Page 91 of Two for Roughing

A huff of laughter burst from Kilian. “I haven’t been using my phone. Too scared of everyone’s reactions.”

“Well, everyone in this family loves the hell out of you.”

Kilian reached for his phone on the coffee table. He hesitated before unlocking it. “Even Grandpa?”

“Your grandfather bought a pride flag for his boat.” Dad rolled his eyes. “He posted pictures on his WhatsApp status. It’s the lamest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Send them to me?”

“Of course.”

“And maybe ask him to stop commenting on all the Sea Lions’ posts?”

Dad shook his head. “I’ve tried. It’s a losing battle.”

They lapsed into silence for a moment before Dad cleared his throat hesitantly. “Do you…uh, do you know who took those pictures of you?”

Kilian glowered. He’d made a concerted effort not to look too closely at the pictures or the article, but he hadn’t become a professional hockey player without learning how to memorize people’s positions relative to his own. He knew who had been dancing at that angle. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

If he thought he’d been angry at Breezy for not outing him to their teammates when he knew it would be okay, it was nothing compared to how angry he was about actually being outed.

Damir and Mom bustled in with plates and silverware and glasses in hand. Kilian used the scant minutes before dinner to open his group chat with his sisters. There were too many unread messages to go through them all. He’d been sporadic at best about answering texts after he moved to Chicago, but since the news had broken, he’d missed dozens of notifications. At the start, they’d asked after him, trying to find out if he was okay, telling him to call home.

He skimmed through those messages, guilt stopping him from reading them properly. The more recent ones came toward the bottom, the ones from this afternoon after his post had gone live.

Jeannie had posted nothing but rainbows and hearts for five solid messages. Lacey had written a long message Kilian didn’t have the time to read properly, but he caught the words “proud” and “best little brother” and then promptly stopped reading before he got weepy again.

And Josie, being iconic, had only written, suckers, he told me first.

He reacted to all their messages with hearts and texted, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier and worried you. was working through some stuff. also sorry I stole mom and dad for xmas.

Immediately, he received a picture of a bottle of vodka and three glasses in front of the fireplace in the family living room. They’d let the dogs in, and their fuzzy bodies flopped on the tile, all cozy and warm. Kilian felt a pang of homesickness followed closely by a swell of gratitude his parents were here.

And then Damir brought out the food, and Kilian’s emotions finally calmed down from their roiling swell to one single manageable feeling: hunger.

Chapter Sixteen

Martin Reiser [off-screen]: What do you have to say about recent allegations made by Jax Grant stating his trade was due to his sexuality?

Tyson Fuller: Um, I don’t know anything about that.

Martin Reiser: Any comment on Kilian Howard?

Tyson Fuller: No.

Top comments:

seelionssaylions: Philadelphia MAGApies, am I right?

flymagpiesfly: @seelionssaylions—ooh, what a shock, a league full of barely educated millionaires is socially conservative. Whoda thunk.

grant16rules: Well, I’m officially a Sea Lions fan now. Can’t believe the Magpies did Jax so dirty and won’t own up to it now.

(From prematch interview with Tyson Fuller, Captain of the Philadelphia Magpies, Philadelphia @ Washington, 12/27/2025)

Damir was going to go insane.

Kilian’s mother was lovely. Midway through Christmas Day, his father stopped glaring at Damir once Damir cooked a decent semblance of a Christmas dinner, featuring mashed sweet potatoes and grilled, seasoned turkey breasts.