Hans didn’t even look at Matty all day. All day, dozens of guys playing and drilling and horsing around together, and Hans managed to avoid being within ten feet of Matty at any given time.

It was actually kind of impressive, as much as it amused Matty.

The only thing that sobered him up was that Kevin didn’t seem to be looking at him much, either. Kevin still chatted with him in the morning as they all split the car ride to the arena, and he wasn’t actively avoiding him, but he also seemed to have his mind on other things.

Matty tried not to stress about it. After all, the guy was still brand new. Kevin was supposed to be focusing on the prospect camp, getting to know the coaches and making sure his spot on the roster was safe.

But would it kill him to give him one of those slow, sweet smiles now and then?

Matty was on edge with nerves himself, but he threw himself into practice all day, doing everything the coaches asked of him and more. The main coach of his new major league team, Coach Keller, was gonna be a lot fuckin’ tougher to impress, Matty figured out quickly.

The drills were even more intense for the half of the guys fighting for a chance on the major league team. From breakouts to transitioning and offensive zone work, moving back into defensive zones, the individual elements of the game seemed to be a lot more important to the staff at this level. There were no more practice games for Matty and the other guys today.

And as opposed to Kevin’s level, where the staff seemed to be focusing on teaching skills, there were a lot more business decisions going on every moment on the other side of the glass when Matty and the guys were on the ice.

Matty could see tentative rosters being drawn up as their day progressed. All he could hope was that he was on them by the end of this week. He was working and putting everything he had into it, so if that wasn’t good enough, he’d just have to work some more.

“Hey,” Matty greeted when Kevin joined him in the locker room to unlace his skates, his head down. He nudged Kevin’s elbow with his own to get his attention. “How was today?”

Kevin blew out a sigh, those wonderful pink lips pursing as he gave an expressive eye roll. “Can’t tell. I’m just doing what they tell me to.”

Mmm. That wasn’t what Fisher said.

Fisher seemed excited to have Kevin on the team—he’d told Matty twice that day that Kevin was impressing everyone with his learning speed and willingness to work his ass off to be as good as everyone else, or better. But he wouldn’t spoil that surprise for Kevin.

Then there was one other conversation he’d had with Fisher that morning that he had to bring up with Kevin.

“You’re fine,” Matty said instead, watching Hans head out of the locker room on his way home. His gaze turned back to Kevin. “Hey, man, we should talk about that.”

Kevin jerked his head in a quick nod, stepping out of his skates and rolling his shoulders. “I need to go home sooner or later.”

“Fisher and I wanna give you a ride home.”

Kevin thought about it for a moment, pulling off his shoulder pads. “Won’t the people waiting outside think it’s weird?”

Matty snorted. “Nah. Hans hasn’t been bringing shit up with them. I searched on Twitter.” No gossip going around like there no doubt would be if Hans had spilled anything.

“Right,” Kevin murmured under his breath, watching a couple other guys play-fighting on the other side of the locker room. “Yeah. If you think it’s not weird.”

“Not at all,” Matty told him. More importantly, he didn’t want Hans putting Kevin out of commission somehow. He grabbed his towel and headed to the shower, not thinking twice about being naked even around Kevin right now. His body was too sore to think about fucking that cute little ass.

Once they had their shit packed up and they were relatively clean, Matty felt a little more human, but he really needed food. He waited until Fisher was done, then headed out with both Fisher and Kevin for another round of autographs before they fled for Matty’s car.

“Does that ever get weird?” Kevin asked. “Does it happen through the season?”

“There’s more of it now than during the season, but yeah, it’s kinda weird sometimes. It’s not like being an actor, but you have this core group of fans who will follow you in the grocery store,” Fisher snorted.

Kevin burst out laughing. “Really?”

“Oh, yeah. You’re a public figure now, man,” Fisher told Kevin with a grin, glancing sideways at Matty.

“It’s true,” Matty agreed. “I’ve run into people in restaurants and malls before who just wanted to talk to me. Sometimes kids. That’s nice,” he admitted. “You see them getting all hero-worship on you, which is cute. I signed up to talk to the kids’ camp…”

“Oh man,” Fisher groaned, buckling up as Matty pulled out of the parking space. “You got suckered into that?”

Matty snorted. In reality, he’d approached Coach Walker about it earlier that week and the coach had instantly agreed to pass his name on to the staff. By the end of the day, they’d told him they’d love to have him. “Yeah, press-ganged in,” he joked. “It’s so hard.”

“What’s involved?” Kevin asked from the backseat.

“Not a lot, unless you’re one of the actual coaching staff. You just go talk to them about the career and what it’s like, give a kind of motivational talk. They like to have a couple actual players from the major and minor teams do it, so the kids can see… you know, the potential.”

Fisher smirked. “And some players from the women’s team for the girls.”

I really gotta tell at least him someday. Matty forced a quick laugh and nodded. “It’s a good opportunity. Makes you look PR-savvy, too, if your agent wants that.”

“My agent does want me getting out more,” Kevin admitted.

Fisher looked back at Kevin. “Yeah, you should totally do it, man. I did it before. It’s not that bad, like he said.”

“And also tell me where you live,” Matty laughed. “So I can go there.”

“Oh yeah.” Kevin gave him his address, so Matty leaned forward to punch it into his phone. Only a couple blocks away from him, at least. Then, as Fisher and Kevin talked about the kids’ camp, Matty leaned back to focus on driving and plan how he’d break Hans’s face if he was a dick.

As it turned out, Hans barely looked at the three of them when they got home. He mumbled a greeting as he grabbed a pop bottle and pizza box from the dining room table to bring to his room.

Fisher shot Matty a look as Hans’s door shut, and Matty shrugged and looked at Kevin.

Kevin just grinned and half-shrugged. “Guess we’re cool. Thanks, guys.”

“Okay. We’ll get home, then,” Matty concluded. “Text me tonight and tell me how he is.”

“Yeah, man.” Kevin smiled, his gaze flicking to Matty’s lips and back up to his eyes for a moment.

For a crazy moment, he wished he could have a goodbye kiss, but they couldn’t very well smack lips in front of their buddy. They just leaned in for a quick half-hug before Kevin hugged Fisher the same way.

Then he and Fisher were off, heading back home and not saying much to each other.

* * *

When he got the text, it was simple.

All’s fine :) Too busy to worry anyway lol. Thanks for the ride and company.

Matty breathed out a sigh of relief. He was soaking in the tub, letting a salt bath ease his muscles and keep him tension-free for tomorrow’s practice. Walking Jasmine had used up the last few ounces of his energy for the day. He was fine just kicking back in the tub until someone yelled at him to get out of the bathroom.

He wiped off his hands and rested his phone on the edge of the tub as he poked at the screen to text back.

Great. Glad we could help.

A moment later, Kevin added something.

Staying with you was cool. Do that again sometime?

Matty grinned. Kevin had wished they’d been in more of a mood to fool around, too, hadn’t he? They only had the rest of this week, the weekend, and the kids’ camp week before they were separated again, each heading back to his own hometown.

Oh ya man. Sleepover ;)

ROFL. I signed up for the kids camp btw. My agent wants to kiss me.

Matty shifted, wondering if Kevin was trying to make him jealous or hinting at something here. He finally settled on a neutral response.

:( Hope your agent’s cute.

Not as cute as you bro, Kevin told him.

Matty burst out laughing and sent a wink and a quick, Thanks bro.

Then his phone rang, and Matty’s heart lurched. He half-expected it to be Kevin following up on that flirtation by phone. Fuck, yes, he would have phone sex…

Oh, no. It wasn’t Kevin.

He sighed but slid his finger across the screen to answer it, bringing it to his ear and stretching out in the tub again. “Hello?”

“Hey. Is this Matty?”

“It is. Who’s this?”

“I’m Henry. Great to talk to you. I wanted a word about the new Fredericton minor league team.”

Well, at least he wasn’t bullshitting around. Matty leaned forward and pulled the plug on the tub, then bumped his head back against the bathroom wall. “Right… You’re the guy who talked to Cam, aren’t you?”

“Cameron… Riley?”

“Yeah,” Matty confirmed almost aggressively. “You know, the one with the heart problem.”

“Right.” Henry cleared his throat, sounding slightly sheepish. He had to know Matty was pissed about that. Henry and his buddy, the new team owner, had hounded Cam almost into heart failure from trying so hard to recruit him as their top star. “I wanted to talk to you about where you’re going next season.”

“This season hasn’t even begun yet,” Matty snorted. “And you’d have to talk to my agent anyway.”

“Well, I wanted a more personal touch. I know you know… some guys from Fredericton—”

“Like Cam.”

“—who I’m sure would be delighted to have you around. We’ve got a great team already moving into town. A few more stars would be fantastic.”

Matty rubbed his face. “Right. You still have to get my agent to get back to you, talk to him about the offer.”

“Can I count on your support building this new team, making something great in your buddies’ hometown?”

Matty crinkled his nose. Now he sounded like a phone bank worker. “Yeah, you do what you gotta do. Call my agent and we’ll chat. Have a good one.”

He hung up before Henry could interject again, then rolled his eyes as he pulled himself up from the last couple inches of bathwater. He hated being pressured into making a decision, and one like this? Only an idiot would take a PTO contract or something on the spot, and take an enormous pay cut from what he’d just achieved… unless he didn’t think he could last the year without being cut from the roster.

And Matty had to hope he could make it.

He ignored his phone and toweled himself off, then wrapped the towel around his waist to head back to his bedroom.