Chapter Fourteen
Beau
Ifucked up so much during practice this morning, it was mortifying. I should be ashamed of myself. I wasn’t good enough to be captain of this team. I should take this C from my jersey and give it to someone else. Someone who was worthy of wearing it. But honestly, it wasn’t my fault. It was the text from Cole that threw me off my game. And then the one from Dean.
Cole:Ran into Dean at the apartment this morning and he’s coming to breakfast with us.
Dean:Yeah, so funny story. Cole found me at your place and now I’m going to breakfast with him. Don’t be too mad.
With us. Us!Ushad to be with his grandparents. What in the actually holy hell?!
“You doing okay?” Wyatt asked as he skated up to me. His brows were furrowed in concern. “You’ve missed every shot you’ve taken. I know West is good, but he’s not that good.”
“I heard that!” Scott West, our backup goalie, exclaimed. Jax would be sitting this one out tonight because he had played last night.
Wyatt laughed when he glanced back before he turned his attention back to me. “Seriously, you can talk to me. I’m here for you, man.”
“Just having an off morning.” Which wasn’t exactly a lie.
All I could picture was Dean talking to Trish’s parents and what they must have thought about finding a strange man in my apartment. But I was an adult. Trish had been gone for ten years,and I was allowed to date, wasn’t t I? Even if it was another man. That sort of thing was acceptable now. They seemed to accept Cole’s bisexuality without a problem. Besides, they would want me to be happy. They had told me that themselves. Numerous times. Trish had said the same thing. Not to spend the rest of my life alone.
“Whitaker!” Coach screamed my name, bringing me back to reality. “Are you with us today or not?”
Apparently not. Everyone was staring at me.
I grimaced. “Sorry, sir.” I really was having an off morning. It appeared everyone had left the ice while I was still standing there.
Coach skated over to where I stood. “Are you okay? Is it Cole? Do you need to take some time off? You know you can come to me if you need anything.”
“Cole is fine,” I assured him. “Like I told Wyatt, it’s just me. I’m just having an off day today. We all have them, right?” I had managed to sleep amazingly well last night, though. Better than I had in a long time. But that text had really thrown me off, and I wasn’t going to be able to concentrate until I spoke with my son and with Dean. And maybe my in-laws.
Coach nodded. “Well, my door is always open if you need anything.”
I made my way to the locker room, which was went deathly quiet the moment I walked in. Asher and Wyatt were standing together, smirking at one another. I made a mental note to speak to them about what was going on with them, and when I glanced over at Jackson, he looked up from his phone. Which meant he knew what was going on now, too. Awesome.
“Everyone stop fucking staring at me and finish getting washed up and dressed. We have a fucking game to win tonight!” I sighed as I slumped down on the bench. “Don’t say a word,” Ihissed when Jax sat next to me. “I can’t stop thinking about it, and it’s driving me insane.”
He grinned. “Wait until you see this.” He shoved his phone at me, and I stared at the photo of Dean and Cole.
I took in the flush on my son’s cheeks. The sparkle in his eyes. The way Dean’s arm sat around his shoulders. And jealousy ripped through my body so fast I nearly crushed Jackson’s cell phone in my hand.
“It’s just a picture.” I clenched my teeth.
“You tell yourself that.” Jackson chuckled as he stripped off his compression clothing. He fist-bumped Dillon as he walked by. “Your son has literal hearts in his eyes. You’d better tell Cole before he gets hurt. This could end very badly.”
That was the last thing I wanted to do to Cole. “I think it’s going to happen no matter what we do.” I dragged a hand through my sweaty hair and dropped my chin. “He’s going to hate me.”
“Maybe, but he’ll get over it. He’s sixteen. Plus, think about what will happen if you get married.” Jackson wiggled his brows.
“Excuse me?” I gasped, and when everyone turned to look at us, I waved my hand at them. “We’re fine. Mind your own business. “We’re not... doing that.”
I hadn’t even thought about that. What if Cole hated Dean after this? What if Dean and I fell in love, and we did get married? Would this ruin my relationship with my son? I wasn’t sure I could handle that. We had always been close.
Jackson snorted. “But what if you do? Man, think about it. If you tell him now, Cole will have time to recover. If you wait, six months or a year, it might be worse.”
“Fuck. Me,” I muttered.
Jackson shook his head. “You’re not my type, Beau. You’re too big and not pretty enough. No offense.”
