“Sign my shirt?” he requests sweetly. “I’m you’re biggest fan.”
I groan, but Carter’s lips curve into a small grin. He balances his glove on the wall and takes the Sharpie, scrawling a messy signature across one of the sevens on Nate’s back.
“I didn’t know you were coming,” he says to Vas.
“No. You were not meant to know. All of the team will be here.” He points toward our section, which is a lot fuller than it was when Lawson led us away.
“Allof the team?” Carter clarifies, tossing the Sharpie back to Nate.
“All,” Vas confirms.
“Oh,” Carter replies, the scowl slipping slightly as helooks between the three of us. He seems a little floored, as though he’s not sure what he’s supposed to say. He’s saved by Lawson, who claps a hand on the back of Nate’s neck, and shakes him back and forth.
“We better get out of here, though. Just wanted to say hello.”
He starts to lead us back down the tunnel we came through, when Carter calls out.
“Mick.” I turn in time to watch him scoop a puck up with the flat of his stick, flipping it through the air to me. Catching it, I smile at him, which he returns before skating over to his backup to stretch.
I follow behind Nate and his freshly autographed shirt, puck clutched tightly in my hand as we leave the team area. It’s just a hockey puck—a small rubber disk that is pretty much useless in the grand scheme of things. But all the things I own can fit into a single trash bag, and most of those things were purchased secondhand. The few items I own that were gifted are immeasurably valuable to me—my Troy Nichols jersey, the SCU hockey T-shirt Nate gave me, and now this.
When we get back to our seats, I snap a picture of the puck sitting in my palm and send it to Desmond. His reply makes me beam, because he already knows without me having to explain it.
Desmond
Game puck from Carter Morgan III?
Priceless
18
Desmond
In a fit of madness,I tell Parker that Jack and I are going to be dating as he’s sitting at the table eating breakfast before school. He rolls his eyes, crunching down on his cereal. I wait for him to say anything about it, and stand in silence for another three spoonfuls before I realize he apparently isn’t going to.
“That okay?” I ask carefully, earning myself another eye roll, this one paired with a dramatic groan.
“I don’t know why you’re being so weird about it. Jack didn’t even want to sleep in your bed last weekend,” he replies, as though it’s the craziest thing he can imagine. “You can sleep together, I don’t care.”
My left eye starts twitching. “Uhm…okay. But, Parks, I just want you to be sure you understand what that means, and that you know nothing is going to change. You’re still the priori?—”
“I like Jack. I want him to do his laundry here and comewith us when we go places. Okay?” he asks, somewhat violently. I have the crazy urge to laugh. “I don’t even care if you kiss.”
“Well, that’s…good,” I reply, grateful that acceptance of same-sex relationships will apparently be a hurdle I don’t have to clear.
“Mom and Dad used to kiss all the time.” He shakes his head, mouth scrunched up in revulsion as he chases the last of the cereal with his spoon. “Dis-gus-ting.”
“Yes,” I agree, pointing a finger at him. “Hold on to that attitude until you’re eighteen.”
“You get weirder, like, every day,” he tells me, standing up and bringing his bowl over to the sink. I don’t have an argument for that, so I let it go, looking him up and down to make sure he didn’t put on clothes that are dirty.
“Stop looking at me,” he grumbles, slouching by on his way back to the bedroom.
“Grab your backpack, and make sure you have all your homework!” I yell as he turns the corner.
“Where do youthinkI’m going?” he yells back.
Scrubbing a hand over my face, I send a quick text to Jack. I know he’s worried about me talking to Nico, and I know he’d rather I not. But, the fact of the matter is, Nico is my boss and he loves every member of his team. They are, in many ways, his kids. Jack is already something of a sore spot for him, because he feels like he failed. I can’t think of a worse situation than one where Nico happened to find out I was with Jack—and he would find out, no matter what effort was put into hiding it—and I hadn’t been the one to tell him. I hate feeling like I’m being duplicitous, so while I recognize that it’s probably too early to be telling ParkerorNico, my nature dictates that I should.
