TOBIAS:Why would I want to do that?
RILEY:Told you he’d say no.
JOSH:He didn’t say no. He asked a question. Hope is not lost!
COLE:It would be free publicity for your gym.
TOBIAS:Most of your friends already go to my gym.
COLE:It’s for Abby and Emilio’s family too. Not just our friends.
CARSON:Based on the electricity Tobias would have to spend running the lights and heating on a night the gym is usually closed, it would actually cost him money to host a party.
COLE:Thanks for the assist, Carson. So helpful.
HUNTER:It’s good to have all the facts. Youkeep it up, Car!
GARRETT:Not to mention the liability if anyone gets hurt at the gym while he’s hosting a party. Doesn’t Abby’s sister have a kid?
JOSH:Yeah, he’s six and he’s the coolest. I could show him how to use the equipment!
GARRETT:What could possibly go wrong?
4
CHASE WAS ABSORBED IN yet another gay hockey romance novel while he worked the front desk at Cherrywood Boulders. The Sadenverse’sPuckboysalways cracked him up, and this one was no different. He couldn’t help thinking about the lack of supportive people in his life while reading about firefighters about to descend on a backyard party. He ached for a found family like the ones in his books. He’d had some friends in Pennsylvania, but they’d lost touch thanks to the distance and being absorbed in their own lives and families.
That made his mind wander to his brother. After Chase walked out of his life fourteen years ago, Shawn started calling him this past fall, swearing he’d changed and begging to apologize for how he fucked up their family. Chase reconnected briefly with Shawn at the soccer tournament where he met Tobias back in October,but they hadn’t had the chance to really talk before his game. Chase wasn’t ready to hash everything out, so he left before Shawn could approach him afterward.
Chase tried so hard to protect himself from getting hurt again.
It had been fourteen years, but he’d never forgotten his brother’s words from that day.
Disgusting.
Wrong.
Immoral.
He was stronger now. Smarter. Tougher. No thanks to his big brother.
This morning, he’d received more texts from his brother begging for a chance to explain himself and apologize.
Before Chase and his mom moved out, his parents had been fighting for years. His dad became more and more extreme in his conservative views, while their mom was doing the opposite. His dad’s brother, Aaron, came out as gay when Chase was ten, and his dad did everything he could to keep Chase and Shawn away from him. Chase wasn’t even sure where Aaron was at this point. He’d tried to search for him online over the years, but had no luck.
That didn’t stop him from accepting his own sexuality, but he kept it hidden from everyone. He even kept it from his mom so he didn’t make his parents’ relationship harder than it was. Unfortunately, Shawn seemed to listen to everything his dad said about the LGBTQ+ community and started spouting the same shit.
The day Shawn found out about him was the worst day of his life.
He’d met Cole Durbin at a goalkeeper training and it wasn’t long before they realized they were both gay, although now Cole identified as bi. They’d started hooking up secretly, since Cole was also in the closet. Cole was his first, and they had lots of fun together, but it was clear they weren’t compatible for the long term. Instead, they helped each other discover what each of them liked.
Unfortunately, Shawn had walked in on them in the middle of one of those discoveries. He was supposed to be gone for the weekend, but he’d come home early. Chase would never forget the awful things Shawn spewed from his mouth. To make matters worse, Shawn outed him to their parents.
The next week, Chase and his mom moved out, and they never regretted it.
He’d probably drafted twenty messages before he settled on one. His brain screamed at him to be careful, but the little kid in him, his heart, wanted to see his big brother again. Especially since Christmas was this week and he was feeling extra sentimental.
CHASE:We can get a coffee sometime. Just to talk.
