I think about what it would be like to hear my dad’s voice again. Would he sound the same as I remember? What would it be like toseehim? Do I even want that?
“Will you make the call with me?” I ask.
“Vox, I’ll have your back anywhere, anytime, through anything. As your coachandas your boyfriend.” The light in Connor’s eyes is blinding as he uses the last term, and his smile matches, easing the ache in my chest to a manageable throb.
I half-turn, half-roll onto Connor, careful I don’t slip and go tumbling down the mountain as I straddle his legs on the boulder, pressing my hips into him.
“You’ve been mine since the second you walked into Meltdown your first night here…you just didn’t know it. But I’ve been yours a lot longer, and I’ve knownthatsince I was fourteen.”
“You’re an incredible man, Vox Montgomery. It’s the honor of my life to call youmine,” Connor says all formally and shit.
“What if I want you to call meDaddy?” The only reason I manage to keep a straight face is because I’m cracking my molars from biting down so hard.
“You’ll be waiting a long time,” he deadpans, finally making me burst into laughter despite the heaviness of the conversation we just had.
“Besides, if one of us is going to beDaddy—ugh,fucking gag me—it would obviously be me,” Connor says, clearly against his will.
“YOU?” I shriek loud enough to send my echo skittering around the mountain range. “Why you?”
“Because I’m burlier, I’m older, and my pecs are bigger.”
“Since when are ginormous pecs a prerequisite for being called Daddy?”
“It’s always been a prerequisite; everyone knows that. Besides, you’re so good at being a brat, it just makes sense that I’d flip you over my knee and tear your ass up.”
I grind my cock into his thigh as I put my lips to his ear. “You can tear this ass up anytime you want. In fact, I wish you’d do it as soon as we get down this mountain.”
A shiver wracks his body.
“Not to be a total buzzkill,” he starts. “But when we get down this mountain, we have things we need to handle.”
I drop my head onto his shoulder.
“You really think I should call him?”
“I do,” he confirms.
“Well, let me do it now, before I lose the nerve,” I say suddenly, pulling off my gloves, reaching for my phone. I don’t think I was aware that this was my plan until the words flew from my lips, but there’s no time like the present. Plus, I know I still have privacy up here. As the Winter Classic looms closer, more and more people are stopping me and the other athletes for pictures, autographs, and interviews. I’ve even had other resort workers stopping by to say hello and wish me luck.
Instead of trying to get me to slow down or think it through, Connor just sits silently, one hand on my thigh, one still clutching the bottle of bourbon.
I pull my phone out of my pocket, hoping it works in this temperature and location. I grab the bourbon, and Connor doesn’t stop me when I take another gulp. After typing in the number, it rings twice on speakerphone before I hear my dad’s voice for the first time since I was six years old.
“Hello?” He repeats himself when I’m too stunned to speak. “Hello?”
I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I can’t find my voice.
Leaning forward into the phone, Connor answers for me.
“Uh, hey, Turner. This is Connor Lang.”
“Connor, hello. I take it Vox wasn’t interested in speaking with me?”
I can hear the brokenness, the disappointment, thesadnessin his tone, and it jolts me into action.
“Um, no, I mean, hi…Dad.”
“Vox, son, is that you?” His voice cracks, giving away his tears, and suddenly I’m back to fighting my own.
