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He’d go to the rink and skate his ass off and be completely nonchalant about the whole Mike thing when he saw Jed. In fact, he’d make sure to chirp Jed some to prove that he was completely cool about everything and wasn’t going to have any problem hanging out and being friends.

And the next time Petey and Jake went out, he’d go with them. Maybe it would be fun. There was a first time for everything, right?

New year, new team, new Remy.

Or something like that.

CHAPTER TEN

JED

By the time Jed got to the arena for the game against New York, he’d spent two long days telling himself that it was for the best if Remy never said much more than “Hey” to him again. That’s all he’d gotten from Remy at morning skate, along with a half-hearted smile, and he wasn’t dwelling on it.

He’d maybe cleaned out his kitchen cupboards about it instead of taking a nap, but at least he was back in the right headspace to play. The kind of headspace where it felt like there was an invisible and impenetrable shield in front of his net, and no one was going to get through until after this game.

Holding on to that image worked for a while. During the first period, Jed’s glove was a magnet for the puck, and the Blizzards’ offense was on point. Hal scored early. Even better, as far as Jed was concerned, Remy set Moreau up for a beauty of a breakaway that ended with the Blizzards getting a second goal only seven minutes after the first.

New York came out hard in the second period, though, and the Blizzards’ luck turned. Bakesy got sent to the box on a bad penalty call, and New York took the opportunity to even things up. Then New York almost got ahead when Remy was in the wrong place at the wrong time for a rebound, which bounced off his skate and Jed only narrowly deflected. Jed tried to give Remy a reassuring look as he waved off Remy’s apology, but it felt a lot like Remy’s first game with the Blizzards all over again.

The final blow came in the third period when Moreau got hooked and went down at a weird angle. After Moreau limped off the ice to get his ankle checked out, the Blizzards lost whatever momentum they still had. New York scored twice more and effectively silenced the Blizzards’ offense, and they ended with another loss at home.

“Not our night tonight, boys,” was all Hal had to say about it after the game. “But we’ll all get some sleep and come back ready to show Dallas who we are tomorrow, right?”

The rest of the team was dead silent. An ugly loss wasn’t the way anyone wanted to kick off an eight-day home stand. Even Moreau was grumpy, muttering to anyone who’d listen that nothing was wrong with his ankle and they should’ve left him in the game.

“Sure, champ.” McBride reached over and ruffled Moreau’s damp hair. “You would’ve won it for us, no doubt. Let’s get you home so you can ice it just to be safe, okay?”

“I’m fine,” Moreau insisted. But he accepted a hand up from McBride and followed him out the door without any more complaints.

Remy looked a bit wistful watching them leave, and Jed wondered if he was missing Mike. Moreau and McBride might be just friends, but Moreau wasn’t going home by himself that night. McBride would put up with his grumbling and get him laughing again with some stupid jokes and maybe a beer. Jed might prefer to go home to process the game and unwind by himself—even if something was whispering do you, though? in his head tonight—but in his experience, most people weren’t built that way.

Jed was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice Hal approaching until Hal dropped his hand hard on Remy’s shoulder, making Remy jump.

“Tough loss tonight,” Hal said.

“Yeah,” Remy mumbled.

“Good effort, though, especially in the first period.”

“Thanks.” Remy’s tone lacked conviction.

“And hey, why aren’t you heading out with Moreau and McBride? I thought they were putting you up.”

“Their guest room isn’t free yet. It’s fine, though. The hotel’s good.” Remy was a terrible liar. Hal flicked a glance at Jed and nodded decisively like he’d figured out the solution to something that was troubling him.

“Jedediah.”

“Halversson.”

“You have a guest room.”

Shit. Jed knew exactly where this was going. He also suspected that Remy wanted nothing less than to move in with his ex-boyfriend’s ex-hookup. But Remy sure as hell wasn’t going to say that to Hal, so if Jed invited him to stay, Remy’d have to say yes. Jed didn’t know how to get them out of it other than to play along so Hal would go away. They’d figure something out, and he could explain to Hal later.

“I do have a guest room, Cap.” Jed risked a look in Remy’s direction. Remy was chewing on his lower lip and staring somewhere over Hal’s shoulder, which had to mean that he was uncomfortable. It was hard to believe that Hal—whose emotional intelligence was off the charts—couldn’t see that.

But Hal just raised his eyebrows at Jed expectantly, so Jed turned toward Remy and said, “You’re welcome to stay with me.”

“Great idea.” Hal clapped Remy’s shoulder again before Remy could respond. “What do you say, Lads? I’d offer to put you up, but I’ve been told that no one in their right mind wants to live with four children under the age of twelve.”