Page 57 of Bonus Game
Evans reacted in the most predictable way, choking on his pasta in his haste to swallow it so he could curse at him, but Allen cut him off.
“Finger down, Kingston.”
Kingston blinked and stared at Allen, noting the way his eyes were watching the TV, and there was no way for him to see what was going on behind his back.
Was the guy a witch? Physic?
Kingston lowered his finger and brought his hand back to his plate, wondering what kind of spell Allen had cast over him.
“Ottawa Conclaves need defence,” Jake said randomly. “Su-jin Park’s talent is wasted on that team.”
He wasn’t wrong.
“Oh mygod!” Allen leaned forward and smacked his plate down on the glass surface of the coffee table. All the blankets and Kingston’s hoodie were thrown off as he stood and went to Evans. “Riley, you made it to the NHL! Holy shit!”
The threesome was the biggest group of airheads Kingston had ever seen.
He watched with furrowed brows as Evans fought to keep his food from spilling as Allen threw himself onto his lap. He wasn’t trying to read into it, he really wasn’t. But goddamn, they were cozy with each other.
“Not gonna lie, I’m still in shock,” said Evans. He handed his plate to Jake, who set it down out of the way for him. Then, much to Kingston’s amusement, Evans swung his arms around the smaller man and embraced him, tucking Allen’s head under his chin. “You guys will come to the arena and watch my home games, right?”
Jake touched Evans on the head, like he was calming a nervous pup. “Home games and away games. We have enough time to get Allen a passport.”
Feeling a little left out, Kingston scoffed.
“Where’s my hug? Aren’t you guys going to watch me, too?”
He was baiting them because that’s what he did best, but that’s why he was shocked when Jake reached out and placed his hand on Kingston’s head, the length of his arm easily crossing the space between them.
“Good job.”
Warmth. Warmth spread through him all the way to his toes.
His silence prompted Jake to finally lift his chin and meet his eyes, and Kingston found himself ensnared by the dark brown of his irises.
“You don’t…have people?” Jake asked, then paused to reword his sentence while Kingston let him take his time. “Family to call and celebrate with?”
He would call his aunt later, once it was a little later in Edmonton—he didn’t want to bother her when they were four hours behind them, and she was likely making lunch for his cousin. But other than her, he had no one.
“Not this second,” Kingston admitted. “Four-hour time difference.”
Jake nodded, finding the explanation agreeable.
Allen returned to his spot, and Kingston didn’t miss how he picked his hoodie back up and wrapped it around himself.
Hell, that made him feel warm for some reason, too.
“Do you guys want to celebrate by doing something?” Allen asked, and Kingston flinched when thoughts of fucking Allen over Jake’s lap crashed into him with the force of a bullet train.
What thefuck.
“You mean like, going out to eat or something?” Evans asked, leaning around the other two to shoot a look at Kingston.
“We are eating,” Jake said.
Allen held a hand over his mouth to hide his laugh and then said, “No, more like—I don’t know. Dancing? Laser tag? What do you puckheads do when you want to celebrate? And don’t youdaresay you want to go to the rink. I’m not getting dressed only so I can sit and freeze my ass off while you guys chase each other around on the ice.”
Jake shrugged. “Then put your skates on and join us. We can have two on two.”
