Page 26 of Ethan

Ethan fist-bumped him back and nodded, taking the hard seltzer that Wally tossed him. “Thanks,” he said. He cracked the can open and took a long drink.

“So whatisthe pathetic problem?” Brody asked. “Not a problem with the Bandits, right?”

“That’s my cue,” Wally said with a little salute and then melted away, probably headed back to the living room and its crowd on the makeshift dance floor.

Brody raised an eyebrow. “So?”

“It’s just . . . it’s nothing,” Ethan said.

Brody was cool, but so cool. Too cool, probably. They weren’t reallyfriends, even though they were teammates. Ethan tended to stick to the younger group of guys, and Brody was a senior and going to medical school when he graduated at the end of the year. Then there was his boyfriend, who was enormous and so good at football that scouts piled into the stands at every game.

Ethan wasn’t easily intimidated, but Brody was pretty damn intimidating, even though there was no question he was an incredibly nice guy. Thoughtfulandkind.

“If it was really nothing, Wally wouldn’t have been giving you shit,” Brody said, leaning against the back counter.

“Not true,” Dean spoke up in his deep, rumbling voice. “Wally’s kind of full of it.”

“Fair,” Brody said. He pinned Ethan with an intent gaze. “So which is it?”

“Uh, it’s not about the Bandits. Not really. Just . . . a guy I met at development camp, a few months back. Thought we hit it off, but he won’t text me back.”

Brody raised an eyebrow. “A guy, huh?”

For a split second, Ethan wanted to explain, again, that he wasn’tsureif he was queer or into guys like that. The only guy that had ever made him want to find out was Hank, and clearly, at this point, that wasn’t going anywhere.

“Yeah,” Ethan said.

“Hmm,” Brody said. He glanced over at Dean. “You wanna take this one?”

Dean just shrugged. “Maybe your guy freaked out.”

“Freaked out?” For a split second Ethan wanted to inform the both of them that while they might both be freakishly athletic and freakishly smart, this wasHank Tucker. Hank Tucker, who’d already played in a dozen-plus NHL playoff games, who was tearing it up in Syracuse, playing for the Bandits’ AHL affiliate.

Who might, in fact, be called up any day now, because he was so fucking good. Maybe Hank wouldn’t text him back, but that didn’t mean Ethan wasn’t following his progress and watching all the games he could get his hands on.

Hank Tucker wouldn’t be freaked out byEthan.

“Not that surprising if he was,” Dean said gently. “It’s freaky, when you first realize you’re maybe into something you didn’t think you were into.”

“Okay,” Ethan said doubtfully.

But not only was Hank good at hockey, he was smart—definitely smarter than the average hockey player, anyway—and remarkably straightforward. All things that Ethan liked about him. Not theonlyreasons Ethan liked him, but then he was also nineteen and Hank was so fucking hot.

“I totally freaked out when I realized I was attracted to Brody,” Dean said quietly.

That surprised Ethan. Dean had that same driven mindset that he recognized from Hank. The same no-nonsense, matter-of-fact way about him, sometimes. He might not know Dean well, but he was around enough, being Brody’s boyfriend, and since Brody was the captain of their team this year, Brody was pretty much always around.

“Not when you realized you were attracted to me,” Brody teased, smile lighting up his face. “You freaked out after we . . . well, you know.”

Dean flushed. “I was trying to keep it PG! Ethan’s only . . .” He paused. “How oldareyou?”

“Nineteen,” Ethan admitted. “But my brothers—”

“He’s got two older brothers and an older half sister,” Brody finished for him, giving him a fond smile. “I’m not sure you need to keep it PG for him.”

“Nope,” Ethan retorted cheerfully.

“That does beg the question though,” Brody said, “why you haven’t been talking to them about this.”