Page 61 of Offensive Edge
“Anyone else just feel really fucking relieved now?” Vic asked, as he divvied up their orders on the patio table. “Like, who fucking cares about the rest of what happens, we did the thing, we can hang it up whenever now?”
“Yes,” Rowan said immediately. “Having people tell you from the time you’re a child that you have to win this trophy, that youwillwin it, is an amount of pressure I don’t want for anyone. And now I can check that box and everyone can leave me alone.”
“I never thought I would win, honestly,” Theo said, making sure he got sweet potato fries with his burger, and Rowan’s fries were regular.
Rowan snorted. “Of course you were going to win.”
“You can say that now that I have.”
“Laney, you have got to stop fucking underselling yourself,” Vic said, taking a bite of his burger and barely chewing before continuing. “From the moment you got here, I could tell you had internalized all the bullshit around your like, ‘slow career start.’ You’re an incredible player. You just didn’t have the immediate organizational support from Carolina that Foley here did in Texas. And you know that’s true. Once you made it to a team that gave a shit, suddenly you’re amazing. The reason the Serpents have been so good the last few years is, well, a lot of things, but a large part of that is you.”
“Damn, Captain,” Theo said. Why were compliments embarrassing?
“Cap’s right,” Rowan said, smug in Vic’s agreement. “Also, I spitefully am glad they lost the Cup to us, for Theo-based reasons.”
“I would make fun of you for being in love, but I gotta agree there. They fucked up,” Vic said.
Theo agreed too, even if he was too proud to admit it. “Well, then, yes, I’m relieved. We can all just keep playing until we don’t want to anymore. We don’t have to spend our hockey twilight years chasing a Cup.” Theo had seen a few guys bounce around the league at the end of their careers, trying to get the trophy they rightfully deserved. Some incredible players never won. Some shitty players just happened to be on a great team at the right time. Sometimes, every part of the world felt like chaos to Theo.
But maybe chaos was good. Chaos may have ripped Rowan away from him, but it also brought Rowan back.
“Speaking of getting older,” Vic said as he moved from his burger to his fries. Not one of the three of them was even thirty yet, and they were already talking like they should be estate planning. “I’ve got a proposition for you two. Or just one of you. I don’t know.”
“What?” What could be the two of them or just one of them?
“By now, I think you both know Julia hates this house.”
“Because Julia has good taste, apparently,” Rowan grumbled. It was sweet how much Rowan hated any slander to their house. Vic seemed largely indifferent to criticisms of it, and Theo often agreed when people pointed out the parts of the design that made it look dated.
“Julia knows what she wants, and it isn’t this house,” Vic corrected. “And we talked about it, and we want to move in together.”
“But…not here,” Theo said. He cut a look over to Rowan, who already looked nervous. Were they about to be told that Vic was kicking them out?
“Not here. I’m going to move in with her for the time being. I only have one year left on my contract here. And in a couple years, realistically, I’ll be either retired, or grasping on to my career by bouncing around to any team that will take me. And there isn’t a reason for me to keep this house.”
“Fuck,” Rowan said. Theo knew Rowan liked to settle into something and stay. It’s why, even after Theo had been a miserable bitch to him for months, he still didn’t leave. His routine was based around this house.
“I’m not going to sell it out from under your feet and make you move out, or anything. I was thinking I could sell it to one of you two. Or both of you. I don’t know…” he said.
“Yes,” Rowan said, without letting Vic finish his meandering thought.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Vic said.
“I mean, Teddy, you’d stay here with me, right?”
“Teddy?”
“Shut the fuck up,” Theo told Vic, only slightly embarrassed about the pet name that only Rowan was allowed to call him. He turned to Rowan. “Of course I’d stay.”
“Then yeah, I’ll buy it. I want it. You’re serious?”
“Honestly, this is the house my ex-wife picked out, which I am sure contributes to Julia’s feelings about it. I was never in love with this house. I’ll start some conversations, get this going.”
Theo knew that Vic would give Rowan a good, fair price on the house, but honestly, he could ask Rowan for any amount of money and he’d agree. Never underestimate the power of Rowan staying in his comfort zone. He wondered if they would even move bedrooms to the primary suite, or if Rowan would want to keep sleeping in Theo’s bedroom, and keep calling it “Theo’s bedroom.”
Theo was excited for the fall, when they could start a new season by raising a banner in their building, and settling into the house Theo had now lived in for three years that would finally betheirhouse, but he let Rowan and Vic carry the conversation about it as they talked about the furniture, and what Vic wanted to leave behind, like all of the kitchen stuff, and what he wanted to take eventually but didn’t want to put into storage, like the power tools in the garage.
Theo didn’t want to worry about logistics yet. He just wanted to dream about his future with Rowan.
