The Long Game (Game Changers, #6)

by Rachel Reid

Shane could only shake his head, pressing his lips tight together to suppress his grin.

“For defense players, the coaches will be Ryan Price, who is the very tall and handsome man over there...” “Uh, hi,” Ryan said quietly as he shuffled his skates.

J.J., one of Shane’s alternate captains and closest friends, had not been impressed when he’d first learned that Shane and Ilya were friends. He’d mostly gotten over it but, like Hayden, had never quite warmed to Ilya.

The other major difference between them was that Ryan Price did know Shane and Ilya’s secret. He’d walked in on them kissing last year at the end of the first day of camp.

Shane still barely knew the guy because he was too embarrassed to even look Ryan in the eye. But Ryan was gay himself, and he wasn’t much of a talker. He’d kept their secret, as far as Shane could tell.

Shane was, Ilya had to admit, a pretty terrible coach. But in an adorable way.

Ilya felt like he’d somehow walked into one of Shane’s nightmares. Like he was being forced to present a lecture on a topic he knew nothing about.

“Very good job, Coach Shane,” Ilya teased. “I suck at this,” Shane said. “Yes, but the rest of us are good, so no problem.”

“I’m supposed to be in charge, though,” Shane said unhappily. “You’re supposed to be in charge of your team too, but we all know J.J. is the real Montreal captain.”

Shane nudged him in the ribs with the butt end of his stick. “I’m a great captain.” “I know, sweetheart.” Shane jabbed him again, harder this time. “Knock it off.”

And I think Number Twenty-Two has a crush on me.” He nodded in the direction of a girl whose eyes went wide behind her mask, and she quickly looked away.

I mean... WHO WOULDN'T HAVE A CRUSH ON ILYA?!

Shane scoffed. “Who doesn’t have a crush on you?” “Hayden.” Ilya paused, as if deep in thought. “Unless...”

Ilya felt a lot of things at once, both from the way Shane’s track pants pulled tight against his thigh muscles, and from the warmth that bloomed in Ilya’s chest whenever he watched Shane interact with children.

“Are you actually going to do some coaching, or are you just here to shoot heart eyes at Shane?”

Hayden’s eyes narrowed, as if he was analyzing Ilya’s words, searching for the insult. Finally, cautiously, he said, “I am good at passing. I lead Montreal in assists.” “I know. That is why I said it.” “Okay then.” “Okay.”

Hayden studied him another moment, then nodded and skated away. Ilya hadn’t realized how much fun it would be to confuse Hayden with compliments. He would have to do it more often.

Even from here, Ilya could see the flirtatious smiles the man was giving Shane. Or maybe they were just regular smiles and Ilya was being ridiculous.

And then the fucker placed a hand on Shane’s arm. There was no good reason for Ilya to skate down the ice with one of the pucks and fire it at the glass behind Shane’s head, but he did it anyway.

He could hear Shane scream, and Ilya laughed when he whipped around, eyes flashing with fury. “Asshole!” Shane yelled.

Ilya gestured with his stick toward the children on the ice and shook his head...

Ilya couldn’t even apologize because Shane wouldn’t talk to him. Not that he felt like apologizing; he just wanted ...

And Ilya wanted to stop feeling embarrassed about doing it. It had been immature and petty and unprofessional. He still...

Ilya couldn’t stand it. He’d rather Shane unleash whatever anger he had inside him so they could move on. Fortunately, he was an expert when it came to making Shane unleash his anger.

Ilya looked away. “I was jealous, maybe.” “Keep going.” “I... It was stupid, okay? I am not proud.”

When he turned his gaze back to Shane, he found him smiling at him, but not in a nice way. More in a victorious, smug way. “What did you really think was going to happen?”

Ilya shrugged. “Maybe you would think he was nice. Hot. Not a rival hockey player.” He was terrified that one day Shane would realize he could be with someone who wasn’t a dark secret. That it could be easy to love someone.

:(

Shane exhaled loudly, his exasperation clear. “I have spent the whole day trying not to—” His eyes darted to the door, which was ajar, likely realizing how loudly he was talking. He dropped his voice to a near whisper. “Trying not to be obvious about how fucking in love with you I am.”

“Shane—” “No. Shut up. If you really don’t get that I’m not going to leave you for the first cute guy who smiles at me, then I don...

“I’m sorry,” Ilya said, because suddenly he really was. “Was a weird day. I was maybe just...” He sighed. “I’m sorry.” Shane rested a hand on Ilya’s ch...

Ilya found himself leaning in for a kiss, completely forgetting where they were. He rem...

“Oh god,” said a voice from the doorway. “Not again.” Ryan Price was filling the doorway with his mas...

“I like that guy,” Ilya said. “Me too. And I like that he can keep a secret.” “Yes. Maybe we can go out this week with him and his Fabian.” “What, like a double date?” “Sure. Why not?”

But they’d never hung out together with another queer couple. Not one that knew about their relationship. Ilya thought it might be...neat.

Shane’s face scrunched up in an adorable way and Ilya knew he was trying to find a reason to protest, but in the end he smiled and said, “Wow. We could really do that, couldn’t we?” Ilya smiled back. “We could.”

“Leave the cheese off my salad, okay?” “I know.”

“I like Ryan,” Yuna said. “He’s a big sweetie.” “Yes,” Ilya agreed. “We are going to ask about a double date with him and his boyfriend, maybe.”

Yuna placed her hands on Ilya’s shoulders and squeezed, once. “I love that idea.” Ilya bit his lip to contain his smil...

“You don’t think you could tell the rest of the staff about your relationship?” Yuna asked, returning to the chicken. It was a questi...

“I’m helping,” Ilya couldn’t resist pointing out. “I know you are.” Yuna patted his cheek. “That’s why you’re my favorite son.” Ilya grinned at Shane, who tried to look annoyed but mostly failed because his eyes had gone soft.

It felt, as it always did to Ilya, wonderful and surreal at the same time. He’d never expected to have this domestic comfort in his life. Not with anyone. He’d never expected to be part of a family, and have parents again.

He would do absolutely everything to protect this, and he was constantly terrified that, when it came to it, he wouldn’t be able to. Because the day would come.

“I think you’d like what we did today.” Ilya spoke quietly, in Russian, to the sky. “I hope you are proud.” He only ever spoke to one of his parents, though both were dead now. His mother’s death had been sudden and devastating.

She is so proud of you

Ilya didn’t think he believed in ghosts, but he clung to the idea that his mother’s spirit was with him, somehow. He needed her to be.

Ilya immediately opened his arms and Shane practically fell into them, resting his forehead on Ilya’s shoulder and exhaling loudly.

But Shane didn’t move. He wrapped his strong arms around Ilya’s waist and held him, breathing slowly against Ilya’s neck. Ilya rocked them a bit, gently, from side to side, and enjoyed the quiet. He closed his eyes and focused on how good it felt to be with Shane, alone in the dark, and tried not to wish it could be the same in the light.

Shane exhaled and tried to pull himself together. “We’ve never been out with another couple. Like, a gay couple. As a couple.” “Um.”

Shane felt like a dam had burst inside him, and he unleashed a tidal wave of excited babbling on poor Ryan.

“No one knows about us, I mean, almost no one, so it would be cool to, like, not have to hide. Well, we’d still have to hide if we’re at a restaurant or whatever. We wouldn’t, like, be obvious about being...anyway, it would be nice to spend an evening with people who won’t judge us. Unless you are judging us. Maybe you...

Ryan closed his eyes and exhaled loudly. “Thank fuck. I thought I was the only one who knew or something.” “It’s not just you. Sorry if we let you think that.”

“So...can we get whatever we need and get out of here now?” Shane realized that he’d basically trapped Ryan in a small space and unloaded a bunch of weirdness on him, which probably wasn’t an ideal situation for someone with clinical anxiety.