Page 103 of Over the Line

It was much too soon to think about anything long term for Garrett and me. Still, as we kept bantering in between visiting with our families, I couldn’t help but wonder…

Maybe Garrett did think I was worth the price of admission.

CHAPTER 25

GARRETT

After this road trip, I want to fuck. So damn bad.

Goddammit. I’m never going to concentrate now.

Sorry?

No you’re not.

(halo emoji)

(laughing emoji)

We really were going to end up bursting into flames if we kept texting like this. We were driving each other insane with these thirsty texts, but neither of us was stopping. What could I say? The electronic foreplay was as fun as it was frustrating, even when it was going to be a few days before we could follow through.

Though I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to get through this hockey game without embarrassing myself.

The day after Christmas, Pittsburgh played at home against Portland. Katie, Charli, Nick, Jasmine, and I all watched from the partners’ box as a rowdy crowd roared their enthusiasm. Maybe everyone was itching for hockey after the team had been away for the past handful of games. Maybe they were just ready to get back to the excitement of hockey after the holidays. Whatever the case, they were shaking the arena before the anthem had even been sung.

“Jesus,” Katie said. “I always forget how loud these games get!”

“They get loud,” Jasmine said, “but this is, like, playoff noise.”

Nick whistled. “They better play up to the hype, then, or the fans will probably tear the place down.”

I just chuckled. Pittsburgh fans were definitely enthusiastic, that was for sure. Hopefully that would feed the team tonight, and they’d beat Portland into next week.

During a TV timeout, I glanced around the box. It was more crowded than usual, which made sense—a lot of players had family in town for the holidays. Among the new faces, a man who looked to be in his late sixties, maybe early seventies, was wearing a Phantoms jersey. I’d never seen him before, but his face was incredibly familiar.

Holy shit. Was that Liam’s dad? The eyes, the jaw, the shape of the nose—he had to be. And even if the resemblance hadn’t been uncanny, the sixteen on his sleeve was a dead giveaway. Liam’s mom, brother, sister-in-law, and nieces and nephews were here too, all wearing his number and cheering for him and the team.

I faced the ice again, my heart pounding. I had zero expectation of being introduced to the St. Clair family, least of all as Liam’s boyfriend. I had even less expectation of them looking at me and realizing I was his boyfriend. I was just irrationally anxious, sitting this close to them.

Rationally, the situation made sense. It was way too soon to be meeting the parents even under normal circumstances. In our less than normal situation—yeah, this was to be expected.

But it still felt weird, I couldn’t lie.

Lucky for me, the TV timeout ended and the game resumed with a defensive zone faceoff for the Phantoms. The puck dropped, and the action was on.

“I can’t get over how fast the game moves at this level.” Nick gestured at the action. “How does Chris even keep up?”

“No idea,” I said. “Though he can probably see the puck better than we can.”

“True. Except how much peripheral vision does he actually have?”

“Eh, more than you think,” Jasmine said. “And definitely more than the goalie!”

“I bet!” Nick laughed. “Gotta love it—the man who needs to see the puck more than anyone can’t see for shit.”

“Barns says he can’t feel it, either,” Jasmine said. “With all the gear he has to wear, if he’s on top of the puck or it’s in his pads somewhere…” She shook her head.

Charli scoffed. “God, as if that job wasn’t hard already. Poor guy.”