“Yes, really,” I said, standing up with a wicked smile on my face. “And I’m going to prove it to you.”
“Huh?” He looked completely confused as I grabbed his hand and pulled him up to his feet.
This may have been rash. It was possibly stupid, at the very least risky.
But also… fuck it. I’d made my decision to be out and open with Eli, so why not rip the veil of secrecy off like a Band-Aid?
“Where are we going?” Eli asked me. His hand was still in mine.
“You’ll see.”
As we drew closer to my destination, Eli paused. His hand tugged me to a stop. “Hold on,” he said. He looked at the cameras and the couple of reporters who werewrapping up the last couple of interviews for the day. “No, you don’t have to do this.”
“I know I don’thaveto do this, but Iwantto.” I gave him a wink. “Besides, you don’t even know what I’m going to do.”
“Whatever it is, I have a feeling it’s going to be crazy.”
“Maybe.” I shrugged and continued forward. Eli didn’t stop me this time. He walked at my side. I thought I’d be more nervous about this, but having Eli’s hand in mine was like a magic elixir cooked up by a powerful druid. It washed away any and all anxiety I’d have about this moment.
The same reporter from earlier looked up and noticed us walking toward them. Her eyes dropped to our connected hands and then jerked back up, an interested glint now shining past the exhaustion of the day. She said something to her PA and nearly pushed Soren—who’d probably been giving the driest interview known to man—out of frame before spinning on her heel and waving us over.
“Ready for your close-up?” she asked.
“I am,” I said. “Is it okay if I do the interview with my boyfriend?”
If she could do a Flintstones leap in the air and tap her heels together, I was sure she would have. She had to have recognized the story potential her interview would have. A benign chat that would have gotten a cumulative total of five hundred views across all platforms now had the possibility of being a viral moment, spread all around the internet.
“Of course it is,” she said. “Come, both of you, step right in front of the camera. There we go. Perfect. Now, just tell us a bit about how the day’s been going.”
Eli still seemed a little shell-shocked by all this, so Itook the lead. “Today’s fundraiser has been one of the best we’ve had. Last I checked, we’ve raised close to twenty thousand dollars and haven’t even closed the silent auction. It’s been a great day, a great cause, and great people.” I looked to my left and, without thinking twice about it, leaned in and kissed Eli.
Yeah… that was definitely going to get some views.
“Is this breaking news?” the reporter asked, her smile beaming as she motioned between us. “Is there love on the ice?”
Eli blinked through his surprise. He was smiling too. Such a handsome smile, his lips glistening from the kiss. “Guess so,” Eli said. His cheeks were firehouse red.
“And this may actually be a first, at least in recent memory. I don’t think two hockey teammates have dated before. How does that make you feel?”
“It makes me feel great,” I answered. “I want people to see us as hockey players, first and foremost, but I also want fans to know that nothing’s changed. That we can be ourselves out on the ice and still kick ass—shit, can I say that on TV?”
“Well, no. You can’t say shit, either,” she said with a laugh. “But this is for a segment during the evening news, so we’ll edit it out.”
“Oh, fuck, okay, good.”
The reporter—Goldie was her name—looked to Eli. He lifted the mic, one of his light brown curls falling through his backward baseball cap. “It makes me feel like there’s always going to be a happy ever after. And I know that sounds a little corny, but it’s true. Even when it seems like the odds are against you, either in a rough hockey game or in life, I think I’ve been reminded that you can still come out a winner.”
There was no hiding now. And that would be okay. If there were more attention on me, then I’d just have to be more careful about concealing my true identity. I’d have to make sure I locked myself in every full moon, and I had to be wary of whenever I chose to shift into my wolf form. I didn’t want some curious onlooker spotting and trailing me, thinking they could get another story or something, only to see me transform into a wolf.
But that was all an extremely small price to pay in order to keep Eli at my side.
The interview wrapped up shortly after. Goldie pulled us both into a warm hug.
“Thank you,” she said, and I realized she was teary-eyed. She dabbed at the corner of her eye. “My son, he’s gay, in high school. And he wants to play hockey professionally but is always asking me if he’d fit in. He’s heard of you, Eli, but now that he has two openly out players to look up to—andthey’re in a relationship—that’s going to make all the world of difference to him.”
My heart warmed at the thought. I’d been so stupid and selfish with this. I’d been thinking it was all about us, about me solidifying things with Eli.
But it went even deeper than that. This news would spread outward and give people hope during a time when a cacophony of loud voices was telling them they were wrong. That they were broken.
