Page 103 of Two for Charging

“Um.” Chris was already flushing red. “We finished before curfew?”

Luca had met Lindy in the hallway, pretending to be en route to his room during curfew checks. As soon as she’d moved on to the next room, he slipped into Chris’s room again. No wonder Mooney was angry. He must have been worried that Luca would get in trouble. But he could hardly confess to having slept in Chris’s room now, not without giving himself and Chris away.

“Yeah,” Mooney said, “by like a minute. And curfew started late last night. I was trying to sleep before then.”

“Um. Sorry?”

“You should be. I love you, man, but I did not need to hear your sex noises.”

Two tables over, Vanderbilt twisted in his seat to stare.

Luca kept his face as bland as possible and ate more granola.

Chris made a face. “I’m really sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

“That’s not a new one, eh?” Vanderbilt called.

Everything in Luca clenched down. How dare Vanderbilt make such a cruel joke? He glared at the man.

“Okay, okay.” Vanderbilt held his hands up, motioning as if Luca were a wild animal. “I’m only teasing, Mazetti. So who was she?”

“We’re in Montreal,” Mooney said. He had a massive plate of scrambled eggs and whole wheat toast, and he spoke between bites, flecks of bright yellow egg peeking out between his teeth. “So Breezy had dinner with his folks, and I’m guessing they dug up another French-Canadian-Italian girl for him to marry and have French-Canadian-Italian babies with.”

Luca took a long sip of his espresso so as to avoid eye contact with Mooney, or he would be forced to hiss and spit at the mere concept, which would do nothing to dispel the feral cat jokes.

“Ooh.” Hayes had turned to get in on the conversation as well. “The Italian Stallion rides again. Is she in the mob too? Can I do the Godfather speech at your wedding?”

“I—” Chris said. “Um.” His face was bright red.

Jax took the last remaining free seat at their table while Tom pulled up a chair at Hayes and Vanderbilt’s table. Luca wondered if they’d discussed in advance who would sit where to make sure they spent time with the whole team and not only each other.

Would Luca and Chris have to come up with a rotation? Luca hoped not. He wanted to spend time with Chris and no one else. He didn’t like anyone else.

Mooney laughed at Chris’s embarrassment, and Luca begrudgingly admitted to himself he was long past being so standoffish. He liked Mooney. He liked Jax and Tom, and whenever he decided to speak to them again, he’d like Howie. Fedorov seemed to be a nice kid who could use some friends in a new country. God knew Luca had been there. He was even coming around on Hayes and Vanderbilt against his own better judgment. They were assholes and idiots, but hockey as an institution primarily produced assholes and idiots. If Luca refused to cooperate with them, he might as well quit. Far better to attempt to change them.

Jax had opted for the hardboiled eggs and turkey bacon with his whole wheat toast, but he made a face as he started to unpeel the eggs and discovered they were so hardboiled the yolks had started to turn blue. “What are we talking about?”

Before either Luca or Chris could use the opening to change the subject, Mooney jumped in. “We’re talking about the epic hookup Breezy had last night. The mattress squeaked for a good twenty minutes. That’s some impressive shit after he took a puck to the thigh.”

With anyone else, Luca could improve on twenty minutes, but it was his best showing with Chris. He would take it. By the end, he’d been so turned on he could barely see. He’d managed to hold on long enough to get Chris there a second time through sheer bloody-minded stubbornness, and as soon as he had, he’d come so hard his ears rang for long minutes after.

Chris kicked him under the table.

Luca attempted to look less smug.

“You don’t thrust with your thigh; it’s a hip thing.” Jax said. “What are you doing to Mara, and is she okay?”

Mooney rolled his eyes. “Okay, great master, what position do you use to avoid the front of your legs hitting something? Especially”—he glared at Chris—“when you’re going so hard the headboard’s banging into the wall.”

“Hmm. Depends.” Jax sent a sly look over in Tom’s direction.

Mooney gagged. “Ugh, forget I asked. I do not want to know details. That’d be like walking in on my parents.”

Fortunately, Lindy chose the perfect moment to announce they had ten minutes before the bus pulled up, which meant everyone had to eat fast before grabbing their things from their rooms and meeting in front of the hotel.

As soon as the door to their room clicked shut, Mooney turned on Luca. “Dude,” he hissed. “You’re fucking lucky Breezy managed to get laid last night, or everyone would be asking where the fuck you were instead of talking about him!”

Luca swallowed.