Page 135 of Cheap Shot

He wasn’t the brightest guy ever but even he could figure out that meant he wasn’t ready to hang up his skatesorlet Sebastian go.

Luke felt a little bad for the way he’d blown off Sebastian’s questions about his contract shit. He hadn’t seemed pissed or anything, but Luke knew damn well he couldn’t ignore it forever. He couldn’t ignore the relationship talk either.

But for now, he was in L.A. with his team and he might as well focus on that.

Luke tuned back in to hear Tanner say something about the Grand Central Market apartments and how cool the location was.

“It’s right near the L.A. arena too!” he added.

Luke stared at him blankly. “You planning to get traded or something, Clayton?”

“No!” Tanner said. “I fucking love playing with Boston. But like, let’s be honest, there’s no way I’m going to end up playing for them my whole career.”

Luke nodded because guys like Connor O’Shea were rare as hell and most players did wind up bouncing from team to team. Tanner was the kind of guy who might only play for two to three in their career, but he wouldn’t be in Boston forever.

That was the hard truth about hockey. Nothing ever stayed the same.

“Why?” Tanner asked. “You want me to leave?”

“Most days,” Luke said, which led to Tanner squawking like an angry parrot and Luke putting him in a headlock to give him a noogie.

Tanner squirmed away with a shriek about his hair, careening into an older woman coming out of a designer handbag store. She frowned at him, but even with his hair looking like he’d stuck a finger in a light socket, Tanner poured on the charm and a moment later, all appeared to be forgotten as she gave him a big smile and patted his shoulder.

“How does hedothat?” Anker muttered. “He was like that with the guard at the tar pits too.”

Luke shrugged. “Hell, if I know.”

It was almost impressive the way Tanner had people absolutely eating out of his hand, although Luke would never say that aloud. Tanner’s ego was bad enough as is. He didn’t need Luke pumping his tires.

Thankfully, they finally reached the stairs to the lower level, and it wasn’t long before they had their food.

Luke had eaten some pretty damn good tacos in his life, but as he devoured these, he had to admit these were up there with the best. Collectively, the guys mowed through an obscene amount of food and by the time the meal ended, Luke’s stomach groaned with too many tacos for comfort.

He had just loosened his belt, pushed his chair back a little, and stretched out his legs when Tom Bass appeared near their table.

“Hey, where the fuck were you, dude?” Jesse called out as he approached their table. It wasn’t like him to be late.

“Sorry, I got held up.”

Luke frowned. Tom’s brown skin looked a little ashen and he kept glancing over his shoulder as he took a seat at the table.

“Hey. What is it?” Jesse asked with a frown, leaning forward. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Tom swallowed hard, playing with someone’s discarded straw wrapper. “Uhh, you know why Krista and I left California, right?”

“Yeah. A weird stalker fan, right?” Tanner asked, cramming another chip loaded with mango habanero salsa into his mouth.

Tom nodded. “Sort of. It’s more complicated than that. Krista and I, we’re, uh, poly. Um, polyamorous.” He glanced around. “You all know what that means, yeah?”

Kady perked up, glancing away from the small container of churros he’d been eating. “Yes. Is like Mandy and me.”

“Uhh,” Anker said. “Kady, I think you might not quite have that?—”

“No,” Kady said, his jaw going stubborn. “I love Mandy. Mandy loves me and Lauren. Lauren loves Mandy and husband Jake. Poly. Many loves, yes?”

Tanner squinted at him. “Mandy is bi and dating a woman who is married to a man?”

“Yes. All very happy. 10/10, no notes.” Kady folded his arms as if to say that was that.