Page 92 of Ethan

“I’m—” Ethan didn’t know what he was. “But we can’t tell Charlie about this. He’s already upset enough.”

Hank shot him a look, and okay, yeah, it wasn’t like Hank and Charlie were all buddy-buddy. It wasn’t like Hank was calling up Charlie to have a nice friendly chat. “I wasn’t going to. I didn’t even tellyouabout this, Eth.”

“Right. Duh.” Ethan still didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t like hehadn’tever thought about it. Hehad. Hank was right, someone always asked, because they were three brothers playing in the NHL and two of them were already on the same team. They all said the same rote shit, over and over again.Sure, we want to play together someday. No, not any current plans. Just enjoying when we play each other.

Though the much-vaunted “Barnes Bowl” when they did actually play each other hadn’t happened yet. Wasn’t scheduled to happen until the end of January.

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say Avery hasn’t mentioned any of this,” Hank said.

Ethan shook his head. “And even if he suspected, even if he thought it might be happening, he wouldn’t say until it was settled. Avery’s . . . well, he’s a little like you, that way.”

“Hey,” Hank defended, making a guilty face. “I had my reasons.”

“I know,” Ethan said, sighing. “But Charlie’s gonna be—”

“Well, itisCharlie,” Hank agreed.

And then something else, somethingawful, occurred to Ethan. “Wait, did you hear anything—did your agent say—what about Max?”

Hank frowned. “What about Max?”

“Do you thinkhe’strade bait?”

Charlie would be inconsolable. Max was his best friend,hissecurity blanket, in the way that everyone had been worried that Ethan would lean on Charlie himself, but never really had. It would be the worst double-edged sword if Charlie gained Avery, but lost Max.

Hank’s frown deepened even further. “No? I wouldn’t think so. Max’s the captain. Everyone goes as he goes.”

“I know, but—”

“Charlie would lose his shit?” Hank grimaced. “Yeah, no shit. But Claude, my agent, seems to think they’re really looking for a d-man-to-d-man trade, with some extra draft picks thrown in for good measure. Niko’s young and has some upside and that’s why he’s attractive.”

“Okay. Okay.” Ethan let out a shaky breath. “I can’t imagine. I don’twannaimagine. Not that you getting traded wouldn’t be fucking terrible. Itwould.”

Ethan didn’t know how to explain how Max getting traded would be even worse for Charlie. At least he and Hank hadn’t gotten together yet because they’d been geographically challenged; Charlie and Max weren’t together because they were both too fucking stupid to see what was right in front of their faces. The regret, if they got separated and had never done anything? Ethan thought it might be literally crushing.

The kind of hurt you couldn’t come back from.

“Yeah, I get it. They’re—they’re just really dumb about each other,” Hank agreed in a hushed voice. “How was tonight?”

“Oh, you know. The typical.” Ethan rolled his eyes. Maybe it was weird that in one second he was desperately worried about both of them, and in the next, he was exasperated. But maybe it was the same kind of flavor of caring; he just wanted them to get their heads out of their asses,finally.

“That bad, huh?” At least Hank was appropriately sympathetic. Avery and Livvy were, too, to a point. But every time, without fail, they wanted to remind him of how difficult Charlie’s situation was. How much pressure everyone had put on him. How much pressure he’d subsequently put onhimself. Ethan didn’t need that particular lecture; he was front and center for Charlie’s bid to single-handedly drag the Bandits to the playoffs.

But Hank always said something that made Ethan feel like he wasn’t losing his mind.

“God, you don’t even know. When I left them, they were sharing a single couch cushion.”

Hank hummed under his breath. “I’d share a single couch cushion with you.”

It wasn’tthatunusual for Hank to say quasi-sweet things. He was actually deeper and softer than anyone else would’ve expected—than Ethan had expected, if he was being honest—but it was unusual enough that Ethan felt a blush rising up his cheeks.

“Yeah?”

“Oh yeah,” Hank said, grinning. “You’d better earmark one for us, just in case Max and Charlie want to leave their cooties all over all the others.”

Ethan barked out a laugh. “I fucking will.”

“Good.” Hank actually looked smug about it. “Idofeel good about January, in case I didn’t say, though.”