Chapter Three
Jacob woke up to the smell of frying bacon. It was a smell so intoxicating and unfamiliar to his nose that he was almost certain he had dreamt it.
Then he remembered about his new houseguest and his eyes snapped open.
Groaning, Jacob rolled out of bed and got dressed in his usual workout gear before following the scent of fatty pork into the apartment’s small kitchen where Dino was frying bacon in his underwear.
Where he had gotten the bacon, and why he wasn’t wearing anything to protect himself from the splattering grease was beyond Jacob’s comprehension.
In fact, most things in that moment were beyond his comprehension. He could not tear his gaze from the cut of the younger man’s muscles. Jacob had seen a lot of impeccable bodies during his athletic career, but none quite as jacked as Dino’s.
As if noticing Jacob’s stare, Dino turned around, granting him an even more distracting view of his chest.
“Mornin’,” Dino said with a grin. He had taken out his partial, revealing two missing teeth in the front of his mouth. Along with the messy sleep-rumpled hair, it made him look childishly endearing.
Jacob rolled his eyes, refusing to be charmed. He walked over and removed the pan from the stove. Without breaking eye-contact with Dino, he slid the sizzling contents into the trash.
“What the fuck, man?” Dino protested.
Jacob poked him right in the center of his unnaturally broad chest.
“This isn’t on either of our meal plans,” he said.
He took a step back and gave Dino one last onceover. “And for the love of God, get dressed.” Though this request came more reluctantly.
Once Dino had complied, Jacob invited him along on his morning run. He had been planning on ignoring the kid for however long the rest of their season lasted, but a good night’s sleep had somewhat improved his perspective on things. Besides, like it or not, it was still his job to make sure Dino was comfortable and able to perform at the top of his game. If the two of them were gonna have to play nice and become friends, they might as well do it out in the open with their endorphins high from working out and some good, nutritionist approved food in their bellies.
So they ran Jacob’s usual route, two miles down the block, stopping at the one and only Cafe Evergreen. The cafe was Jacob’s favorite place in the entire city. It was a small sit down joint nestled between a lakefront forest and a shopping plaza. Only the savviest of locals knew it was there. Heck, Jacob himself never would have found it if he hadn’t run too far and gotten completely lost during his first week in Milwaukee. In hindsight, he probably should’ve just called the coach or one of the guys he was staying with, but instead, he’d gone inside, asked for directions and ordered the most delicious egg white omelet he’d ever had. He’d been coming here almost every day since. It was honestly the thing he missed most during roadies.
Caroline, the owner, was at the hostess desk when they walked in. She greeted them both warmly, which Dino seemed pleased by, despite his sweaty appearance and annoyance over being robbed of his bacon.
Caroline set them up in Jacob’s usual booth and he ordered for the both of them.
Once she was gone, Dino gave Jacob a glare.
“I would have liked to look at the menu,” he said. He still hadn’t put his fake teeth back in so all of his words were accented with a little whistle.
Jacob stretched his arms out across the back of the booth and said, “You’ll like it. Trust me.”
Dino didn’t seem convinced, but he let it go. He clearly couldn’t stand the silence long enough to pout.
“Is that a great lake outside?” he asked.
Jacob bit back a smile at his enthusiasm and nodded. “Lake Michigan.”
Dino’s eyes grew soft as he stared lazily out of the window.
“It’s nice here,” he said after a while. He turned his gaze back to Jacob. “Where you from, Cap?”
Jacob drummed his fingers on the table and nodded at Lena as she came over and poured them both cups of coffee.
“New Orleans,” Jacob said once she had left.
Dino whistled. “Not really a hockey town, is it?”
Jacob shrugged and gave him an indulgent smile. “Neither is this one.”
“Not yet,” Dino corrected, tossing his spoon into the air and then catching it.
“Where are you from?” Jacob asked, though he already knew the answer.
“Brooklyn,” Dino said proudly. “But we moved a lot growing up. Dad kept getting stationed at bases all up and down the coast.”
Jacob nodded and took a sip of his coffee. “I know what that’s like. Back when I first got started in the league I played for a different team every year.”
“How many?” Dino asked.
“Seven.”
Dino pointed his spoon at him. “That’s gotta be a record!”
Jacob sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “The record is nine. I checked.”
Dino opened his mouth to say something else, but was luckily distracted by the arrival of their food.
Lena sat down two identical stacks of blueberry protein pancakes and absently patted Jacob on the shoulder before scurrying off to her other tables. She knew she didn’t have to schmooze Jacob. He was always a good tipper.
Dino stared at his pancakes with a quirked brow.
“You yelled at me for making bacon and then took me to get pancakes?”
Jacob ignored the barb and started cutting into his stack.
“Just eat them,” he said, taking his first bite. They were delicious, as always. All the same taste as a traditional pancake, but denser, with a grainy texture that dissolved in his mouth.
Dino took the smallest of bites and his eyes lit up almost as brightly as when he’d been staring out at the lake.
“Good?” Jacob asked.
Dino nodded.
“They’re special order. If you ever come in by yourself, tell your server that you’ve got the same dietary restrictions as me and they’ll make you something delicious.”
Dino swallowed. “You mean to tell me those things are healthy?”
Jacob nodded. “Very. You can even add a little bit of syrup if you want.”
Dino did just that, closing his eyes and savoring in the sugar.
“What other tricks you got up your sleeve, Captain?” Dino joked once he’d finished eating.
“Nothing you need to concern yourself with,” he said. Jacob could practically feel his walls sliding back up.
Dino stuck out his hands in surrender. “Fair enough. Fair enough. This place is really nice though. How’d you find it?”
“Accident,” Jacob admitted.
“All the best things are.” Dino grinned. “You like Milwaukee?”
“Well, I didn’t agree to be the captain of a hockey team here for no reason.”
“Seems like a nice place to settle down,” Dino said. He had that far off and dreamy look to him again. “You got you a girlfriend or something?”
He’d said it so casually, but the words made Jacob almost choke on his coffee.
“Nope.” He cleared his throat. “Do you, uh...have a... boyfriend?”
Jacob was certain he was redder than he’d ever been, but Dino took the question in stride. In fact, he seemed pleased that Jacob had asked, even if it was just for niceties’ sake.
“No,” Dino chuckled. “No boyfriend.”
Jacob nodded and cleared his throat.
“We should probably go,” he said. Tossing two twenties on the table, one for their meals and one for Lena.
Dino stood and followed him out the door.
The two of them walked back to the apartment at a nice leisurely pace.
A little too leisurely for Jacob’s taste.
Dino, he was finding, was easily distracted. He kept stopping every couple of feet to pet a dog or smell some flowers or take a picture of something with his phone.
It was hard to decide whether it was irritating or sweet. Either way, Jacob couldn’t tear his eyes away. He could barely even remember a time when he’d felt half as excited about anything, much less a mundane walk on a random Saturday morning. He was already a bitter old man at the ripe old age of twenty-six.
Jacob was so busy gawking at the easy set of Dino’s jaw that he didn’t notice the scrawny teenager in his path until he barreled directly into him.
The kid turned around with his eyebrows creased. He was tall and fragile looking, wearing red skinny jeans and a band t-shirt that hung off of him in pools of excess fabric. His hair was an interesting shade of highlighter green and he was also sporting giant gages and a backwards snapback.
“Watch where you’re going…” he started, but his words trailed off once he got a good look at the two of their faces.
“You’re on the Dells,” he said, eyes wide.
Jacob was startled. Yeah, he got recognized out in public every once in a while, but only by hardcore hockey fans, usually with beards and bellies and Canadian accents. This hipster-looking kid didn’t quite fit the bill.
“Can I take a picture with you?” he asked.
Jacob was still trying to wrap his mind around the whole ordeal and figure out how to respond when the kid pushed past him and leaned in close to a crouching Dino. As the kid held his phone aloft in front of their faces, Jacob noticed a small discreet equals sign tattooed on the side of his index finger.
Suddenly everything snapped together.
Jacob realized he had been being unfair to Dino. He hadn’t even considered what his appearance on the scene would do for other gay people. To the smiling teenager with green hair, Dino wasn’t an overly smiley brute of a hockey player who made a ton of people uncomfortable, to him, Dino was a hero.
Looking at the two of their smiling faces, Jacob couldn’t help but concoct a little story. It was a story about way more than just hockey. It was a story of hope and triumph and rising above your fears.
It was a story of which he desperately wanted to be a part.