“Mother fucker!” he said. “Should I start bringing a gun to work? I only have my old hunting rifle back home, but my cousin’s got a pistol I could borrow.”
“Let’s not go that far,” I said. “I’ve got pepper spray in my bag. That should be enough in case something worse happens.”
“Who would do this?” Cole wondered out loud. “Messing with my car, trying to poison me with peanut butter cookies…”
“Don’t forget me!” Rhett said. “He left a threatening note in my locker first.”
“He?” I said. “Let’s not assume the person’s gender. A woman could have done this.”
“Maybe,” Rhett said. “But I’d feel real bad punching a woman in the face. Because that’s what I’m gonna do when I find this sumbitch.”
I leaned over and caressed the back of his neck with my fingernails the way he liked. “I don’t blame you. I want to punch them in the face, too.”
Rhett and Cole started chatting about hockey, and I let my mind drift while listening to them. I couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened with Elias earlier. It was wonderful in all the best ways, getting the huge goalie to open up to me like that. It felt like a massive victory, to say nothing of the sex.
Which was fantastic, by the way.
But there was one aspect that I now had to handle: telling Rhett and Cole. None of us were exclusive, and they had reiteratedseveral times that I could do whatever I wanted, but there was a big difference between hooking up with a random guy and hooking up with their teammate.
“There’s something I need to tell you guys,” I said when there was an opening in their conversation.
“Uh oh,” Rhett said. “Nothing good ever starts that way.”
I decided that the best thing was to spit it out. “Elias and I slept together.”
I tensed, waiting to see how they would react. The moment probably only lasted a few seconds, but it felt likehours.
“Holy shit,” Rhett finally said. “Elias?Our teammate?”
I nodded.
“He never hooks up with anyone. Like, he’s famous for it. He finds someone on Hinge once a year during the off-season and blows off steam, then that’s it.”
“He must really like you to hook up during the season,” Cole said.
I glanced back and forth between them. “Neither of you are mad?”
“Mad?” Rhett scoffed. “Nah. Not really. Glad it’s someone we know. Elias. Wow.”
“I’m still reeling from the threat I received today,” Cole said, patting my leg. “Compared to that, this news is downright pleasant.”
“The two of us are already sharing you. What’s one more?” Rhett asked. “Assuming it wasn’t just a one-time thing with Elias.”
“I actually don’t know,” I admitted. “We didn’t have much time to talk about it, because the note stabbed into my tire was discovered right after that.”
“Wait. Hold on just one goddamn second.” Rhett stood up and crossed his arms. “You slept with him at work? At the arena?”
Cringing, I nodded.
“That’sourplace!” Rhett insisted. “It’s less special if you’re hooking up with other people there. From now on, you two are only allowed to have sex at home. Or somewhere other than the trainer’s room.”
“Technically, it was in the workout room,” I added.
Rhett threw up his hands and began pacing. “Oh my God. There are so many good places to have sex in there.”
“There are cameras, too,” Cole said.
“We were in a blind spot. On the bench press.”
