He and Cody had been my everything for the past two years, and I thanked the Hockey Gods every day for their friendship.
That’s why I couldn’t tell them my secret. When things got really bad at home, I’d close my eyes and think of Theo—the two of us skating side-by-side, making some sort of awesome play, then feeling his arm wrap around me. Theo was a touchy guy, and I lived for the moments when he’d pull me in and just hold me. We always acted like a couple of bros palling aroundtogether, but it was more than that for me.
So much more.
We rolled up to Rowan’s palace and hopped out of the car. The level of wealth that some of my teammates came from was shocking to me. Who needed the NHL when your parents owned a home that rivaled some pro athletes’?
The music pummeled my eardrums the minute we entered.
A shirtless Rowan ran over with a plastic red cup in each hand. “What’s up, you chodes!”
“‘Sup, fucker?” Theo replied. “One of those for me?” he asked.
“Hello, no! These are mine.” Rowan pounded one drink after another before throwing them both in a potted plant sitting beside the door. “Juice in the kitchen, fags. Go get some.”
My jaw clenched. I hated the F-word.
Louie, Mom’s latest shithead, called me that constantly. I couldn’t stand that some guys on the team said it, too. Who the fuck did they think they were? It’s not like it was the nineties for Christ’s sake.
Whatever. Just chill. Asher.
I grabbed a cup and drank the most disgusting liquid of my life. Being rich didn’t mean Rowan knew how to make a punch that didn’t taste like death in a bowl.
With my throat burning and my eyes watering, I took another sip, hoping I’d get used to it soon.
* * *
I got used to it, alright. I was fucking trashed. The entire partywas. Even Cody was dancing. Had he gotten drunk, too? He and Rafael suddenly looked super chummy—like,really chummy.It made me wonder what the hell was happening with those two.
Am I not the only gay one on the team?
I ambled about the kitchen, looking through the cabinets for a cup not coated in booze. The alcohol was coursing through my veins, and if I didn’t get some water in my system soon, I’d end up puking my guts out all over Rowan’s floor.
“You’re coming with me, Red!”
One moment, I was minding my own business in the kitchen, rummaging through the cabinets for a clean glass, and the next, I was over Theo’s hefty shoulder. For the second time that night!
“What the fuuuuuck?” I slurred out.
Theo was completely naked, which I didn’t hate but definitely didn’t need at that moment. My will was weak, and the globes of his muscular ass looked good enough to bite as he walked me to wherever the hell he was taking me. I kind of had to focus on his ass because the tiles that comprised Rowan’s patio had a pattern that made me queasy.
I was so drunk, I didn’t even have the wherewithal to fight back. I just hung over his shoulder like a damsel in distress as he kidnapped me.
I didn’t hatethatfeeling either.
Theo was so strong. He slung me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing. The thought of Theo dressed in some kind of knight’s regalia, taking me to a dark corner of a forest to ravish me, made my cock stiffen.
Fuck.
What happened to whisky dick? Why did my entirebody feel like Jell-O except for the one appendage that could get me into the most trouble?
I didn’t have time to worry about it, though, because Theo threw me into the Jacuzzi. The hot water shocked me out of my boner distress. My head emerged from the bubbles to find two of the most popular girls in school, sitting on the ledge of the Jacuzzi in nothing but their bras and panties as they cackled at my soaking state.
A moment later, a Theo-induced tidal wave consumed me.
“Get naked and make out with one of them, fucker!”
Theo’s body glistened as droplets of water, illuminated by the fairy lights hanging above, highlighted his muscular form. He had a smile as big as the crescent moon hanging above, and his brown eyes twinkled with mischief.
