“No, no.” I smiled in spite of myself. I still had shit to deal with when it came to my dad, but I really did love my friends and their foot-in-mouth disease. “He’s alive. I slept in.”
“I mean, I’m fucking pissed because we have a really goddamn important practice, but also you needed sleep, so thank fuck. You had an okay night?”
I knocked my temple on the couch as I sat there on my floor and grinned. “It was nice. I had a friend over.”
“You had a guest?” Tucker asked, then choked. “Asexguest?”
“Mm. I’ll tell you all about it later. But, ah…I don’t think I’m going to make practice today. I think I need to go see my dad and take care of some stuff.”
Tucker sighed. “Fiiiiine. But only because I love you, and I like playing favorites.”
“I love you too. I’ll make it up to you.”
“You can make it up to me by promising you’ll eat today,” he said. “And nap when you get a chance. Then eat more. Three meals, Jonah. And two healthy snacks.”
“Chipotle,” I said.
“Fuck you.” He burst into laughter, and I joined him, trailing off in a sigh. “You sound better, bud.”
“Yeah. I feel…” Not better, but something. “It’s getting easier.”
“I know. Call me when you’re done with dad stuff, okay. Maybe we can hang out.”
“Yeah, I—oh. No. I can’t.”
“More sex guest?”
That would have been nice, but… “Ah, no. Vanya’s coming over.”
“Van—oh. Ivan? Maximov?”
I laughed. “Yeah. He’s been bugging me to meet Athena, and he promised to cook me some Russian food. Which sounds maybe terrifying, but I’m curious.”
Tucker groaned. “Alright, alright. Since he’s feeding you, I’ll allow it. But he’s not your sex guest, is he?”
I almost choked on my own tongue. I liked Vanya. He was nice. And he was hot. His accent was cute, and he was sweet and a little overwhelming. But he was not for me. Maybe if I didn’t know Alexio, but I did. And I wasn’t sure anyone could compare to him, which was goddamn tragic.
“Nope. Why?”
“I think Matty has a crush on him, and he would totally not care if you and Maximov were a thing, but he’d get his little feelings hurt about it, and that would make me sad.”
I grimaced. Vanya liked most people, but I wasn’t sure he was into Matty. And as much as Vanya was kind, I wasn’t sure he was the right person for our delicate little winger. “I’m not sure Vanya likes dudes, but maybe I’ll ask. Anyway, I should run.”
“Talk later.” Before Tucker hung up, I heard him shout to the rink, “Alright, boys! One of you gets to play goalie today since Jonah’s out, and there’s not a fucking chance I’m calling Metzger to the ice!”
The line went dead, and I turned my face up toward the ceiling. I wished in that moment Alexio hadn’t cleaned me up. I wished he’d left a little something of himself behind.
I wished I had something other than the memory of him touching me, his tongue in my ass, hand on my cock. I wanted something tangible.
Fuck.
I think I just wantedhim.
The afternoon crawled by, but only because we were finally making progress. Killian had gotten me an appointment with a law office to help with the power of attorney thing, and he gave me all the info about my dad’s neurologists that he could find.
He’d had a couple of appointments, according to the records, and he had been given a prescription for some medication neither Killian nor I could pronounce, but it had never been filled. I was freshly pissed at my mom, but I swallowed it down because my dad was also having a good day, and not only did he remember who I was, but he didn’t seem annoyed that I was there.
Killian drove us to the shops so I could fill his fridge, and then we stopped by Nikos’s restaurant to go over the plan.
