Page 52 of Offensive Edge
“Theo mentioned that you were in the market for a new house.”
“Technically, I guess. Not right now. Seems like Vic is on the verge of moving in with his girlfriend. Not sure what next year will look like.”
“You two will find a really great place, I know it,” Michelle said, smiling at the server who had come back with their bottle of wine. Rowan looked over at Theo and gave him a soft smile. They hadn’t talked about living together next season, but Theo couldn’t imagine them parting ways.
Theo was close with his mom and knew the general shape of what she was up to. She had been painting murals around town in Portland, and was dating a new guy, who Theo learned a lot about through the careful questions Rowan asked her.
It wasn’t long before they had to get back to the hotel. They didn’t have a curfew on normal road trips, but playoffs were a different beast. They had a day off the next day, and while not all of their time was free time, they would be able to see Michelle again.
Michelle dropped them off at their hotel, and they, per habit, let themselves into their own hotel rooms and immediately opened their adjoining doors. Theo knew they weren’t the only guys who did this, in order to have a little more social time to decompress before going to bed, but he was pretty sure they were the only ones who would wake up in the same bed together the next day.
“We’re one win away,” Rowan said, wrapping his arms around Theo’s neck. His tie was loose around his neck, the top couple buttons of his shirt undone. He liked casual Rowan.
“And then on to the second round.” Theo wouldn’t say that in the room with the rest of the boys, but he could say it in front of Rowan. They both knew that they weren’t going to magically lose the next four games in a row to the Seattle fucking Sailors.
“And then…” Rowan said, kissing him slow and wet, “you have to fuck me.”
“One-track mind.”
“Hockey first. At least through the playoffs. I’m no slouch. But a close second is getting naked with you.”
Getting to play hockey—getting to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs—while also having Rowan back, exactly in the way he had been aching for him for years, felt more and more unbelievable as each day passed.
“You should score the game winner in game four. Just for fun,” Theo said, his hands pulling the back of Rowan’s shirt out from where it was tucked into his suit pants.
“Deal.”
They were both tired. Theo didn’t know how they would have the energy to keep playing this intensely through the rest of the playoffs, but somehow, they scraped up enough energy to exchange blowjobs. Over the course of the first round, Theo realized that when Rowan was super tired, he was more relaxed. There was less overthinking and anxiety when it came to sex.
Rowan was always so cute after Theo made him come, happy and loose. They set their alarms to wake up for team breakfast, and Theo pulled the covers over the two of them. There was something powerful that thrummed between them when they were together. It was stronger than any other feeling Theo had ever felt, including the heartbroken pain of losing Rowan the first time.
He wasn’t going to let that happen again.
CHAPTER26
ROWAN
Rowan had runout of fingers to count the number of times he’d heard the phrase “we haven’t won anything yet, boys.” Despite the fact that they had, indeed, won their first two rounds, and were moving on to the conference finals. The second round had gone so fast it was a blur of skating as fast as he could and falling asleep next to Theo the moment his head hit the pillow.
Hockey was good, and things with Theo were good. They had fallen back into not exactly their old way of being together, but something familiar in its evolution. Rowan had forgotten how nice it was to have someone have your back in every way.
Theo had his back on the ice, talking to media, during meals when Theo made sure Rowan’s food was always correct, because he was picky but wouldn’t complain if he got something he didn’t want to eat. He’d forgotten his phone charger on their trip to Seattle, and while Rowan was rattling his mouth off about every anxious thought in his head, Theo just Instacarted him a new one.
In return, Rowan had been practicing his blowjob skills as much as possible.
And he absolutely hadn’t forgotten about Theo’s post-first round promise that he was now quite overdue on.
The three housemates drove back to Vic’s place together, where Vic did his classic change-and-head-to-Julia’s. “Make good choices,” he said on his way out. It left Theo and Rowan alone on the couch in the living room. Rowan could already feel himself getting hard.
“You wanna watch a movie or something?” Theo asked, and Rowan pushed him over on the couch, straddling him.
“No,” he said, letting Theo have his laugh at his bad joke.
“Alright, baby, you earned it,” Theo said, pulling Rowan into a kiss before nudging him to get up. This obviously wasn’t happening on the couch in the living room. Theo held Rowan’s hand as he led him upstairs to his room. So far, Vic had been gone enough for them to both sleep in Theo’s room, and Rowan loved they had somewhat of a routine by now.
The second Rowan closed the door behind them, Theo had him pressed up against it, his hands sliding down Rowan’s arms before closing over his wrists. He pulled them up over Rowan’s head and held him there, helpless. So this was what being weak at the knees felt like.
Theo leaned in, and Rowan tipped his lips up for a kiss, confused when it didn’t come.
