CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

The minute Matty walked into the kitchen, Antoni took one look and knew something was wrong.

"Hey, everyone!" Matty called out, smiling, but there wasn't the same bounce to his step that there'd been this morning when he left.

Antoni's parents called a "hello" from the dining room table, the kids hollering their greetings and begging him to come look at what they made.

"I'll be there in one sec," Matty promised. "Let me say hi to your Uncle Antoni first."

"Hey." Antoni paused in the middle of unloading the dishwasher as Matty approached and snagged his hand. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Well, it will be. I'll tell you all about it later," Matty said, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. But he leaned down to press a kiss to Antoni's cheek.

"Okay." Antoni squeezed Matty's hand before he let go. "Sure. Whenever you're ready. My parents will be leaving soon. They were cleaning up after the craft project they did earlier."

"Aww, crafts sound fun. I'll go say hi to the kids and then after your parents go, you can tell me how your day went. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sounds great." Still concerned, Antoni watched Matty amble over to the dining room table.

"Thanks for staying late, Eliza and Enzo. We had an unexpected team meeting," Matty said with a strained smile.

Enzo glanced up from his laptop and shrugged. "No bother at all."

"We're having fun," Eliza said, running an affectionate hand over River's hair. "Even if I had to remind someone that just because something looks like frosting, that doesn't mean we're supposed to eat it like frosting."

River giggled.

"Whatcha workin' on?" Matty asked, crouching between River and Eli.

"Paper mache!" Eli said.

"Ooh, show me what you made?"

Antoni's heart twinged because, God, it was clear Matty'd had a rough day and yet, he was still so sweet and attentive. He could have easily brushed everyone off and gone to work out or hide in the bedroom. He could have pretended like he had somewhere else to be or something else to do.

But he was here, listening to the kids chatter about their work like that was the only thing he wanted to do at the moment.

A surge of affection welled up in Antoni's throat and he pressed his fingertips to his mouth.

Today had been weird for him.

All of the gossip at school about their sudden wedding had led to a ton of questions from people he worked with and he'd spent the day alternately worried about what this meant for him and the kids and the custody suit, and how it was impacting Matty.

A sudden team meeting didn't seem like a good sign of how Matty's day had gone. What if he regretted this already? He cared about the kids, cared about Antoni too, but this was asking so much of him.

After the kids were done sharing their work, Matty stood, looking around. "And where are the other two?"

"Alexis is working on homework in her room," Eliza said, gathering the supplies for the craft project and packing them into the tote bad she'd brought over. "And Reese is having tummy time."

Antoni walked over to where Reese was on his belly on a blanket on the floor. He squirmed around, happily watching everything with bright, curious eyes as Antoni scooped him up.

"You know, I think you might start crawling any day now, mister," he said as he carried him over to Matty. "And here you go. I think you might need some baby snuggles, Matty."

The look of pure relief in Matty's eyes when he settled Reese against his chest made Antoni want to kiss him. He really was a sweetheart, wasn't he?

"Crawling?" Matty asked, looking surprised. "Really?"

Eliza nodded. "Yes. I think so too. He's pushing himself up on his arms and scooting around quite a bit. It's not quite a crawl but it's not far off."

"Aww, well you better do it when I'm home, buddy," Matty said, kissing the top of Reese's head. "Because I want to see that!"

Reese made a happy noise, grasping at Matty's face.

Eliza shot him a soft smile, then glanced at Antoni. "I get the impression that both of you probably had big days. Why don't you take a few minutes to talk about it while I get the kids cleaned up? Enzo, can you wrangle Reese for a few? I need to hose River off. I think she's wearing as much paste as she used on her project."

River giggled again. "Yay, paste!"

"Sure," Enzo said with a smile. "Maybe Reese can help me figure out what this data means. I can't make any sense of it."

This time, Eli giggled.

With a sigh, Matty deposited Reese in Enzo's arms, then turned to Antoni. "Well, I won't complain about a few minutes alone with my husband. What do you say?"

"I'm all yours," Antoni said without really thinking about it but the warmth that lit up Matty's eyes made him glad he'd said it.

Neither of them spoke as they walked to the bedroom and it wasn't until they were both inside that Antoni turned to look at Matty, feeling awkward now that they were alone outside of the strange honeymoon bubble they'd been in all weekend.

But Matty reached for him, pressing their lips together.

Antoni melted into it and Matty sighed against Antoni's mouth, pulling their bodies tightly together as they exchanged desperate kisses.

Heat sparked between them and Antoni slid a hand under Matty's hoodie, teasing his tongue between Matty's lips.

Matty shuddered, pinning Antoni against the dresser. Something rattled and Matty pulled back with a frown but Antoni made an annoyed little grumbly noise at the interruption.

"Where are you going?" he complained, pulling Matty close again. "This was just getting good."

Matty laughed against his mouth and closed his eyes, kissing him again, the soft abrasion of his beard making Antoni shiver with pleasure. When Antoni licked between Matty's lips again, Matty released a desperate low groan.

"Yeah?" Antoni asked but he dove in again before Matty could speak.

Matty seemed to have no complaints, mumbling a, "mmm," when Antoni got a grip on his ass. For a few minutes, they made out, touching each other like it had been weeks since they'd seen each other, not hours.

Road trips were going to be rough.

Antoni only stopped when he felt Matty's cock, hard against his hip, and he heard muffled laughter from one of the kids in the hall.

"Shit." Antoni pulled away, breathing hard. "God, sorry. I didn't mean to start anything we can't finish right now. I …"

I missed you, Antoni thought but that was silly. He was being ridiculous and horny after being without sex for so long, that was all.

"Hey, it's okay," Matty said, brushing his thumb across Antoni's lower lip. "I don't mind. And there's always later … we'll have to be quiet but there are some advantages to sharing a bedroom now, yeah?"

"Yeah," Antoni said, shivering at the thought. "True. Later sounds good. So, tell me about your day? What happened? You seem …"

Upset wasn't really the right word. Just down. And Matty wasn't the type of guy who got down that way.

Or … maybe he did? What did Antoni know? They hadn't known each other that long when it came right down to it.

"I, uh …" Matty stepped back, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, how did people react at school when they found out about the wedding?"

"Well," Antoni said with a confused laugh, a little surprised by the change of subject. "I got a lot of surprised-sounding congratulations. I also got several people hinting they'd like tickets, which was weird as hell. I had no idea how to respond to that. Mostly, people seemed really shocked by the whole thing though."

"Mmm, yeah, people do that a lot with tickets," Matty said. "They act like players get crazy amounts of them for free and we definitely don't. We get two free tickets to home games and have to pay for the ones on the road. Which, it's fine. Obviously, I can afford it and I'm more than happy to do that for you and the kids and your parents and stuff if you want to go, but …"

"No, God, don't worry. I'm not asking you to do that for random people I work with," Antoni assured him. "But yeah, other than that the news was fine, I guess? Lots of curious people who kept asking for a lot of details I didn't want to give out, but that was about it. What happened with you?"

Matty rubbed the back of his neck again. "Well, unfortunately, I kinda got chewed out by our VP of PR and Communications, Kate Foster. And Gilly, our new coach."

Antoni winced. "Shit, I'm sorry. The last thing I meant was to cause problems for you."

Matty reached out to squeeze his hip. "Hey, I know. I never thought you did. I should have given the head office and coaching staff a heads-up. That's my fault."

"And the guys on the team?" The wince on Matty's face told Antoni everything he needed to know. "That good, huh?" he said dryly.

Matty shrugged. "Well, for the most part it went about like I expected, honestly. Dustin was concerned and Dom blew his top. Nico gave me less shit than I expected though, so that's something." Matty grinned and this time, it looked real.

"Well, that's good about Nico," Antoni agreed. "But I don't want to be the cause of tension with Dom or make your captain worry about you."

"Hey, I know that." Matty pulled him closer. "I think they're concerned. They're all on board with the fake relationship to protect Eli but—"

"Wait, you told them?" Antoni asked, alarmed. "That's so many people! What if they—"

Matty winced. "Shit. Antoni, I'm sorry. We should have talked about that. I just assumed— I shouldn't have done it without asking you though. I promise, it's only a handful of the guys though. The core. The ones who are my closest friends. The ones I trust with my life."

Antoni sighed. "I'm not mad. I get why you did it but yeah, we really should have talked about it first. I am glad you trust them. It's … what if word gets out? I'm not saying any of those guys would do or say anything intentionally but what if someone slips up? This could be horrible for my custody case if it got out, Matty."

"They wouldn't let it slip," Matty said soothingly. "I promise."

"Not even Dom? If he's that pissed, are you sure he wouldn't—"

"I'm sure," Matty said firmly. "We can trust Dom. He was livid about what the Swansons did to Eli. He's pissed because he's feeling overprotective of me but he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the kids. I know that for sure."

Antoni wasn't so sure if he believed that. Then again, Antoni didn't know the guy at all so he'd have to trust Matty. "Okay."

Matty searched his face. "As far as the custody, do we need to worry about the speculation in JockGossip? And the shit that the Swansons said?"

"I don't know," Antoni said with a tired sigh. "I called April on my lunch break. She said that for right now, we need to wait and see. I do think if we can present ourselves as a happy family to the public, that's going to be important. I don't like to think about things like that influencing a judge but …"

"It can't hurt though. And it's not such a stretch for us to act like a happy family, is it?" Matty asked. "I mean, we all like spending time together."

"We do," Antoni agreed with a small smile. "I hate the idea of having to put on a show. It feels gross and disingenuous."

"Hey, I get it. I hate that too. But we'll do whatever we can. Actually, one thing Kate suggested was that you and the kids come to the first game of the season in a few weeks. She'll be contacting you about some PR stuff soon—she does that for all the SAPs—but the game should be straightforward enough. It should be fun for the kids. It would certainly get a lot of media attention."

Antoni bit his lip. "Do you think maybe my parents could come too? I don't want to wrangle four kids on my own. I can imagine one of them getting into something they shouldn't and it backfiring and looking bad for all of us."

He could totally picture the JockGossip headlines about him being a neglectful caregiver.

"Of course," Matty said, rubbing his hands up and down Antoni's arms. "I was planning on that anyway. And I'll see if some of the other SAPs will be there to help as well. I know Charlie's offered to sit down and explain the game to you and August probably would too. Hell, he'd be great at that as a former ref. And I know everyone would be happy to keep an eye on the kids. Remember, you're not alone now, Antoni. You've got all of the SAPS and the players behind you."

But Antoni caught the small wince when he said that and he studied Matty's face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Ahh, well, not all of them, obviously. Dom isn't quite there yet with our relationship. He'll get there eventually though."

"God, Matty …" Antoni settled his hands on Matty's chest. "I hate that this situation is straining your relationship with your friend. I know how important he is to you."

"Look, the issues Dom and I have go further back than that," Matty explained. "I didn't really realize it until today but it's true. I'm pretty sure there's some stuff he resents me for or something. And there's some shit he's pulled that I'm not happy about either. It's probably a little like you and Andrea. You must argue at times, right? You're brothers."

"Oh, definitely. We had a while where we really drove each other nuts and that sometimes flares up again," Antoni admitted. "But you'll let me know if there's anything I can do to help the situation with Dom, right? If it's sitting down and talking to him and assuring him that I'm not—not taking advantage of you or anything, I'm happy to do it."

"That's sweet," Matty said, pulling him close. "I can't think of anything that would help right now other than giving him time to cool off, but if I do, I'll let you know, okay?"

"Okay," Antoni agreed, settling his cheek against Matty's shoulder.

In a few minutes, they'd need to relieve Antoni's parents and get dinner started. But for now, Antoni stood there, wrapped in Matty's arms, feeling the slow, steady rise and fall of Matty's chest against his own.

There was so much uncertainty ahead but surely, they could handle anything if they were united in this.

Despite Antoni's worries, the next few weeks flew by.

He had the settlement conference, which went absolutely nowhere. The Swansons wanted full custody and refused to settle, so there was nothing to be done but take the case to trial, which wouldn't happen for months. Possibly not until early next year.

Thankfully, Judy's positive reports about how the kids were doing in Antoni's care meant that the kids would remain under his guardianship until the custody trial took place.

It was a small silver lining in the midst of it all.

Thankfully, Antoni was too busy to dwell on his worries about the future.

He taught, graded papers, did laundry, took care of the kids, and wondered how he'd ever done it without Matty.

Because Matty was suddenly busy as hell and exhausted all the time.

Matty had warned him what it would be like once training camp hit but it still took Antoni by surprise.

Antoni was exhausted from shouldering more of the load of the household while Matty left earlier in the mornings and came back later in the afternoons.

The laundry had begun to pile up and Antoni was a little behind on grading and he kept getting to bed later and later every night.

There were moments of sweetness in the chaotic energy of the beginning of the hockey season though.

Several days in a row Antoni came home to find Matty sacked out on the couch, Reese napping on his chest while Antoni's parents kept an eye on the middle two kids as they did their homework and Alexis worked in her room.

The sight of Matty and Reese sharing a nap made Antoni pause and smile, pulling out his phone to take a pic of the cuteness.

With Matty's permission, Antoni had started posting a little bit more on social media about their daily lives. He didn't love sharing the kids' faces and tried to avoid it as much as possible, though with all of the fan photos out there of their post-wedding celebrations, there was no avoiding the exposure completely.

He'd become mutual social media friends with all of the team members—minus Dom, who never posted anything that wasn't hockey-related—along with the SAPS.

He took little snapshots of Matty cooking them dinner or pushing River on the swings. He got some shots of Matty showing Alexis and Eli how to hold their sticks and a memorable video of Matty celebrating with Eli after their first goal in the net in the basement.

Antoni tried not to overdo it and make it look suspicious, but the more he kept an eye out for adorable moments, the more of them he found.

With as busy and tired as Matty was because of training camp, there wasn't much time for watching Northdale Heights in the evenings or reading together. But they did manage it one night and Antoni took a few shots of their feet tangled together on the ottoman in front of the big-screen TV.

But even with the pressure increasing, it was still wonderful to crawl in bed beside an already snoring Matty and feel him sleepily turn over and gather him close.

The pace of sex during their "honeymoon" weekend certainly didn't continue. Antoni supposed it was no different than it was for most busy parents but Antoni was grateful when they were able to sneak in morning handjobs in the shower or quick and dirty blowjobs whenever they could steal a few minutes alone.

One Saturday morning, they both woke early, tired, but not tired enough to fall back asleep. Antoni had just gotten his hand into Matty's shorts, hoping to coax him into fucking him before they got up for the day, but as Matty rolled over to grab for the lube, the doorknob rattled.

The kids were up and that meant they needed to be too.

All of them had been invited to a team event at Dustin and Charlie's place. Antoni hadn't realized how close they lived—in the same neighborhood!—so they walked there.

The party was some sort of joint team bonding and celebration of Antoni and Matty's wedding. Antoni had been surprised when they'd been told to bring swimsuits. The temperatures were getting cooler at night—really beginning to feel like autumn was approaching—but it all made sense when they arrived.

Dustin and Charlie's pool was indoors and heated.

Matty's teammates and their spouses or partners and family were there and when everyone greeted them warmly, Antoni relaxed and tried to enjoy the party. It was a casual event, with burgers on the grill along with a ton of other delicious food, and the whole basement area was a blast for the kids.

Eli immediately made a beeline for the ping-pong table, and Antoni was just about to tell them that he would play in a little bit if Eli wanted, when August stepped in, offering to play a few rounds.

With a nod and smile, Antoni shot him a grateful look and put arm floaties on River so she could enjoy the pool.

Alexis was pretty decent at the golf simulator, challenging Jonah and Colton to go up against her. Antoni laughed, proud of her confidence.

Reese got cooed over and passed around from person to person until he got fussy and overstimulated.

After that, Antoni took him back, letting Reese nap on his chest as he lay on the lounger near the pool, watching River happily splashing around with some of the littler kids in the shallow end while some of the parents kept an eye on them.

Antoni tried not to stare at Matty's ass in swim shorts but, apparently, he wasn't that subtle about the sidelong glances because Nico shot him a knowing smile as he plopped down in the empty lounger next to Antoni's. "Matty's stacked, no?"

Antoni shot him an embarrassed look. "Uhh. Well …"

Nico laughed. "Oh come on, we all know he has the best ass in the NHL."

"It's uh, pretty impressive," Antoni admitted.

Though there had been no shortage of great asses on display today. But to have people know he was checking Matty out and comment on it made him feel weirdly exposed.

Nico laughed. "All I'm saying is that you're a lucky man, my friend." He lightly punched Antoni in the arm, rings gleaming on his fingers.

"You're not unlucky," Antoni said, darting a glance at August who had switched from ping-pong to swimming. He'd gotten out of the pool a few minutes ago and was standing there all wet and gorgeous looking, seemingly unaware of how damn attractive he was.

Not that Antoni was seriously checking August out or anything. But, well, the view was nice.

Nico smirked. "Oh trust me. I know. My Auggie could be a model if he wanted."

The conversation veered away from the guys after that, meandering into discussions about Nico's modeling and how excited he was to resume playing with the team soon, which made Antoni relax.

It wasn't that he minded the comments. He just wasn't used to them. His friends discussing guys' assets? Sure. They did that all the time.

But Antoni had never expected it from professional hockey players.

Colton walked by with a plate of food and he grinned as he passed Antoni. "Hey, that oldest of yours is lethal with the chirps, dude. She's going to be a hell of a hockey player someday."

"Thanks?" Antoni said because he was pretty sure that was a compliment. The last part certainly was but he wasn't sure about the first half.

When Colton was out of earshot, Antoni leaned in. "So, this probably sounds dumb but what exactly is a chirp?"

Nico snickered. "An insult. Trash talking. Whatever you want to call it, Colton's right. Alexis is clever and creative with them. She was going after Jonah earlier and he was loving it."

Antoni grinned. "Good. She's smart and insightful. I'm not surprised."

When Antoni finished his beer, Nico held up his own empty bottle. "Hey, man, you want another one? I'm going to grab one for myself."

"Oh, uh, sure," Antoni said. "I could probably do one more today." He was walking home so why not?

As Nico walked off to grab the drink, Charlie settled gracefully onto the lounger he'd vacated. "I'm stealing Nico's seat for a minute. Just wanted to check in and see how you're doing."

"Good," Antoni said truthfully. Everyone here was friendly and welcoming. He'd already talked to Elena Makarov and Kayla Jensen. They'd assured him they'd be at the game next weekend and that they'd help keep an eye on the kids. So had Birdie, Natasha, and August, for that matter.

Dom had been suspiciously absent, but otherwise, everyone had been great.

"I hope you don't mind that this is so informal," Charlie said. "It's rather casual for a wedding celebration but Dustin said you and Matty wouldn't want anything big or fancy."

"Oh yeah," Antoni assured him. "He's right. This is perfect. The kids get to have fun and it's low-pressure for Matty and me. Neither of us are really looking to have people make a big fuss about stuff."

"I get that," Charlie said with a thoughtful nod. "So, are you excited about the upcoming game?"

"I am," Antoni admitted. "It'll be interesting. I guess as a kid I went to a few hockey games but I don't remember much. Everyone says I was miserable and spent the whole time reading so after that, my parents asked my neighbor to babysit me and—"

His throat closed up at the thought. "Sorry, I—" he choked out, but he couldn't finish. "God, I can't believe she's gone."

"Oh, I'm so sorry if I made you uncomfortable. That was the friend you lost? The kids' mom?" Charlie asked, his expression sympathetic, his tone so kind and gentle it made Antoni's heart ache.

"Yeah," Antoni said, eyes stinging. "Bethany. It's … it's hard, you know? Sometimes it hits unexpectedly."

Charlie reached out to pat his arm. "It's hard enough to be away from my bestie and he lives in Chicago so we can video chat weekly. I can only imagine what you're going through."

"Yeah, I'd much rather have had Bethany and Corey move to another city that's for dam—darn sure," Antoni said with a sigh, mindful of the baby sleeping on his chest and the kids running around them. He smoothed down Reese's hair. It was coming in thicker now, more than a little wispy tuft of blond. "But sometimes I also think that I wouldn't have—wouldn't have moments like this if I hadn't lost them and …"

Charlie shifted, leaning in, gaze understanding. "Grief is strange," he said. "I haven't lost people in that way but I have had to remove people from my life and that's its own sort of grief. But sometimes grief brings new beauty into your life and then you wonder if—if you're a terrible person for being grateful for the loss."

Antoni's eyes stung. "Exactly."

"But you're not terrible," Charlie said earnestly. "You're grieving and doing your best. And those kids … they're lucky to have you."

"I'm lucky to have them too," Antoni admitted. "It's given me purpose, you know? Something to focus on instead of just mourning the loss."

Charlie looked him in the eye. "That's good. But if I'm not overstepping, I'd like to offer some advice."

"Sure," Antoni said, willing to hear Charlie out at least.

"Don't forget to take care of yourself while you're busy taking care of them. Let us help with the kids so you don't neglect your own well-being in the process."

"Thank you, I'll try," Antoni said. "It means a lot to me that you care and that you're offering. I'll do my best to take you up on that. Honestly, until Matty came, I barely felt like I was able to breathe. And now that he's getting so busy again … I … well, I guess I'm a little scared I'm going to slide back into that again, you know?"

Charlie nodded. "The season can be rough. But you're not alone, Antoni. You really do have dozens of people who care and are willing to help out." He gestured around the room. "So when you need it, let us be your lungs so you can keep breathing."

Antoni smiled at the poetic turn of phrase. "Thank you, Charlie. I really appreciate that."

"Of course, sweetie." Charlie sidled a little closer and lowered his voice. "Now, tell me this, is Matty's ass as incredible as I've been imagining?"

Antoni laughed, loud enough to make several people glance over and for Reese to start fussing. Antoni patted his back and spoke softly. "Uhh, yes. It is. But I feel like mayyybe this isn't the time and place to go into that."

"Fair," Charlie said, his eyes sparkling as he straightened. "How about we figure out some babysitting for you so we can meet up for brunch one of these days?"

"I'd love that," Antoni said with a smile, charmed by Charlie's warmth and friendliness. "I really would."

"Good. Now, in the meantime, what can we do to help with your custody suit?"

Antoni blinked, fear flooding through him. Shit. Did Charlie know the truth?

But before Antoni could figure out if that meant Charlie knew about the marriage of convenience that he and Matty had, Nico plopped down, practically in Charlie's lap.

"Hey, gorgeous, get out of my spot. I was about to ask Antoni about Matty's ass," Nico teased, passing the bottle over to Antoni. "See, I even brought bribes."

Charlie scoffed. "You're too slow, Nico. I already got him to agree to brunch with me to dish the dirty deets." Charlie's look was smug. "And I didn't even have to bribe him."

Nico gave him an outraged look. "You—that's not fair. I already had him primed. You horned in the opportunity I was already working."

Antoni laughed as they started squabbling with each other, noticing the way Dustin and August both glanced over with fond and amused smiles.

While the guys were distracted, Antoni did a quick scan to check on the kids.

River was still splashing in the shallow end of the pool with the other children. Alexis was still playing golf with Jonah and Colton had been replaced by Jordan. Eli was busy inhaling their second—or maybe third?—burger of the day and talking a mile at minute at Felix, Birdie, and Colton about some random thing or other.

Antoni was pretty sure the recent increase in appetite meant Eli was due for a growth spurt. At one point Antoni would have cringed at what it would cost to feed and clothe Eli but now, well, now that Matty had made sure they had joint accounts and Antoni wasn't paying rent anymore, he didn't exactly have to worry about money.

He"d put his van up for sale too.

Rob had finished it earlier this week and Matty had told him to keep the SUV permanently. When Antoni had asked what he'd be driving, Matty had said that he'd been offered a second sponsorship offer from the dealership.

The only catch was that Antoni had to be in the commercial and they had to talk about how safe the vehicle was for the kids. And Antoni had to do most of the talking.

After discussing it with his mom, Antoni agreed to do the commercial. At this point, all he could do was feel grateful for how generous Matty and everyone else was. He'd only be hurting himself and the kids if he clung to his stubborn insistence on everything being completely fair and equal.

Matty had done everything to he could prove what a great guy he was and this team was … God, they were fantastic.

"Hey there." Matty's voice was a low, warm rumble as he took a seat on the end of Antoni's lounger and patted his knee, pulling him from his thoughts. "Are these guys harassing you? I'll kick them out if they are."

"You can't kick me out!" Charlie protested with a laugh. "This is my house!"

"Yeah, but I know all of Dustin's dark secrets." Matty said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Charlie snickered. "Honey, I was there for most of Dustin's dark secrets. You've got nothing to bargain with there."

"Wait? What secrets?" Nico said. "No one told me there were secrets."

Charlie and Nico were soon squabbling playfully again and, shaking his head, Antoni returned his attention to Matty.

"Seriously, you doing okay?" Matty asked when they made eye contact.

Antoni smiled. "Yeah, I'm doing good. Charlie and Nico have been great. Everyone has been."

"Good." Matty stretched out and brushed a kiss to his lips, careful not to squash Reese between them. "Now, would you like to swim? I can watch him for a little bit."

"Might be nice," Antoni admitted. "I haven't gotten a workout in today."

He carefully transferred Reese to Matty's arms, then stood.

"Damn, Antoni," Nico said with a low whistle. "For a non-hockey player, you've got an ass on you too."

From a few feet away, Antoni caught a pained groan from August. "Nico, do you have no filter at all?"

"Nope!" Nico joked. "Remember, they removed my brain-to-mouth filter when they took out the tumor."

August scoffed. "Whatever. You never had one to begin with."

Laughing, Antoni shot them both grins. "Thanks for the compliment, Nico. I think."

Nico grinned back and winked. "Sure. Any time. And if you ever want to give me a closer look …"

Matty made an outraged noise of protest but before they could get going, Charlie rose to his feet.

"Speaking of delicious cake," he said, "before you go for a swim, Antoni, we have cake, Champagne, and sparkling juice to celebrate your wedding. How about we do that now?"

Laughing at Charlie's deft segue, Antoni protested, "Oh, you didn't have to go to all that fuss for us."

"Pfft." Charlie waved him off. "I'll use any excuse to throw a party."

Twenty minutes later, Antoni handed plastic flutes of sparkling apple juice to the kids, took his own glass of Champagne, then stood next to Matty, his damp skin warm against Antoni's as he wrapped an arm around him.

"To Matty and Antoni!" Charlie said, raising his glass. "When Dustin and I got married, Matty immediately made me feel welcome. Maybe a little too welcome, since he jumped in bed with us the first morning we got back."

A few people whistled and Antoni watched, amused, as Matty's ears went red. "It wasn't like that!" he protested.

"Suuure, it wasn't," Charlie teased, winking. "Just remember, turnabout is fair play."

Matty snorted and a few of the guys heckled them. When the laughter died down, Charlie continued. "In all seriousness, Matty made me feel welcome and I hope to do the same for you, Antoni. We're glad to have you, Alexis, Eli, River, and Reese as part of the Fisher Cats Family."

With a smile, Antoni raised his own glass in acknowledgment. "Thanks for letting me be a part of this."

While Antoni had never pictured his wedding celebration taking place in an indoor pool or with the kids he loved so much clustered around him and the guy he'd married, he decided he liked being a little untraditional.

And as Matty kissed him, the taste of chocolate and Champagne on his lips reminding Antoni of their wedding night, Antoni wondered if it really was an excuse for a party that had made Charlie and Dustin host this event.

Because that begged the question.

They—or at least Dustin—knew that this marriage wasn't entirely legitimate.

So why were they all treating it like it was?