Save the Game (SCU Hockey #2)

by J.J. Mulder

“Are you insane?” he asks, leaning across the table toward me. “You’ll have to go to dinner with me to find out.” He huffs an incredulous laugh and shakes his head. “Okay.”

“I didn’t pick you up,” I point out. “You just sort of attached yourself to me.” “Like a cuddly and adorable koala.” “Or a parasite.”

I know he doesn’t belong to me, but I can’t help but feel that if someone were to be created specifically for me, they’d look and act a whole lot like Luke.

“So, hey, are you my boyfriend?” I ask, and he chokes a little bit because of my unfortunate timing. “What?” he asks, after successfully clearing his throat of peanut butter. “What’s our thing? Boyfriends, lovers, partners? Sex cowboys?” “Sex cowboys?”

I can’t believe I was lucky enough to stumble across Luke Kelly in a fucking all-night diner, and I really can’t believe I might be lucky enough to hold onto him.

“Good morning, baby,” I reply, because I’m a fucking sap, and he drooled all over me, and I want to keep him here forever.

“Max Kuemper, I want you to listen when I tell you that you are nobody’s charity case, and nothing that happened to you in the past predicates what you deserve now. I don’t ever want to hear you say that again. You don’t deserve a single thing that has happened to you, and if I ever learn who did that to you—" He halts, backpedaling before he verbally threatens a student. “Well, I’d have a chat with them, anyway.” I laugh. “Good save, Coach.”

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Max,” Coach says, because apparently, he’s a fucking mind reader. “Everyone needs a little extra help at some point, and whether you believe it or not, you are somebody who is worthy of care.”

“I miss you so damn bad. God, I miss you. You’re, like, my favorite person, you know that? I don’t even think I knew that until this week, but it’s true. And listen, I know that you don’t need somebody to take care of you, or to treat you with kid gloves or anything, but I wasn’t trying to do that because I think you’re weak. I was doing that because…well, I don’t know, because you’re mine, which means you’re mine to take care of.”

“How do you always smell like sunshine,” he mumbles. “It can’t be normal.” “What does sunshine smell like, anyway?” “You,” he says, and I laugh because that makes no damn sense at all.

His voice takes on a sleepy, mumbled quality as his lips move directly against my skin. “I’m so fucking tired.” “I know, baby,” I murmur, smoothing a hand up his spine and back down again.

When we get to Carter’s house, I’ve barely parked before the door is flung wide with enough force that we can hear it hit the wall from the driveway. Luke raises his eyebrows at me and I bite back a smile. I probably should have warned him about Carter.

“This is Luke Kelly, my boyfriend,” I tell him, and Luke holds his hand out to shake Carter’s. I don’t miss the way he’s straightened his spine and squared his shoulders, hand tightening on mine as though he suspects Carter might try to physically separate us. They’re staring at each other like two junkyard dogs, about to fight over a piece of meat.

“I am happy to meet you,” he says to Luke. “So is Carter, although he will not say so.” “Fuck off, Vas,” Carter puts in.

Carter leans against the doorframe, one heel propped up against his calf, arms crossed as he watches us and scowls. I sigh, already anticipating what he’s going to say before he says it. “Don’t fuck with Max,” he warns Luke. I roll my eyes. Why does everybody think I need a fucking bodyguard?

“This isn’t the first time I’ve had my shirt off around you,” I remind him. His eyes flick to mine, amusement dancing to life above the heat. “Can’t a man appreciate his boyfriend in peace?” he asks, exasperated. I smile. “As you were, then.”