36. Emmett

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

emmett

As I lieacross the airport chairs inside the arrivals waiting area, I wish for death. From the minute I stepped foot in Vermont, West has been working me like crazy. It’s practically torture, and I’ve been sore every day. It’s only gotten worse since Buffalo was kicked out of the playoffs. Asher’s on his summer break from the NHL and has joined in on the fun.

Theirfun.

For me, it’s fucking work. It’s hard work. But even though I can’t lift my arms or pull myself into a seated position because even moving an inch hurts, I know I’m where I belong. And I’m sure it will get easier. Eventually.

It’s a long road, but it’s still the path I want to take. I gave up on the sport way too soon, so I’m going to fight and claw my way back into it.

“You’d think he’d be excited about seeing his boyfriend, but all he’s doing is lying there,” West says to Asher behind me.

“Maybe he’s practicing for later.” Yup, Asher and Benny are so much alike.

“You did not make a sex joke about our little brother.”

“He’s an adult now.”

“Still doesn’t make it any less creepy.”

I groan. “I can hear you two, you know? And if I could close my fist right now, I’d be giving you both the finger.” I can’t even lift my hand. “And if it helps at all, you’re both creepy.”

“Hmm,” Asher says. “He’s not truly exhausted enough if he can still run his mouth.”

“Agreed. He needs to be so bone-tired he can’t even talk.”

I force myself up, even though every muscle in my body screams at me for doing so. “No. You two said I get three whole days off to spend with Jonah. My muscles need time to heal so they can grow. That’s like, muscle-building 101.”

They both laugh. They really are having way too much fun with this.

But even as I glower at them, I can’t be mad. They’re giving up their summer plans to train me.

Before I can snark at them, time slows down, there’s a shift in the universe, and I watch as my boyfriend slow-mos it through the arrivals gate.

He’s planning to stay the whole summer after only being able to give me a couple of days over spring break because he was taking time to restructure his whole teaching plan. Whenever I was at practice with West, Jonah would be working on that, and when I’d come home, we’d eat, fuck, sleep, repeat. I didn’t get to show him around where I grew up.

That’s going to change this trip.

With the adrenaline and arousal filling my veins, my body no longer protests when I move, though it’s slow to do as I tell it.

Jonah reaches me as I get to my feet, and then I jump into his arms, quite literally. He almost falls over as I wrap my legs around his waist, but he drops his backpack and is then able to support me under my ass while I attack his face with my mouth.

“So much for being so sore he can’t even move,” Asher says.

“We definitely need to work him harder,” West agrees.

“I hate you both,” I exclaim and lower myself so my feet are back on the ground.

“I’ve missed you too,” Jonah says.

Has long distance been easy? No. But it hasn’t been as difficult as I was picturing. Mainly because I’m busy every day. If I’m not working out or on the ice, I’m watching video West took of me, analyzing my hip, stick, and feet placement, which way I lean when I shoot, my skating skills, my speed, everything.

I have a lot of things to distract me, and I guess so does Jonah, with the way he’s been working to become a better professor.

“I’ve missed you more,” I say and then hear a retching sound behind Jonah.

“Oh, yeah, I brought you something.” Jonah steps aside, and there’s Benny and Harrison behind him.

“Wait, what? You two weren’t supposed to be here until the Fourth of July.” I throw myself at them next and ignore yet another snipe about how I’m supposed to be sore.

I am motherfucking sore, but Jonah and Benny are worth being sore for. Okay, that sounds super sexual, and eww. Well, eww for the Benny part. I can’t wait to feel sore from all the sex later.

I’m going to be walking like a cowboy on his first day riding a horse. Mmm, riding Jonah cowboy-style.

Later, Emmett. Focus. Benny’s here.

“We had planned for July,” Harrison says. “But then Benny decided he needed to see, in his words, the fuckery Florida could bring with Independence Day fireworks by seeing my family that week.”

“Ooh.” I turn to West and Asher.

“No, you can’t have the Fourth of July off so you can go to Florida with them,” Asher says.

Damn it.

“Also, I have some news,” Benny says. “And I wanted to tell you in person.”

“Ten bucks he’s getting married,” Asher says.

Doubt it. News like that, Benny would’ve told me immediately. Video chat or text. Something. He wouldn’t be able to keep something that exciting to himself.

Benny looks at Jonah. “Do you want to tell him?”

“Nope. This is your thing.”

I gasp. “You passed statistics?”

The proud look on Benny’s face is answer enough, but he says, “I did all the assessments, all the work, put in long fucking hours, and Jonah was able to turn my incomplete from semester one into a pass. I’m all set to graduate. On time.”

I throw my arms around my brother again. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”

“It’s all thanks to your boyfriend.”

“Not true,” Jonah says. “You fought it tooth and nail, but statistics finally became your bitch.”

“Technically, I got a C-minus. That’s hardly making it my bitch.”

“Hey, Cs get degrees,” Jonah cheers.

“Evidently,” Benny mumbles.

Asher and West join in on my hug with Benny and congratulate him until Benny complains we’re smothering him.

We pull apart from him, but I keep my arm around Benny’s shoulders while my other hand reaches for Jonah’s.

I’m fucking ready to make this summer last as long as possible. Because when next semester comes, Jonah and Benny will be back on the West Coast, and I’ll be … I’m not getting my hopes up, but Asher thinks he can get me in with the Buffalo farm team. It wouldn’t be a free pass. I’d have to earn my spot onto their starting lineup, and if I’m not good enough, they will send me down to the ECHL which is difficult—not impossible but very difficult—to climb up to the top. Most cases, anyone who lands in the ECHL will only reach AHL status.

But I can’t think about any of that now. Not for the next three days, at least.

My focus needs to be on Jonah.

And then Benny.

Between them and hockey, I have my summer filled.

Like every afternoon after my brothers are done torturing me at the rink, I come home to my childhood house to a hard-at-work Jonah. Benny and Harrison are staying here too, while West and Jasper have their own place. We moved out of this house when we were around ten or eleven, not long after West and Jasper got together, but West couldn’t bring himself to sell it. Asher and Kole lived here for a while before moving to Buffalo, and then Rhys and Zoe shared for a bit while they were in college. Now it’s our turn to live in it, even if it’s only for a summer.

Not going to lie, I love it. I love that Jonah’s made this his own space, I love that Benny is here with us, and I’m really hopeful that when summer ends, there’s a chance Jonah will stay.

Benny won’t. He still has another year left at Franklin, and Harrison has who knows how long on his master’s.

But Jonah … it’s a possibility. He didn’t sign the contract with Franklin; he’s not going to be a professor anymore, and as far as I know, he gave up his apartment in student housing, and all of his stuff is in storage.

He’s been looking for a job, but whenever I ask him about it, he doesn’t tell me where he’s looking. He says, “All over.”

Which in a weird way also gives me hope. Because maybe, just maybe, if he doesn’t know where I’ll be next year, then he doesn’t know where he’ll be.

Training is going so well, and Asher has promised me big things, but it’s the off-season right now, so everything in hockey has slowed down.

Jonah is extra focus-y today when I walk in the door, and it’s not until I sit on the couch next to him that he takes his eyes off his laptop. “Oh, hey, when did you get home?”

“Like an hour ago. I’ve showered, done the laundry⁠—”

“Liar.”

“I literally just walked in.” I lean over and kiss his cheek. “What are you working on?”

“Business plan.”

“Business?”

“I’m thinking about creating a program for colleges around the country to give extra help to students like you and Benny. There was a chance Benny wasn’t going to graduate because he couldn’t get the right help. I’m sure there are others out there in the same situation—okay, not completely same—but you know what I mean.

I kiss the top of his head this time. “I do know what you mean, and I love that you want to pursue this.”

“Why do I sense a ‘but’ coming on?”

“Where would you propose this? Franklin?”

Jonah shifts in his seat. “Actually, Colchester was my first thought. I know you’re not planning on going back to college, even if it means you get to play D1 hockey, whatever that is, but I thought if you were going to be around here for a while, that⁠—”

“I love you,” I blurt.

“Is that a yes to me sticking around maybe longer than the summer?”

“Is this you promising to follow me wherever I go?”

“Not in a stalker way. In a cute way.”

“Of course. That’s totally what I mean.”

Jonah presses his lips together before the tip of his pink tongue appears, wetting his top lip. “We made long distance work for the longest few months of my life. I’m sure we can find something that works for both of us. I’m willing to move wherever you are if it means I get to be with you. It just means I can’t really execute any plan of mine until we know what your movements are going to be.”

“Never fear, a solution is here!” Asher comes charging into the room.

“How …” I glance at the front door and then the back. “How long have you been here?”

“Just got here. Came in through the back door.” He points at me. “And no jokes about doing that often, even if it’s true.”

“Is Asher ever not inappropriate?” Jonah asks me.

“Never,” Asher and I say in unison.

“I know where you’ll be next year,” Asher says and waggles his eyebrows.

“Y-you do?” I slump. “If you say CU, I might have a fit. That was a last resort, remember?”

“Nope. How would you like to be playing professional hockey?”

“Where?” is my immediate response.

“I emailed tape of you to Buffalo’s affiliate team in Rochester, and they’re interested. Whether it was the tape or your last name or even that you and Benny were set to be the next big things in hockey at one point, they want you. Offered a deal right then and there. I’ve already made a phone appointment with my agent at King Sports. They’re going to look over the deal for you, maybe assign you a junior agent. Hey, Brady Talon is working there now, and he’s a Franklin alum⁠—”

“Ah, yes, the football royalty on campus. We knew of them.” Stayed the fuck away from Brady and his brother Peyton because of the six degrees of separation with our families and sporting affiliations.

“The terms of the contract are good,” Asher says.

I bite my lip. “You got them to agree to all of that without even meeting me?”

“I’m kind of a big deal. You should know that by now.”

That’s the thing though. I’m not being given this opportunity on merit. It’s being given to me. “Won’t people call me a nepo baby and say I only got it because of you?”

“Nope. You know why?”

“Why?”

Asher leans on the back of the couch where we’re sitting and looks down at us. “Because you’re going to prove yourself.”

No matter how I got this opportunity, I have to take it, and like Asher said, I’m going to have to prove myself. That could take years. I might only play one season and get dropped.

Either way, I have to give it my all.

“What do you say?” I ask Jonah. “Want to move to Upstate New York with me?”

“It couldn’t have been somewhere with a beach, could it?”

“Never again,” I say, but I don’t really mean it. If Jonah’s willing to move anywhere for me, I need to be able to do the same.

“This offer isn’t going to come by a second time,” Asher says.

“Stop pressuring my boyfriend.” I slap at him. “He has factors he needs to consider. Like Cullen. This is a decision he needs to make.”

Jonah shakes his head. “There’s no decision to make. I’ve already told Cullen that wherever I end up next year, he can come visit me during school breaks. Where you are, that’s where I’ll be because I love you too.”

It’s only then I realize he hadn’t said it back until just now. Not officially. We had the “I’m falling in love” convo back when I left California, but nothing else. Until right now.

“Rochester, here we come,” I say.

“One question though: is Buffalo as cold as Colchester?”

I don’t have the heart to tell him it’s colder.