Page 91 of Ethan

“Youare, it’s not about you,” Ethan insisted.

“Right.” Hank hesitated, and there was a look on his face that told Ethan he had something else to say, but he didn’t know if heshouldsay it.

“What is it?” Ethan asked. Tried not to demand. Tried not to feel a horrible churning fear in his stomach. Hank didn’t want to stop doing this; he wanted to betogether. Ethan believed that.

“Bo actually said something a few weeks back that made me think, and then I talked to my agent about it,” Hank said.

Hurt blossomed inside Ethan, and he couldn’t help the frown on his face. His hands, holding the pasta pot that Max had used tonight, clenched hard around the edges.

“A few weeks ago and you didn’t tell me?” He wasn’t living under the stupid impression that Hank told him everything, but lately it had begun to feel like maybe he did. That hewantedto. Hank could be quiet, could be a deep, dark lake, so many feelingsand thoughts buried underwater, but that had changed in the last few months. At least between him and Ethan.

Hank sighed. “I didn’t for a reason. I know you can be . . . weird about this.”

“Weird about what?” Ethan didn’t bother holding the demand back this time. Flicked the water off and stared right at his phone, balanced on the windowsill right above the sink.

“Avery,” Hank said.

That was the last thing Ethan had expected Hank to say. “What about Avery?”

“You know there’s been rumors that the Mavs are gonna trade him if they can’t re-sign him.”

“And that’s bullshit,” Ethan said bluntly.

“Is it? I’m not sure.”

Ethan opened his mouth to argue. But Hank didn’t let him. “I know it’s unfair, and Avery deserves better than a team that’ll move on, just because he won’t open a fucking vein for them, swear some kind of insane blood oath, but I’m just saying that’s the rumor. And Bo thought . . . well, Bo said that Niko would be pretty decent trade bait for Avery.”

“You can’t actually think they’d trade for Avery.”

Hank shot him a chiding look. “Come on, Eth, this can’t be that insane of a thought. You guys talk enough about wanting to play together—”

“Like, in thefuture,” Ethan argued. Didn’t even feel that bad about interrupting Hank. Okay, Dom had said it but Dom was a gossip magnet. He’d not really thought it could be real. Only rumors. And honestly, the rumors were bad enough, but nowHankwas buying into them? Hank was smarter than this. Or at least Ethan had believed that he was. “Don’t you think if I thought there was even a shot in hell of that happening, I’d know and I’d have told you?”

“You might not know it’s happening. None of you might know it’s happening,” Hank said flatly.

Ethan let out an unsteady breath. “And what? So Inverness kept Niko around as trade bait for the Mavs. Fine, okay. I’ll bite. What does that have to do with you? Withus?”

Usually, Ethan tried to not use that term, because technically there wasn’t anusyet. They were still just Ethan and Hank, on two different teams. In two different cities.

But he felt raw, just thinking about this whole thing. Extra raw, today, knowing that he wouldn’t get to see Hank this month, either.

Maybe it hadn’t beenthatlong, but it felt like a fucking eternity, when he’d been waiting all this time for this thing between them to start in earnest.

“Think about it,” Hank said gently. “I’m on the roster. What does that make me?”

Ethan got it, like a jolt of nauseating lightning, right to the gut. “Oh shit.Shit.It makes you fucking trade bait, instead.”

“Yeah,” Hank said. “And maybe Inverness has been full of shit this whole time. Maybe he’s been trying to make me feel good, by telling me I’m the future of the Bandits’ blue line, but maybe he’s not lying. Maybe. Just . . . maybe.”

Ethan didn’t know what to say. On one hand, the idea of Avery coming to New York was . . . complicated. Good, of course.Of course.He missed his older brother. But in so many ways, hehadhis older brother. He had Charlie, who was making a real attempt to win big brother of the year. But therewasCharlie. Who loved Avery. Avery washisbig brother. But Charlie had worked so fucking hard to set himself apart. To be his own man. Who’d carved out his place on this team and in this city and in fans’ hearts with his blood and sweat and tears.

“You’re freaking out,” Hank said. “See? This is why I didn’t tell you. I knew you’d freak out. And I didn’t know if it would be good or bad. Like, I kinda thought it might actually be both.”

“Itisboth.” Ethan wet his lips with his tongue. “And you talked to your agent about this?”

Hank had a legitimately good agent; he was a first-round pick, so it wasn’t surprising that he did. If Hank’s agent hadn’t corroborated any of this, then it might be just the bizarre speculation of a guy who wanted another reason his team was letting him languish in the AHL.

“Yeah, and he said that was his guess, too.” Hank winced. “You’re not happy.”