CHAPTER TWO
March-April
The day after the kiss, Thad was too busy setting up a photoshoot to think too much about what had happened between him and Graham.
He’d had to beg, plead, and cajole the team until he finally got a few guys to agree to model some branded gear for photos he could use on social media. It wasn’t part of their usual media duties, especially not this time of year, so it had taken a little extra coaxing.
Thad was feeling pretty good about his choices until Graham walked through the door, barely giving Thad so much as a nod hello.
Fuck.
Thankfully, Thad was nothing if not good at throwing himself into work, so he focused on tweaking lighting levels and getting the guys wrangled.
Rafe, Jesse, and Tanner were a dream to work with.
Well, Tanner had the energy of a squirrel on speed, and his focus was about as good, but the camera loved him. Jesse was gorgeous, energetic, and fun. Rafe, that big, beautiful himbo of a man, waseasy. He went where Thad told him and didn’t get easily distracted.
But Graham … he was definitely acting uncharacteristically weird.
Halfway through the shoot, Thad finally had to pull Graham aside during a clothing change and remind him they had jobs to do.
Thad might have gotten this position with the Harriers out of desperation when the social media coordinator position at a startup he’d been hired at had gone belly-up, leaving him with a lease to pay and no income, but he genuinely fucking loved his job working for the team.
He wasgoodat it.
Certainly better than the people who’d been in charge of this shit before. He wasn’t about to risk this position when it was the most stable six months he’d experienced since he left Pine Grove Correctional Facility fourteen years ago.
Thad definitely wasn’t about to let Graham fuck that up for him because he was having a crisis about his sexuality or whatever.
Thankfully, reminding Graham to act professional seemed to snap him out of the weirdness.
After that, Graham went back to acting like nothing had happened.
Oh, occasionally he’d get tongue-tied when Thad flirted with him like he always had, or study Thad’s face when he thought he wasn’t looking.
But as March turned into April, Graham acted almost aggressivelynormal.
He continued to invite Thad out for wings and a beer and to watch a game at their favorite sports bar. He laughed at the jokey memes Thad sent him that made fun of hockey players. And Graham even sent him a link to a photography exhibition in Chicago when the team was on the road.
He’d turned down Thad’s invite to go with him to check it out, but only because the guys were doing some team-bonding thing that evening.
Thad finally decided he could stop worrying he’d fucked up their friendship by kissing him back.
Maybe ithadbeen a weird aberration. A strange, momentary misfire of the wiring in Graham’s head. Maybe hewasstraight and had gotten curious for long enough to kiss Thad, then realized it wasn’t for him.
Thad might not be able to say a lot for himself, or the choices he’d made in his life, but he could say without any hesitation that everyone he’d ever kissed, everyone he’d ever had sex with, had been eagerly and enthusiastically into it.
Even Teddy Ellison.
When the slight, somewhat effeminate guy had sidled up to Thad shortly after he was sentenced to five years in Pine Grove Correctional Facility, Thad hadn’t fully understood thecomplicated interpersonal dynamics among incarcerated young men.
He’d understood what Teddy was looking for, however.
Thad had been solidly built from years of hockey training and knew how to fight. Teddy had seen an opportunity for protection.
Feeling sorry for his new cellmate, Thad had made sure everyone knew he’d be looking out for Teddy in the future and anyone who crossed him would regret it.
Thadhadn’texpected Teddy to slide into his bunk later that night after lights were out to ‘thank’ him for what he’d done, but on previous nights, Thadhadsometimes heard quiet murmurs and the soft sounds in the bunks around theirs, and he’d figured, well, a guy had to do what he could to get by.
