Perfection.
Jacob booted up the Switch, the screen’s glow soft in the dark room. He loaded a quick round ofAnimal Crossingthis time: nothing too intense, just watering flowers and paying off his virtual mortgage. The familiar chimes and pixel art soothed the edges of his buzz, but his mind wandered anyway.
Tane was seventeen years older.Seventeen.
When Tane had been drafted, Jacob was still in diapers.
When Tane lifted his first MVP, Jacob was learning to skate on a frozen pond in his backyard.
The age gap should have been weird… and Jacob knew that people whispered about it in rival locker-rooms and probably even in their own locker room too. But lying there, Tane’s steady heartbeat thumping against his spine, the weight of that arm holding him secure… it wasn’t weird. It wasright.
Tane got him—saw through the cocky rookie flash to the boy who needed structure, needed care.
And Jacob? He kept Tane young, kept him fighting, kept the fire lit in those soulful brown eyes.
It just worked.
Jacob smiled as he moved his character around its own little world. The virtual flowers were watered. The mortgageticked down a few bells. Jacob felt his eyelids grow heavy, the controller loosening in his grip.
He turned off the Switch with a soft click, setting it on the nightstand.
The room plunged into true darkness, broken only slightly by the glow on Tane’s small reading light.
Tane’s voice rumbled against his ear, deep, content. “Good boy.”
Jacob smiled into the pillow, nestling deeper into the crook of Tane’s body. Warmth spread through him. Not just from the blankets or the man spooning him, but from somewhere softer, fuzzier inside. He felt safe. The kind of peace that let the world’s chaos… the Cardini family, the playoffs, injury and performance worries… fade to static.
With this in his life, Jacob could achieve anything.
Cup?Check.
Legacy?Building it.
Tane’s heart?Already his.
Jacob drifted off, dreaming of red lights flashing and banners raised high.
Chapter 29
Tane
One by one the playoff opponents fell until the final series against the Lynxes loomed. It was big. The Lynxes were a legacy team with a proud history, that was for sure. Tane didn’t need reminding of the fact that the Lynxes were also historically one of the teams that the Enforcers struggled with.
That said, confidence within the squad was high. With Connor and Alex holding court with all their experience and on field attributes, and Jacob bringing his youthful flair and zeal to the ice, things were looking good for another iconic Enforcers triumph.
But for Tane, things still weren’t clicking into place on the ice – and it was becoming an issue that just wouldn’t go away either.
Even as the Lynxes games for the title moved toward an inevitable decider, Tane still wasn’t feeling himself. Tane was wondering more and more whether the decision to stay on for an extra two seasons had been the right move for him.
After all, he had initially decided to make this his final season for a reason.
As Tane paced up and down his office, he couldn’t help but ponder whether it might have been better to stick to the initial plan and bow out this season. The last thing that Tane wanted to do was see his legacy in any way tarnished by struggling on past his best. That wasn’t how Tane wanted to be remembered by the fansat all.
“Tane? Are you in the office?” Jacob asked, his voice coming from the bathroom having just finished showering. “Do you want to come and dry me?”
Tane smiled. But his heart wasn’t in it.
As much as Tane loved Jacob and usually found the prospect of drying off his boy’s beautiful body irresistible, the stresses of what was happening on the ice were too off-putting.
