone rang. He pulled it out, half-expecting it to be Dom with suggestions for their ‘bro date' but the screen flashed with the name Travis Rogers .

"Hey, man, what's up?" Shea answered, surprised to hear from the point guard for the Toronto Titans, the city's pro basketball team. "What'd you do? Bust your knee up again and come crawling back for more torture from me?"

Travis laughed. "No. Knee's feeling good. Just wanted to see if you had plans for your birthday."

"Fuck." Shea laughed. "Honestly, I forgot it was coming up."

There had been so much going on lately, it had completely slipped his mind.

"Shit, dude, you need to have more fun. You've forgotten what it's like."

"I guess so." Shea grinned. He'd always liked Travis. "And no, I don't have anything going on so far."

"Perfect. Because I've got four courtside seats with your name on it this Friday if you want them."

" Hell yeah," Shea said, grinning. "You know I'd love to see you play again."

He went on his own dime sometimes but it had been a while and although he was doing well, courtside seats were definitely not within his budget.

"Perfect. Tickets will be at will-call for you to pick up. Bring some friends, enjoy the game, and maybe we can grab drinks after or something."

"I'd love that. Thanks for thinking of me. Shit, I can't believe you remembered my birthday when I didn't." Shea laughed.

"Pfft." Travis made a disparaging noise. "Like I'm gonna forget the guy who got me playing again."

"Nah, I didn't do that much," Shea protested.

They bantered for a few more minutes before Travis excused himself. "Sorry. Gotta go, man. It was good talking though. See you Friday."

"Yeah, definitely. Thanks for calling!"

After Shea hung up, he texted Dom. Got a minute to talk on the phone?

There was no immediate answer, so Shea started the vehicle and was halfway home before his phone rang.

"Hey," Dom said when the call connected.

"Hey. So, I have an idea for our bro date." Shea glanced to the left, then merged into the lane.

Dom chuckled. "Sure. What are you thinking?"

"Are you free on Friday?"

"Yeah. No game."

That much Shea knew. The Toronto Titans played in the same arena where hockey games were held so unless they were about to start combining basketball and ice hockey into one sport …

"Perfect. You want to catch a Titans game with me and a couple of my buddies? They're straight, so it should fit with what Kate was looking for."

He hadn't asked Myles and Ethan yet but unless they had something major planned, they probably wouldn't turn down courtside seats.

Dom snorted. "Yeah, that sounds good. You need me to pick up tickets for us?"

"Nope, I've got it all taken care of. A friend got them for me." He slowed to a stop at a light.

Dom was silent a second. "Oh. Uh, sure. That works."

"It was a birthday gift," Shea blurted out, not sure why he felt the need to explain.

"Oh, shit, I forgot. That's on Friday, right?"

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I did too," Shea admitted.

Dom chuckled. "I don't know. Now I'm a little worried. Should you be going senile at twenty-eight?"

"I'll be twenty-nine in a few days," he protested, turning onto the street his apartment building was on.

"Oh yeah, you're really getting up there," Dom teased.

"Fuck off," Shea said, his tone playful. "I've had a lot on my mind lately."

"Everything okay?" Dom asked, his tone turning more serious.

"Yeah, more or less. I finally got in contact with the High Park Towers building manager yesterday. The good news is the fire wasn't my fault. The fire investigator has already been in and said it was clear from the burn pattern that the source was faulty wiring. No chance I left a burner on."

"Oh, that is good news."

"Yeah, that's a huge load off my mind. I was also able to go into the apartment and get my wallet and old phone. The phone case and wallet itself smell a little smoky but the phone and all my cards are fine."

"Good! God, that would be a hassle if you had to replace all your credit cards and ID. Did I ever tell you about the time I lost my wallet in St. Louis and didn't notice for like twenty-four hours?"

"No." Shea laughed, pulling into the underground parking in his building. "What happened?"

"Some random person got a niiice spending spree in before I shut it down. I swear I spent six hours on the phone dealing with the credit card companies."

"Ugh, what a pain." Shea drummed his fingers on the steering wheel while he waited for the person ahead of him to park. "Hey, that reminds me. Do you need me to return the phone you sent over the other day? Uh, this one I'm using now."

He'd transferred his number and contacts to the new device, but he could always switch everything back.

"Nah. Keep it. Sell it. Whatever you want," Dom said. "It was the least I could do after you risked your life for me."

"It wasn't that big a deal," Shea said, scoffing. "The phone is nice though, so thanks."

It was several models newer than his previous one and came with all of the bells and whistles.

"Sure. So, yeah, the Titans game sounds great. Wanna do dinner at a steakhouse before the game?" Dom suggested. "I mean, that's straight-boy enough, right?"

Shea snickered. "I dunno, better check with Kate."

"For what it's worth, I'm sure she finds the whole thing as ridiculous as we do."

"Oh, I figured. She didn't seem like the type who bought into stereotypes that way."

"Not at all. It's just her job to know how weird the public can be about certain things."

"Definitely." Shea navigated into his spot and unhooked the seatbelt.

Dom cleared his throat. "So yeah. I'll make reservations then. You said two of your friends will be there too?"

"I haven't asked yet, wanted to check with you first, but yeah, I'm gonna text them next. I was thinking I'd invite Myles who works with me at the clinic, and Ethan, who's a guy I went to college with."

"Great. And, uh, what do we tell them about how we know each other?" For the first time, Dom sounded uneasy.

"Oh. Good call, we need to have our stories straight. Um … well, the truth is probably easiest, right?"

Dom let out a choking noise. "Wait, they know you're an escort?"

"Shit no." Shea laughed. "I meant the stylist work. They know I did it to pay for PT school and that I still see some clients."

Dom's relieved sigh filled his ear. "Right. Okay, yeah, that makes a lot more sense."

Shea chuckled. "So, we tell them I've been styling you for a few years. We're buddies. No big deal."

"Right. No big deal," Dom echoed. "Okay, I'll make a reservation for four people and you can let me know if anything changes."

"Perfect. Shoot me the details of where and what time." Shea grabbed his bag.

"Sounds good. See you Friday."

"Yeah, see you Friday." Shea ended the call and turned off the engine, stomach fluttering with anticipation.

Well, this ‘bro date' was definitely going to be interesting.

"Hey, you want to do something on Friday?" Jordan asked on Thursday night while he and Dom finished their cooldown following a game, then transitioned to stretching, the final two guys to wrap up. "Colton, Jesse, and I were thinking about going to the indoor range, then doing dinner."

Dom winced, both at the timing and at the knot in his hamstrings the foam roller hit. "Uh, I'd like to but I have plans that evening."

"Oh, sure. No problem."

"It's my, uh, buddy's birthday," Dom explained. "We're going to dinner and then a Titans game."

Jordan's expression eased. "Sure, some other time then."

They finished their stretches and recovery work in silence but as Jordan stood and put the equipment away, he hesitated. "Hey, Dom?"

Dom grunted, the myofascial release ball digging into another tight spot below his shoulderblade. "Yeah?"

"I wanted to say I am sorry about the other night. I shouldn't have bugged you when you were in the middle of your pregame stuff."

"No, it's okay," Dom said. "I'm sorry I was short with you. I get in the zone and …"

"Yeah, I know." Jordan gave him a halfhearted smile. "I don't want to mess you up."

"I didn't mean to snap. I was going on too little sleep that night, which didn't help." Dom rubbed his face, trying to ignore the screaming agony in his shoulder.

Mother fucker, that spot would not loosen up.

"Everything worked out okay with the fire though?" Jordan asked.

"Oh, yeah. It was scary at the time but everything is fine."

"Your friend is going to be okay?"

"Yep," Dom grunted, digging in a little harder. "He's all recovered."

"Good." Jordan shifted a medicine ball between his hands. "We all know the shit on JockGossip is total trash but, um, you know we wouldn't care, right?"

Dom stared at him. "Wouldn't care about what ?"

"If you were, um, dating the guy or whatever."

"Oh." A weird, shaky feeling rushed over Dom. "Well, it's not … he's my stylist. We're friends."

"Sure, yeah, I saw the press release. I just wanted you to know that we wouldn't care."

"Right," Dom said slowly. "I assumed as much. Since like, half the fucking team is dating dudes."

"Pretty sure it's closer to a third," Jordan said.

Dom resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Jesus, has no one ever heard of hyperbole?

"Well, fractions aside, I think it's pretty obvious that the team is very laid back about people's sexualities," Dom pointed out. "Colton's little hang-up about watching people make out aside."

Jordan laughed. "To be fair, he goes after Tasha and me all the time. We went on vacation with him and Birdie over bye week and he was totally chirping us every time we got all lovey-dovey."

Dom grinned. "Kid cracks me up."

Not that sometimes Dom didn't resent the hell out of Colton for being the guy he used to be. For having the role he'd used to have.

It wasn't Colton's fault. It was the nature of the game. But sometimes … sometimes it still stung like a bitch.

Dom reminded himself that envy was a normal thing. It was how he handled it that mattered.

"Yeah, he's a hoot," Jordan agreed. "Anyway, I wanted you to know."

"Thanks, man," Dom said, praying Jordan would stop talking and go away . "Appreciate the support, even though it's unnecessary."

"Right. See you tomorrow at practice."

"See you, Jordy," Dom said.

When Jordan finally, finally left the room, Dom rolled away from the ball and flopped onto the padded mats, staring up at the ceiling.

Jesus Christ. This team was too goddamn nice. Too accepting.

In some ways, it had almost been easier in LA. At the time, no one had been out in the league at all, homophobic slurs had still run rampant, and Dom hadn't felt the pressure to be loud and proud about who he slept with.

Except for pressure from the guy he'd secretly been dating at the time. Ugh, but Dom didn't want to think about Christian Patton now.

The team in LA had been filled with a bunch of guys who were married with wives and kids and Dom had never considered coming out.

The idea would have been ludicrous .

But now, guys across the league were open about everything and other than a few vocal minorities who complained about how people were ruining the sacred traditions of hockey—which, as far as Dom could tell, was generally a thinly veiled euphemism for homophobia and racism—everyone was trying to embrace the new culture of the NHL.

It was great for the sport, for the league, for every guy who'd been forced to hide but hadn't wanted to.

But Dom? He wasn't like them. He'd never felt like he needed to come out.

Why did everyone need to know everyone's business? It wasn't even about being gay. It was about privacy and having some part of his life that not everyone was involved in or had opinions on.

Even if he'd been straight, he'd swear he wouldn't be the guy posting his personal life on social media and shit.

That wasn't him. He had his public social media accounts where he dutifully posted the shit the team wanted him to post and he had some secret accounts that he used to follow former teammates and keep up on their lives, though he rarely shared anything there either.

The thought of talking publicly about his personal life and telling everyone what he felt and how he felt about it made Dom's skin crawl. Just because it was good for other guys didn't mean it was what Dom wanted or needed.

He liked his life the way it was. Why did everything have to change ?