“Yeah, okay.” He doesn’t seem bothered, and I wonder if that’s some kind of red flag. “I don’t look at her that way, so you don’t have to worry about me. You’ve got a pretty girlfriend, but I have this off switch when I know people are taken. I don’t mess with that.”
“I didn’t think you would. But still,” I reply awkwardly. “Like I said, things are weird between us, and I don’t know how to handle it. She’s decided we’re in a rut and should fulfill fantasies.”
Grady scratches his mega-beard. “And she thinks your fantasy is her and… another guy?”
When he says that, a jolt of white hot desire shoots down my spine and makes my balls tingle. I shift in my seat and reach for the AC button, punching it on even though it’s a balmy seventy-one degrees outside. “I mean, she thinks that. I guess. Because we talk about everything, and I told her about… Osborne and Pattison once told me about the time when they were rookies and Pattison brought home this girl, and after a few drinks and time in the hot tub, the three of them showered together. Her suggestion. And they like… I don’t need to get into the details, but they ended up all doing it. And they loved it, and she loved it.”
Grady doesn’t look as shocked by this as I think he should when I glance over at a red light before turning right onto Cascade Road, where the practice facility is located. He cocks his head to me and kind of nods, but I can’t see his eyes because of the sunglasses. His thick, copperish eyebrows aren’t raised, though. “Did they tell you they did stuff with each other, not just touching the girl?”
“I mean… I think Osborne mentioned it. He’s a talker when he drinks,” Grady says. “I also know he hooked up with two girls. Best friends, he said, last summer, so I guess he’s all about the group sex.”
“Yeah. He told me that story, too.” I swallow, but my throat feels like it’s coated in dust, so I reach for the smoothie I put in the cup holder and suck hard on the straw. “I don’t tell the locker room stories. And I don’t have the wild sex… I mean, Angie and I… we’ve had our moments, but like… I just… I mean, this feels like a red flag, relationship-wise, at this point. Shouldn’t we be talking marriage and kids, not three-ways?”
I don’t know why I’m asking for validation on this. I know I’m right. At least for me. But I’m still relieved when Grady’s head bobs in agreement. “Yeah. I mean, you guys have been together a decade, I can see how it’s natural to want to be settling down. But it’s not mandatory, you know? Some people don’t want kids or marriage. Some don’t want monogamy but still want a life partner. There’s no one way to be in a happy relationship. Happy is the key, though.”
I nod. Grady is staring at me like I should say something, but I don’t know what. He gives me a hint. “Are you happy?”
“I’m not unhappy.” Bad answer, I know, but it’s honest. “I think we can be happy again once we find some stability.”
Grady seems to mull that over. He chews the tip of his thumb as his elbow rests on the ledge by the closed passenger window, and then he blurts out, “I haven’t had a threesome since entering the league, and if I ever did it again, it would have to be with people I know well who I could trust. People who are in it for the fun and pleasure and know they won’t regret it afterward.”
“Yeah. That makes sense.” I can see the practice facility up on the left. A squat gray building with the Riptide logo—an angry-looking wave—on the side. “Wait. What? You… you had a threesome before joining the league? Like when you were a kid?”
Grady, like every Garrison offspring, went straight from high school to the draft when he was eighteen. When I turn my head to look at him, he’s shoved his sunglasses up into his red hair, and his hazel eyes, which are mostly made up of flecks of green and amber, are staring right at me. His wide mouth is set in a small, bemused smile. “The month before I started my first NHL training camp.”
“What… what kind of… I mean… never mind.” Now I’m as invasive as Angela, and I hate myself for it.
I pull into the parking lot and ease the truck into the first empty stall, even though it’s the farthest from the entrance.
“My girlfriend at the time and a friend of hers,” he clarifies, and for some reason, I feel a bit let down. Disappointed? What the hell is wrong with me? When I glance at him again, his smile is broader. “A male friend of hers.”
Grady gets out of the truck and closes the door before I can pick my jaw up off the seat.
Chapter 6
Grady
I’ve never told anyone except Harlow about that threesome, and that was because she accidentally walked in on me and a date a couple of summers ago. It’s weird how someone in my family finding out who I am was both terrifying and a relief. And now, telling Landon this little piece of my history, while it’s not everything, it still deepens that sense of relief I felt with Harlow, only this time it comes with no fear because it was my choice to tell Landon. Harlow stumbling into a room while I had my tongue in a guy’s mouth and he had his hand in my pants was not a choice I made.
I get to the door of the arena first, so I hold it open for Landon, who still looks shell-shocked. He looks the way I felt when I heard Angela say he was curious about three ways with a guy. My dick wasn’t shocked, though, it was full-on thrilled, and now I subtly adjust it after Landon passes through the door. I was instantly turned on and fought a hard-on the entire drive.
I step up beside him as he smiles at the security guard just inside. “Hey. We’re?—”
“Landon Casco and Grady Garrison.” The security guard is about my age and almost as tall, I realize, when he stands. “Welcome, guys, and congrats on your Cup last season. Hope you bring that mojo this way.”
He opens an envelope on the small table beside his chair and hands us each a pass on a lanyard. “These will open all the private areas like the weight room, dressing room, staff parking, and the locker room. We’ve had some problems with over-enthusiastic fans, so we’re extra cautious these days.”
“Well, Maine has wanted a hockey team to call their own for a while.” I smile.
“And now we’ve got another homegrown prince of the ice and this Super-Man.” He nods towards Landon. “Not many people come back from cancer to win a Cup, man. That’s magic.”
Landon’s smile is tight, but I don’t think anyone else would know that except me. I have studied all the various versions of his smiles. “I’ve been blessed.”
“The coach said to report to his office. End of the hall, take the elevator down a floor. It’s just before the locker rooms, across from the gym.” The security guard’s name tag says Jim, so I thank Jim by name, and Landon does too, then we continue past him down the hall.
We pass another security guard who seems to be on a walking patrol. His gaze goes straight to our lanyards, and then he gives us a nod and continues on. Landon and I don’t speak until we’re in the elevator. “I’ve heard good things about Coach Larue,” I say because the silence feels heavier in the small confines of the metal box. “Conner loves playing for him.”
“Conner is married to his daughter.”
