Page 7 of Knocked Sideways

Near the back of the room, he spotted a mostly empty stall that had a practice jersey with his name on it, looking all wrong spelled out in white against the Blizzards’ bright sky blue instead of Montreal’s more traditional navy and maroon. And because this was the week when fate had it out for him, Jed Grant was sitting in the next stall over. Remy had almost forgotten how much brighter Grant’s sandy, reddish-blond hair was in real life than it looked on TV.

He’d also managed to forget that Grant was—and there was no other way to put it—kind of scary-looking up close, with blue-gray eyes that didn’t seem to miss much and a stern-looking, thin-lipped mouth that definitely wasn’t turned up in a welcoming smile.

Well, okay, Grant was scary hot, if Remy was being completely accurate. He was huge, and there was something about his size and sharp features and close-cropped beard that heated Remy up and had him thinking crazy thoughts about falling to his knees.

But. Scary was the operative word at this moment.

Although Remy was absolutely not obsessed with Grant, he’d spent a good chunk of the plane ride down fantasizing about meeting him again, because that sure as hell beat thinking about how much of his precious NHL pay it was going to cost him to get out of his lease in Montreal. In the scene that spooled out in his imagination, he’d had a good night’s sleep and been totally amazing at practice before he and Grant came face-to-face in the locker room. Still completely dressed, of course, because now that Remy was actually going to be on Grant’s team, the kinds of thoughts he used to have in college obviously needed to stop.

So yeah. They’d be fully dressed. And Remy would introduce himself with a casual yet self-deprecating remark, and Grant would pin him in place with his legendary icy gaze and welcome Remy to the team in the gruff voice that gave Remy goose bumps whenever he heard it during a post-game interview.

That was how Remy wanted meeting Grant to go. He wasn’t sure he could handle it right now, when he was too exhausted to have his guard up, much less form complete sentences.

“Hey, Ladoux.” A deep voice interrupted Remy’s thoughts. The speaker was maybe even taller than Grant, almost towering over Remy’s not-insubstantial frame. He matched the team’s colors with his light-blond hair, pale blue eyes, and wide grin showing white teeth. They practically sparkled, like everything about the man. Remy recognized him immediately. Erik Halversson, team captain.

“Hi.” Remy offered his hand and then decided he should say more. “I’m Lads.”

Halversson grabbed Remy’s hand and clasped Remy’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “I’m Hal. Or Cap. Glad to have you here. I watched some of your game tape this morning. I think you’re going to do great with us.”

“Thanks.” Remy tried not to wince. Hal apparently didn’t know his own strength. But Hal noticed Remy’s expression and let go, patting his shoulder with slightly less force.

“I know it’s not easy to make a big move on such short notice.” Hal shifted his hand to Remy’s back and nudged him gently toward the empty stall. Remy had heard Hal was a hands-on captain, but he hadn’t realized how literal that description was. “Let me know if there’s anything you need, okay? The team got you set up alright with a place to stay?”

“Yeah. Didn’t have time to check into the hotel yet, but I’m sure it’ll work for now. Didn’t get much sleep last night, though.”

“It’s okay, we won’t expect too much from you today.” Hal probably thought he was being reassuring, but Remy heard the rest of the sentence. We’ll expect more from you tomorrow. A lot more.

“Here you go.” Hal waved at the empty stall and gave Remy another push in its direction.

Before Remy could move forward, he was tackled from behind.

“Lads!”

Remy dropped his bags, shrugged off the tackle, and turned around.

“Hey, Petey.” He submitted to a massive hug. Petey was so loud. Still. Hadn’t grown out of it, apparently. It was surprising coming out of his wiry, smaller-than-average-for-hockey frame.

Petey’s wavy black hair and bright brown eyes hadn’t changed, either. The beard was new, but other than that, he looked so much like home that Remy was happier to see him than he’d expected.

“Sorry I wasn’t here to greet you, bro.” Petey released Remy after pounding his back harder than was strictly necessary. Apparently, that was a thing in Colorado. The guys in Montreal weren’t so touchy-feely.

“You know this guy?” Hal asked Remy.

“We go way back,” said Petey enthusiastically, because that was apparently still his only setting. “He was my brother Levi’s b—uh, like, bestie, back in the day.”

Petey darted a quick glance at Remy, apparently realizing too late that he’d almost outed him. Well, Remy appreciated the thought, even if it was probably unnecessary. Because of Levi and how accepting the whole Moreau family was, Remy had more or less been out as a teenager, and when he got to college, he decided pretty quickly that keeping up with training and schoolwork was stressful enough without pretending to be straight, too. He didn’t broadcast that he was queer, because not everyone was okay with it, but it had mostly been fine. Fine enough, at least.

“Bestie?” Hal raised his eyebrows. “You sound like my eight-year-old.”

“It’s okay, Petey.” Remy turned to Hal and explained, “His brother and I were, like, together for a while. And we played together, too.”

“Yeah, you were always around, until I left you in the dust.” Petey grinned. “Hey, look. They got you next to your favorite player. How’s that feel, unreal, right?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Remy’s face started to heat up. Did Petey have no filter at all? At least Grant seemed to be focused on his gear and maybe hadn’t heard Petey’s stupid comment. Hal picked up on it, though, Remy was sure.

“Nothing to be embarrassed about,” Petey said cheerfully. Luckily, before Petey could do any more damage—for example, by mentioning the poster of a certain UVM goalie that Remy had taped up in his college dorm room—Hal broke in.

“Okay, I’ll leave you to get ready. But since it came up, Remy, I want you to know there’s no need to keep who you’re seeing quiet on this team. And if anyone gives you trouble or makes you uncomfortable, tell me right away.”