Movement in the corner of his eye alerted him to a figure in a Sea Lions hoodie furtively using a key card on a door and slipping inside.
Ben frowned down at his list.Why did Jax Grant have a key to Tom Crowler’s room?And why was he acting as if using it made him part of a heist?
If he did his fake job and knocked on all the doors, Ben would probably find out.The thought was summarily unappealing.From a few doors down in the other direction, Breezy’s booming laugh gave away his position.Ben checked his list.Breezy’s laughter had emanated from the wrong side of the floor to be in his room.
Did it matter?They were in the hotel.
What was the worst that would come of it?They would lose a hockey game.
Ben turned on his heel and went back into the elevator.
They lost both games in Los Angeles.
Sitting in the plane headed home, Ben tried to feel bad about it; he really did.He thought about Phil’s disappointed expression and managed for about a minute before he remembered Phil’s face after he’d been kissed within an inch of his life.
Ben had gotten a lot accomplished during the trip.He’d sat through a second heavy-handed drinking session with Trout and had made loose plans to meet his “guy” in a few weeks.It wasn’t fast enough, but Ben had made more progress on this road trip than in the entire season preceding it.
Phil hadn’t texted again.
Or, well, he had, but it had only been about Charlie and how Charlie was doing at school, whether Phil was allowed to take him to the gym in the rink, and whether it was normal for teenage boys to spend so much time in their rooms.His messages were as frustrating as they were heartwarming, and gratitude joined the pile of other emotions Ben felt about Phil.
Ben spent the flight home arranging apartment viewings for the next day.And by the time the team had returned to San Francisco, he’d found a few options.He hadn’t counted on the one snag in his plan: Charlie’s lack of cooperation.
“Phil said we could stay,” he said around a mouthful of Cheerios.His new haircut revealed more of his face; he and Ben both had the family’s distinctive round cheeks and slightly tipped-up nose.But his bangs still fell across his forehead, and he used them now to hide his eyes.
“It’s a temporary solution,” Ben told him as Phil remained silent.Ben had been banking on his support, but when Ben had raised the topic, he’d gotten up from the table and begun cleaning the coffeemaker even though his service was coming in a few days.His back was turned, and as far as Ben could tell, he couldn’t hear a word they said.
“We need somewhere stable,” Ben explained.“Somewhere we can stay, if we want CPS to give us the go-ahead.”
“Why can’t we stay here?”
“Let me see,” Ben said drily.“I’m Phil’s boss.We’re not paying rent.I haven’t registered this as my current address anywhere—”
“So what?”
“So, we have to go!”
Charlie remained petulantly silent the entire way to school.Since the team had a rest day, Ben went home afterward, only to find Phil in a similar mood.He’d thought, maybe, with the house to themselves and the question of Ben and Charlie’s living situation on track to be dealt with, that he and Phil could have a real conversation about what was going on between them.But Phil vanished into his gym, and Ben didn’t dare follow.The image of Phil’s thighs haunted Ben, and if he saw them now, he’d do something he’d regret before they could get as far as“So, you’re not gay, but are you maybe bi?”
Instead, Ben spent the day at his computer, writing up his interactions with Trout into a rough semblance of an article.At a quarter to three, Ben got into his car and drove over to Charlie’s school, picking him up for the long, silent drive up to Oakland.
At the first apartment, the only thing Charlie said was, “I’d have to switch schools again if we lived here.”
He had a point.
Worse, the thousand a month, two-bedroom apartment was a shithole.If Ben were by himself, who cared that the bathroom had no windows, and Ben had to hunch his shoulders if he didn’t want them to brush against the walls on either side?Or that the kitchen consisted of a narrow hotplate in the hallway, right under the smoke detector?But with two of them, there’d be no communal space.They’d have to put a table and chairs in one of the bedrooms, both of which were so small getting a bed and a dresser in would be pushing it.Neither of them liked other people in their space to begin with, but moving to the cramped quarters after coming from the comfort and luxury of Phil’s place was almost unthinkable.
Almost.
A thousand a month was always worth thinking about.
Ben plastered on his best smile and asked the landlady about Oakland High.
The expression she made before assuring him it was a great school was enough to strike the apartment from Ben’s list.
The next place they toured meant another long, silent car ride to North Berkeley, nearly Richmond.It was on the ground floor, a plus in Ben’s book, but twice as expensive as the first place.The upstairs neighbors turned out to be the landlords, who wanted to downsize since they didn’t need both floors, which rang a few alarm bells.Landlords living in the same property meant they’d be overinvested to the point of intrusiveness.Ben would take a soulless corporation any day.
More concerning was the apartment itself.The listing had it down as a two-bedroom, but closer inspection revealed one large room with a curtain separating it into two.
