anymore.”
“Why not?” said Alex.
“I blew out my knee my senior year,” Tony said.
“And I burned out towards the end of mine. It wasn’t fun anymore, so I walked away.”
“Did you guys play together?” I said.
“I wish,” Jarrod continued. “That might’ve kept me in the game. We met at freshman orientation a year ago. Love at first sight sort of thing.”
We rounded another corner and Tony started flailing, trying to keep his balance. Alex tried to help Tony right himself but ended up crashing down to the ice on top of Tony. We laughed, all of us, like it was the funniest thing we’d ever seen.
“Dude,” said Tony, “you shouldn’t have grabbed on. Once I start to lose it, I’m going down and taking anyone that’s crazy enough to be in the way.”
“Usually I can steady people,” Alex said, standing up as a skate guard came over to see if we needed help. “You were too much for me.”
“We’re good,” I told the skate guard. He nodded and skated away.
Alex offered Tony a hand as did Jarrod. Tony got to his knees and then on his feet.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” a voice announced over the P.A., “the rink will close in twenty minutes. Please start exiting the ice and returning any rental skates to the counter.”
“Damn,” I said. “I don’t want this to end.”
“You guys skate all the time and you want more?” Jarrod asked.
“I know,” I said. “It’s strange.”
“Say, can we get a picture with you?” Tony asked. “Maybe over by the tree?”
“Sure,” Alex and I said together.
We flagged down the skate guard to get picture taking help. He said sure and we handed over our phones. He was patient as he snapped photos of all four of us together, plus shots of just the couples. We thanked him when he was done and then headed for the exit.
“It was great meeting you guys,” Jarrod said. “I hope we didn’t intrude too much.”
“Not at all,” Alex said. “Glad you said hello rather than just letting us skate by.”
“You guys coming to the game tomorrow?” I said.
“Definitely. The outdoor hockey thing is cool. We’re gonna see what kind of Classic tickets we can get. Not sure what’ll be left, but it’s worth a try. You guys going?”
“Oh yeah,” I said. “It’s in our backyard after all.”
Inside, we all sat and got out of our skates. Alex and Tony took them to trade in for our shoes.
“Can we be fans again tomorrow?” Jarrod asked. “If we print out a picture tonight, can we get it autographed after the game?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “We’ll exit out the player’s entrance, so look for us there about a half hour after the game’s over.”
“Excellent.”
After everyone got their shoes on, we headed out.
“Thanks for letting us hang with you,” Tony said. “Hope you kick some ass tomorrow.”
“Thanks, man.” Alex said. “Have a good night.”
We all waved and they went off together while Alex and I headed for the hotel.
“I don’t know what I enjoyed more, the game or the skate,” Alex said as we wandered out of the park.
“It’s a tough choice, but I think the skate eeks out the win. Skating with you, to that song, under the lights was a perfect kind of romantic, magical moment.”
“Maybe we can create more magic when we get back to the room?”
He gave me his seductive face as he spoke and, right on cue, I melted.
“You got the stamina for that after the long day we’ve had?” I asked.
“Totally.”
We embraced under a tree lit up with white light and he gave me a swoon-inducing kiss. There were a couple enthusiastic whistles as people passed us.
“Kiss me like that and we can do anything you want,” I said once we came up for air.
We walked at a quickened pace to the hotel. I half expected to meet up with the team as they left dinner, but that didn’t happen. Instead, we found Danny, alone in the lobby. He looked up from his phone as we came in the sliding doors.
“Hey, man, what’s up? Everything okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. Just wanted to make sure you guys got back okay. I knocked on your door about ten minutes ago. Since there was no answer, I came down here. You had twenty more minutes before I called you.”
“Aw, man. Sorry we made you wait,” Alex said.
“Not a problem. Just wanted to make sure my friends were home safe, that’s all.” Danny stood and we all headed for the elevator. “You guys have fun?”
“Totally,” I said. “That park was awesome with the lights, the music, the rink.”
“How was dinner?” Alex asked.
“Good. Burgers and stuff. You may get some shit from Cap’ tomorrow for not showing. But no worries, Trent and I let him know you were drawn to the light and I think he understood.”
The doors opened on our floor and we went to our rooms, which were adjacent.
“By the way,” I said, “thanks for steering Trent away from coming with us.”
“You’re welcome. Sometimes that guy has no sense.” Danny unlocked the door to the room he shared with Trent. “See you for breakfast.”
“Later, man.” Alex said. Danny flashed his big smile and disappeared behind the door.
I unlocked our room and Alex pushed me inside. The room was dimly lit as only the bathroom light had been left on. He spun me around to face him and guided me backwards until I landed on the bed. He fell gently down on top of me, and we picked up the kissing where we’d stopped in the park. After a few minutes of having every nerve in my body electrified, I rolled us over so I could be on top. I nibbled on his lips, chin and neck, letting my beard scratch over his skin. I quickly got the moans I expected.
“Come on, get up,” I said as I stood abruptly.
“Why?”
I offered him a hand, which he took. Once he was on his feet, I started undressing.
“Because, you need to get naked.”
I was half done before he started. Once stripped, I got under the covers and held them open for him. He caught up quick. As he stood naked at the edge of the bed, he looked down at me.
“You look incredible, you know that?” he said.
“You’re pretty handsome yourself. You gonna get in here so we can make some of that magic you talked about?”
He got in next to me and I let the covers fall over us. He pressed against me and got back to the kissing. A couple hours passed, during which we tried to stay quiet enough so the guys next door wouldn’t hear anything. We ended up falling asleep in each other’s arms.
THE END
* * * *
About Jeff Adams
Jeff Adams started writing fiction in middle school and hasn’t stopped since. Hat Trick, his debut novel, was published in September 2013. He’s currently working on the next two installments of the Hat Trick trilogy. Jeff lives in New York City with his husband, Will. He plays hockey with the New York City Gay Hockey Association and writes about the Detroit Red Wings, as well reviews books that feature hockey for PuckBuddys.com. You can learn more at jeffadamswrites.com and follow him on Twitter at @hockeyguynyc.
About Queerteen Press
Queerteen Press is the young adult imprint of JMS Books LLC, a small electronic press specializing in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender fiction, as well as popular and literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. While our preference is for stories with GLBT characters, we publish stories in any YA genre. Visit us at queerteen-press.com for our latest releases and submission guidelines!
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