Page 21 of Ethan

“Don’t ever call me that again,” Ethan said, but he was smiling.

“Baby bro it is,” Dom retorted fondly.

“Ugh,” Ethan complained.

“What do your guys at Portland call you?” Max asked.

Ethan raised an eyebrow, met Hank’s eyes for a second, a mischievous look in his eyes and then turned to the rest of the table. “What do my teammates call me? Scorer of goals? Future Selke winner? Or, sometimes, when I’m really fucking slaying, The GOAT.”

Charlie groaned loudly. “You’re such a fucker.”

But everyone else was laughing. Even Hank. Even if it hadn’t even been all that funny. It was more than the bad joke that Max had inadvertently teed up. It was the way Ethan’s whole face had lit up before he’d done it. The twinkle in his eyes. The way he’d met Hank’s eyes right before he did it, like he wasinon the joke.

“Honestly,” Max retorted fondly.

“Eth, I guess, or Ethan.” Ethan shot a pointed glance over at Charlie. “This one’s always been Barney. I wouldn’t take that from him.”

“Like you could,” Charlie said.

“I’m taller than you now,” Ethan said and the whole table froze. Everyone here knew that one of Charlie’s tender spots was his height. On the official roster, he was listed as six feet, but it was honestly more like 5’11”. Maybe even 5’10”.

But Ethan? Oh, he was definitely six feet.

“Oh, you’re such a little shit,” Charlie said after a single beat, his face making a half grimace, half smile. Like evenhecouldn’t be mad about that, not really.

And Hank was beginning to see that was a little bit of Ethan’s magic. He was magnetic. Charming, in an easy way that made you want to join the joke.

That was the reason Hank was so captivated, he told himself. He’d neverwantedto join the joke before. Always been too focused on hockey. On the next step, and the next step, and thenext. What he had to do to get there. All those expectations—others, sure, but mostly his own—pushing him forward.

“Not so little though,” Ethan teased.

Charlie shot him a faux-glare, and the whole group was laughing again.

An hour later, the group was breaking up, ready to head back to their condos and apartments and hotel rooms to get ready for the next day of work.

Hank was surprised to find Charlie next to him. “Hey,” Charlie said, all deceptively casual. Unlike his brother, there wasnothingcasual about Charlie Barnes. It was so obvious to Hank that Charlie’s surface-level affability hid an intense inner drive. Why? Because Hank had that same one, he just didn’t mask it nearly as well as Charlie did.

“Hey,” Hank said back.

Charlie had done the bare minimum the last few years, when Hank had been up with the Bandits. Not unfriendly, but not exactly friendly either. Like he’d told Ethan earlier, Hank hadn’t exactly been welcomed into Charlie’s clique of two. Which was why he was a little surprised Charlie was approaching him now.

“That was a good night,” Charlie said, still easy. But there was an intensity about him that was just unmistakable. Like he was vibrating inside, on a level that nobody else could see.

“Yeah,” Hank agreed. He should say something else. Charlie was the kind of person whose friendship heshouldbe cultivating. If Hank got the call-up he wanted and expected, then Charliewouldbe on the team, unlike Ethan, who, best-case scenario, wouldn’t be joining the Bandits until the following season.

“You and Ethan seem like you became fast friends.”

Hank told himself not to freak out. Charlie wasn’t here to interrogate him about Ethan—or to tell him to stay away from him. He was just making friendly conversation. Something Hank should be making an effort at, too.

“He’s a cool kid,” Hank said and then immediately winced. Ethan was nineteen;nota kid.

Charlie raised an eyebrow. “And he thinksIbaby him.”

“I’m not—I just—” Hank quit while he was still ahead. Though he wasn’t sure that was actually true. Uncomfortably aware that he was probably turning bright,brightred.

“Dude, bud, Barney, are you making Tuck squirm?” Danny showed up then, slinging an arm around Charlie’s shoulders. “That’s not very chill of you. Not when he’s been cuddling up so nice to the baby bro.”

“You’re annoying,” Charlie said, shucking Danny off him, but Danny wasn’t deterred. Which was pretty much par for the course for Danny.