“I wonder how long the vetting process is?”
“Don’t know, but you don’t move into the dorms for a week or so, right? Maybe you’ll get lucky before classes start. Figuratively and literally.”
He chuckled, and I couldn’t keep from shaking my head. Not that he could see me, since my deep dive into the website had my camera turned off.
Shane Morrison was a great guy. A nut case. A serious nut case. But still a great guy. I never thought he and I would end up best friends, but I thanked whoever listened to stuff like that for him, and not because he spent over a grand on the membership he gifted me. It wasn’t the first time he’d done something like that. Shane had daddy issues thanks to his jerk father, who only spoke to Shane when Shane did something the old man didn’t approve of.
Shane’s old man wasn’t the least bit happy about Shane’s ambitions to play hockey professionally. The guy even threatened to cut Shane off, but luckily, Shane’s grandmother put her foot down and threatened to cut off Shane’s old man. Turnabout was fair play and all that, I guess. If there was one thing I learned while living on the streets, it was that there wasalways a bigger and badder fish out there than the one you thought you were.
The showdown between him and his dad and grandma all took place at the signing day event that Coach arranged for those of us on the USHL team who signed letters of intent to move on to the next level. The old man now left Shane alone. He cut Shane off emotionally, which Shane swore was a blessing, but the purse strings were wide open thanks to his grandmother, who was actually a nice woman, and not because she had money. She didn’t bat an eye when her grandson dragged home a former street kid as his best friend. She hugged me, kissed my cheek, and told me the door was always open.
“Dude, you’re not jerking off, are you? Because that would be seriously weird if you were spanking it while on the phone with me.”
“What the crap? No, I’m not.” Then I muttered, “But it wouldn’t be the first time we jerked off together.”
As the only two guys who lived at home, our JUCO coaches paired us as roommates when the team traveled. Jerking off was how I relieved the stress before a game. The first time he woke up and caught me, I didn’t look at him the entire next day. I probably wouldn’t have come back to the room the next night if he’d not cornered me after practice, which I’d stank the ice up during.
“The operative word there is together, dude. It’s weird if you don’t let a bro know.”
“I’m not…” I glanced at the door, “doing that.”
“Good God, please tell me we’re not going back to the shy kid who can’t talk about sex or look a guy in the eyes.”
“No,” my voice caught. I cleared my throat and said, “No. We’re not, but I’m in Coach’s office.”
“Oh, gotcha. I wouldn’t mind the big guy taking me for a ride, but I get why that would be weird for you.”
“There’s something seriously wrong with you.”
“Yeah, and…” he chuckled, then said, “Shit. I gotta scoot. I promised Gran I’d eat breakfast with her. Bye!”
The call disconnected before I could comment, but you got used to that with Morrison. Shane didn’t do anything on time or slowly. And having been at his Gran’s several times, the lady had a schedule she demanded you stick to for meals.
I turned back to the text messages and clicked the link to complete the registration paperwork, when the door opened. I swiped the browser up to force it closed just as my mother’s face appeared around the edge of the door.
“There you are.”
“Hey, Anya.”
“Is everything alright, love?”
I nodded. “Yeah, Shane called.”
Not exactly a lie, since he started the video call.
“Oh. How is he? Did you tell him we miss him around here?”
“He’s good. And no, but I will.”
“Well, I saved you a plate. If you wanna eat while it’s still warm…”
“Thanks. Shane sent me something I need to look at first.”
She came over, dropping a kiss on my cheek, leaving me slightly grossed out by her doing so since the image on the kink community’s website was all I could think about.
“I’ll bring you your plate.”
“Thanks, Ma.”
