Unfortunately, Shane didn’t miss Tobias’ collision with the wall and narrowed his eyes in Tobias’ direction.
“What’s going on?”
Tobias did a quick glance around the gym before focusing on Shane. Coach Tucker had already left the ice, and they now had the rink to themselves.
Shane drew closer to Tobias, both of them leaningagainst the board in front of the team’s home bench, a company logo plastered on the wall beneath them.
“I, uh, I’m seeing someone, I think,” Tobias explained.
Shane blinked at him questioningly, and Tobias understood his confusion when he responded.
“Seeing someone, like a ghost?” he said as he leaned forward to whisper, his eyes wide. “Can you see them right now?”
Fucking goalies.
Tobias sighed.
“You know how I told you I thought about coming out before, but I was terrified of exposing my niece to the media?”
“Yeah, I remember,” Shane said.
“Well, uh, I hired this new yoga instructor at my gym,” he started, but Shane interrupted.
“A yoga instructor? Hot.”
Tobias had forgotten it could take time to explain things to Shane. He was easily distracted.
“Yeah, um, he’s really hot, and I started seeing him outside of the gym. Like, in a ‘not safe for work’ way.”
“Ohhh,thatkind of seeing someone,” Shane giggled. “Dude, that’s awesome! You need to keep him around. He’s totally your good luck charm.”
Tobias tensed before he answered. “Well, that’s the thing. I’m not really sure if he’s interested in stickingaround. I mean, he’s great with Madison and he’s amazing at his job, but I have no idea how he feels about it all.”
“He’s met Madison already?” Shane asked, surprise in his face.
“Yeah, but not because of me. He teaches kids’ classes at this rock climbing gym in Cherrywood, Cherrywood Boulders, and he met Madison there.”
“Have they interacted outside of the rock climbing gym?”
Tobias’ face heated as he thought about their Valentine’s Day date with Madison, followed by one of the most amazing nights of his life.
“We took Madison to Otherworld in Philly for Valentine’s Day, and then we all cooked breakfast together the next day.”
Shane gaped at him.
“Dude. He’s already slept over? A guy would not do that if he wasn’t interested in something more than a hookup.”
Tobias couldn’t help smiling.
“Really? You think so?”
Shane stared at him and then put one of his gloved hands on Tobias’ shoulder.
“Anyone who can put that smile on Tobias Moyer’s face is worth fighting for, that’s for damn sure,” Shane said. “But there’s always one surefire way you can figurethings out.”
“How?”
“You could do this brand new thing. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of it, but it’s all the rage these days,” Shane said as Tobias leaned in, impatiently awaiting the secret about to be shared. “You could fucking talk to him about it.”
