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“Thank you, Phantom. You definitely made tonight memorable.” With a nod, I left the room, walked down the steps, and headed out the front door. There was no way I was going to stay in that house any longer. It already felt like I’d left something important behind and I didn’t even know what he looked like.
Thank fuck this wasn’t my bed because Austin’s body glitter was everywhere. Not that he cared about that and given that he was ruining his own bed with craft herpes, I wasn’t going to complain.
“You’re covered in glitter.” A nervous laugh escaped my throat. “Austin and Halloween. Need I say more?” Trevor laughed that time. “No more explanation needed.” “He went as some fairy thing. According to him, that requires all the glitter. I’m just glad that it’s Wilder that has to deal with the mess and not me. Though I’m probably going to be finding glitter on me until next Halloween.”
Rolling my eyes at both my brother and my phone, I released my dick and gave it a quick but gentle scrub. “Coming.” “No, you already came. Now it’s time to get moving.” This living arrangement wasn’t going to last very long.
“Love you, sweetie! Be good and don’t give your coaches a hard time today.” A security guard laughed as I ran toward the building, flashing him the badge I’d been given the day before. “Family.” He shook his head. “If that’s the worst he does, kid, consider yourself lucky. Poor Johnson’s family could outdo that without opening their mouths.”
Austin stood abruptly, cutting my pacing off and refusing to move from in front of me. It didn’t matter that I was taller and more muscular and could easily move him out of my way. He stood strong and poked at my chest. “You. Need. Him.”
“Make the call.” My hand automatically took the items, but I didn’t unlock my phone. “And say what, exactly?” My brother tapped his chin, but the smartass remark he gave me told me he really thought that I was being stupid. “Hmm, I don’t know. Maybe that your dick is broken without him and you need him to come over and fuck you senseless.”
“Do you really think that will work?” He lifted a shoulder, his lips pursing as he thought. “I have no fucking clue. But neither will you if you don’t try. If you call and he never calls back, then you know it wasn’t meant to be.
Dillon smirked and Peter tried hard to keep his laughter silent. “What?” Peter stopped trying to hide his laughter. “The look on your face right now. I’ve never seen anyone look at something like it was the most precious gift-bomb ever given.” A precious gift-bomb was a very good way to describe the number.
“Was that Phantom?” “Austin!” “It was! You’re still texting him! Is that why you’ve been doing so much better this week? Getting a little something between games?” I threw my hands in the air and twisted to look my brother in the face. “No! It’s nothing like that. Would. You. Leave. Me. Alone. Now?”
I lifted Fudge from the nightstand and pushed him and his outfits into my bag. Castile, our third line winger, had left his bear at home during that disastrous away game the week before. There was no way I was going to be the one to bring the gods of bad hockey down on us after that and had religiously checked that Fudge and his entire wardrobe were with me for every practice and game since.
I hadn’t seen more than Pretty and the material of his panties before my dick had screamed activate and my brain had screamed abort. My thumb had worked with my brain’s warnings, but my dick had not, filling to the point of being uncomfortable and forcing me to adjust in the large seat.
Pretty: If I stop responding, it’s because I’m in prison for killing my brother. Mazdon: What’s up? Pretty: He came over while I was out. I just walked into my bathroom to take a shower and found this. [Img120134.jpg] Mazdon: Are… are those dildos stuck to your shower? Pretty: Yes. Mazdon: Um, is that angle or is that one on the floor /really/ big? Pretty: Huge. At least three feet tall. Mazdon: Oh. Oh… my. Do I laugh or offer to help hide the body? Pretty: Did I mention that they are all lubed? Pretty: Yes, I know you’re laughing. You don’t even have to tell me. But I’m going to kill him.
At some point in my contemplations, I’d clicked the button to purchase it. Two days later, my brother knocked on my bedroom door with a box in his hand and a smirk on his face. “You know, whatever it is you want to do in your spare time is up to you, but maybe order discreet shipping from now on?”
“I have never decorated these gingerbread cookies. We decorate cookies first, then eat them while we make ornaments for trees.” Igor had three trees in his basement already, equally tacky with the ornaments we’d decorated each year and with gaudy garland and twinkling lights. Austin would be proud.
Pretty: I’m guessing he wouldn’t look good in that nightgown we were looking at the other night.
Me: Dammit, Pretty. That would be a hell of a sight. Not that I’d have thought about that before you said something, but now I’m never going to be able to look at him the same way again. Pretty: Glad I could help.
I couldn’t fall for a guy I’d only fucked once and didn’t have a name for. But try convincing my dick of that.
“So, why is this such a secret?” I stuffed my hands in my pockets and sighed. “Because I don’t know his name? Haven’t seen a picture of his face? Because I can’t stop thinking about him and when he texts me, my stomach swoops in all these funky ways? Can I fall for a guy I don’t actually know?”
“Words. Right. Well, the only way to fix this is to tell him who I am. But I’m too fucking chickenshit. Can you imagine the PR nightmare that it would cause me if he shared some of those texts? I just want to pretend for a little longer that it’s all perfect and I’m his Pretty while he manages to make me feel better and centers me in a way I’ve never had before.”
I’d heard about the infamous Johnson family, but to see it with my own two eyes was beyond anything I could have imagined. In the center of the food court, four tables had somehow been not only found but also pushed together and I counted ten men fighting over three pizzas.
But how’d you get sucked into this group?” He gestured around the table and the countless conversations going on around it. “Bumped into Seth in line. He invited me over.” “My condolences. Both on being at this table and at the mall on a day like today.”
My brother and his husband were bickering about paint for their new place, and I knew exactly where it was heading.” At my shudder, Larson laughed and finished for me. “The bedroom?” “Yes. I’m too damn old to be sharing a house with my brother. And my brother and Pete have been living alone too long and forget that Dil’s a screamer.” Larson snorted his drink and began to choke.
“You know, hanging out for the afternoon would be nice. I haven’t spent much time outside of my brother’s place since I moved here. So if you don’t mind, I think I’d like to tag along.” The look Seth gave me was a weird combination of disbelief and deer in the headlights. “You have no idea what you’ve done.” Larson’s meaty hand landed on my back. “Brace yourself.”
Zander: We’re done. Correction, Brian is done. How the hell does Kelly deal with him? Wilder: Austin’s waiting in line to sit on Santa’s lap. We’ve been here for ten minutes now, and you know as well as I do that he’s not leaving until he sits on Santa’s lap. Larson: Make sure he doesn’t give him Nate’s number again this year. Noah: I need this story because Nathan just read that and started choking. Larson: No one let Nathan tell him the story until we’re all together. Nathan: You are all getting coal for Christmas. Me: Let’s just meet up at the Santa line. Maybe he won’t get into too much
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Omg I'm dead!!!!
I finished scrawling my name and handed the hat to Aaron, who immediately held it out to Mazdon with as much anticipation as he’d had for me. “Would you sign it too, please?” Mazdon pointed at himself, his eyebrows raised in surprise. “Me?” Aaron either didn’t pick up on the surprise or didn’t care because he pushed the hat at him again. “Yeah, you’re Mazdon Grabowski, number thirty-four. Just like me!”
“Thanks for the save back there.” Mazdon’s laugh was genuine. “That’s quite literally my job. I save your ass when shit gets real. I’m pretty sure that’s a D-man’s job description: save winger’s ass.”
My brain was trying to come up with another explanation for Seth sharing Pretty’s number. I made it as far as the first stop sign before it fully sank in. There was only one explanation: Pretty was Seth. Seth was Pretty.
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Tugging at my hair, I fell backward on the seat with a groan of frustration. Not only had I gotten myself into this, I had no idea how to get myself out of it. Seth was gorgeous and perfect and my fucking teammate.
In my panic, I’d overlooked one important part of the revelation: Seth Johnson had always been Pretty. They weren’t two separate people. It wasn’t like I’d just learned about his sexy alter ego. Pretty had been there, lurking in the shadows, and I had the power to help him see that Pretty was every bit as gorgeous, exciting, and special as the NHL player was.
Growing up in a family with parents who owned a thriving gay BDSM club, sex and all that went into it had been openly discussed at the dinner table, so I had been rightfully confused when he’d felt the need to have a discussion with me. At least I’d been confused until he’d handed over a locked box. “It’s packed with everything you need for solo or partner play.
“Never let anyone tell you you’re wrong for liking what you do. If someone wants to shame your position preference of the night, your kink of choice, or what you want out of them, he’s not worth your time.
Nontraditional? Absolutely. Heartfelt and totally on par for the Johnson family? Absolutely.
“Down, tiger. I just noticed Spike.” He narrowed his eyes. “How do you know his name?” “Your brother might have mentioned something about it today.” Of course, when the big guy had mentioned the cactus Seth had, I had imagined a small cactus that was purchased at a home improvement store for three bucks. Spike was anything but small. It was a giant cactus I’d have expected to see in the desert, standing at least a foot taller than me and decorated top to base with tacky pink lights and ornaments stuck to the spikes. Seth and I needed to talk, but I wasn’t going to be able to focus on that
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I didn’t want Phantom to leave. I didn’t want Mazdon to leave. I wanted him in my life. I wanted to know what it was like to be someone’s Pretty.
At some point in the last month, Phantom had made me crave more, and that hadn’t changed with the realization that the man I’d been lusting over was none other than Mazdon Grabowski.
Mazdon was the one who had rocked my world and turned everything a bit sideways. Mazdon was worth everything I stood to lose. He understood me and he liked me. I was ready to regain myself, regain the man I was off the ice and outside of the rink. It was time for Seth Johnson the person to separate himself from Seth Johnson the athlete.
I know I’m wildly attracted to Pretty, but I’d like to know a little more about Seth, then maybe get to know a very Pretty Seth.”
“You don’t have court today. There’s only one meeting on the book that you are perfectly capable of handling.” There was a brief pause before Austin’s voice sounded again, that time talking to Elliot. “Elliot, seriously, go blow my brother in the bathroom or something before he has a heart attack. Seth needs me and I’m leaving.”
“Like you don’t go through my phone. We’re twins. There are no secrets, including our phone passwords. Though I will say, I kinda wish we were identical because your cock is gorgeous.” “Austin! Holy shit. Boundaries, asshole!” My brother blinked up at me as though he couldn’t figure out why I was frustrated with him. “What? I’m kinda jealous of your dick. Mine’s nowhere near as thick.” I collapsed onto the couch, my hand over my head. “Oh. My. God. I should have called Larson.”
“We worry because you closed yourself off. You’re so fucking worried about your image that you lost some of Seth the night of the draft. That bubbly guy who used to go out to parties and always had friends around.” He poked at my chest, right at my heart. “You, Seth Johnson, have forgotten who you are. Since you and Phantom slept together, you’ve been more like the guy I used to know. You haven’t been responding to our texts within fifteen seconds. You haven’t been at one of our houses to spend the night in probably a month.”
Come on, take me to your room. Let’s see what wonderful things you can take with you to blow your man’s mind.” He managed to pull me to my feet with little resistance on my part and had me halfway up the steps before my brain caught up with his words. “Wait, he’s not my man.” “Oh, my dear sweet brother, he is most certainly your man. And we’re going to pick out something to rock his world.
Me: Just so you know, you’re my favorite brother. My phone buzzed less than thirty seconds later. Larson: I don’t know what Austin is up to, but I plan to remind you of this next time you call me to fix something at your place.
“You know, that shouldn’t surprise me. With what you’ve told me about your family, I don’t think there’s anything you could say that would shock me.” “That is a very, very dangerous challenge to issue a Johnson.” We arrived in front of the hotel and I turned in. “My dad owns a gay BDSM club.”
No, it’s not a joke and your dad really does own a gay BDSM club?” I nodded once. “Told you you should never doubt the ability of a Johnson to shock the hell out of you.”
His nose scrunched up like he’d eaten a lemon. “Yeah, no. Don’t need to know about your parents’ sex life.” “Wise man. But, just so you know, nothing sex related is ever off the table at our house. Kink is discussed as casually as the weather. Nearly every one of my siblings falls on the LGBTQ spectrum and nearly as many are involved in the BDSM community in one way or another. There are no secrets. You think dildos are crazy—you’ve never been around us when we’ve been drinking.”
How had I not considered what it would be like to see Seth every single day and know that he was my Pretty? In the most unhelpful thought of the morning, my imagination attempted to picture Seth in his hockey jersey and a pair of panties. If I stayed there any longer, I was going to need to jerk off again.
Somewhere under the NHL uniform was the man who put too much pressure on himself and needed someone to help him say enough. But on the ice, Seth was in charge from the minute the puck dropped until the last horn blew.
Mom: You shouldn’t take matters into your own hands. You know that’s up to the league officials to decide later. Mom: Of course that is as your mom. Not as your mom, you should have taken him to the ground. I know you can hit harder than that.
Nathan: Did you not learn anything from fighting with us when you were younger? I think we need to get you back to sparring with us. Mallory: Always. Always protect the face. Seriously though, good fight. Mallory: Laura says to tell you good game too, but we all know that means good fight. My family was officially insane. Not that I hadn’t known that already, but their texts were undeniable proof, totally admissible in court, and I’d take the reprieve any way I could get it.
