We circle once.Twice.
They stop us at center ice.
“Shoulder to shoulder.Sticks down.Look at the camera.”
Monty plants his stick and stares forward.
I do the same, but my gaze slides to him because I’m an idiot and I can’t help myself.
“Smile, Winthrop,” someone calls from the boards.
I give them what they want.Easy.Charming.Fine.
“Okay,” the photographer says.“Now face each other.Like you’re talking strategy.Make it look intense.”
I turn toward Monty.
He turns toward me.
We’re close enough that I can see the scrape of stubble along his jaw.The set of his mouth.The calm in his eyes that feels like a challenge.
“You’re doing great,” I murmur, soft enough that no one else hears.
His gaze hardens.“Shut up.”
I hum, amused, because provoking him is a compulsion at this point.“You think they’re going to sell merch with your murder face?”
“I don’t care,” he says.
“Give them a little smile, babe.I know you’ve got one buried in there.”
“Don’t fucking start, Winthrop.I swear I’ll break every bone in your body.”
My grin turns feral because my brain is a bad place to live.“You’d have to catch me first.”
His gaze drops—quick, hungry—to my mouth.
My gut reacts before I can stop it.
It’s raw want.Old want.It scares me because it doesn’t feel new—it feels like coming home to something I never packed up.
I drop my voice.“You look tight.When was the last time you got any release?”
“Stop,” he warns, but there’s strain there now, threaded through the command.
I lean in just enough that he can feel me.Not enough for anyone else to clock it.“I could fix that,” I say, like it’s a joke.Like I’m not picturing my mouth between his legs.“Once we’re in the showers, I could take care of you with my tongue.”
His jaw locks.His breath changes.
I know that sound.I made it happen once.
“Last one,” the photographer calls.“Back-to-back.Arms crossed.Look tough.”
Monty skates into place without a word.
I follow, and my back meets his—light contact that detonates anyway.
Warmth through jerseys.Breath trapped under helmets.Every year we tried not to want each other compressed into one narrow point for the cameras.
