Page 76 of Ethan

Hankhadresponded to Ethan’s selfie.

hot. kind of unfair, don’t you think?

What Ethan thought was that it was totally fucking unfair that Hank had chosenthismoment to say something even borderline sexy.

just fair enough,Ethan responded, because as far as he was concerned, it was. He’d been making do with Hank’s not-sexy selfies for eleven days now, when he wanted so much more. When he wanted itall. And maybe they couldn’t have that, not yet anyway, but at least he could havesomething.

ouch,Hank responded.you guys going out tonight?

Ethan felt a frisson of heat work its way up his spine at Hank’s question. He knew exactly why Hank was asking, andGod, he was so ready for Hank to give in.

Give them both something good.

yeah, but I can be home early.

He was half expecting Hank to tell him,no, that it was his first real NHL game and he should take the celebration, but to Ethan’s surprise, Hank sent a thumbs-up and then,ok let me know when.

“Come on,” Charlie said to him, impatiently leaning towards Ethan’s stall. “Stop talking to Hank and get changed. We’re doing sewer ball in a bit.”

Not like Charlie hadn’t spent the last five minutes cooing and preening over Max. Ethan didn’t say anything, because if he did, it felt like he’d never stop.

Like he knew just how Ethan was feeling, he finally got an answer from Avery.

no,was all he said.

And it wasn’t like Ethan really disagreed on principle. Charlie would kill someone, slowly, if they interfered in his business, especially his business with Max, but honestly, it waspainfulwatching this day in and day out.

“Alright,” he said instead and, after setting his phone ondo not disturb, put it up on the shelf. Pulled down a pair of shorts and Bandits’ branded T-shirt and started to change.

Chapter 10

Itwasmidwaythroughthe first period when it started. At first, Ethan wasn’t sure it was on purpose, thought maybe it was just a bit of a too-enthusiastic check by one of the Wolves’ d-men, though he should know better. He’d been around hockey long enough to know rookies got targeted by the older guys. That some of them considered it a trial by fire for the players new to the league.

Charlie had brought it up at practice two days ago, though Ethan hadn’t needed him to say anything. He’d come in expecting it.

But he hadn’t expected the way the guy dug his fucking elbow into his side, grinding it in as his body blocked the ref’s view so that he couldn’t blow the play dead and call a penalty.

It was bullshit, sure, but Ethan could handle it. Could handle himself.

But then it happened again. And again.

It wasn’t always the same guy, though it was the same handful, for sure.

When Charlie had brought it up, Ethan had asked him if he’d ever felt the need to return the rough treatment that he’d been subjected to as a rookie, and Charlie had just looked at him like he’d grown a second head. Andyeah, Ethan had already known the answer to that. Charlie wasn’t a fighter. Barely knew how to throw a punch, though if forced, could hold his own on the ice.

“Of fucking course I didn’t,” Charlie retorted. “Why would I be that stupid?”

And itwasstupid. Stupid to kick someone’s ass and possibly cause an injury for no other reason than someone had done it to you. It was petty and the kind of pointless bullshit that kept hockey from really meeting the bar set by the other pro sports, in Ethan’s humble opinion.

When Ethan skated back to the bench at the end of his shift, already feeling the beginnings of a real bruise wrapping around his side, Max leaned over. “You good?” he asked.

Ethan nodded. He wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. He’d known it was going to happen, and he could handle it.

He was already the baby rookie, even more so because he was Barney’s little brother. He wasn’t going to draw even more attention to it.

“You’ll tell me, right, if it gets too bad?” Max asked, clearly disinclined to drop it.

Ethan huffed out a breath. “Sure, yeah,” he said.