Page 31 of Knocked Sideways

Remy looked so horrified that Jed couldn’t help laughing.

“See, Jed agrees.” Hal flashed his blindingly white teeth in an approving smile. “Now that I recall, Jed’s the one who told me that in the first place, right before he offered to take Pasternak in when he first got here.”

“I appreciate it,” Remy said, meeting Jed’s eyes for the first time all day. “But you know, the hotel is fine, really. I don’t want to inconvenience you or throw off your routine or anything.”

“Jed’s pretty hard to throw,” Hal said before Jed could respond. He didn’t understand how Hal could miss how stiffly Remy was holding himself. “You probably don’t have much, right? A couple of bags, maybe?”

“Yeah, just what I came down with.”

“I’m sure Jed won’t mind waiting a few minutes for you to pack up now. You’ll sleep better at his house. It’s very peaceful.”

“Okay, Cap.” Jed realized it was past time to break in. “You’ve done your job. Let us work out the details.” And after a few back slaps for each of them, Hal wandered toward his stall, leaving them alone.

“Look,” Jed started, not sure how to fix things. Remy was back to not meeting Jed’s eyes, which wasn’t a great sign. “Hal’s not going to give up easily, so you’re probably better off staying with me for a few nights. I have a big enough house, you’ll have your own space. I can get us out of it, though, if you’d be uncomfortable. Because of Mike.”

Remy looked straight at him then, seeming surprised. Maybe Jed shouldn’t have been that blunt. But hell, Hal had forced the issue, and Jed wasn’t making Remy come home with him if it was actually a problem.

“I know I made it seem like a big deal. But it shouldn’t be a thing, right? Like, hockey’s a small world. And Mike and I aren’t anything anymore. We weren’t really anything to begin with. So yeah, it’s fine.”

“Okay.” Based on the number of words Remy had used, Jed guessed it was actually the opposite of fine, but if that’s how Remy wanted to play it, Jed could do that.

“Just—” Remy looked off to the side and scratched the back of his neck.

“What?”

“Just, like, you’re not still talking to him about me, right?” The words came out in a rush.

“No.” Jed’s reply was too loud, and he took a breath and lowered his voice. “I barely talked to him about you at all. Yeah, he texted in the beginning, asking me to look out for you. But it’s not anything I wouldn’t have done anyway.”

“Okay.” Remy let out an audible breath. “I’m sorry I got weird about it. We don’t need to talk about it ever again.”

“That works for me.”

“And really, it’s not bad at the hotel. I don’t want to put you to any trouble.”

“It’s no trouble,” Jed said, even though it probably would be trouble of a sort. His gut was starting to clench up as it sank in that he’d actually be taking Remy back to his house that night. But that wasn’t the type of trouble Remy meant. “So, are we doing this?”

“I guess we are. I’m in no position to argue with Cap about it.” Remy smiled then, the first real smile Jed had seen on his face all day. Jed maybe stared at Remy’s mouth a beat too long because he’d missed that smile.

Fuck. What was he supposed to say next?

Right.

“You want to pack up tonight like Cap suggested?” Jed didn’t know whether he wanted Remy to say yes or no, and it looked like maybe Remy didn’t, either, because he took a moment before he answered.

“I’m good either way, really. I’ll be fine one more night at the hotel.”

Maybe Jed did know what he wanted. “Let’s get it over with, okay?”

Remy nodded, bit his lip like he wanted to say something more, and then shrugged into his jacket and gestured for Jed to lead the way out the door.

It didn’t take Remy long to pack—maybe ten minutes. But it was plenty of time for Jed to wonder whether Remy would like his house and how it would feel to have Remy in his space. Jed didn’t have guys from the team over much. Only Hal and Bakesy, occasionally.

And yeah, last year, he’d put up Pasternak for a month. But this felt different. It was already hard enough to hold Remy at arm’s length. It wasn’t going to be any easier once Remy had seen the books on his shelves and the art on his walls, the mugs in his kitchen and the pillows on his couch, everything he’d painstakingly chosen over the last few years for the one place he’d tried to make his own.

It was even more unsettling to imagine coming into his kitchen in the morning the way he usually did, in just a pair of flannel pants, and maybe finding Remy there with sleep-mussed hair. Goose bumps broke out on Jed’s arms as he pictured it and wondered whether Remy started the day with the same energy he brought to the ice.

A knock on the window pulled Jed out of his thoughts. Remy was holding up one of his bags with a questioning look. Jed popped the trunk, and Remy threw his bags in the back before sliding into the passenger seat with a tentative smile.