Page 74 of Two for Charging

He also liked to call his siblings on mornings off. It was close to midnight for them, but they were night owls.

“Kayleigh from PR called. She wants us to come in for a meeting.” Chris wandered over to the kitchen. His sweatpants clung to his hips so low only the magnificent swell of his ass kept them up. “Oh, dope, you got us smoothies?”

Luca got up from the couch and picked his own drink up from the counter. “I thought I would try the shop down the street.”

“Which one—the one with the awning?”

Luca nodded, although there were three smoothie shops on the block, and two of them had awnings. The perks of living in Haight-Ashbury. He also didn’t mention how he’d forced himself out of bed at six thirty to get the drinks before calling Pietro and Chiara because he hoped he and Chris could sit down and have breakfast together. Things had been so strained ever since the stupid Halloween party, and Luca missed hanging out. Chris hadn’t even hugged him since then, except before games.

“Nice. That your brother on the phone?”

“And my sister.”

“So what they said about your summer—”

“Oh, Christ.” Luca buried his face in his hands. “I apologize. They have no boundaries. Forget everything you heard.”

“So you did spend your summer fucking big… What was it?”

“Beefy guys,” Luca supplied with a sigh. “Have I not embarrassed myself enough in front of you, sexually?”

“I don’t think anything we did was embarrassing.” Chris took a long sip from his smoothie.

Luca didn’t want to continue the conversation, so he took the straw into his mouth and did the same. He’d done very well at not initiating any further sexual encounters between the two of them since Halloween to protect himself from his own feelings. Discussing his summer of trying to fuck Chris out of his system would not help with his goal of saving their friendship.

The smoothie was surprisingly good. He’d been skeptical about pear and mint, but the combination tasted refreshing and sweet. He licked his lips when he pulled off the straw, chasing the flavor. “Why do you think Kayleigh wants to see us?”

Chris didn’t answer.

When Luca looked up, he found Chris staring right through him. “Chris?”

“Huh?”

“Kayleigh? Why are we going to see her?”

“Oh, something about a special segment for The Rookery.”

Luca grunted and returned to his smoothie. He wasn’t sure why hockey teams needed their own streaming services. People already didn’t watch hockey on regular TV, either because other sports were more popular or because the NHL’s baffling broadcasting decisions made it impossible. Why they would pay more money to watch it on worse platforms eluded Luca, but it must have been somewhat profitable or Kayleigh wouldn’t keep filming little skits and behind-the-scenes footage for The Rookery.

He drained the last of the smoothie and poked his straw around for more bits of pear at the bottom, cheeks hollowing as the straw made the loud, disgusting sound of sucking in air.

“Wow. You really like smoothies, huh?” Chris’s voice sounded higher than normal. Maybe a little nasal.

“Are you getting sick?”

“Nope! I’m fine! Just fine! Let me get dressed, and we can get going.”

Luca watched the beautiful view of that ass in those sweatpants as it disappeared into Chris’s room.

He might not be letting himself take advantage anymore, but he also wasn’t blind.

Kayleigh greeted them with a bright smile and far too much energy for Luca’s taste. He supposed he ought to be glad she was so enthusiastic about her job given he had no interest in coming up with his own ideas to promote the team on social media, but he also didn’t relish spending time with people who did.

“Guys!” she said. “The Halloween party looked so fun!

“Hah,” Chris said. “Yeah. It was great.”

He was the worst liar in the world. Fortunately, Kayleigh either couldn’t tell or didn’t care.