Blindsided (Fake Boyfriend #4)(69)

“No, they’re doing the right thing,” Damon says. “This will have repercussions on you and the Warriors.”

I don’t want to bring this up, because I didn’t want Jackson knowing about it, but it’s something we’re all gonna have to face. “Henderson warned me during the season that my bromance with Miller makes us look like the fag team and that I need to be careful of hanging out with Jackson too much.”

Jackson scowls. “You didn’t say anything. Who else on the team has been saying shit behind my back? I thought …” Hurt clouds his eyes. “I thought we were past all that—that we’d gotten past it during training camp. We won the fucking Super Bowl, and that’s still not good enough for these assholes?”

“To be fair, this was before the Super Bowl, but yeah … they’ve been good at hiding their disapproval. They caught on quick about keeping it from me too after I told a few of them to shut the fuck up. But this …” I squeeze Miller’s hand. “This could cause problems.”

“Henderson’s not the only one who’s going to say it either,” Damon says. “But I don’t see it as a reason to live in the closet. We just need to devise a coming-out strategy.”

“I don’t recommend getting photographed blowing each other.” Jackson winks. “Just sayin’.”

Damon agrees. “Let’s knock that one off the list.”

“What we talking here?” Miller asks. “Press conferences, TV interviews, what?”

Damon leans back in his chair. “Actually, I think a softer approach with you two would be better.”

I shift in my seat. “Softer how?”

“We wait until training camp and come out to the team and management first. If there are problems, one of them might leak it, but we can deal with that as it happens. There have been gay men in sports for years, where teams have known and the rumor mill has worked overtime, but it’s never been exposed. Build a team of people you trust who know so you have support when it comes out. If it leaks, it leaks, and we can control what is said or be ready to defend if it’s something we don’t like. I also think a print interview would be better than an on-air press conference like Soren and Str?mberg.” Damon smiles. “And I know just the guy to do it.”

“Who?” I ask.

“Str?mberg’s boyfriend is a journalist. Come to the Stanley Cup final in Jersey with us, and we’ll introduce you.”

I look over at Miller who seems a little stunned. I nudge him. “You okay?”

He nods but doesn’t appear any calmer. He was fine a minute ago, wasn’t he? Now he looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here. Before he can respond, Damon cuts in.

“We’ll take this at your pace, guys. Talon, I’m gonna need to have access to your agent so we can work out something together. Until then, keep doing what you’re doing. Train and focus on the upcoming season. I promise we’ll make it work.”





*



“I don’t understand hockey,” I say. “Skating is hard enough. Who decided to add sticks and a disc and call it a sport?”

Miller leans in and speaks quietly. “Shh. There’s nothing scarier than hockey fans, and I’m too pretty to get beaten up.”

“Pfft. You could kick all their asses.”

He slinks down in his seat. “You’re horrible, and I’m embarrassed to be seen with you.”

“Aww. If there wasn’t so many people around, I’d kiss you, you big sweet giant, you.”

We’re here at the arena early, and we’re the first of Damon’s posse to arrive. The stands fill with buzzing energy and a need to be victorious. The anticipation and the atmosphere is slightly different than the football crowd, but it still fills me with the adrenaline high of chasing a win.

“We’re going for New Jersey, right? Because of that Soren guy?” I ask.

“Yeah, but if you ask me, Vegas has it in the bag.”

I gasp. “You follow hockey? Do I know you at all?”

Miller shrugs. “I was reading up on Soren and kinda fell into a hockey hole.”

“Hockey hole … I swear I saw a porno titled that once.”

Miller snorts.

Jackson and Noah are the first to arrive, and they sit next to us.

“You ready for what’s coming?” Noah asks, and we both give Jackson an inquisitive look. Did he out us to his husband?

“Six weeks until we report for training camp,” Jackson says and then mouths “Assholes” at our insinuation.

Oops.

“I think we’re ready,” I say.

“Sure,” Miller says, but I don’t even think he believes it himself. Training is still going relatively slow, and there’s no way we can definitively say one way or the other Miller’s ready to go back to work.

The other guys begin to arrive, and the last is Ollie Str?mberg with his boyfriend, Lennon—the dude who’ll write our coming out article when we’re ready for it. He just doesn’t know it yet. Lennon’s adorably nerdy with his neat blond hair and glasses. Doesn’t help he’s next to his boyfriend who’s almost the size of Miller and covered in tattoos.

Damon said we should hang out with them, get to know Lennon, and if we’re not comfortable, we can use someone else, but as Lennon tells us he’s got a freelance gig writing editorial pieces about gay men in sports for Sports Illustrated, and Soren, Str?mberg, and Jackson have all signed on, I already feel confident in his ability to write our story too.