“What? I thought you were still with Madison? You broke upagain?”
Thad forced his eyes to remain closed and resisted the urge to look over at the row Connor and Graham shared.
What indeed.
Thad gripped his phone tighter, hoping Graham would talk loud enough he could hear the reply.
There was silence for a few moments before he finally heard Graham say, “Yeah. We got back together for a bit but we, uh, we kinda realized we were both looking for something else, you know?”
Thankfully, Connor finally lost interest in Graham’s love life, and he went back to watching hockey highlights on his tablet. Graham leaned his head against the bulkhead and watched the clouds go by the window as he thought about what to do next.
He hadn’t told Thad about the breakup. Not because he didn’t want him to know, but because he needed to figure out what the fuck to do now. He … he needed aplan.
Madison had been right about a lot of things.
Shedefinitelywas right that a part of him wanted something exciting in his life.
And okay, playing pro hockey was exciting, but it could be a grind at times too.
Graham was grateful for the opportunity to do it but it did wear on a person. Sometimes he grew numb to the endless cycle of practice, game, home, practice, flight, game, hotel … rinse and repeat.
But Thad … Thad wasexciting.
Now that Graham was admitting some important things to himself, he could see the way he’d always made Graham feel alive and interested.
The way he made his skin buzz.
He had the kind of presence that made Graham sit up and take notice.
Gavin had a similar charisma. A genuine charm that made people like him and look to him for leadership. But as alike as the twins were, there was something verydifferentabout the way Graham responded to them.
He liked and respected Gavin, but Thad … Thad was something entirely unique.
But how to tell him that? How to make him see that despite all the reasons they shouldn’t be together, Graham wanted it anyway?
He thought about Thad saying he wasn’t the kind of guy who would be okay having a side piece and that much was true.He never could have hooked up with Thad while still dating Madison.
The guilt would have eaten him alive.
But when Graham thought about being with Thad quietly, under the radar from the team and Gavin and Graham’s family, that sent an unexpected thrill of excitement through him.
He’d never done anything like it, never considered it, and why would he? He’d had his pick of girls to date as a teenager, then women once he was a little older, and he’d never had to hide that from anyone.
His family teased him a little about his love life, the endless string of girlfriends, but it had always been something he could talk openly with them about.
While he could never be on board with cheating on a partner, doing something a little illicit, a littleforbiddenwith Thad, well, that sounded … hot.
But would Thad see it the same way? Would he be into the secrecy or hate it?
And yeah, Graham was worried about his focus when it came to hockey this season. But it was wanting Thad andnot being with himthat had been fucking with his head.
Surely, he would do better if they were together and so much of Graham’s brain wasn’t occupied with wanting something he couldn’t have.
There was only one big hiccup.
Would Thad want to be with him? Especially when Graham told him he wanted todate, not just fuck around?
Thad had kinda hinted at it, throwing around words like dating and relationships, but would he really be up for it? And how the fuck could theydatewhen no one could know about them?
