Page 127 of Ethan

Charlie barked out a laugh. “You’re telling me.”

“When’s he getting here?” Ethan asked. “By lunchtime? They didn’t have to fly him in from Europe.”

“Nobody’s sure,” Max said, which was kind of crazy because if anyone should know, it was going to be Max. “Silas said he’d let me know when he knew more. I just know Inverness sent the jet to pick him up, and he’d be here sometime today.”

“Where’s he staying?”

“He’s not going to a hotel. I told Silas and Inverness we’d figure it out between us. We have the room, just not a bed, but—”

It surprised Ethan, but Hank reached over and squeezed his knee before he spoke up. “He can stay with Max—or I guess with Barney if he wants? Ethan and I can share.”

“Oh, out of the selflessness of your heart, I’m sure,” Charlie muttered and Hank turned red.

“That’s a great idea,” Ethan said. He leaned against Hank’s shoulder. “I can finally get rid of Hank pillow.”

“Wait, what, do Iwantto know about this?” Charlie demanded.

“Oh, get your mind out of the gutter,” Ethan said. “It’s just a pillow. No big deal.”

“That would fix the problem of the beds,” Max said slowly. “Barney, do you think he’d feel more comfortable with you? Or would it be easier if he stayed with me?”

“Probably me, if Ethan doesn’t mind moving some of his stuff upstairs to your place,” Charlie said, shooting Ethan a look.

“Already done,” Ethan said cheerfully. “Max isn’t as paranoid about every speck of dust.”

Charlie rolled his eyes. “Okay, so that’s settled.”

Max paused between eggs he was cracking into a bowl. “Now onto the next important subject—Eth, you saw they traded Nathan?”

“Yeah,” Ethan said, making a face. “Sorry, Max. I know you liked him a lot. Played with him since you were drafted, yeah?”

Max nodded. “But Barney and I both think—”

Ethan’s only excuse for why he hadn’t seen this coming from the moment Charlie had told him that Nathan had been traded was because he’d been understandably distracted by the fact that it wasalsoAvery.

“Shit, not you too,” Ethan said to Max.

Max gave a little apologetic shrug. “You should be on my line. You should’ve been on my line for awhile now. Barney told me not to interfere, so I haven’t, but . . . you score goals, Eth.”

“I can score goals where I’m at,” Ethan argued. He didn’t have the greatest stats, sure, but he’d spent half the season on the fourth line, making it up to the third line only a month ago. He’d not been getting as much playing time. No power play time—Silas only had him transitioning to the second team in the last few weeks, and honestly, the second power play team didn’t get much action, because the first was so good.

“Hard to score goals when you’re getting pushed around,” Hank added quietly.

“I don’t want anyone to think I needprotection,” Ethan retorted. “I’m the biggest one of us three. I don’t want to be coddled or given special treatment.”

Charlie made a face. “Can’t you just argue about this without bringing our heights into it?”

Ethan saw Max smother a chuckle as he turned back towards the bowl of cracked eggs.

“If you’re gonna be a dick about this, then I gotta be a dick about it, too,” Ethan insisted.

“We’veletyou be stubborn,” Charlie said. “Why would playing on Max’s line be so bad? You’d be a great winger. And getting more experience there, that makes you even more valuable as a player, because you can do both.”

That was true. Except nobody was lining up to make Charlie a winger. Max, either.

“Oh, you’veletme, like you make all the decisions on this team,” Ethan retorted.

“Come on. Si has talked a few times about moving you. And now he’s got a perfect opportunity to do it. If I talk to him—”