Page 21 of Bro Code

He watched the black arrow of a bird wheel through the white sky between the trees and sighed. “Bye, Sésé. Tell Manman I said hello.”

That night he was at the lodge bar, watching the Tampa v. Denver game and drinking a vodka soda. Riley and a few other players were watching too, but Louis was sitting alone. He didn’t have the energy to dumb down his small talk for jocks.

The conversation with Chloé had been buried under an afternoon of data analysis with Holly breathing down his neck. She had him running the metrics on Riley until his eyes felt crossed. Holly said they should be able to see evidence of his injury in his high-speed direction changes, but Louis couldn’t see what the fuck she was talking about. He thought he was getting better at spotting the things she was looking for, but he didn’t see anything that suggested Riley was losing speed on his turns.

The bartender put a salad down in front of him, and he said, “Merci,” and picked up his fork. On the TV, Tampa and Denver were in a deadlocked third period with less than two minutes to go. Elliot Rodriguez, Tampa’s superstar winger, looked like he was about to pull some shenanigans and win it for Tampa.

Louis had been secretly vindicated when Rodriguez came out at the beginning of the season: he’d had his suspicions since the kid started making waves a year ago. He’d been watching the media circus surrounding Rodriguez and thought he was handling it remarkably well for someone so young. He must have good support. A secret boyfriend, like Nic, maybe? That would be juicy. Or maybe just a tight family. Must be nice.

Sighing, he tore his eyes away from the TV and tapped his phone on the bar beside him. He needed to text Chloé and let her know about Christmas. Home for the holidays didn’t really feel possible right now. They only got a few days off, and with the flights… He’d hardly get any time with them anyway… Maybe next year…

He was halfway through writing this text when the bar erupted.

Louis snapped his head up and looked around. Every person in the room was suddenly on his feet. Everyone was yelling. Guys were pointing at the TV; spilling their beers. He turned to look and saw that the game had ended.

That wasn’t what they were yelling at.

Elliot Rodriguez was kissing someone.

Elliot Rodriguez was kissing…

“Is that Dustin Bennet?!” someone yelled.

Louis stared at the TV in disbelief. Dustin Bennet? The Dustin Bennet? The legendary veteran who’d just retired and didn’t come back for this season? The Fastest Winger in the League? Was kissing Elliot Rodriguez?

Tabarnak! That was juicy!

Elliot was in all his gear and still had one foot on the ice, coming back to the bench. Dustin was on the other side of the dashers in a leather jacket and a VIP lanyard, like he’d been watching the game, come down to the bench to tell the guys, “Good job,” or whatever, and…stopped to have a little smooch.

Louis whipped around and scanned the bar. He didn’t know why he was looking for Riley, but as their eyes met, a current seemed to jump between them from all the way across the room. Louis felt it land in his chest, and he held Riley’s gaze with his heart pounding as Riley’s face broke into an amazed smile.

Louis smiled back. It was fucking unbelievable. This wasn’t just a press release. This was two guys kissing in front of eighteen-thousand people. In front of cameras. Thirty feet high on the Jumbotron! And one of those guys was a league veteran. The Old Guard.

On the TV, security and PR people were already dragging Rodriguez and Bennet off the ice. The stadium was probably shaking with the noise the crowd was making. He saw Rodriguez go into the tunnel as Bennet was steered through a side door and disappeared, and that was it. They were gone. The TV cut to commercial and suddenly the GEICO lizard was telling them how easy he was going to make it for them to manage all their insurance policies in one place.

Guys in the bar were losing their absolute minds. Louis finished his drink in one, then snatched up his phone and texted Nic.

Did you see that??? Dustin Bennet???? Ostie de tabarnak!!!

He looked for Riley again. He was standing at the back of the bar a little apart from the rest of the guys with his arms folded, still staring at the TV like something had short-circuited in his head. Louis slid off the stool and went over.

“Hey!” He gave Riley’s shoulder a little shove as he reached him. “Holy shit, right?!”

“Yeah.” Riley shook his head and looked at him. “What the fuck?”

Louis’ phone buzzed. A wall of emojis with their mouths open from Nic.

“Christ, what a fucking season already,” said Riley. “We’re only two weeks in. How many gay hockey players are there in this league?”

Laughing, Louis shoved the phone into his back pocket. He bent with his hands on his knees and blew out a breath, because he felt giddy. When he straightened, Riley was watching him, and he felt a dizzy little rush of adrenaline: he loved it when he caught guys looking.

“Hey, do you wanna have a drink or something?” he said, breathless.

Riley’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“Merde, I don’t know! To celebrate?”

Riley studied him down his nose. “I’m not interested in hooking up again, if that’s what you’re angling for.”