“I’m pretty easy as long as it’s at least PG 13.”He didn’t mind watching the kids’s movies with them, but he didn’t want to do it when he didn’t have to.
“No cartoons?”Ian went wide-eyed, fluttering his lashes.
He chuckled.“If I had something to chuck at you, I would.No, no cartoons, butthead.”
“Hrm…musical?Explosions?Porn?Period drama?”
“Period drama?”He snorted.“Please, just no.Explosions work.Superheroes.Action.Something fun.”
“Cool.Let’s see what we can find.I haven’t watched a movie with you in years.”
“I know.I’ve missed watching with you.”He’d spent most evenings he wasn’t playing watching movies.He hadn’t been interested in going out and partying or drinking.He’d been focused on the game.
Ian blinked at him.“Really?You had tons of better options.”
He frowned.“I had what?”
“Better options — all the things in Florida?Great places to see movies.No boring husbands with babies.Friends?”Ian shrugged a little.”
He shrugged.“I focused on playing.You know skill drills, working out, getting enough sleep.I wasn’t part of the party crowd.”And it had paid off.He’d been at the top of his fucking game when he’d been injured.
“I know.I’m so sorry.I hate this for you.”
“Yeah.It sucks.I was on my way to being up there with Howe, Lafleur and Ovechkin.”He bit back a long sigh.
Ian nodded, eyes on the mattress before him.
“Come on.Let’s find a movie.”This was supposed to be something different and fun, so he didn’t sit here and throw himself yet another pity party.
“Sure.”Ian flipped through the streaming channels.“I promise to do everything I can to help you get back to the ice.”
He snorted.“Have you seen my leg, Chou?Doc says it’ll never happen.I want to prove him wrong, but…” He shrugged.On his good days he figured it was possible, that he could make it happen through sheer will.Other days… well, they were different.
“Well, if that’s what you need, then that’s what we’ll manage.”Ian offered him a quiet smile, then turned back to the television.“How about this one?It has that guy from Reacher.He’s not bad.”
“Sure.He’s a stud.A much better Reacher than Tom Cruise’s version.”
“Yeah.”Ian put the movie on and dimmed the lights before settling on the end of the bed.“Holler if you need me to pause it.”
He countered that with, “Poke me if I start snoring.”
“Fair enough.”
He didn’t make it through the movie, but when he woke up for a second in the middle of the night, he was well-padded, covered up, with his pills where he could reach them.
It felt good, knowing that Ian cared for him.
It felt like being home.
ChapterEight
Ian focused on the kids.
He had to, because if he thought about JP for any length of time, he’d just end up heartbroken again.
JP would never love Ian as much as he loved hockey.It wasn’t fair to ask him for that.
Ian had a home and two children.That was going to have to be enough.
