“It was great. The hockey fan in me couldn’t believe I was working with two of the greats,” Taylor answered.
“Not as great as you or me,” Sean chirped, attempting to joke around. And maybe Taylor would’ve laughed at it if he didn’t despise this fucker. He went to sleep last night imagining he was leaning right into Sean’s face and telling him all about how he gets to fuck his perfect son whenever he fucking wanted. And then he thought about how hot it was when Fletcher pinned him to the wall and fucked him from behind.
“Of course not, sir,” Taylor told him with a fake smile.
Sean looked back at Fletcher. “Your mother is upset that you never said goodbye before you left. She kept telling all her friends how nice it was to have her son back home, but you hardly even spoke to her.”
Fletcher shrugged. “I was tired. I’ll be here for two weeks. If she wants to see me then she knows where I’ll be staying.”
“And you’ll be heading back to Seattle when the two weeks are up?” he asked. He said it like the two weeks were a prison sentence.
“I have no reason to stay here, right?”
Sean cleared his throat and looked over to Taylor. “Would you mind giving us a minute alone, Piers?”
Taylor nodded hesitantly. “I’ll wait for you outside,” he said a little softer than he should have to his boyfriend. He patted Fletcher once on the shoulder before getting up and leaving the locker room.
Taylor waited outside for ten minutes, trying to run through the possible scenarios of what was happening with Fletcher and his father. Honestly, he could have said anything to Fletcher. The longer he waited, the more worried Taylor got. Fletcher was in there talking to the one person Taylor didn’t want himto be talking to alone.
What if he really did know? What if he was in there threatening to out Fletcher? What if he was trying to intimidate him about his contract? What if he was just in there telling Fletcher that he was a worthless disappointment? Taylor hated how powerless he felt knowing Fletcher was in there with his father, and there was nothing he could do to help him. He fucking hated it.
After a few more minutes of spiraling and contemplating whether he should go in to save Fletcher, he and Sean finally walked out. Taylor looked at Fletcher with a worried look on his face, but Fletcher wore a mask of indifference as he stepped outside.
“I’ll see you two tomorrow, then,” Sean said, sparing a fake smile.
Fletcher looked at him and shook his head. “Yes, sir.” Taylor hated how he could hear the defeat in Fletcher’s voice. Fletcher just started walking to the car.
“Good work today, Piers,” Sean told him again. Taylor gave him a polite smile as he followed behind Fletcher.
“What did he say to you?” Taylor asked him as soon as Fletcher pulled out of the lot.
“A whole lot of nothing,” Fletcher answered, sounding guarded. “He told me that he wanted to reiterate how important it was for me to present myself honorably or some shit. Basically, he gave me a slap on the wrist and told him to stop embarrassing him.”
Taylor frowned. He wasn’t entirely sure if Fletcher was hiding more from him, but he gave Fletcher the benefit of the doubt and held his tongue. “Are you okay?”
Fletcher looked over to him with an upset look on his faceand he tried to muster up a smile. But Taylor knew he was upset. “Are you hungry? We could go somewhere to get a late lunch.”
“We ate lunch three hours ago,” Taylor reminded him. “But if you’re hungry then let’s stop.”
“I’m not. Let’s go back to my place for a bit and I’ll buy you a steak for dinner, princess,” Fletcher joked.
“It’s a date,” Taylor smiled at him. Fletcher grabbed his hand and kissed it softly before resting their hands on his lap.
“I love you, Taylor. So much,” he told him, squeezing Taylor’s hand.
“I love you, Fletch.”
39
The Name Game
Somehow, Taylor still didn’t feel fully confident that Fletcher told him everything about his talk with Sean. He wanted to bring it up with Fletcher, but he was worried it would backfire. Taylor was frustrated about the situation in general. Fletcher had a lot of emotional baggage that he needed to sort through, so Taylor was going to make sure he was there to support his boyfriend in any way possible.
“We should probably strip the bed,” Fletcher told him once they were back in his apartment. “And do some laundry.”
“Our first time doing laundry together,” Taylor gushed. He loved the idea of being domestic with Fletcher. It made him feel like they were a normal couple. “Can the covers on the couch cushions be washed too?” he asked him, remembering the fact that they both were soaking wet on the couch last night while Taylor had blown and fucked him.
“That’s probably the sexiest thing you’ve ever said to me,” Fletcher sighed. Taylor knew he was being completely serious.
