The Goalie’s Secret

a friends-to-lovers hockey romance

Amazon Kindle Edition

The Goalie’s Secret © Riley Knight 2016.

Cover design by Ravishing Romance Designs

All rights reserved. No part of this story may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the copyright holder, except in the case of brief quotations embodied within critical reviews and articles.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

The author has asserted his/her rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book.

This book contains sexually explicit content which is suitable only for mature readers.

First LoveLight Press electronic publication: December 2016

http://lovelightpress.com

The Goalie’s Secret is set in the USA and as such uses American English throughout.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Chapter One

Cody

There had never been a place that Cody had wanted to be in his whole life.  Nor a place that he had been so terrified to have to go.  It wasn’t just going up to the major leagues, either, not by a long shot.  That was terrifying enough, but there was far more to it than that.

The truth of it was, it would be scary no matter what.  The fact that Cody was going into a situation where he was going to actually be playing backup for one of the people that he really idolized most in the entire world, that only added to the whole thing.

Dante Morella was quite possibly the best goalie in the entire NHL.  There was some debate about that, of course, because everyone had their favorites, but Dante was consistent in the net, and no one could deny that he was an elite level goaltender.

Dante had been netminding in the NHL for more than a decade, and a starter for most of that.  Cody had been admiring him from afar for a good chunk of that time.  Cody, at twenty four years old, was nine years younger than Dante, and Cody knew that his feelings toward Dante verged on hero worship.

It didn’t hurt that Dante, with his dramatic dark eyes and full lips, with his black curls that got so adorably tousled, with his wide, easy grin but also with his intense determination and focus, was that most beautiful man that Cody had ever seen.

On top of all of that, it turned out that Dante, in real life, was one of the nicest people that Cody had ever met.

Oh, the whole team had welcomed Cody warmly when he showed up for his first practice after being drafted by the team.  It helped.  Back in the minors, it was the sort of thing the guys talked about a lot.  What if everyone on their team was a giant prick?

Not on this one, at least.  They seemed like a good group of guys, actually, and Cody knew he was lucky. 

After the coach left him in the locker room, they gathered around him to ask him questions, to get to know him.  They passed his phone around, putting their numbers in, and it seemed like there wasn’t any elitism in this group.  Even the first line, the best players, were happy to welcome him.

And then the crowd parted and there he was.  Dante.  Sitting on a bench, the dark-haired man was bent over, securing his big goalie leg pads into place.  Greedily, though hiding it with the ease of long practice, Cody watched those deft, long fingers, the flex of the muscles of his arms, the way his dark hair fell into his face so that he had to shake his head to toss it back into place.

Damn it.  The man was even more devastatingly handsome in person.

Dante looked up, then grinned and got up onto his feet, clad as they already were in skates.  He walked over to Cody and somehow almost managed to even make walking on skates look graceful.

“You’re my new backup,” the man said, and he seemed friendly enough, though just a little bit cautious.  Still, he was polite enough, offering his hand to Cody and shaking his hand firmly.

It was like some sort of shock went through him as they touched.  A surge of attractive that was as intense as it was brief rocked through Cody’s body, just from shaking the man’s hand.

It wasn’t like Cody hadn’t been aware that he was only attracted to men.  It wasn’t like he had never been attracted to a man before.  This, though, was unlike anything he’d ever felt, and he realized that he was staring up at Dante as the other players cleared out around them.

They were still holding hands, and Cody only became aware of it when Dante gently let go of Cody. 

“Well, it’s nice to meet you,” Dante said.  He gave Cody a bit of a strange look, one that Cody didn’t understand right away.  “You’d better get ready.”

Right.  Cody realized that he was still in his civvies, and not only that, but he had yet to actually speak a word to Dante.  The man probably thought he was rude.  Or, worse yet, that Cody was actually after Dante’s starting position.

God, what a mess.  Cody knew that he was normally a bright, friendly person, but get him close to an attractive man …

Only it was worse than that, because the reaction to Dante had been ridiculous.  Even as inexperienced as Cody was with guys, he was usually smoother than that.  He did, after all, work with a lot of other guys, many of them gorgeous.

Dante left, and Cody, feeling about twelve years old and like a complete idiot, sighed and started to get ready.  Great.  He was making a great first impression.  Who knew what Dante thought of him now?  And he was going to be late for his first ever NHL practice.

Still, despite all of that, there was a little bit of elation, too.  His hand tingled where it had touched Dante’s, and he’d met his hero.  He’d made himself look like an idiot in front of him, sure, but he had met him, and he couldn’t help but be pleased with that.

Quickly, he put his gear on and went out onto the ice to practice.  Hopefully he could show people (Dante) that he wasn’t a complete idiot.

* * *

It was a good practice.  Cody had wondered if he was really ready to come up, but he kept up with the guys easily, and even managed to stop most of the shots they tossed his way.  Plus, he was there.  He was really doing it, and being treated like a member of the team by these professionals was incredible.

Cody even managed to settle down and focus on what he was doing, rather than Dante.  He loved this game, and he intended to prove himself.  He was good enough to be here, damn it, and the really amazing thing was that no one here seemed to think otherwise.

Maybe he could fit in here.  A guy like him always had to wonder, but then, he’d gotten so good at hiding his sexual orientation.  There were a few people who knew, simply because they were the few people that he’d messed around with a little, but that was it.

Each and every one of the people that he’d done anything sexual with had been other guys on his team.  That was just the easiest way to go about it.  If he wanted to have a real career, he was going to need to keep a low profile, so dating and hookup websites weren’t really an option for him.

Besides, he wasn’t even sure that he was a hookup sort of guy.  It was just that that was all that had been offered to him, and those hookups had both never gone far enough as well as being curiously humiliating at the same time.

After the practice, feeling energized, Cody made his way to the locker room once more.  While he was still taking off his protective gear, the rest of the guys were already in the shower.

The rest of the guys excluding Dante, who had the same extra equipment to take off as Cody did.  Aware of how much of an idiot he’d acted like before, Cody sat in humiliated silence, got naked as fast as he could, and then scurried off to shower.

He relaxed a little in there, joking with the other guys, who were on the tail end of their showers.  About the same time that Dante walked in, the rest of the guys were leaving, and once more it was just Cody and Dante.

It was tempting to just let the silence stretch on between them, but damn it, he and Dante were going to be working together.  It didn’t make any sense for things to be so awkward between them, and Cody screwed up his courage and spoke.  It was odd how he could be so friendly and open with the other guys, but it was a bit scary to talk to Dante.

Then again, meeting his hero was bound to be a little intimidating.

“Did I do okay out there?” Cody asked, turning to look at Dante.  It was a bit of a mistake, and blushing in a way that he hoped would be attributed to the hot water, Cody turned away.

The image was burned into his mind, though.  Dante was even more gorgeous without clothing than he was with it, and that was saying something.  Tall and relatively slender for his size, he was still more than big enough to make an effective goalie.  That beautiful body, lightly dusted with just enough hair to reinforce that this was a man, a real man, and a sexy one, too.

Cody hadn’t even gotten a chance to look at Dante’s cock, but he wanted to.  Why torture himself, though?

“Yeah,” Dante said, giving him an easy grin.  “Yeah, you did great.  I think I’m going to have to watch my back.  Soon enough, they’ll be putting you in the net more than me.”

“They would be idiots if they did that,” Cody said, and he flushed again when he heard how his voice sounded.  He may as well just fanboy and ask for an autograph while he was at it.

A silence fell between them, and Cody filled it by taking deep breaths.  This was not someone he could hit on.  This was Dante, who was, last time Cody had heard, still married.  This was Dante, who was so gorgeous with his smoldering Italian good looks that he could have anyone.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Dante finally said, turning off the water.  It seemed pretty sudden, and Cody turned to look, only to see something that he couldn’t possibly be seeing.

Why would Dante be hard?

It was impossible to tell, since the older man turned away before Cody could get a good look.  Some guys got hard after practice, anyway, just from the exercise.  So it was probably nothing, but just like that, Cody’s own cock was aching.

“I … Yeah.”  Cody jerked his eyes up.  He had learned very early on not to get caught gawking at his teammates.  “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Then Dante was gone, and Cody knew it was wrong, but he found that he couldn’t care as much as he should.  Seeing Dante like that, it was too much, and he wrapped his hand around his cock and stroked it firmly, his eyes wide open and staring right at the entrance so that he wouldn’t get caught.

It was really embarrassing and a little sad, how little it took for him to get himself off.  Just a few quick strokes of his cock while imagining what it would be like to have Dante buried inside him, and then he was coming all over himself while biting his lip to muffle the sounds.

It helped.  Not enough.  Not as much as being with an actual person would, but enough that he could rinse himself off, feeling vaguely guilty, and make his way out into the locker room area.

Maybe it was unnecessary for him to be so quiet, though, because when he got there, Dante was already gone.

Chapter Two

Dante

The whole situation with the new backup goalie was incredibly confusing, to say the least.

First off, it had been a long time since Dante had been so attracted to anyone, either male or female.  He had always considered himself pretty equal opportunity, though like most athletes, he kept that to himself.

Cody, however, was somehow different.  Dante was surrounded by beautiful, strong, fit men all the time, but none of them had ever sparked his interest like Cody had.

Too bad the kid seemed to hate him.

Or maybe it was better that way.  Dante had been through quite a few backup goalies on this team.  All of them were gone, most of them not on good terms. 

These kids, they walked in and assumed that, fresh out of the minors, they were going to be able to take his place.  Within a year, they seemed to assume, they would be starters and he would be kicked to the curb.

Cody was probably the same way.  Why else would the kid refuse to even have a civil conversation with him?  Why would he be so quiet with Dante, and so cheerful with everyone else?

Well, it would just be one more backup who made things uncomfortable.  Dante had to wonder if this sort of thing happened on other teams.  Maybe he was just lucky or something.

Even as time passed, Cody didn’t seem to warm up to him.  Dante spent a fair bit of time with the younger man, and as the weeks passed, their habits formed.  It was usually the two of them left alone together in the shower, and then Dante left first.

Not this day, though.  Dante had decided it was time to have it out with Cody.  He wasn’t the sort of guy to just let things fester between them.  He couldn’t do anything about it if Cody did hate and resent him, but at least he could clear the air between them.

As the hot water fell on Dante, he could tell that Cody was looking at him.  It was past the time when Dante usually left, so his confusion did make sense.

“Look, man, I think it’s time we have a chat,” Dante said firmly.  No sense in beating around the bush, and it wasn’t his style, anyway.

“Okay,” Cody said, his tone cautious but willing.  “About what?”

Dante considered his words for a few seconds before he spoke again.

“I don’t know why you don’t like me, but we’re going to have to work together.  So I’m going to propose that we try to bury the hatchet.”  Dante took a deep breath, and then continued.  “I’ve seen you play, you know.  You’re good.  It won’t be long until someone comes along who wants to take you away from us.  You’ll be playing starter soon enough.”

Cody looked at him, and Dante tried not to get lost in the vivid blue of his eyes, or the adorable parting of his pretty pink lips.  Something about Cody was very attractive to Dante.

“You think I don’t like you?  Do you have any idea how happy I was when I found out I was coming to the same team as you?  I’ve been a fan for …” Cody took a deep breath, then shook his head.  “No.  I like you.  Maybe too much.”

Was there the faintest hint of flirtation to those last words?  More likely, it was Dante’s imagination.

“Huh.  Well I read that wrong,” Dante had to admit.  He couldn’t say he was displeased, though.  To have a backup that he could maybe even be friends with, that was something that he would be very much interested in.

Cody gave him a smile.

“Well, yeah.  But I can see why you thought what you did,” Cody admitted, and then he turned to face Dante and he was presented with the sight of his fully naked, beautiful, dripping wet body.

Cody was broader than Dante, though not as tall.  He was paler than Dante, too, and he had those gorgeous bright blue eyes that made Dante feel like he could just look into them all day.  Oh, damn it.  The last thing Dante needed was a crush on this kid, but it seemed like it was happening.

“Look.”  Dante realized that it was maybe a bad idea, but he was going to go for it anyway, he decided.  After all, if he wanted to be friends with this man, they were going to need to make that happen, right?  “Do you want to practice with me tomorrow morning?”

They had the day off of practice, but Dante had been planning to hit the ice anyway.  He did that pretty much every day, official practice or not.  And since he and Cody were both goalies, the offer made a certain amount of sense.

“Yeah.  That sounds great.”  Cody grinned at him, and Dante wasn’t sure what to make of the fluttering sensation in his chest when he saw that grin.  A crush indeed, it seemed.

Dante turned off the water, then grabbed his towel.  Cody did the same, and this time, when they walked to the locker room area to get changed, they did it together.

Having a friend that was a goalie was ideal.  There were things that no one else could understand, and after that conversation, Dante had hope that he might, in fact, have found a friend.

* * *

They had arranged to meet at nine the next morning, and when Dante got there right on time, Cody was already there. Cody was almost always early, Dante had noticed.  Just one of the things he had learned about Cody in the month or so that he’d known him.

Soon, it would be time for the season to actually really start, and Dante wondered if this fragile friendship that they were forming would be able to survive that.  After all, he and Cody were pretty much equals right then.  Once the season started, Dante would be playing most games.

“Hey,” Cody said, already half into his gear.  Dante nodded, and started to get changed himself.  Ridiculously, he found that he was a little disappointed that he’d missed out on the part where Cody had been changing.  Ever since all of that nonsense with Angie, he’d been fairly uninterested in people, both male and female, but Cody seriously challenged that.

There was a silence between them, and it somehow managed to be both companionable and filled with a strange tension at the exact same time.  Dante was relieved when Cody spoke again.

“So what were you thinking that we would practice today?”

Dante smiled.  He gestured to his legs, which felt very strange without the pads that he usually wore while minding the net.

“I’m going to play center and try to score on you,” he said, and deliberately pushed images of other ways that he could score on Cody right out of his head.  Too bad they kept coming right back every time he lowered his guard even a little.

Dante was not the best goal scorer in the world, but he knew the mechanics well enough.  He could give Cody a run for his money.

“Oh.  Okay.  Sounds good.  But we can switch, too.”  Cody flushed, and Dante smirked a little bit.  He was starting to get the sense that this young man was not straight.  Wishful thinking, maybe, except that Dante had a pretty good sense about these things.

Besides, there was a sort of light in those pretty blue eyes when Cody said those words.  We can switch.  It was like he knew how suggestive that was.

If Dante didn’t know better, he would have sworn that Cody was flirting with him.

“You got yourself a deal.”  Dante knew he shouldn’t flirt back.  Getting involved with teammates was nearly always trouble.  On the other hand, he was getting the sense that Cody didn’t exactly mind.  “I’ll bring my pads down and we’ll take turns.”

Oh, there were things that he wanted to take turns doing with Cody …

* * *

After the practice, flushed and panting, the two men sat on the benches in the locker room and tried to catch their breath.  Dante was impressed, he had to admit, and not just to himself, either.

“Hey.  You’ve got some moves,” Dante told Cody sincerely.  “I mean it.  You’re going to go far.”

None of the other people who had played backup for Dante really had what it took to be a starter.  Cody did.

“You’re amazing.  I can already tell I’m going to learn a lot here.”  Cody sounded earnest, and he looked over at Dante with those big blue eyes that seemed incapable of any guile.  How had someone remained so innocent right up to the majors?

“Flatterer,” Dante teased lightly, but he found himself unable to look away from the other man’s gaze.

“Who, me?”  Cody played along, putting on a look that was so sweet and innocent that Dante could almost believe anything that the younger man said.  Almost.

“Yeah, you,” Dante said, grinning.  He even reached out to lightly and playfully touch Cody’s nose, and it felt good to just relax for a moment, to enjoy some friendly banter.

“Well, you, Dante.  You’re a flirt,” Cody accused, and Dante smirked.  It wasn’t like he could really deny it.  Like it or not, he’d been flirting quite a bit with Cody.

“I have been accused of that before,” Dante admitted very solemnly.  He ruined it by grinning, and then bent down to start removing his pads.  He and Cody had worked each other so hard that he’d been too exhausted to do it right away.

“Hey.  Thanks for practicing with me.  I appreciate it.”  Cody gave him a smile, then started to strip off his sweaty gear, too.  Dante tried not to look, but he found that his gaze was drawn back to the adorable young man over and over.  There was something about him.

It wasn’t just those pretty eyes or full pink lips, or even the unusual reddish-blond shade of his hair.  It was something about the way he looked at Dante, like he found him just as fascinating as Dante found Cody.

“Any time,” Dante said, and he meant it.  Not only was Cody a pleasure to be around, but he was damn good.  Dante knew he’d learn some things from the younger man, just as much as Cody would learn things from him.

Naked, Dante headed for the showers once more.  Cody followed close behind, and this time, Dante found that he didn’t even pretend that he wasn’t watching.  More than that, from the way that Cody looked back, it didn’t seem like he minded all that much.

The signs were all there, and though Dante had thought that his interest in romance and even sex had been killed by Angie, it seemed like he was wrong.  The tension was there, and it was making him think that maybe he wasn’t quite as dead that way as he’d thought.

He couldn’t stop looking at Cody.

Chapter Three

Cody

The communal shower area was hot, filled with steam, and utterly deserted except for Cody and Dante.  There was next to no chance that anyone else would walk in, and Cody found himself very aware of that fact.

Dante was looking at him. 

It was a sign of just how repressed Cody was that even those dark eyes resting on him could make him aroused.  Just like that, he hardened, and he flushed and had to turn away from the other man.  Dante did some things to him that were intense and special and which drove Cody crazy.

The hell of it was that he was almost sure that Dante was interested in him right back.  Almost.  It was too much like a dream come true, though, and Cody wasn’t sure enough of himself to express too much interest.

Though his body was doing that for him quite nicely.

“I heard that you got divorced,” Cody said abruptly.  It was not the sort of thing that he would normally bring up, but he was flailing a little.  He had to say something, or else he would fling himself at Dante and kiss him and humiliate himself some more. “I’m sorry.”

Dante sighed softly, and Cody snuck a look at him.  For a moment, the older man looked sad, but that passed quickly.

“Thank you.  It’s been about six months since it was finalized, I guess,” Dante said.  The really remarkable thing was that he didn’t seem to be upset that Cody had said what he had.  Most people would be annoyed if a sore subject like that was brought up, but obviously not Dante.

“So, how’s that been?” Cody asked.  Yes, it was rude, but he’d already been rude and Dante didn’t seem to mind so he might as well talk to him.  Though it was a ridiculous question.  What exactly was Dante going to say to that?  That it had been a barrel of laughs?

“It was bad at first.”  Once more, Dante just answered the question.  He didn’t seem like he wanted Cody to feel bad for asking or anything.  Not only was the guy talented and hot as hell, but he was also just nice.  “But life does go on, just like they say.”

At least the talk about Dante being married to someone did calm Cody down, just like he’d hoped.  He was able to shut off the shower and grab a towel without worrying that Dante might catch a glimpse of something that might embarrass both of them.

“Married.”  Cody was honestly admiring.  Here he was, almost completely inexperienced, and Dante had already been married and divorced.  It wasn’t really so many years that separated them, but the fact that Dante was able to be interested in girls seemed to make all the difference.

Not for the first time, Cody wished that he were straight.  Or at least bi.  Things seemed to go a lot easier that way.  But he really just wasn’t, and there wasn’t much he could do about that.

“Yeah well.  It was a mistake to get married.  We were too young when we did it, and we didn’t know each other well enough.”  Dante grabbed his towel and followed Cody out of the shower room.  “Besides, I’m gone so much of the time, it’s hard to make anything work.”

Cody nodded, trying to seem wise, though he honestly had no idea.  Mostly, he was trying not to be a horrible person.  It was tempting, very tempting, to be glad that Dante’s marriage had fallen apart, but what did it say about him if he was?

“I’ll see you later, man.  We’ve got to do this again,” Dante was saying, and the older man was fully dressed while Cody had barely managed to tug his underwear on.

The words spilled out of Cody before he could stop them.

“What are you doing tonight?”  He took a deep breath, trying not to seem like as much of an idiot as he knew he must.  He was going to scare Dante off.  “I mean, or today?”

Dante smiled at him, running his fingers through the damp, dark curls of his hair.

“Not much.  I actually thought I might see a movie or something,” Dante asked, then tilted his head at Cody.  “Why, what are you doing?”

The problem with Dante being so nice was that Cody couldn’t be clear on if he was even interested or not.  Just like that, he chickened out.  He’d been intending to ask Dante out, even just as friends, but he just didn’t know if that was appropriate.

“Nothing much.”  Cody sighed, reminded of just how pathetic his life was.  Somehow, he’d thought that going to the pros would be a lot more glamorous than it was, but mostly, it was just like the minors.  “Just going back to the hotel, I guess.”

“Hotel?”  Dante leaned against a bank of lockers, head tilted quizzically to the side.

“Yeah.  I keep meaning to find a place but with all the practicing and everything …” Which was true, to a point.  The real, full truth was, though, that Cody still didn’t feel like this was real.  If he bought a place, what would happen if they sent him back to the minors?  Putting down roots seemed like he was jinxing himself.

All of a sudden, it seemed pathetic to him.  He was living out of a hotel room.  He had to seem terribly young to Dante, but if so, the older man didn’t show it.

“You should find a place,” Dante said thoughtfully.  “It helps, once you’re on the road most of the time.  At least some place in the world should feel like home.”

Cody nodded, still ashamed of himself.  His reasons for not doing so earlier were feeling pretty silly and flimsy to him now that he was sharing them with another person.

“Look, I don’t know if you’re interested, but there’s a few condos available in my building still.  You could come check them out, if you want.”  Dante was so casual about offering, but Cody could barely believe it.  Live in the same building as someone like Dante?

Somehow, he managed to be cool about it.  For once, he didn’t embarrass himself in front of this man.

“Yeah?  Well, hook me up, man.  I don’t know this city at all.”  It was even true.  He had only arrived very recently, and the time that he’d been there had been mostly spent on the ice.

Cody pulled the rest of his clothes on, trying not to beam to himself.  Dante wanted him in the same building as him.  Even with how awkward Cody had been, Dante still didn’t hate the idea of having him around.

“I’ve been here a few years,” Dante said, and Cody could almost swear that the man was checking him out as Cody pulled on his shirt.  Maybe, just maybe, this whole crush wasn’t one sided.

Though, really, what were the chances of that?

“I can show you around a little, if you want,” Dante continued, then held the door open for Cody as he collected his bag and followed Dante out of the locker room.

* * *

Cody was going to Dante’s house.

He was even in a car with the gorgeous man, and they were both big enough guys that Cody was very aware of how close to each other they were.  He was very aware of the scent that Dante exuded, clean and masculine and musky.  He smelled very much like a man, and Cody thought that he could get hooked far too easily.

It had been decided that Dante would do the driving, and he’d drop Cody off at his car later.  That was just fine with Cody.  He didn’t actually know where Dante lived, and this way, he wouldn’t get lost.

Besides, it really, really didn’t suck to be in such close quarters with this man.

Cody was silent for the drive, weighing things out.  He felt like he and Dante were getting close, but he didn’t know in what way.  Was this just friendship to the older man?

It was driving him a little bit insane.  He was getting some signals from Dante that led him to think that the other man was interested in him.  More than once he’d caught Dante watching him in the shower, for instance.  There was nothing definitive, though.

For anyone else, Cody would have just gone for it.  Hit on them and crossed his fingers while he saw what happened with that.  But in the minors, he’d moved around often enough that if something got awkward, it was fine.  He’d be out of there soon enough anyway.

But this was the majors, and Cody remembered how many times he’d been told that the way he was wasn’t okay.  People had said it directly to him, as well as through the little comments they made to each other while they had no idea that he was even gay.

If he messed this up, if he said something to Dante, would that mean that his career was over?  Would he screw himself right out of a job?

On the other hand, would he be able to keep himself from doing something about it eventually?  He’d never wanted anyone like he wanted Dante.  Never.  In all of his inexperienced fumblings, there had never been anything but physical release.  Which had always been welcome, but he’d craved more.

They stopped at a red light, and Cody shook his head.  He couldn’t think about this forever.  He thought that Dante was a good guy, regardless.  He thought that, even if this didn’t work out, Dante wouldn’t do anything to ruin his life.

So he spoke up.  They had been idly chatting about nothing much, mostly work, but had fallen into a brief silence.  Cody filled it, and typically for him, he did it in the most awkward way possible.

“Dante.”  Cody took a deep breath, and then just went for it.  What was the worst that could happen?  Actually, he didn’t want to think about that too much.  “I don’t like girls.”

Which wasn’t even true.  He liked girls just fine.  As friends.  In fact, he got along with them great, probably because they could tell that he wasn’t a threat to them.  Hopefully, Dante would know what he meant by that.

Cody wasn’t romantically interested in women at all.  Not even the tiniest bit, though he’d tried before because it would just be so much easier if he were. 

Anxiously, Cody looked at Dante, his heart hammering in his chest.  Cody had basically handed Dante a loaded gun and given him permission to shoot him, or at least his career.

The question was, what would Dante do with that information?

Chapter Four

Dante

It wasn’t like the words were exactly a surprise to Dante.  He hadn’t been completely sure, but some of the things that Cody had said and done had led him to think that the younger man was not all that interested in women.

“I got that sense, yes,” Dante admitted, giving Cody a little bit of a smile before turning to see the light change.  He got them going again, heading for the trendy downtown area where his condo was.

The truth was, it was a little bit difficult for him to know that.  To have it confirmed.  Because he was way too interested in Cody, and it had been easier when he had been able to pretend that there was no chance that Cody was interested in him back.

Dante tried to be accepting, though, and he didn’t want Cody to feel ashamed of who he was.  So it was a bit discouraging when the boy turned away, giving a soft sigh.

“You don’t care.  Just don’t tell anyone, please.” Cody’s voice was resigned, and Dante knew why.  Their job was not exactly the most encouraging toward men who were interested in each other.

“I am interested, but Cody, you and I both know that it’s important to be careful about what we say in our line of work.”  Dante glanced over at him as he had to stop for yet another red light.  “I would never do anything to hurt you, and I’m not sure anyone else on the team would, either, but secrets have a way of spreading once they’re told.”

Cody sighed softly.

“I was thirteen when my coach found out that I was into guys.  He told me that I would have no career if I let myself do that.  So I know.  I’ve been told.  I never should have said anything.”  Cody’s voice was so sad, and more than anything, Dante wanted to somehow make the horrible things that he was saying not be true.

Dante wanted to offer something, and he reached over and squeezed Cody’s leg lightly.  It was a mistake, because he could feel how thick with muscle it was.  Cody was adorable, but he was also sexy, and it was a devastating combination.

“You know, it doesn’t change anything for me.”  Dante took a deep breath, wondering if he should say what he was about to, but he felt like he owed it to Cody.  “There have been times in my life when I have been way more interested in men than in women.”

Dante started driving again, and soon enough, he was pulling into the underground parking lot of his building.  It was only then that he became aware that Cody was staring at him, those big blue eyes wide, his mouth slightly open.

“So you do!” The younger man exclaimed, and Dante smirked a little.  He could have played dumb, but he knew very well what Cody was talking about.

“Yeah, I do.  And there’s at least one or two others on the team.  You’re not alone.”  He parked the car and turned to look at Cody, trying not to notice how sweet those pink lips looked, trying not to think about how easy it would be to lean over and kiss him.

He had the idea that, if he did, things would get a whole lot more complicated.

“That’s not what I was taught,” Cody said, and he looked thoughtful, but Dante was glad to see hope in his eyes.

“I know.  Trust me, I know.”  Dante squeezed Cody’s leg, then let go of it.  “Come on.  I’ll text the property manager to come show the condos, and until he gets here, I’ll show you my place.”

* * *

Dante was silent as they rode the elevator up to his penthouse suite.  The things Cody had said were racing through his brain.  He hoped that Cody had gotten some peace out of telling him, but it had caused Dante some problems.

Dante was always careful when it came to who he took to bed, or even who he flirted seriously with.  He wanted to be very sure that his attentions would be welcome before he did anything.

Cody, in coming out to Dante, had made it seem more possible.  What would Cody do if Dante did lean over and kiss him?  What would happen?  Either Cody would be interested or he wouldn’t, and either way, that would get messy.

“Hey, Dante?”  Cody stood in the elevator with him, and Dante found himself way too aware of how small it was, how close together they were.  “Those periods of your life where you like men.  Are you in one right now?”

Dante sighed softly.  That was a good question, but it was a complicated one, too.  He’d often thought that he had the capacity to fall in love with someone of any gender.  His divorce had somewhat derailed that.

“I’m in a period of my life where I haven’t really been interested in anyone,” Dante said, and it was honest enough.  Or had been, as of very recently.

“Oh.  Okay.  That’s legit.”  Cody nodded, and Dante frowned.  Part of him wanted to know what that question was all about, but the rest of him thought it would be best to just leave that alone and not get into it.

They were silent, and the elevator kept moving up.

“Close quarters,” Dante said, giving Cody a wry little smile.  He honestly wanted to be much closer to the younger man.  Preferably without any clothes in the way.

“Yeah,” Cody murmured, color on his pale cheeks.

It was a disappointment, in a way, as well as a relief, when the doors to the elevators slid open and they were there.

As Dante showed Cody his apartment, he had to fight down his reaction to the tension between them.  And there was, no doubt, tension.  Dante had felt it even before Cody had come out to him, but it had definitely gotten stronger with that.

The question was, was Dante going to do anything about it?

* * *

Much later, Dante shook his head as Cody told the property manager that he would take the condo.  There was no doubt in the younger man’s voice, though he’d only seen it for about fifteen minutes or so.

Making up one’s mind quickly was a goalie trait, though, so Dante supposed it made sense.  Cody would have the money to do it, too, with the signing bonus that he would have gotten.  So who was Dante to judge?

Besides, Cody had gotten the one closest to Dante’s apartment, and that was an arrangement that seemed pretty amazing to Dante.  Dangerous, maybe, but amazing.

The property manager clearly couldn’t believe his luck.  Selling an expensive condo so easily had to be a dream come true for the man, and when the guy left, he was pretty much glowing.

The papers would be signed the next day, and the whole process wasn’t expected to take very long at all.  As Dante left, he was thinking, and even though he knew he should probably consider this more carefully, it also felt like the right thing to do.

“Until the sale is finished, I don’t want you living in that hotel anymore,” Dante said quietly.  He turned to look at Cody, who gazed back at him with those wide blue eyes.  “I want you to stay with me.”

It wasn’t an order or anything.  Dante didn’t have that authority.  But the thought of anyone living out of a hotel was honestly a little bit sad, especially given that once the season started, they would be in hotels enough as it was.  Cody didn’t need to start on that early.

“Are you serious?” Cody asked, and he didn’t seem upset, just amazed.  Dante shook his head a little, amused.

“I don’t think you understand, Cody.  When you’re on a team, it’s like family.  I’m not the only one who would give you a place to live, if you needed one.”

All of which was true, but there was more to it than that.  Cody was also just special to Dante, in a way that Dante wasn’t sure that he was ready to really look at too closely just yet.

“Oh.  Okay.  Then yeah.  Please.  I’d like to stay here.”  They had walked back to Dante’s apartment, and when Cody said those words, suddenly the expensive condo felt more like home than he’d ever experienced before.

The fact was, Dante didn’t spend a lot of time here.  He had spent more time than usual over the summer because of his divorce, but during the hockey season, he was pretty much never around.

Right then, almost overwhelming, Dante wanted to kiss Cody, but he forced himself to hold back.  It could ruin everything.  He could still be misreading the younger man, and even if he wasn’t, it was a mistake to get into a thing with a teammate.

Though, of course, pretty much every experience that Dante had ever had with a guy was with his teammate.  So maybe that wasn’t it.  Maybe it was that he felt like it would mean so much more with Cody than it would with anyone else.

Was Dante even going to be able to resist, though?  The more he looked at Cody, the more he wanted to touch him, to kiss him, to do things to him that Dante hadn’t had a lot of interest in doing until Cody walked into his life.

Things with Angie had gone south so totally that nothing had really interested Dante.  Not until Cody.  Now it was getting more and more difficult for him to resist.

Especially when the evening passed and night fell.

Dante made a simple spaghetti dinner, and then he got Cody set up in the room beside his.  The whole thing became an elaborate form of torture as Dante lay there, aware that Cody was just on the other side of the wall.

Did Cody sleep naked?

It was a stupid thing to wonder, because it wasn’t even like Dante hadn’t seen Cody naked before.  They were on the same team, of course he had.  But thinking about him, wrapped in the light sheet that was all that was needed in the summer heat …

It was all a lot to handle.  Dante’s imagination ran wild, and he wondered what Cody was doing on the other side of the wall.  Just sleeping, probably, and trusting Dante enough to be that vulnerable in his house.  He was a terrible person for thinking of Cody this way, especially when Dante himself had deliberately tried to do nothing to show his interest.

The more time he spent around Cody, though, the more difficult it got to deny what he really wanted.  Cody drove him wild in a way that no one had in years, and they had barely even touched. 

Dante sighed, forcing his eyes closed for what felt like the hundredth time.  He needed to get some sleep.  He had practice tomorrow.  It wasn’t right to be thinking about Cody this way.

And then a very clear, distinct, erotic moan came through the wall.  As if that weren’t enough, Cody’s voice very recognizably spoke Dante’s name.

Chapter Five

Cody

Cody’s body tossed and turned in bed, and he uttered another low, desperate moan.  It almost felt wrong to do so, because in the depths of his dream, Cody had his lips wrapped around Dante’s cock and was sucking him urgently.  Dimly, he could hear his own moan, and it sounded much more unmuffled than he thought it should.

Then Dante was touching his shoulder, but from the wrong angle.  In his dream, he was crouched down between the other man’s legs, so the touch should have come from above.  It didn’t, though, it came from the side, and that jarred Cody out of his dream a little bit.

“Wake up,” Dante’s voice said, and Cody groaned in protest.  He didn’t want to wake up.  He finally had what he wanted to have so badly, and he didn’t want to give it up, even if it was a dream.

Slowly, though, his eyes opened, and his confusion clarified.  He hadn’t been quite sure, for a moment, trapped between sleep and wakefulness, what was actually happening.

He was aching all over, desperate to be touched, and he could smell Dante, he could feel his presence, hear his voice.  That much was the same as in the dream.  Dante, however, was not naked, not lying on his back displayed for Cody.  He was fully clothed and perched on the side of the bed.

Oh God.  As Cody realized what must have happened, his cheeks flamed.  Dante must have heard him making some sort of noise, and he’d come to wake him up.  How completely humiliating.

“I don’t want to wake up,” Cody whispered, and it was true.  If he could slip back to sleep, into a dream where Dante wanted him, he would do it in a second.

Dante shifted so that he was lying down on the bed with him, and Cody wasn’t sure what he was doing until the older man wrapped his arms around him.  The embrace just aroused him more, but it was also, it had to be said, very comforting.

Besides, it was sort of nice that Dante actually wanted to comfort him.  After everything that had just happened, it wouldn’t have surprised him if Dante wanted nothing to do with him.

“Where you dreaming about me?” Dante asked, and Cody groaned softly.  It wasn’t bad enough to be caught in the middle of a wet dream, but he must have said Dante’s name in his sleep or something.

Cody considered lying.  Who could blame him for that? But in the end, he just sighed and shook his head.  Dante was going to figure out that Cody was completely and totally crazy for him soon enough.  It wasn’t something that Cody was all that good at hiding, apparently.

“Yeah.  Sorry.”  Cody would give anything to not be so completely pathetic when it came to this man.  He’d fixated on him hard.

Dante rolled onto his side and draped an arm casually around Cody, his hand resting on his stomach.  An arrow of desire shot right from that hand down into the very pit of his belly, and his cock twitched desperately.

“Don’t be sorry.  It’s very flattering,” Dante laid behind Cody, cradling him from behind.  “Not to mention incredibly tempting.”

Cody was sure that he hadn’t heard right.  It must be the scent of Dante that was driving him crazy, or the feel of his warm body against his from behind.  Surely he hadn’t heard what he’d thought that he just had?

“Tempting?  I thought you didn’t want anyone,” Cody said, a little confused and, yes, it had to be said, just a little bit hopeful.  The main reason he’d thought that he just had no chance whatsoever was that Dante had said he wasn’t really interested in people.

Did Dante’s hand tighten just a little bit on Cody’s stomach?  For the first time, Cody noticed that Dante kept his hips just a little bit away from him.  Was there any chance that Dante was hard, too?

“I didn’t.  Past tense,” Dante admitted, and Cody’s breath caught in his throat for a second.  He closed his eyes, trying to withstand the rush of arousal and hope that went through him.  “Which doesn’t make this a good idea.”

Cody shook his head.  He rolled over onto his other side, facing Dante, and he got to see the desire in those big, dark eyes.  This wasn’t just him.

“Dante, please.  Kiss me,” Cody whispered.  It probably wasn’t a good idea.  Dante was doubtless right about that.  The life of a hockey player made any relationship difficult, much less one between two guys.  “I’ve never been with anyone, but I’ve never wanted anyone the way that I want you.”

It wasn’t the sort of thing that Cody usually admitted to, being a virgin.  He was old enough that that was an embarrassing thing.  He tried not to even think about it too often, but the truth was, being a hockey player and being gay had made him very careful.

Maybe too careful.  He was sick of it.

Dante, at least, didn’t seem disgusted.  He did look thoughtful for a moment, but he never seemed like he minded.  Instead, he took Cody by the shoulders and leaned in, pressing his lips against his.

Even as inexperienced at Cody was, this wasn’t the first time that he’d been kissed.  It was, however, the best.  By far.  He had never melted for a kiss before, never groaned softly and pressed desperately closer to anyone.

Sure, he’d been aroused, but nothing and no one had ever gotten to him like Dante did.

Cody’s lips slid open and his tongue tightly touched Dante’s, and a shiver of pure delight went through him.  Immediately, he went for more, his arms winding around Dante, his body, already so powerfully aroused, responding even more to his touch.

“Cody,” Dante moaned, and for the first time, Cody was really, truly sure that the older man actually wanted him.  He’d gotten some signs before, but nothing like looking into Dante’s warm dark eyes and seeing arousal there.

If there had still been any uncertainty, though, it would have been swept completely away by the way that the other man shifted his pelvis, pressing his hips so that his impressive erection moved right against Cody’s.

Cody was naked, covered only by a thin sheet, and Dante was wearing nothing more than a pair of sweats.  Even those two layers, small as they were, felt like too much, and Cody squirmed and tried to decide if he was too pushy before just going for it.

He pushed the sheet down and away from him, baring his body.  It wasn’t the first time he’d been naked in front of Dante, but it was the first that he’d been so shamelessly hard.

There had been more than one time that Cody had desperately jerked off in the shower room while the rest of the team had already left and Dante had gone to get dressed.   It never took him any time at all to come hard, but having the actual man here with him, that was even better.

They kissed again, and Cody, emboldened by the way that tongue moved in his mouth, by how eager for him Dante was, groaned and reached for the waistband of the older man’s pants.

Dante shifted a little and Cody realized that the other man was helping him to take his pants off.  So Cody did just that, slipping them off those slender hips and down those strong, muscular, goalie’s legs.  Dante kicked them off, and then he was just as naked as Cody was.

Every moment got better, more thrilling, more perfect.  Dante pressed against him and he was just as hot and hard as Cody was.  They slid together smoothly, and Cody whimpered as he felt that friction.

“Dante,” he moaned, grabbing the other man and kissing him once more.  He rocked his hips, his cock in constant contact with Dante’s, sometimes only lightly, sometimes more firmly.

Then the best thing yet happened.  Dante pushed Cody onto his back and then rolled on top of him.  His weight settled on top of Cody and all he could do was wrap his arms around him, grip his firm ass, and pull Dante more firmly against him.

There was no talking.  Maybe there should have been, but it was like it wasn’t needed.  There was just need and movement and two men straining together, kissing frantically as they rubbed together.

Cody closed his eyes and focused on the kiss, on the movement of their tongues together, on the way their cocks slid and rubbed each other in the most perfect way.  For Cody, it was more than he’d ever done before, really.  His experience was extremely limited.

Dimly, Cody felt shame for how close he was getting, just from what they were doing.  Wasn’t this the sort of thing desperate teenagers did?  Mostly, though, it felt too good for him to think about anything other than that.

Pulling back from the kiss, Cody looked into Dante’s eyes and the look in them was enough to bring him over the edge.  Passionate, hot, intense, maybe even possessive, Cody saw things that made him feel like Dante wanted him, really wanted him.  All of him.

With a helpless little cry, Cody came, right against Dante’s thick, hot cock.  He coated them both with his fluids and then immediately felt ashamed of himself.  He had no more control than a teenager, and the fact that he was only a few years removed from being one didn’t really help.

Just when he was convinced that he’d horribly embarrassed himself, Dante came, too, giving the most beautiful little cry as he did.  Cody felt the hot gush of come on his sensitive cock, and he whimpered, overwhelmed, and buried his face in Dante’s shoulder.

It was the best thing that had ever happened to Cody, by far.  Never before had he wanted anyone as much as he wanted this man, and to have had him, even in the way they had, was so perfect that it almost hurt.

For that one moment, covered in sticky sweat and come, everything was perfect.  So of course Cody had to ruin it by speaking.  He had a bad habit of doing that, and he even knew it.  Mostly, he could control himself, but not around Dante.

“I want you,” he admitted.  “Not just for sex, either.”

Dante paused for a second, and then gave a soft sigh.  He rolled off of Cody and just lay there beside him for a moment before speaking.

“I know.  I feel it too,” Dante admitted, and Cody flushed with pleasure.  It wasn’t just him?  That seemed too impossibly good to be real.

“You mean, more than just sex?” Cody asked, barely daring to hope.  Or so he told himself, but that was soon proven to be untrue, because the next words hurt more than they would have if he hadn’t had hope.

“Yeah.  But that doesn’t make it a good idea.”

Dante looked at him, then sighed and got up.  He walked into the ensuite bathroom and brought back a warm, damp cloth, using it to mop up the mess on Cody’s hips.  It felt nice to get touched like that, but that sigh worried Cody a little.

Thinking back on it, had Dante even wanted to do it?  Or had Cody’s eagerness forced the situation?  Cody shook his head.  No.  Dante had been into it, Cody was sure of it.

“I feel something, and it feels real,” he whispered, wondering even as he did if he should just shut up while he could.  Maybe he was sick of shutting up, though.  Maybe there had been enough shutting up in his life, and that was the whole problem.

He was too old to be a virgin, and that was what it came down to.  If he hadn’t been so scared, he wouldn’t be in this situation.  Besides, something told him he could trust Dante, with his dark eyes that could be both intensely soothing and invigorating at the same time.

So he continued on before Dante could speak.

“You remember what I was talking about in the car? When I was a teenager, my coach caught me looking at one of the other guys.  He told me that if I wanted to make it, I’d have to not ever be with a guy.  Pretend to be straight.”  He shot a look at Dante, propping himself up in bed.  “Do you think that’s true?”

Dante shook his head, looking grave.

“It doesn’t surprise me that you were told that.  We all pick up those messages from somewhere.”  Dante settled in beside Cody and put an arm around him.  The gesture was very affectionate and welcome, and Cody rested his head on that broad chest, listening to Dante’s heartbeat.  “I don’t know if it’s true or not.  I hope not.  But even if it is, you won’t be playing hockey forever, right?”

Cody raised his head to look at Dante in horror.  Alone and a virgin until he was, what, about forty?  That sounded like a special kind of hell.  Cody was the sort of guy who wanted a family, who wanted maybe even kids someday.  It sort of felt like Dante was telling him that he wasn’t going to be able to get that for years.

He would go insane.

There were ideas about what sports guys were like.  Shallow, narcassistic, and focused on only two things, having a good time and their sport, that was the stereotype.  But Cody knew that there were other guys just like him, at least in hockey.  Guys who could genuinely love the game, as well as wanting to have a life outside of it.

The only difference was, those guys were all interested in girls, and that meant they could get away with it.  At least as far as Cody knew, anyone who was with another guy had to hide it.  It was actually news to him when Dante had told him that there were guys who were into other guys at all that played with them on their team.

“Things are changing pretty fast.”  Dante’s voice was soothing, and Cody let himself be soothed.  “Who knows what will be okay even next year?  Maybe you won’t have to hide for very long.”

That helped.  A little.  Only Cody was so ready.  His life had been good, no doubt about it, but there was something missing.  Someone.

He was really starting to think that that someone was right there in bed with him.

Cody knew that he had to be careful.  Dante was not necessarily interested in the same things that Cody was.  Even if he was, he wasn’t necessarily interested in it with Cody. 

“I hope so,” Cody murmured, but even as he spoke, he knew that it wasn’t just anyone who was going to be interesting to him.  Part of the reason that he’d never really questioned what his coach had told him all of those years ago was that he had never been called to anyone to the point where he’d felt like he had to.

He had been now.  No one else had gotten to him like Dante had.  No one else made him think that things were as hopeful.  Maybe that was the most dangerous thing of all, that he had this hope.

Dante could break his heart so easily, probably without even trying.  That was the hell of it.  Whatever this was to Cody, was it possible that it was the same for Dante?

And what if it was?  That might almost be worse, because things were impossible on so many levels.  Or so it seemed to Cody.  The homophobia that was more restrained in other places, other jobs, wasn’t as hidden in the sports world.  Guys on other teams that he’d been on had used gay slurs as casual insults.

Cody shut his eyes, wrapping his arms around Dante and just breathing in his scent.  To his surprise and delight, the other man held him back, and even kissed his forehead in a way that was highly comforting.

It really seemed to Cody like there was something here, and he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to hold himself back if there was.

“It’ll be okay,” Dante said, and somehow, Cody found himself believing him.

Chapter Six

Dante

It was almost terrifying how easily Dante got domestic with Cody.

Most days, they both went to practice, either with each other or with the rest of the team, too.  They cooked dinner together and did everything together and, at night, they slept in the same bed.

Dante had told himself it was too soon to get involved with someone.  Especially another guy.  He had fooled around with guys, of course, but he’d never been with them. 

He felt like he could really be with Cody.

Even after the sale went through and Cody took possession of his condo, he barely spent any time in it.  The young man moved his stuff from the hotel to the condo and that was about it.

It was nice.  It was beyond nice, really.  It felt perfect.  It felt right.

Dante had always enjoyed the domestic stuff.  It was part of why he’d gotten married to someone, even though he didn’t know her very well.  Which should have taught him better than to fall for someone else so quickly, but some things, it seemed he would never learn.

The start of the hockey season loomed closer, and Dante tried not to be nervous about it.  The thing was, the system was set up so that the guys who were warming the bench would want to displace the starters. 

Would that happen with him and Cody?

Dante kept quiet about it, though.  No point in talking about something like that.  It would happen or it wouldn’t, and through the long, hot days of the summer, Dante decided to just enjoy the time he had with Cody.

Time passed, as it always did.  Part of Dante, even as competitive as he was, even as much as he loved to play, wanted the summer months to last forever.  He had no idea what the season would bring, and wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

His unease wasn’t helped when he and Cody walked into the locker room together.  They did most things together, and that had only made Dante more crazy about the younger man. 

“Think you guys can separate from each other long enough to play the game tonight?”  It was Alex, one of the superstar forwards, who was actually a good enough guy but sort of abrasive sometimes.

Dante gave him a dirty look and ignored the comment, though when he looked at Cody, he could tell that the younger man was blushing.  So it had been noticed that he and Cody spent a lot of time together.

Well, so what?  Lots of guys had friends on the team that they hung out with a lot.  It just made sense to have your social life be centered on the people that you were around most of the time.

Still, it was a bit nerve-wracking, and Dante was quiet as he got into his gear.  As always, he was done last, and other than Cody, all of the other guys were gone when he finished fastening his pads.

“Hey.”  Cody smiled at him as he rose to his feet.  “Good luck tonight.  Not that you need it.”

Dante smiled, struck anew by how pretty Cody was.  Not delicate, of course, but still so lovely.  He really seemed to mean those words, too, though no doubt he wanted to be the one starting.

Right then, Dante really wanted to kiss him.  The urge to do so was almost overwhelming.  Dante struggled briefly against it, then reached for the younger man and gave in. 

It felt right to kiss him, even if it was a little bit strange to do it in the locker room.  It was a brief, but intense, kiss, and when it was over, Dante’s body was buzzing pleasantly with arousal.

“Thank you,” Dante murmured, and he smiled at the younger man.  He felt great, and it was amazing to him that Cody could do that for him.  Usually, before a game, Dante was too wound up for anyone to relax him.

Whatever magic it was that Cody had, it was effective.  That night, Dante played a shutout game, blocking shot after shot and denying the other team any goals at all.

* * *

Later that night, after the celebrations were over, Dante lay in bed, glowing.  It had been a good game, and he was highly pleased with how he’d done.  Going into the season with a win was a very good thing.

Cody was quiet, though, and Dante was very aware of that.  He let the younger man think, though, at least until it got to be too much and he had to ask something.

“Do you regret it?  Coming up from the minors?”

Maybe it was a stupid question.  Who wouldn’t like the greater fame of being in the NHL?  Not to mention the raise in pay?  Still, Cody had been a big fish in a small pond, and he’d been able to play starter.

Cody gave a start, and then smiled and turned to face Dante.

“No.  Not at all.”  Cody’s voice was firm, and Dante nodded thoughtfully. 

“I know it’s hard.  I remember.  Sitting on the bench and just having to watch other people play.”  Dante reached out, trailing his fingers over Cody’s hip, up over his waist and side.

“Yeah, that part sucked, but I’ll get a few games in.”  Cody shrugged, seemingly way less worried about it than Dante would be.  Then again, Cody was just way more laid back than Dante was, way less intense.  “It’s not a big deal.”

“Then what are you thinking about?” Dante wondered.  His mind had been on the game, and he’d been certain that Cody’s would be, too.

Cody turned to him, still wrapped in the towel that he’d come out of the bathroom wearing.  He was even still damp and glowing from his shower, and Dante had to wonder just how he’d gotten as lucky as he had to get to be with this young man.

Not that they were officially together, but the truth was, Dante was starting to think that he wanted that more than anything.

“I was just remembering how sexy you looked playing.  You get this intense thing going.”  Cody grinned at him, and Dante shook his head.  He and Cody were very different people.

And yet, Cody must have a drive to succeed, and a strong one, or he wouldn’t have gotten as far as he had.  So why was he so content to just sit on the bench?  Maybe Dante was overthinking it.

The truth was, he was worried that something would happen to disrupt this thing they’d built.  The more he waited for that to happen, the more it didn’t, and he was starting to wonder if it was ever going to.

Maybe he was worried about nothing.

“Do I?” Dante asked, not used to that idea, but liking it.  Who didn’t like being told they were sexy?  He’d never thought about it, though.  When he was on the ice, he was thinking about the game, about blocking that next shot, and nothing else.

Cody nodded, pressing his mostly naked body against Dante.  Through the weeks that had passed, Cody had rarely gone into his own apartment, and spent most of his time with Dante.  They spent as much time in bed as possible, and yet Dante still found it almost impossible to keep his hands off of the younger man.

“You really did,” Cody murmured, and his eyes lit up in that way that let Dante know that Cody was right there with him.  That he was just as into this as Dante was, that he wanted him just as badly.

Groaning softly, hating the way that he seemed to lose control around Cody but also sort of loving it as well, Dante pushed his fingers into that damp towel and tossed it away, leaving Cody gloriously, beautifully naked.

Dante slid his hands over the young man, smiling a little as Cody responded so beautifully.  That was one thing about Cody, there was never any doubt about whether he liked something or not.  He showed everything so clearly, and it was so very gorgeous.

In this case, Cody gave a deeply erotic little moan, and Dante smiled to himself and slid his hand down over Cody’s chest.  He stopped to play with his nipples for a few moments, toying with the hard little nubs and teasing them into hardness, then slipped down over his flat stomach to where that thick, beautiful cock rested against his belly.

Lightly, almost reverently, Dante touched the head.  It was slick and covered with precome already, and some had even leaked onto Cody’s stomach, showing that the younger man had been aroused long before Dante had even touched him.

“Like I said, it was a lot of fun watching you play,” Cody murmured.

That was the thing about Cody.  That was what made it so dangerous to be with him.  Not only did Dante want him, need him, all the time, but he wanted and needed Dante right back.

Slowly, Dante let his fingers wrap around that swollen, hot, hard shaft, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world to stroke him while gazing into those lovely blue eyes.  So that was exactly what he did, jerking him off as he looked at him so that he got to watch the expressions on that transparent face while Dante gave him pleasure.

They’d been moving slowly in bed, mostly by Dante’s insistence.  Anything that they did would be Cody’s first time, and he wanted each and every first to be memorable.  So while they’d rubbed against each other lots of times, and played with each other like Dante was doing with Cody now, that was as far as it had gone.

“Dante, please,” Cody moaned softly, gazing back at him with desperation in his eyes.  “Please, let me try something?”

Dante frowned a little, then nodded slowly.  It was hard to know what the right thing to do was sometimes.  Still, Cody was a grown up and he seemed to know what he wanted, so who was Dante to get in his way?

“Go ahead,” he murmured.  He had a feeling that this was going to be good, and that feeling was soon proven right.

Cody slipped down Dante’s body, and as he went, his mouth brushed over every inch of it that he passed.  He kissed over his chest, suckled lightly on one of his nipples, and then headed down.

It wasn’t slow.  Dante got the sense that Cody didn’t have the patience for that.  He shifted down, as as the young man moved, it became more and more clear just where he was going.

Dante gasped softly, amazed and more than a little hopeful.  He couldn’t say he opposed what Cody was doing, but he wanted to check something first.

“Cody, are you sure?” Dante asked, but the younger man didn’t answer him with words.  He just shot him the sexiest smirk that Dante had ever seen, then shifted down and engulfed Dante’s aching cock into his hot, wet mouth.

Dante knew that Cody was not highly experienced, but it was hard for him to remember it right then.  The younger man was far too good at it, and Dante shifted his hands down, slipping his fingers into Cody’s short hair and moaning as he throbbed in that mouth.

All of a sudden, Dante was very glad that he had let Cody try this.

Actually, it was a terrible idea, but it wasn’t the first time that he’d messed around with another man on his team.  Besides, it was too hard to think about that when Cody was sucking him with far more skill than Dante would have expected.

Dante looked down at Cody and he was utterly stunned by how damn gorgeous the man was.  How beautiful, with those bright blue eyes, pale skin, and pretty pink lips wrapped around him.

Looking at him was just as arousing as feeling him, and Dante found himself getting worked up far too quickly.  As Cody worked on him, Dante shuddered and pushed toward him, finding it all irresistible.

That was a good word for Cody in general.  Irresistible.

With a shudder of pure delight, Dante gripped Cody by the back of his head and then he was coming, filling that talented, sweet, adorable little mouth up.

Dante shuddered, then released his grip on Cody’s head.  Cody didn’t move far, though.  He shifted up and rested his head on Dante’s shoulder as he leaned back against the bed, cuddling close to him in a way that Dante found incredibly endearing.

Dante wasn’t ready for a relationship, he told himself firmly.  This was just sex, and they both knew it.  So wasn’t it safe to just enjoy what they were doing? 

Cody nuzzled against him, and as Dante came down from the incredible heights of his orgasm, he realized that the young man was incredibly hard.  Cody wasn’t being pushy about it or anything, but as he lay against Dante, his cock was clearly ready to go, pressed against Dante’s hip.

So he reached down and gripped that thick cock, stroking it slowly, his other arm around Cody’s shoulders.  He’d learned that he could always make Cody come much harder if he looked into his eyes like this, if he kept a direct gaze on him.  Besides, then he got to watch him come, which was always fun.

This time was no exception.  Cody cried out, his strong, muscular body straining toward Dante, his dick throbbing in his hand and leaking precome all over it.

It felt so intimate, gazing into this man’s eyes as he stroked his cock.  It felt like it meant something more than what it could, and Dante had to push away some very unwelcome and impossible feelings as he looked at the beautiful young man in his arms, gasping and writhing under his touch.

“Dante!”  Cody’s voice was desperate, and Dante focused on what he was doing rather than how he was feeling about it.  This was about pleasure, and maybe about friendship, but that was it.  That was it, damn it.

“Come for me,” Dante murmured, and only just held back the ‘baby’ that wanted to come out.  Not something he should be saying, but he almost did.  Instead, he kissed the man, and got to feel the tremors that shook his body as the pretty young man came all over his hand.

Curled up together after, Dante sighed softly.  He was falling for Cody.  He hadn’t really fallen for a guy before, and he knew that sort of thing was trouble.  Sex was one thing, it could be hidden, overlooked, but it was harder to hide a relationship.

And who said that Cody would want one, even if Dante did?  They were both equally devoted to their careers, to the expense of pretty much everything else.  So it was best not to presume anything.

Still, it was so good to curl up with him, to hold him, to let their sated bodies drift off to sleep, entangled in each other.  It was so good to wake up and have Cody there, to share meals with him, to …

With those pleasant thoughts on his mind, Dante found that he had no trouble sleeping at all.  Or maybe it was just that he had Cody’s scent around him, the young man’s warm body pressed close.

God, he really was screwed, wasn’t he?  And yet, somehow, even if the best thing would be to get some distance between himself and Cody, Dante found that he couldn’t make himself do it.

Already, he treasured Cody too much, which made the younger man dangerous.  Hell, they were both dangerous to each other, if things kept going the way they were going.

Which didn’t stop it from being nice to have someone to hold through the long, dark night.

Chapter Seven

Cody

Time passed, and the hockey season was fully underway.  Cody started some games, but mostly, they went to Dante.  Which made sense, because Dante was the starter.  Cody was his backup.

More than once, a reporter asked him how he felt about that.  Didn’t he want to start?  Did he get along okay with Dante, who did get to start?

Cody always just laughed.  Of course he wanted to play.  Every hockey player wanted to play.  But it wasn’t his time.  He would start the games he was supposed to start, gaining experience.   That was how it was done.

It was all a stupid attempt to start a controversy where there was none, and Cody found it hilarious.  So did Dante, who got different questions along the same vein.  Was he threatened by Cody?  Did he think Cody was going to take his place?

It was honestly hilarious.  Maybe other goalies would have that issue with their backups.  Maybe other backups would have designs on the starter position.  But that wasn’t how their relationship with each other played out.

Then came the night that everything changed.

It was a home game, and the crowd was solidly behind their team.  The cheers were deafening, and the team responded to them.  Slowly, the score rose and rose for their team while the other team got nothing.

And then the desperation started.

Part of it was that Cody’s team was getting cocky, he watched it happen from his spot on the bench.  Dante was in the net, and his dark, piercing eyes seemed to see everywhere all at once.

Defense started to get sloppy.  Why bother working too hard when they had an elite level goalie in the net?  And that made Dante have to work harder and harder.

It still would have been okay, probably, if not for the fact that Alex took a penalty for slamming someone into the boards.  While he was out for his two minute penalty, the other team took full advantage.

Cody winced.  He could watch it happening.  The three men from the other team skating down the ice, and the defense on their side just wasn’t there.  Dante was vastly outnumbered, and no one would blame him if he let the puck in.

But Dante didn’t have it in him to let that happen.

The puck came from a direction that Dante clearly hadn’t been expecting, and he had to lunge for it.  His leg extended too far in one direction while his body fell in the other, and even with the goalie mask on, Dante swore he could see the pain in his lover’s eyes before anyone else even knew anything had happened.

After all, Dante blocked the shot, and when he crumpled to the ice, he made sure that he landed on the puck.  He stopped it from going in, and the crowd, at first, was too busy cheering to realize what had happened.

Cody knew, and he jumped to his feet, knowing that he needed to get out there, to help his lover.  But everyone else was on their feet, too, cheering for that miraculous save, and Cody couldn’t quite seem to make it onto the ice.

As the seconds passed and Dante didn’t get up, though, the cheering quieted.  It was a slow process, but gradually, everyone realized that something was wrong.

As the trainers went onto the ice, Dante finally moved.  He tried to stand, struggled, made it up onto one foot … and then fell again.  Cody watched, horrified, as the trainers questioned Dante, who shook his head, obviously protesting.

He didn’t win, of course.  He was obviously hurt, and the two trainers helped him off the ice and to the back.  For a split second, Cody saw Dante as he passed him, his face tight with pain, dark curls a mess, his eyes fogged.

Then, he was gone, and Cody moved to go after him without even thinking about it.  His lover needed him.  How could he possibly let him go alone when he was clearly in pain.

“You’re up, kid,” the coach said, grabbing Cody’s arm before he’d made it very far.  He grabbed Cody’s forearm, holding him back, or trying to.  Which was laughable, since Cody was about twice his size.

Cody went to shake him off.  He had no time for this nonsense.  He had to get to Dante.  But the coach tugged him back when he tried to go.

“He’ll be fine!  Get your ass out there.”  The man glared at him.  “There’s no one else.  Go!”

Damn it!  If Cody left, what would they do?  He was the backup goalie, and with Dante out, he was the only hope.  He blinked tears back, torn like he’d never been before in his life.

This was his chance, and he knew it.  But now that it had come, he found that he’d really, more than anything else, like to be with his lover.  Let the game be lost, what was that to him?

Once, it had been everything.

There was really no choice.  He couldn’t let down all of the people who were relying on him, not just all of the rest of the team but all of the fans watching.  Dante would be fine.  He had excellent medical professionals working with him.

Blinking back his tears, hating this decision that he had to made, Cody made his way onto the ice.  Even as he did, though, he had to wonder if it was the right choice to make.

* * *

The game was won.

The fans had, by and large, been pretty indifferent to Cody so far.  Dante was a fan favorite, and people liked him enough that they didn’t want to think about him needing a backup at all.

When Cody skated onto the ice, though, he got the first idea of what it would be like to be that adored.  The fans, who had all been worried about Dante, were visibly relieved to have someone back in the net, and they showed it enthusiastically.

Dante had done most of the hard work, in Cody’s opinion.  He’d played through most of the game, and the fact that the team had won had mostly been because of him.  And yet, Cody, because he had finished the game, was the one who got most of the glory for it.

After the game, Cody had to speak to reporters, which he did as quickly as he could.  Then there were fans who wanted him to sign things for them, and in the end, it was a good couple of hours after the game before Cody managed to see one of the trainers.

It was funny.  It was everything he’d always wanted, having all this attention, but now that he had it, he just sort of wished that it would go away.  He couldn’t enjoy it, not when all he could think about was Dante.

“Where is he?” Cody asked the trainer, after he’d tracked the man down.

“In the hospital,” he was told, and Cody only waited long enough to find out where Dante had been dropped off to leave.  He wanted to grill the trainer about what was wrong with Dante, but that would definitely look suspicious, and besides, there was no way that the trainer would tell him, anyway, because of confidentiality.

So he got in his car, hating that he had taken so long.  Hopefully Dante would understand that he had wanted to be there sooner, but work had made that impossible.  If anyone could understand, it would be Dante.

When he got there, the nurse didn’t want to let him in.  Dante had been moved to a private room, and that was all that she wanted to say.  Cody looked at her as she turned away from him, stating that she had too much to do to deal with this, and it was his desperation that caused him to give his name.

There was a long pause while the nurse stared at him, obviously irritated, but then she sighed.

“One floor up, room 560.”

That was all she would say to him.  It was like she was annoyed that he was who he was, but Cody realized something.  If his name was enough to get him let in, that must have meant that Dante had given the hospital Cody’s name and asked to see him if he came.

That pleased him.  Sometimes, he wondered just how far Dante’s affection went.  Was it just a friends with benefits situation?  It didn’t really look like that, though he didn’t know who else Dante had said could come in.

He found the room and took a deep breath.  Letting it out slowly, he composed himself, and then pushed the door open.

Dante was there, and he was conscious, sitting up in bed and looking bored as he watched television.  Even in the bright, unforgiving light of the hospital, even in the shapeless hospital gown, the man was gorgeous.

Cody had been around a lot of very beautiful men, but no one had ever gotten to him like Dante had.  Even before he’d met the man, he’d had a thing for him, and that had only gotten more intense the more time he spent with him.

“Cody,” Dante said softly.  Cody could see that his eyes were fogged, probably with painkillers, and he laughed a little as he went to sit on the chair by the bed, taking Dante’s hand in his.

“Yeah.  How’s it going?”  Cody squeezed Dante’s fingers, looking him over from head to toe.  “What happened?”

Dante shrugged.

“Strained MCL,” he admitted.  Cody winced.  It was the sort of thing that pretty much every NHL goalie had suffered, a knee injury that just sort of went with the territory.

“How long?” he asked, looking into Dante’s dark eyes. 

“A week, maybe two, if it heals right,” Dante admitted.  “Looks like you’re starting.”

Odd how that hadn’t even occurred to him until Dante had said it.  With Dante out, Cody would be the logical choice to take over.  It was the sort of chance that not everyone got, and Cody was aware of it.

To get to be the starting goalie, that was a big deal.  But now that it was happening, all Cody wanted was for Dante to be better.  This wasn’t how he wanted to get his shot, damn it!

“When can you leave?” Cody asked.  He didn’t like hospitals.  They gave him the creeps, though he did, of course, know that they did important work.  But he was young and healthy and in great shape, and this place still reminded him of his own mortality.

“In the morning,” Dante said, “They want to observe me tonight.”  There was a brief silence between them, and then Dante asked, “Would you … do you want to be there?”

Cody nodded, glanced around briefly, and then kissed Dante on the forehead briefly.  No one was around, thanks to the private bedroom, but a nurse could be by anytime.  They still had to be careful.

“Of course I will,” he said, and just as he’d pulled away, a nurse did come in.  Reluctantly, Cody dropped Dante’s hand, and he was pretty sure that he did it quickly enough that the nurse didn’t notice.

“Take care of yourself, man,” he said, and Dante smiled in a way that was almost as intimate as a kiss.

“You’re going to need to sleep,” the nurse said firmly.  “Which means your friend is going to have to leave.”

It was nothing more than Cody had expected, though he did have a moment where he wondered if it would be different if he and Dante were openly out and together.  Would she still separate them?

As it was, though, all he could do was get to his feet, returning Dante’s intimate little smile with one of his own.  It was odd to see Dante so vulnerable, to see his idol fallen, though in some ways, he knew that Dante could never really lose face for him.  He would always be someone special to Cody.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” Cody said, and then he left, but reluctantly.  He wanted to curl up in bed with Dante.  To wrap himself around him, to feel like he was doing something to help.

With a sigh, Cody shut the door, then collapsed into a chair in a small waiting area nearby.  A MCL tear.  It could be a lot worse, though. 

Still, Cody would be glad when Dante was back at home with him.  Where he could take care of him.

Just one night.  Cody could get through that, and he even went home to try to get a few hours of sleep.

With ‘try’ being the operative word there.

Chapter Eight

Dante

Dante slept, but only because the painkillers made it difficult to do anything else.  He kept waking up, too, to worry about what had happened.  About if this would be the injury that kept him out of the game for good.

Dante wasn’t old.  Not as a man.  He wasn’t even 35 yet.  And yet, he was getting older for an athlete.

Any injury could be his last.

At least Cody was there, ready to take over.

That was actually comforting.  He knew that Cody was incredible, and that the team would be in good hands.  Maybe he was supposed to be jealous of the young man, who was just at the beginning of his career, really, right before things started to get good.

Dante smiled a little, thinking about the adorable, earnest young man.  No.  He wasn’t jealous.  He wanted nothing but good things for him, no matter what.  Thinking about him, too, it was easier to sleep.

* * *

He dreamed about Cody, and when he woke up, Cody was there, looking at him with worry on his face, in his big, expressive blue eyes.  If Dante had ever thought that Cody was just after the starter position, if he’d thought, even for a second, that Cody didn’t care about him, he knew better right then and there.

“You’re awake!  You snore when you’re on painkillers, did you know that?” Cody asked, grinning at him.  “I’ll go get the doctor so he can clear you to go.”

Cody clearly had much more energy than Dante did, befuddled by sleep as he was, and Dante groaned and rubbed at his eyes as he sat up in bed.  Youth was a gift wasted on the young, he decided, wincing as his knee twinged just from his slight movements.

Still, Dante wanted out, and Cody was helping.  So Dante cooperated with the doctor, got his release, and then, much to his dismay, he was bundled into a wheelchair.  Just until he was out of the hospital, he was told.  Doubtless a liability thing.

It still sucked.

It wasn’t until he was settled into the passenger’s side of the car, with brand new crutches to help him get around in the back, that he was able to finally turn to Cody and protest,

“I do not snore.”

Cody laughed, and there was a loosening of the tension around his eyes that Dante hadn’t even realized was there at first.

As Cody got them home, Dante rested his hand on the younger man’s upper leg.  He wanted to thank him, but it was hard to put into words.  Thanks for coming last night?  Thanks for picking him up?

The thing was, someone would have done those things, he supposed.  Someone from the team, the coach, maybe, or one of the trainers.  That wasn’t the same, though, and he rested his head on Cody’s broad shoulders, inhaling his scent and just relieved to have him there.

This had started off as a friendship, and the sex had been a welcome addition, but it hadn’t seemed like it was anything more than sex to him.  Probably not to Cody, either, since the younger man was so worried about his career.

The problem was, it was starting to feel like more than maybe it should, and Dante groaned softly to himself as he had to admit that he was feeling something more than friendship.  Something more than sexual desire.

Something that felt suspiciously like love.

He tried to talk himself out of it.  It was just that Dante had been lonely.  And that Cody was kind.  That was all there was to it, and he was too old to be mistaking that sort of thing for love …

But he never quite convinced himself.

* * *

Dante couldn’t even go to watch the next game, another home one, at the arena.  As ridiculous as it was, he didn’t have a ticket, and even if he could have gotten one, he wasn’t supposed to be moving around very much on his sprained knee for at least the next couple of days.

So, like any other fan of the team without a ticket, he had to turn on the television and watch the game.  It was an odd experience, when Dante was so used to being involved in the action, to be relegated to this level, but he watched, and he was glad he did.

Cody was perfect.

He was spot on, absolutely focused on the game and utterly unwilling to let even a single goal in.  By the end, he still hadn’t, and it was a shutout game.  Sure, the defense were playing well, too, but Cody was the star of that game as far as Dante was concerned.

Dante smiled, watching as Cody was interviewed after the game.  The younger man’s lovely face was flushed, his eyes bright with pleasure, as he answered the questions that he was asked with uncommon honesty.

There was a sort of script that hockey players were taught when they were speaking to the media.  Answer everything in generalities.  Much like politicians.  Cody managed to get past that, though, or maybe it just seemed, with his wide grin and youthful looks, like he was.

Dante’s phone rang, and he reached for it, glancing at the caller ID.  Great.  A reporter from the local newspaper, or so he cleverly deduced by the fact that it said as much.

“Hello?”  Dante still had a job to do.  Maybe he was sidelined, but he was still a member of the team, and that meant he had obligations.

“Hello, Mr Morella.  My name is Becca …”  She went off into her speech, which was very familiar to Dante.  He’d only heard it about nine and a half million times.  “I was wondering if you have time to answer a few questions for me?”

Dante wanted to snarl at her, though he knew that it wasn’t actually her fault.  He wanted to tell her that of course, he had time, that he was sitting around with his leg propped up to minimize swelling.  That he literally had nothing better to do since his boyfriend was still at work.

His boyfriend.  Huh.  That was a new one.  He’d never thought about Cody that way before.

But he didn’t say any of those things.  He just spoke to her, politely enough, assuring her that he would be happy to answer her questions.

They were pretty simple, at first.  Just asking him what he thought of the team’s chances for the season, that sort of thing.  But slowly, they started to get more insidious, talking about Cody and asking him how he felt to have some hot young competition.

Dante groaned.  Damn it.  He should have known this was coming.  The media would make a story out of anything, if they could get away with it.  And the hell of it was, that they usually could.

“Do you think that you’ll be replaced while you’re out with your injury?” The woman asked, clearly itching for a story that just wasn’t there. 

“No, I don’t,” Dante said quietly.  “But even if I were, I know that Cody would do an amazing job.”

“So you’re telling me that you would play backup for him?” The woman was clearly skeptical.  Surely she’d been dealing with male egos for long enough to be surprised by that, but Dante answered her question seriously.

“I’ll do what’s best for the team, of course.”

There was very little that she could say about that, and she ended the interview shortly after that.

Dante sighed as he hung up his phone.  That had been a mess.  He didn’t even want to see what sort of article the woman would make out of that.  She had clearly expected to see some jealousy, some hatred, between the two men, but that just wasn’t how it was.

Dante had never hated any of the people who played backup for him.  He knew that a lot of them had hated him, though.  He also knew Cody didn’t hate him.

Surely that would come through?

* * *

Cody was home sooner than Dante would have expected.  There were all these things that hockey players were supposed to do after a game.  Talk to the press, for instance.  Go over the game with the coach.  See the trainers, if there were any issues.

Not that Dante wasn’t glad to see him, but Cody must have rushed through all of those things to be back home as early as he was.

When Cody walked in, Dante looked up from the show he was binge watching on Netflix, and he was about to say something but then he noticed that the young man had his phone pressed to his ear, even as he carried a plastic bag full of something in his other hand.

“No, I don’t think so.  Yes, of course I hope that he’s back soon.  He’s the starter, I’m just filling his shoes.”  Cody was clearly giving an interview, and Dante kept himself quiet and waited.

There was a silence, and then Cody sighed.  He put his bag down on the table and settled down beside Dante, who leaned back against him.  Cody felt incredible, and he sighed with pleasure as he let himself relax.

“I’m not his doctor so I really couldn’t say.”  There was more conversation, idle chit chat, but Dante noticed that the talk was all about him, and that irritated him.  Hadn’t they seen the amazing game that Cody had just played?

“Thank you very much,” Cody eventually said, and then sighed again as he hung up his phone.  “Damn it.  I wish people would stop asking me if I was glad you got hurt.  I’m half tempted to answer with ‘Yeah.  I have a voodoo doll of him under my bed.’  That would be pretty funny, actually.”

Dante smiled, enjoying the warmth of it as Cody wrapped his arm around him.  He snuggled close to him.

“What’s in the bag?” he asked curiously, and Cody grinned.

“I thought you might be hungry so I picked up Chinese,” he said, and Dante nodded.  Yes, he had been hungry, probably for quite some time, though he’d been too wrapped up in the game to really notice.

As they started to open containers and pull apart chopsticks, Cody suddenly turned to him, frowning a little.

“Did you kind of get the sense that they wanted us to hate each other?” he asked, and Dante sighed and nodded.

“Yeah.  That sells papers,” he said quietly.  “They want to build up this story where we’re having a catfight for the starter goalie position.”  He shrugged.  “It’s not the first time I’ve seen it.”

Cody shook his head.

“That’s messed up.  I mean, it’s hard for me to believe that they think I could be happy about you getting hurt.”

In some ways, Dante mused to himself, as they snuggled on the couch and fed each other Chinese food, Cody was very innocent.  It was an appealing quality, but Dante had to wonder just how long that was going to last in the world of professional hockey.

Dante shook his head and pushed that away.  There was nothing he could do about it, really.  So he just cuddled with Cody, ate the food he’d been brought, and tried not to think about it too much.

After awhile, he really wasn’t thinking about it.  Cody was good company, and it was so easy to get lost in him, in the stupid show they were watching, in the pleasure of the evening.  Cody didn’t even have to work for the next couple of days.  When he did have to, it was an away game, but they’d worry about that when it happened.

Right then, it was heaven to just be with him.

Chapter Nine

Cody

It was definitely getting old, the way people spoke to him.  Even other members of the team, who knew just how close he and Dante were, acted like Cody had been given a golden opportunity, that he must have been so happy when Dante got hurt.

Yes, of course he was happy for the chance, but at the same time, he would have been more than happy to just wait for his turn if it meant that Dante didn’t get hurt.

Dante had some friends on the team, and they were giving Cody dirty looks during practice and things.  It was a mess, and it only got messier when the newspaper came out the next day.

In some ways, it didn’t matter what either he or Dante had said.  The reporter who had interviewed them had taken what they’d both said and did her best to built it into a rivalry.

It seemed thin to Cody, but then, he and Dante had talked a bit about this.  He knew how his friend felt, but it seemed like other people didn’t.

The interesting part was the different reactions that Cody got.  Some people glared at him like he’d personally gone after Dante with a sledgehammer.  Some people cheered at him, and he was told, more than once, that someone had never liked Dante and that they were glad that Cody was there to save them.

All of those people were surprised when Cody informed them that he couldn’t wait for Dante to be back.

Hero.  Villain.  Nothing in Cody’s life had made him prepared for what he was seeing happen.  He had always just been himself, not a big deal.  Not interesting or remarkable, other than for his skill at hockey.  No one special.

All that Cody could do was keep his head down, keep working hard, and do his best to ignore the whole thing.  After all, in about a week, Dante would take over in net and this whole thing would be behind Cody.

The good news was, Dante was cleared to travel with the team.  His knee was healing well, and the plane flight wouldn’t hurt it too much.  Cody had been worried that he’d have to leave Dante alone.

The funny thing was, it wasn’t because he was worried about Dante taking care of himself.  He knew that his best friend and lover could do so, hurt knee or not.  No, his worry was more that he wasn’t sure how he would do without Dante.

Cody had been alone before, of course, and he knew he could handle it.  But with Dante around, it felt better.  Like he didn’t have to do it all alone.  And he liked it.

There were two away games before they headed back home, and they won the first one.  Cody was in a good mood when he headed back to the hotel room that he was sharing with Dante.

Of course, some of the guys wanted to know why Dante was there, but that was easy enough to chalk up to Dante being a workaholic.  Still, there were a few of the guys who looked as if they didn’t quite buy it.  Like they suspected there might be more between Cody and Dante than just friendship.

Let them think what they wanted, though.  There was no proof.

When he walked in, Dante looked up at him, then smirked a little.  The man was reading, or had been, but he put the book aside and gestured Cody over.

“Hope you didn’t hurt yourself,” Dante murmured.  “That looked like quite a fall.”

Cody shrugged.  Yes, he’d fallen, it had been while diving to get the puck, and it had hurt but he’d shaken it off.  Luckily, he hadn’t been hurt.  Even if the puck had ended up hitting him right in the thigh in a way that even the thick pads couldn’t protect him from.

“I’m fine.  Don’t worry, I know I have to stay healthy until you get your lazy butt back,” Cody joked. 

Dante frowned.

“Take off your pants,” Dante said, and Cody groaned softly.  He knew that Dante was just going to check on his leg, but that demand was incredibly hot, and his cock twitched in a way that he couldn’t even begin to control.

Barely able to breathe, Cody did as he was told.  He stripped off his pants, dropping them to the ground, very aware that Dante was going to be able to see very clearly just how hard he was.

It really didn’t seem to take much for Dante to make Cody hard.  Even just a certain look in those intense brown eyes could do it for him.

“The trainer already saw it,” Cody said, indicating the dark bruise on his left thigh.  “It’ll be fine.  I can walk normally and everything.”

While he was babbling, he looked at Dante briefly, and he was surprised by the look he saw on his handsome face.  By the tenderness he felt from the other man as Dante ran his fingers over the bruise, far too gently for it to hurt.

“Goalies are always getting bruises,” Cody murmured, more because he felt the need to fill the silence than because it actually needed to be said.

“I know that,” Dante said, and then his fingers skated over Cody’s strong legs, up toward his swollen cock and heavy balls.  When Dante looked at Cody, there was no way that Cody could see that look as anything but pure arousal.

Maybe the whole bruise thing had only been an excuse to get his clothes off.  Well, Cody was definitely okay with that, and he tugged Dante to his feet.  Dante was still healing, but he was definitely to the point where he could walk around, at least the short distance to the bed.

When Dante was standing, it became very clear just how aroused he was, too.  Even through the loose, comfortable sweats that were all that Dante wore, the thick, hard outline of his cock was very visible and it made Cody’s mouth water just to look at it.

Instead, he cupped that hardness, feeling how completely it filled his hand, the heat that came off of it.  He wanted to push his hand into those pants.  He wanted to just spend time, as much of it as he could, playing with that gorgeous cock.

But Dante was hurt, and really shouldn’t be standing that long.  So Cody reluctantly pulled his hand away from him and supported him, instead, helping him to walk toward the bed.

Luckily, since it was a hotel room, it wasn’t that far.  Soon enough, Dante was on the bed and Cody had his face pressed against the huge, intriguing bulge in those sweats, inhaling the musky and very masculine scent of Dante’s arousal.

Careful of Dante’s knee, Cody eased those sweats down, only to be stopped by Dante, who reached down and touched his face, then tugged him up, away from that tempting cock.

“You don’t want me to?”  Cody was confused.  He wanted to taste this man.  He wanted to make him explode into his mouth. 

Still, he went up readily enough, settling on top of Dante, always careful of his knee.

“No.  There’s something else I want to do,” Dante admitted.  He shifted his hips up, and Cody gasped softly as that thick cock came into contact with his ass.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about it before, because he definitely had.  Dante had never seemed that interested, though.  Cody had to admit that seemed to have changed somewhere along the line.

“ … Okay,” Cody whispered softly.  Sure, he was nervous.  On the other hand, there wasn’t anyone on the planet that he would rather do this with.  Anyone else that he’d rather have his first time with.

“You sure?”  Dante’s fingers caressed Cody’s hips, pulling him down against him, and Cody fell just a little bit harder for the other man because he bothered to ask.  Cody had given his consent, but Dante still wanted to make sure.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Cody said, and Dante smiled as he started to remove Cody’s pants.  Cody shifted to make it easier, pushing himself up and away from Dante’s body, and soon enough, they were both bare for each other.

Cody shuddered with delight when Dante slid between the cheeks of his ass.  There was very little room for fear, and none for doubt.  It felt like he’d been waiting his whole life for this.

And then Dante stopped again.

“I don’t have condoms or anything,” he admitted.  It hadn’t even occurred to Cody to think about that, but it made him love Dante more that he had.

“I’ve never done this before.  I don’t have anything.”  It was embarrassing to admit, but it was also true.  Honestly, now that he’d experienced what he had with Dante, it was impossible for him to even consider letting anyone else be his first.  He was glad he’d waited.

Dante nodded.

“I haven’t been with anyone since my ex-wife.  I’m clean,” he said. 

Cody knew better than to just take someone’s word for this.  When he’d thought about losing his virginity, he had always assumed that it would be someone he barely knew, someone who pushed him to take that final step.  In that case, of course he would use a condom, but this was different.

This was love.

Not to mention that if he didn’t get Dante inside of him, he was going to be insane.  Not to mention that he trusted Dante as a friend as well as as a lover, and knew very well that he would never lie to him, or do anything to hurt him.

“Do it.  I need you.”  Cody squirmed on his cock, trying to get the right angle to take that thickness inside of him.  The more they waited, the more flushed and eager and aroused he got.

It might hurt.  It probably would.  But Cody needed it, and when Dante gripped his hips and pulled him into the right position, he could have sobbed with relief.

“I’ll go slow,” Dante promised, and then, finally, after what felt like years of waiting, Dante started to push the thick, blunt head of his cock, slippery with precome, slowly inside of him.

The sensation of being stretched was immediate.  No pain, not yet, but Cody looked down at Dante to try to stabilize himself.  Those deep, dark brown eyes were very comforting, and reminded him of just how damn much he felt for this man.

Dante was as good as his word.  Slowly, carefully, he edged his way inside, and he did it so well that there was never more than the slightest discomfort.  It always faded soon, and Dante always seemed to know the exact perfect time to thrust just a little bit more in.

Then there came a time when slow wasn’t good enough.  When each thrust had no pain, no discomfort, but only pleasure.  Dante thrust at exactly the right angle and Cody cried out and it was all too much, suddenly.  He didn’t need it careful, he needed it immediately.

So he pushed himself all the way down onto that cock, hard and fast.  It hurt, but he didn’t care.  It just didn’t matter.  All that mattered was the head of that cock and the way that it massaged and rubbed against his prostate, and he needed more of that.

“Cody!”  Dante cried out, surprise clear in his voice, but Cody saw arousal in his eyes.  So he kept eye contact as he started to really ride him, taking matters into his own hands.

“Dante,” Cody moaned feverishly, his cock leaking against his stomach.  And then Dante reached over to start to play with it, and that just made Cody ride him harder, get more desperate.

“It’s too good, baby, too damn good,” Dante suddenly hissed, and his hand, the one still on his hip, clenched tight as he tried to slow them down.  His other hand, however, was stroking Cody frantically, only spurring him on.

“I know, I’m going to come,” Cody admitted, so far beyond any discomfort or pain at this point.  So lost in pleasure, and in the deep, dark, mysterious shadows of Dante’s eyes.

One more thrust, right against Cody’s prostate, was all that Cody needed.  He cried out in his pleasure as his orgasm ripped through him, as he spilled all over Dante’s hand.

At the exact same time, he felt Dante coming, too, and he clenched around him as if to milk him for his come, wanting to feel completely filled up by him.  Wanting to remember this had happened, wanting to have proof.

“I love you,” Cody said suddenly.  They were words that he’d been feeling for awhile, but they burst out right then and there, and there was nothing he could have done to stop him.

But Dante just smiled.  He didn’t seem upset at all, as Cody might have worried that he would.

“I love you too,” he said instead, and Cody collapsed on top of him, clinging to him, glowing with happiness.

Chapter Ten

Dante

Cody fell asleep soon enough, but not Dante.  He had too much to think about, and besides, though he would never tell Cody this, the jostling of his leg had hurt his knee too much and he didn’t want to unwind himself from Cody enough to go fetch his medication.

Sleep was impossible, so he just lay on his side and watched Cody sleeping.  He’d never felt like this about anyone before, man or woman, and that was actually a little terrifying.

But at the same time, it was completely irresistible.  Dante had decided that he wouldn’t take Cody’s virginity, just because that was too big of a deal to most people.  Dante knew this thing was going to be temporary, because what love affair between two hockey players wouldn’t be?

It had seemed like nothing more than a fun distraction, at least at first.  But as the weeks had passed, it had started to feel like so much more than that.

Dante had always been the romantic type, and if Cody had been a woman, Dante would have had no qualms at all about starting a relationship with him.  None at all.  They were compatible as hell, they had the same interests, and sexually, well, it had never been better.

But, like it or not, they lived in a world where it wasn’t okay for a man to be with another man.  People did it, of course, but the stress took a toll on the relationship and it was not all that often that it could be made to work.

While Dante watched, he became aware, at some point, that Cody was awake.  A wash of inescapable, intense tenderness washed over Dante as he saw Cody’s blue eyes shining at him.

That experience had meant something to Cody, Dante was sure of it.  More than just sex.  Dante wasn’t the sort of man who said that he loved someone easily, he wouldn’t say it unless he meant it, and he sensed that Cody was the same.

“Hey.  It’s not morning yet,” Dante said, letting his hand brush over Cody’s face lovingly.  His thumb swept over the cheekbone.  It was like he just plain couldn’t get enough of touching him, that’s how it felt.

“I know.  I slept enough.”  Cody nuzzled against him, shifting closer to where they were nestled together in bed, under the blankets.  “I think I dreamed about you.”

Dante smiled, kissing Cody on the forehead. 

“How are you feeling?” he wondered, his hands rubbing at Cody’s shoulders.  It had been a big night for Cody, what with the game and everything that had happened after.

“Sore.  Really sore.  But in a good way.”  Cody gave him an impish little grin.  “I wanted something to remember what happened by, and I got it.”

Dante laughed, and then sobered rather quickly.  There were things he wanted to say, and in the middle of the night, with just them, seemed to be the perfect time and place for it.

“What if you didn’t have to forget it?  What if it happened again?”  Dante knew what he was saying was a big deal.  There had always been this understanding between them that this was temporary.  Sometime, probably soon, they would have to give this up, and that had always been understood between them.

But Dante didn’t want that anymore.

Cody frowned, looking confused, gazing into Dante’s eyes thoughtfully.

“I want it to happen again,” he said, but Dante could tell that he didn’t really get it.  Which wasn’t surprising.  He hadn’t been clear enough.

“I meant what I said.  I love you,” Dante said quietly.  He kept eye contact with him the whole time, wanting him to know that he really did mean it.  “I know what this started as.  We both know.  Hell, I was the one who told you it was possible.”

Cody nodded slowly, apparently unable to argue with that.  Dante had been the one to suggest, all those weeks ago, as they drove together back from a game, that two guys could fool around and it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

“But that’s not what I want with you anymore,” Dante continued, his voice very low but filled with passion.  “I want you.  I want something more real than just sex.  So I guess what I want to know is, do you want the same thing?”

Dante paused then, letting Cody digest all of that.  He knew he’d upped the stakes rather dramatically, but he had never been the type of man to want to hold back.  When he was into something, he threw his whole self into it, in romance just as much as in hockey.

“We’re both still guys,” Cody pointed out.  “And I don’t think the world we live in has changed that much.  I think we’d still both be hurting our careers.”  Cody sighed.  “Maybe me more than you, because you’re not at the very beginning, like I am.  But this is all I know how to do, play hockey, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Dante nodded, encouraged.  Cody was willing to talk about it, so that was something.  He wasn’t just dismissing it out of hand.

“That’s not what I asked,” Dante said quietly.  He took Cody’s hand in his own and pressed a kiss to the back of it.  “I asked if you want the same thing.  If you don’t, it’s fine.  We’ll deal with it.  We’ll just be friends who fool around.  But if you do … I want to know.”

There was a long silence, and Dante could see the conflicting emotions on Cody’s face.  He never did seem to be able to hide what he was feeling all that well, and it was very obvious that he was feeling intensely.

“I do love you.  I do want to be with you.  But what about all the stuff I said?  It’s still just as true as ever.”

Dante shook his head, his hands cupping the younger man’s face as he leaned in to kiss him lovingly. 

“It’s true, yeah.  So we don’t have to tell anyone.  It’s our secret.”  Dante brushed his lips over Cody’s lightly.  “It’s just you and me in this, right?  So it’s really none of anyone’s else’s business.  I want to be with you, Cody.  I’ve never wanted to be with anyone like I want to be with you.”

It was true.  Even his ex-wife, who he had genuinely and deeply loved, before the demands of his job had broken them up, had never gotten to him like this.  This young man meant everything to him.

“It’s a risk,” Cody said, and then grinned.  “But it’s a good risk, I think.  It’s a risk worth taking.”

A risk worth taking.  That was it, exactly.  In life, you took risks, or your life just stayed in one place and nothing ever changed.  Those four words summed up the situation perfectly, really.

This was a risk that was worth taking.  Dante had never been so sure about anything in his life.  Even if they were found out, he knew that he could deal with it.  He’d never felt like that with anyone else he’d been with.

God, had he actually found someone that meant as much to him as hockey did?  He never would have thought it possible, but it did seem that way.

Cody drifted off again, and Dante wondered if, in the morning, this would seem like nothing but a dream, to both of them. 

Somehow, he didn’t think so.  Somehow, he thought that the promises that they’d made to each other in the night would be just as meaningful in the full light of day.

It was those thoughts that finally let him sleep.

* * *

The rest of the trip for the away games was absolutely blissful.  Dante never would have thought that he could be so happy while he was too injured to play.  Every time he had been hurt before, he was miserable as hell, just counting the days until he got to put skates back on.

It wasn’t that Dante didn’t want to play, because he did.  But while he was healing, he got to observe the amazingness that was Cody playing, he got to see his lover do what he did best.

There were physio sessions daily, and Dante endured them.  The rest of the time, pretty much, he got to spend with his gorgeous new boyfriend.

There were no more snide comments than usual.  It was only really Alex who seemed to think it was funny to poke at them, to make insinuations.  It had made Dante nervous at first, but as time went on, he just started to find it boring and to make that very clear to the obnoxious forward.

No one else seemed all that interested, either.  It wasn’t unusual for close friendships to form between teammates, and he and Cody just made sense, since they had to spend so much time together.  No one else seemed to think it was worth talking about.

Maybe it was just that they thought it was none of their business, which, of course, it wasn’t.

Regardless, it seemed like he and Cody hadn’t suddenly developed neon signs over their heads telling everyone they were together, and life continued on in much the same way as it had since before the beginning of the season.

Except that Cody was his.  He didn’t have to tell anyone else for it to be true.  He knew it, and Cody knew it, and very little else even mattered.

Cody and the rest of the team won the other game while they were away, and that brought the team up to a three game winning streak.  The atmosphere in the locker room was undoubtedly euphoric, though there was still a long season ahead of them.

Basically, things were just about as perfect as they possibly could be.  Dante was healing, and until he did, the team was in good hands goalie wise.  More importantly, even, he was with someone that he was really crazy about, and the energy of their new relationship made Dante feel like he was floating a lot of the time.

Even through all of that, though, it was like Dante was braced for the other shoe to fall.  Like he knew, like he could somehow tell, that things weren’t going to be this perfect forever.

There was no reason that he and Cody couldn’t keep this a secret forever.  Surely other sports stars had?  Statistically, it seemed likely.  There were bound to be gay hockey players out there, and Dante knew from experience that hockey players tended to have libidos that would make them unsuited to be celibate.

So there was nothing to worry about, probably, only Dante found that he couldn’t quite seem to stop himself.

Chapter Eleven

Cody

“So is it true?”  Alex asked.  They were in the locker room after a practice, finally back at home, and Cody was counting the days until Dante was back here with him.  Not that he didn’t like being the starting goalie, because he did.

He just wanted his damn boyfriend back.

“Is what true?” Cody asked warily.  He liked Alex, more or less, but the man was a brat, no doubt about it.  Mouthy and opinionated and pretty high on his own importance, he could be a difficult man to be around.

Alex smirked and showed Cody an article in the newspaper that he had up on his phone.  Cody rolled his eyes when he saw it.  Just one more bullshit piece about how he and Dante were constantly fighting, how they could barely stand to be around each other.  How they were basically scrapping it out for the starter position.

There was a bunch in there too about how Cody had led the team to a winning streak, which was just completely crap.  Cody was a team player, and he knew very well that no goalie could do it alone.

“You’re an idiot,” Cody said, which were pretty strong words, coming from him.  People were watching, clearly wondering the same things that Alex was.  “Of course it’s not true.”

“Pretty defensive,” Alex said, unfazed by the hostility Cody was sending out.  “So you’re not fighting.  He’s going to come back and you’re just meekly going to hand over the starter position again.”

Cody sighed.  It hadn’t been so long ago that Alex had seemed suspicious about whether he and Dante were together or not.  Now, because of some stupid newspaper articles, the man was acting like he and Dante might bite each other’s heads off or something.  It was ridiculous.

“That’s right,” Cody said quietly.  “I’m his backup, remember?”

That got everyone else off his back, and they started to trickle out, one by one.  Eventually, it was just him and Alex, who was looking at him thoughtfully.

The logical thing to do was to ignore it, and that’s what Cody did.  He packed up his gear and headed for the door, but Alex had positioned himself right by the exit, so that Cody had to brush past him to leave.

Alex looked like he wanted to say something, but when Cody looked at him expectantly, the other man didn’t say anything at all.  He just smirked and gave Cody a look that was pretty damn close to a leer, one that made him feel like Alex knew all about him.

But the man said nothing, so Cody murmured, “Excuse me,” very politely, then made his way outside.

By the time he got there, he was trembling, and he wasn’t quite sure why.

* * *

“They just won’t stop,” Cody said, pacing around the room, aware that he was being tracked in every movement by Dante, who looked both amused and irritated at the same time.  Not at him, Cody sensed, but by the situation.

“I know.  I get it too,” Dante said, and his voice was much calmer than Cody thought it had any right to be.  “The interviews, the phone calls.  Lots of people telling me to just step aside and let you take over.”

Cody stopped in his tracks, turning to look at his lover.  A surge of anger went through him, not an emotion that he was all that used to experiencing, and all the more intense for all that.

“People are saying that?” he asked, staring at Dante in disbelief.  It wasn’t true.  It couldn’t be.

Dante was ten times the goalie Cody was, and everyone else should know that, too.

“Yes.  I’m too old and broken, or something like that.”  Dante still sounded calm, but there was a flash of temper in his dark eyes that showed that it was all getting to him.

It wasn’t fair.

“You should be resting, not dealing with this,” Cody said, and he went to sit down beside Dante, taking his hand in his.  They linked their fingers together, and for just that one second, Cody felt like he could be at peace.

“We both know that the media has to have their story,” Dante said quietly.  And that was what it came down to.  The media had to have their story, and it didn’t much matter what the truth was.

* * *

Surely, Cody thought, it would get better once Dante was back.  Once people saw that Dante was still the starter, the rumors would die down.

Wouldn’t they?

Cody had been taking Dante to his physio appointments, when he could.  It just so happened that Dante had one while Cody was in practice, which led to some teasing by Alex when Cody showed up without Dante.  Dante had been watching, when he could.

Not that day, though.  It was expected that Dante would be cleared to come back for the next game, based on his progress to this point.  They would take x-rays, make sure he was all healed up, and then this whole thing would be over and Cody could go back to being backup.

It was a relief, though he’d liked starting.  Someday, when it was his turn, when the time was right, he would be a starter.  Still, Dante coming back was bittersweet, though far more sweet than bitter.

But Cody was only human, and he’d had a taste of what it was like to have the adoration of the fans and the gratitude of his team.

Later on, he would hate himself for those thoughts.  Later on, he would wonder if he had somehow caused what happened.

Once that phone call came, it changed everything.

* * *

The really horrible thing was that he missed the original phone call because he was in practice.  It wasn’t until about half an hour after he was off the ice that he checked his phone and saw the missed call from Dante’s number.

A shiver of misgiving went through him when he looked at it.  Dante wouldn’t usually call him.  He’d text, maybe, but more often, he would just wait until they were together again, because it was never long.

Already nervous, he called the number back, and it barely rung at all before it was answered.

“Dante, what’s going on?” Cody asked, trying to tell himself that there was nothing to panic about.  That his nerves were just getting the better of him.

But then that was pretty much all thrown out the window when the voice that came through the phone wasn’t Dante’s.

“Mr Taylor?”

Cody frowned.  No one called him that.  But it was his name, and he managed to choke out an affirmative that made the woman’s voice on the other side of the phone continue on.

“Your friend asked me to answer the phone in case you called back.  My name is Laura.  I’m a nurse at the hospital.”

Cody frowned.  A nurse?  He must have made some sort of affirming noise, though, because the woman continued.

“I think it would be best if you came to the hospital.  There’s not a lot I can say over the phone, because of confidentiality issues.”  She sounded worried, and added, “I’ve probably already gone too far, but your friend can be pretty persuasive.”

Well, it was nothing more than the truth.  Cody would have been amused by the comment, if not for the fact that he was suddenly having problems breathing.  It was starting to sink in that Dante was in the hospital.  Again.  Only a week after the last time he’d been there.

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Cody promised, and even though it involved breaking every speeding law in the city, he made it in more like ten.

* * *

A very short time later, Cody was standing outside Dante’s hospital room.  It was after visiting hours, but no one so far had given much of a damn about that.  Indeed, a short, pretty blonde woman with a businesslike demeanor walked up to him as he stood there, giving him a small, but sincere and very comforting, smile.

“Are you Laura?”  Cody was surprised by how normal his own voice sounded.  A simple request for information, when his world felt like it was falling apart.

“Yes,” the woman said, and her tone was brisk and no nonsense, but there was compassion in her eyes.  “I wanted to come warn you before you see him.  He looks quite a bit worse than he is.”

Well.  That was ominous.  Cody stared at her, trying to fight down utter terror.  He wanted to know, he needed to know, but at the same time, he had never been more scared to know anything in his life.

“What happened?” he whispered, but Laura shook her head.  It was like she knew he was stalling.  He wanted to see Dante, but he was also horrified by the idea, just because he had no idea what to expect, other than that it was bad.

“I think it’s better if your boyfriend tells you,” she said calmly.  Cody winced, though, like he’d been slapped.  She didn’t sound like she was making a homophobic slur, he realized, but old habits died hard, and in his world, when it was suggested a man had a boyfriend, it was not a good thing.

“He’s not my …”  Cody’s denial was automatic.  But the woman just gave him a stern look, and that shut him down completely.

“Do you really think that I’m going to say anything to hurt either of you?” she said quietly.  “Yes, I know who you both are, and I know the sort of bullshit that you guys must have to deal with.  I see the results of it all the time.”

Cody blinked, surprised by the force of her tone.  But slowly, he nodded, and stopped protesting.

Once the fear died down, it was actually sort of nice to have the relationship acknowledged, and not in a offensive, abrasive way.  Just like he was a concerned man rushing to his boyfriend’s side, which was exactly what he was.

It would be pretty sweet, he realized, if he could do this all the time.  But that was a pipe dream.  So he just nodded to the woman and finally found the courage to push open the door and look inside.

The moment he did, he was very glad that he’d run into Laura.  That he’d had her assurance that it wasn’t as bad as it looked.  Because it looked pretty damn bad, as it turned out.

It seemed like there was dried blood everywhere, though it was obvious that Dante had been cleaned up a little.  The parts of his body he could see around the clean white sheet were bruised, too, and he had a black eye and a split lip.

Cody rushed to the bed, horrified.

“What happened to you?”

Dante’s reply was brief, filled with pain, and despite the words, not accusatory.  Just really sad.

“Your fans did.”

The story came out then, and Laura knew her stuff, Cody had to admit.  She had refused to tell him because it was best if Dante did.  It was not a long story.  Some drunk guys, a group of them, had jumped Dante after his physio appointment.  They’d wanted to keep him from coming back, perhaps ever.

It was sick, Cody mused to himself, as Dante talked.  The lengths people would go to for sports.  To the point of attacking a man who was already known to be wounded.

Of course, it was only a few nutjobs who had done it.  And they had been stopped before too much damage had been done.  Still, Cody found himself crying as Dante recounted what had happened, and he couldn’t help but feel like it was his fault, on some level, even though he knew that was ridiculous.

Crying wasn’t something that men in sports were encouraged to do, but Dante didn’t comment.  He just pulled him into bed with him, wrapping his arms around him and holding him close.

“I love you,” he said quietly, and somehow, at least for that moment, it was enough.

Chapter Twelve

Dante

This hospital stay was quite a bit more pleasant than the last one.  The reason for that was simple.  The adorable, pretty redhead who had fallen asleep in his arms made all the difference.

The whole thing had been horrible, other than that.  Dante was no stranger to pain.  It was a regular part of a goalie’s life, just part of having bits of hard rubber flung at you at high velocities.  But being physically attacked, that was sort of new to him.

And for such a dumb reason.  Because of a rivalry that didn’t even exist.  What would happen next, if this kept going?  Would Dante’s fans, some of them, get as rabid as Cody’s and attack his lover next?

Where would it end?

It was ridiculous, and it was time for it to end.  He and Cody were both pretty big deals now.  There had to be something they could do to to keep this from happening again, to derail the whole thing, and as soon as Cody woke up, he would talk to him about it.

With that decision made, he had unwound enough that he could finally fall asleep, despite his many aches and pains.  He only woke up when he felt Cody’s weight leave the bed.

“Hey,” Cody said, looking guilty.  “Sorry for waking you up.”

Dante blinked sleep from his eyes, propping himself up in bed.

“It’s okay.  I need to … when you have a second, there’s some stuff I think we should discuss.”  Dante tried to keep his voice calm, though he was nervous about that conversation.

Cody glanced at his phone, then looked at Dante again, his face conflicted.

“I already overslept.  Can it wait?” Cody asked, and Dante sighed and nodded.  Right.  Cody would have practice this morning.  Dante knew how devoted Cody was to his work, so he nodded.

“Yeah, it can wait.  Go knock ‘em dead,” Dante said, and Cody gave him a brief kiss on the cheek, and then he was gone.

* * *

Just to be safe, the hospital staff had wanted to keep him long enough to completely rule out any head trauma.  Which meant Dante was stuck in the hospital for at least one more night.

It was boring.  There was nothing on the television, and he shut it off after trying to get interested in something, anything.  His phone was only moderately more entertaining, and didn’t last much longer.

Sort of funny, really, that he was far less injured than he had been when he’d sprained his knee, and yet they were treated it more seriously.  Though with all of the stories coming out about how terrible concussions were, he supposed he couldn’t blame the hospital for wanting to be careful.

Eventually, Dante dozed again, and only woke when he felt someone’s presence by his bed.  He couldn’t help but smile as he opened his eyes.  It had to be Cody, didn’t it?  Finally back from practice?

When his eyes opened, though, he saw not Dante, but Alex.  Alex, with his big, dark eyes, that sardonic smirk firmly on his full lips, gazing down at him like he was just considering what sort of prank to play on him.

Still, it was nice to have a visitor, he supposed.  He opened his mouth to greet him, but Alex spoke before he could, cutting him off.

“I only figured it out for sure today,” Alex said, sitting down beside Dante’s bed without waiting to be invited to do so.  “When I saw how shitty Cody looked at practice.”

Dante frowned.  He didn’t want Cody to be worried about him.  Honestly, there was nothing to even worry about, not in the hospital.  The security was too good.

“What are you even talking about?” Dante asked, baffled.  “What did you figure out today?”

Alex smirked.

“That you and the new kid are screwing,” he said crudely.  He smirked when he saw Dante’s hands curl into fists in the blankets.  “It’s pretty obvious.  What isn’t obvious is why you’d go for him?  There’s hotter people.”

Dante stared, trying to figure out just what to say about that.  He hadn’t expected that sort of comment.  If people did suspect, well, he sort of expected that they’d keep it to themselves.

“I mean, I know he’s got a thing.  He’s adorable.  But you’re more than that.  You’re, well, you’re hot as hell.  So what’s going on with that, Dante?”

Dante frowned, and it slowly dawned on him that he was being hit on.  In a highly offensive, disrespectful kind of way, maybe, but he was almost sure of it.

“Like who, exactly?” Dante asked carefully.  “Because whoever it is would have to be pretty incredible.”  Which was ridiculous, honestly.  No one else would even have a chance with him.  Not when he was already in love.

“Like me,” Alex finally was blunt, and he reached over to stroke over Dante’s face.  Not gently, either, but possessively.  “I mean, you can’t be that into him, right?  Not if you’re so ashamed that you’re hiding him so well.  I could make you so into me that everyone would be able to know just by looking at you.”

Dante frowned, pulling his head away from that touch, his eyes narrowing.

“Okay, well, but there’s a few problems with that,” Dante said quietly.  “First off, there’s no way in hell that would ever happen.  Whether I’m with Cody or not, there’s not a chance.  Besides, aren’t you married?”

Alex shrugged.

“She doesn’t give a shit what I do when I’m at work.  As long as she can spend my money.”  Alex didn’t even sound bitter about it, and maybe that was the saddest thing about this.

“What you’re trying to get from me isn’t going to help you,” Dante said quietly.  “You know it, deep down.  You just want something to rebel against your wife about. I don’t know why.  I have my guesses, but I don’t know.”

Dante looked at Alex, who just looked back, his dark eyes flat and shiny and his face expressionless.

“I’m pretty sure you’re gonna be sorry that you turned me down,” the other man said, and then he turned sharply on his heel and left the room.

Just what that meant, Dante didn’t know.  He wasn’t sure that he cared to know, either.  Hopefully it was just him being a blowhard, but the truth was, the man could do an awful lot of damage.

Hell, all he had to do was grant an exclusive interview with the same reporter who had caused all the trouble in the first place.

Was he that petty?  Dante didn’t know.  This whole thing had come at him right out of nowhere.  He’d had no idea that Alex had a thing for him, if he even did.  Wasn’t it possible that he just had gotten jealous because other people might be happy when he couldn’t be?

His guess was that Alex was gay, or close to it.  Not really interested in the woman he’d married as a trophy wife.  Not that he knew, but from the way Alex acted, it seemed pretty likely.

Well, it was abhorrent.  Unacceptable. Even if Dante hadn’t been in love, he never would have considered it.  Loyalty was big to him.

“Ugh,” he commented.  And that pretty much seemed to sum the whole situation up.

Where was Cody?

* * *

It was another half hour or so until his boyfriend managed to make it there, and Dante was starting to get pretty worried.  Not that he really thought anything could happen to him, but what if it did?

“Sorry,” Cody apologized as he bustled into the room, pale skin chilly.  It must have gotten cold outside.  Fall was over, and winter was there.  “I got sent on a wild goose chase.”

Dante frowned.

“By Alex, by any chance?” he guessed shrewdly, and Cody’s eyes widened with surprise.

“How did you know?” he asked, and Dante sighed softly as he tugged Cody close to him to give him a brief, careful kiss before he answered.

“Because he came to see me.”

The full story didn’t take long to tell, but by the time he had, Dante saw something that he never would have thought to see in his lover’s eyes.  Anger.  No.  It was more than anger, it was fury.

If Dante had ever doubted that Cody cared about him, he wouldn’t have any more after seeing that.

“So that’s why he sent me off,” Cody hissed.  “So that he could hit on you.  Try to steal you.  That’s messed up.”

Dante sighed, because it was worse than that, and Cody needed to know.  He was involved, too.

“He knows about us.  He guessed, anyway.  And he told me that I’d regret it for choosing you over him.  I think he might do something.”

Cody went paler even than normal, and then shook his head violently.  Dante understood.  He understood completely.  And for poor Cody, who was at the beginning of his career, only starting to realize his potential, it was an even bigger deal than it was for Dante.

“I had an idea,” Dante admitted.  “It’s not enough, maybe, but it’s a start.”  He’d had a lot of time to think about it while he was waiting for Cody, and he was pretty sure that the idea had merit.

Cody arched an eyebrow, and Dante took a deep breath and then started to talk.

“One of the problems is that people think you and I are at war with each other.  That’s why they attacked me.  They thought they were being loyal to you.”  Cody nodded, and Dante kept going.  “So what if we did a joint interview where we talked about how we were going to share the starter position from now on?”

It was a big sacrifice for him.  He didn’t know of a single other goalie, or hockey player in general, who would willingly share ice time.  On the other hand, he knew Cody deserved it, and it seemed to him to be the only way to make things work.

“But it’s not really up to us who the starter is,” Cody pointed out.  “The coach determines that.”  Dante could tell that Cody was intrigued, though, so he pressed on.

“Yeah, but we both know that it’s the ego of the starter goalie that’s the biggest issue.  If we both went to him and said this is what we want, I bet he’d go for it.”  He paused and took a deep breath.  “If not, I’ll start making it clear that I’m unhappy with this team and that I want to be traded.”

Again, it was something that was generally up to the coach, or the general manager.  On the other hand, when a high level player wanted to be traded, when they weren’t going to play their best for the team anymore, they were generally traded.  It just made sense.

“Dante!  You can’t!”  Cody looked horrified, and Dante reached out and took his hand, squeezing it lovingly.

“I can and I will if it comes to it.  But I don’t think it will,” he assured his boyfriend.  “Look at it this way.  I was attacked and hurt because of this crap.  It would be incredibly bad PR if they didn’t accommodate me on this one.”

Cody nodded slowly, then raised Dante’s hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the skin there.  It felt nice, and Dante smiled at him.

“It’s good.  It could work.  I mean, it takes care of that problem, at least.  But there’s more than just that problem to think of.”

Dante sighed.  Cody was right, but what could they do about Alex?

Chapter Thirteen

Cody

Cody’s heart hammered in his chest.  He was sure that he was going to pass out or something.  He felt a little dizzy, and no one had to tell him that what he was contemplating crossing a pretty major line.

Maybe in other times and places, it wasn’t even a line that needed to be crossed.  But Alex could hold this over their heads, and Cody didn’t want to act like he was ashamed of who he was.  Not anymore.  He’d done that enough in his life.

Once more, he crawled into bed with Dante and wrapped his arms around him.  Only this time, it wasn’t the middle of the night, and that was a huge difference.  Let someone walk in.

Dante gave a surprised little murmur, but he didn’t seem displeased.  His big, strong arms wrapped around Cody, and he felt safe.  It was ridiculous, given all that had happened, but he did.

“Someone might see,” Dante pointed out, but he didn’t pull away for even a second.

“Let them,” Cody said, feeling reckless.  “People know anyway.  We might as well do this on our terms.”

Dante was silent, and Cody frowned, wondering if he’d gone too far.  Just because Cody was willing to do this, didn’t mean that Dante was.  Dante had a career to think about, too.

“Unless you’re worried about it,” Cody finished, hating how his voice came out as a little bit plaintive.  “I just thought, you know, we couldn’t really hide to well if someone already knows.”

Dante shook his head.

“No.  It’s exactly what I want,” he said quietly.  “But I think I’m being selfish.  I know what hockey means to you, love.”  Cody couldn’t help but shiver in delight at that.  Love.  Such a casual term of endearment but it meant so much to him to hear it.  “I know how hard you’ve worked.”

Cody shrugged.

“Yeah, you do, because you did, too.  But you know what?  It’s not just Alex who knew.  Laura, the nurse you gave your phone to so that I would know what was going on?  She knew, too.  She guessed, just by how I acted.”  Cody bit his lower lip, looking into Dante’s handsome face.  “It’s not like we’re hiding it all that well, anyway.”

Dante was quiet for a moment, and then he sighed softly and rubbed at his eyes, though he kept one arm around Cody at all times, which was comforting.

“So what are you suggesting, then?” he asked, and Cody breathed deeply, trying to keep himself calm.  It was going to be difficult to even talk about this, he knew.  After how long he’d been taught, how long he’d been regulated, all to keep him from doing exactly what he wanted to do now, it was no doubt going to be a challenge.

But it was also what needed to be done, and he hoped Dante could see that, too.

“I want to come out.  I think it’s the only way to stop Alex from having this leverage over us.”  He frowned, and then added, “Or anyone else that finds out.  Because it seems to me that a secret doesn’t just get a little bit leaked.  Even if Alex never tells …”

Dante nodded.

“Yeah, I agree,” he said unexpectedly.  “It would be better to do it on our own terms.”

Cody nodded with relief.  That was exactly what he’d been trying to say, and Dante summed it up so perfectly.

“So, are you really okay with this?” Cody asked, after the silence between them had stretched on for a good few minutes.  Cody was surprised by how free he felt, even just talking about coming out.  No matter what happened, it would be a huge relief.

“Yeah, I am,” Dante said quietly.  “And not just because it’s the only smart thing to do, either.  I’m okay with coming out with you because I love you, and it’s the only way we can openly be together.  Sure, not wanting to be caught in a lie has something to do with it, but I’d do it anyway.”

Cody wasn’t a big crier, really, he wasn’t.  But something about how damn sweet and romantic Dante could be could always get to him, and he felt tears prick at his eyes as he gazed at his lover.  At his boyfriend, who was soon to not be a secret anymore.  Honestly, that day couldn’t come soon enough.

“I always thought that I could never do this.  That I could never ruin my career,” Cody said thoughtfully.  “But I guess if it’s going to be ruined, it’ll be ruined.  I may as well go out with dignity.”

Dante smiled a bit, and his fingers slid over Cody’s face, as though he were mapping it out, so that he could remember him no matter what.  They were going into a dangerous situation, and they both knew it.

There was another long silence, and in it, Cody saw Dante starting to fall asleep.  No doubt he was tired.  He had a lot of healing to do.  Well, it wasn’t the most comfortable bed that Cody had ever slept in, but Cody had no intention of leaving.

Just when Cody was settling down himself, Dante spoke again.

“When do you want to do it?” he asked, and Cody frowned a little. Even just deciding on it was a big step, couldn’t he take a few more days to set a date?

Only he knew he couldn’t.  Realistically speaking, it was doubtful that Alex would give them the time.  There was just no way to know.  So he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, making his voice be calm and even when he replied.

“When you get out of the hospital.  After we talk to the coach.”  Cody looked at Dante’s relaxed face, still so bruised up.  It might be good for people to see him that way.  To see that some assholes had hurt him.

“Okay,” Dante agreed, and then he drifted off to sleep, while Cody sat up most of the night worrying.

They were doing the right thing, but there was so much that he could be giving up.  It was terrifying.

When the time came, he had to wonder if he’d be able to make himself say the words.

Chapter Fourteen

Dante

The next day, Dante was released.  Cody was there the whole time, which was nice, but the younger man was strangely quiet as they left the hospital, and Dante thought that he probably didn’t need to ask why.

This was a big deal for both of them.  Dante sort of thought that it was a bigger deal to Cody, though, since Dante had already had a successful career.  Besides, he was older, and he’d seen more, enough to notice that things generally did tend to turn out all right most of the time.  Even when they didn’t, well, Dante had survived every single bad day he’d had.

So maybe he was a little bit more fatalistic about the whole thing.  Whatever was meant to happen would happen.  If they lost their jobs because of this, well, first off, they could sue the NHL for everything they had, but also, they would just survive.

Cody didn’t seem to have enough separation to think that way.  Maybe it was an age thing, maybe temperament, but regardless of the reason, this was hard on his young lover and he knew it.

Laura, the nurse that he had, in his desperation, entrusted with his phone to try to contact Cody, was there when he was released.  She handed it back to him, along with a few words of advice.

“Please try to keep yourself out of trouble, Mr Morella,” she said dryly.  “I’m not trying to say I don’t enjoy your company, but I think it’s time you start spending some time outside the hospital.”

Dante laughed.  He couldn’t help it.  He nodded and accepted the phone back from her.

“I’ll do my best,” he said, but he didn’t mean it.  He was in a city, he realized, that had attacked him simply because he wasn’t their preferred hockey player.  Would those same people be equally, or more, offended by the fact that he was interested in another man?

Cody was quiet through the whole conversation, and Laura looked at Dante with an unmistakable what’s-with-him expression on her face.  He shrugged.  It was too complicated to go into, and it wasn’t like he actually knew this woman all that well.

Still, he somehow felt like she was on his side, and that was comforting.

* * *

The first thing they did, at least after Dante had a shower in his own house for once and had put on clean clothes, was to go see the coach.  For their hastily thrown together plan to work, they were going to have to get permission from him.

Honestly, despite his bravado the previous night, Dante had no idea how this would go.  He had never voluntarily stepped back and allowed another goalie to join him at the top.

Then again, he’d never been in love with one of his backup goalies before, so there was that.

Outside of the other man’s office, Dante turned to look at Cody, taking in how pale the younger man was.  Even more so than usual.  Unless Dante was very much mistaken, Cody was shaking a little, too, and Dante sighed softly.

“We don’t have to do this, you know,” he said quietly. 

“Yeah, we kind of do,” Cody replied.  “Or who knows what it will be next?  Maybe someone will go after you, or me, but they’ll have a knife next time.  Or a gun.”  The young man even managed a shaky grin.  “Besides, it’s not this part that’s a problem for me.  This is a dream come true.  I get to be a starter in the NHL and not take it away from you.”

Dante nodded, but then he reached out and took Cody’s hand.  The younger man flinched, looking around like he was terrified someone might see, and he doubtless was.

“I wasn’t really talking about this part,” he said, and he released his hand before the poor kid had a heart attack.  “The next part.  Where we have our press conference.  Where we stop hiding.”  Dante sighed softly.  “We don’t have to do it.  We don’t have to do anything.”

Cody paused, and there was a look of undoubted relief on his face.  He pushed it away, but Dante saw it, and he wasn’t going to pretend that it didn’t hurt. 

“Do I have to make the decision right now?” Cody asked, his voice just a little bit plaintive.  “Can’t I decide later?”

Dante sighed, then turned away from him.

“Yeah, of course you can,” he replied.  There were other things he could say, but they were things that they both knew.  That Alex had information that could reveal the truth to the world.  That if Alex had figured it out, other people might, too.

That secrets really did seem to have a way of coming out.

But Cody knew all of that, so Dante turned away from him to let him think about it, then opened the door after knocking politely to go in and talk to their coach.

This, at least, Dante knew they were on the same page about.

* * *

“I don’t think it’s ever been done before,” the coach said, staring at them both like they’d lost their minds.  And maybe they had.  But Dante was in this now.  “There would be no momentum built up if we do what you’re suggesting.  Neither of you could really get going.”

Dante shook his head.

“Not true, coach,” he said, “Because what would actually happen is that neither of us would get as tired.  We’d play better, be less stressed out.  There would be fewer mistakes.”

“It’s never been done before,” the coach repeated.  It was like he was stuck on that one point, like he couldn’t quite get past it, even if he could understand the logic in what Dante was saying.  “At least not that I know of.”

Cody had been pretty quiet beside them, but suddenly, he spoke up, and in a voice far more forceful than his usual calm, laid back sort of approach.

“Well, what’s going to happen if we don’t?  You’ll have one or the other of us in and out of hospitals, that’s what will happen.  Look at him.  He’s already been attacked, by people who said they were my fans.  How long until his fans fight back?”

The coach frowned, and for the first time, he looked Dante over.  Doubtless he noted all of the many bruises, his black eye, his split lip.

“The damage was mostly cosmetic.  This time.”  Dante looked at him, refusing to let the other man look away.  “What about next time?  Will it be a more serious injury?  Is that going to be good for the team?”

“I could just trade one of you away,” the coach said, and Dante shook his head, impatient.  It was almost like he was trying to have a serious conversation with a particularly hard brick wall.

“Sure.  But which one?  We both have no trade clauses, for one thing, and I don’t know how willing I would be to waive mine.”  Dante sighed softly.  “Look, the season’s about half over, right?”  The coach nodded.  “And we’re just slightly out of playoff position as it stands right now.”

Again, the coach nodded, but Dante didn’t actually need that confirmation.  He kept his eyes firmly on the standings, just like every hockey player or serious fan that he knew.

“So give us this shot.  Cody and I will both play better, and you’ll have a real chance at winning.  Besides, you’ll get to look innovative if it works out.  If it doesn’t, you can just tell them I pulled a prima donna temper tantrum and blame it on me.”

The coach sighed softly, and then nodded again.

“Okay.  For the rest of the season, we’ll try it your way.  If we don’t make it to at least the second round of the playoffs, though, I want your agreement that one of you will waive your no trade clause.”

Dante looked at Cody.  That seemed fair enough to him.  There were still so many games left to play in the season, after all, and if they couldn’t make it work in that time, then maybe it just wasn’t possible.

He saw that Cody looked equally determined, so he took a deep breath and nodded.

“If we don’t make it, I’ll waive that clause,” Dante said.  It wasn’t something that he wanted to do.  He was quite happy playing where he was.  Not just because Cody was here, either.  He generally liked the city, liked the fans, liked the other guys he played with.

But some sacrifices were worth being made.

* * *

With the coach on their side, there was only one thing left to do, and that was to call the press conference.  An important part of their plan was letting the fans know that there was no reason to attack either of them any more.  That they were on the same side, and that they were both starters.  This whole thing would be sort of pointless without that step.

“Will it even help?” Cody burst out later that day, while they were making dinner.  The press conference was set for the next day, and they were both on edge about it.  Cody more than Dante, maybe, but they were both feeling it.

“I don’t know,” Dante admitted.  “I think there’s probably some hardcore people on both sides who wouldn’t be convinced no matter what.”

What he didn’t do, somehow, was beg Cody to tell him if the other part of their plan was going to happen tomorrow.  He’d given Cody whatever time he needed to figure it out, and he wasn’t going to go back on that.  Dante personally felt like time was running out, but he refused to force Cody into anything, especially anything as personal as coming out.

So he kept his mouth shut.  Cody would let him know if it was happening.  Otherwise, Dante would stick to talking about the sports stuff.  Whatever happened, would happen.

Dante just kept repeating those words to himself.  Whatever happened, would happen.

“But it’s got to be better than just doing nothing,” Cody muttered to himself, his bright blue eyes haunted as he gazed down at the vegetables he was supposed to be chopping for the salad that was going with their dinner.  “I don’t want you to get hurt again.”

Dante laughed softly, then pulled Cody into his arms.  There in the privacy of the house that was technically his but which in reality belonged to both of them, he felt safe kissing him firmly, trying to drive those shadows in his lover’s eyes away.

“Yeah.  It’s got to be better than doing nothing,” he said, looking at Cody, his hands intimately in the small of his back.  He kissed him again, then pulled away to check on the pasta sauce he was making.

After a few seconds, Cody went back to chopping the veggies.  When Dante looked at him, he was glad to see that the young man looked a bit less distracted, though those shadows that he wanted gone hadn’t all vanished.  They’d maybe retreated a little, that was all.

In that moment, Dante realized that Cody was never going to want to come back.  He’d been told it was wrong for too long, and he’d internalized it.  This thing they were doing, they would have to try to hide it until it came out on its own.

Sighing softly, Dante shook his head.

At least Cody was willing to be with him.  He should think about that, because anything else was just too damn depressing.

Chapter Fifteen

Cody

He absolutely had to do it.  There was really no choice in the matter.  Or, alternatively, there was no way in hell he could do it.  What would his family think?  His fans?  The other guys on the team?

Back and forth, back and forth, Cody’s thoughts raced.  He couldn’t do it, but he had to.  He couldn’t.  But Alex knew and could reveal their secrets at any time.

Maybe it would be better to have it forced on him like that, though.

Cody couldn’t figure it out.  He tried, right up to the moment when they were about to go out and face the reporters who were waiting for them, clearly wondering what they would say.

Surely, they all knew that Dante had been attacked.  Something like that couldn’t be kept a secret for very long.  Surely, they were wondering just what Dante and Cody were going to say.

In all honestly, Cody was sort of wondering that himself.

Dante had been as good as his word.  He’d told Cody that he would give him time, and he had.  Even when Dante looked at him with that worried look on his face, he didn’t ever say anything.

It proved, if Cody had had any doubt, what kind of man Dante was.  Devoted, loyal, willing to risk everything for love.  Dante had started off from a very similar place as Cody, only he’d had years more to internalize the messages that were messing Cody up so much.

The question was, then, what sort of man was Cody?

“Ready?” Dante asked, and Cody shook his head frantically.  No.  God no.  He wasn’t ready.  He was on the edge of panic, and he had to make a decision now.  Or that was how it felt.

He knew all the arguments, on both sides.  What he wasn’t sure, suddenly, was how he felt.  He looked up into Dante’s big, worried brown eyes, though, and let himself get lost in them.  Just for a second.

“They’re waiting,” the coach said, his voice impatient.  None of this made any sense to the man, and he wasn’t sure why they weren’t on stage yet.  Cody could sympathize, a little, but that didn’t make him ready to go out there yet.

“They can keep waiting,” Dante said, his voice uncompromising.  Cody smiled a little.  Dante was so protective.  Cody wasn’t sure he’d ever been treated like that before, and he liked it.

It was like Dante wouldn’t let anything happen to him if there were any way to avoid it.  Looking into those dark eyes, everything suddenly became clear.

“Let’s do it,” Cody whispered. 

Dante’s face visibly brightened, and Cody reached out and took the older man’s hand, squeezing it tightly.  It was an intimate thing to do, and there were other people in the room, but somehow, it didn’t seem to matter.

“Yeah?  I honestly do think that makes the most sense,” Dante said, his voice quiet, but fervent.  “Alex …”

Cody shook his head impatiently.  That was just an excuse, and he was beyond needing that.

“No.  It’s not about him.  I don’t want to hide anymore.”  Cody smiled at him, amused by his shocked expression, and then kept his grip on Dante’s hand as he turned to go through the door that would lead them to the crowds of reporters.  “Let’s do this.”

* * *

In the end, they didn’t even need to make an announcement out loud.  Not about the fact that they were together.  They simply stuck to announcing that, with the support of their coach, they would be sharing starting goalie duties for as long as it worked out.

Of course, they did it while holding hands the whole time, and while athletes could be pretty affectionate with each other, they didn’t usually do something quite that intimate.

More than that, though, Cody didn’t try to hide the affection that he felt for his lover.  It had become second nature to hide, to cover it, to act like Dante was nothing more than a close friend.

With more ease than he would have thought possible, Cody let that act slip, and he knew that he would never take that act up again.  For better or worse, his secret was out, and the relief he felt was unlike anything he’d even imagined.

The worst was out, and it turned out that it wasn’t bad at all.

The conference was brief.  Soon enough, they were turning to leave, only to be stopped by one reporter who was on her feet, her face filled with surprise.

“Are you two fags or something?” she snapped, and her voice was peevish, but it was also familiar.  Becca.  They one who had reported that they were rivals.

She must feel pretty stupid now, and Cody gave her a sweet smile.

“What a horrible word to use,” he said, and then he let Dante sweep him away.  Their actions, he thought, spoke for themselves, and if anyone was too stupid to figure it out …

The coach looked at them and shook his head, but turned away without saying anything.  Maybe that would come later.  Maybe they’d both be released from their contracts, though Cody realized now that he wasn’t panicking that there would be grounds for a pretty hefty lawsuit.

“We did it,” Cody whispered, and then, right then and there, for the first time not caring about who was around, he threw his arms around Dante’s shoulders and kissed him.  It was so incredibly freeing that he had to do it again.

It didn’t matter that their coach was there.  Or that there was a room full of rabid reporters just a room away.  Or that anyone could walk by.  He wanted to kiss Dante, so he did.

And the really amazing thing was that Dante kissed him back.  His gorgeous, handsome, strong, talented lover held him tight and time ceased to matter as they kissed.

It seemed dreams really could come true.

Epilogue

Dante

It worked.

From that moment on, there were no more attacks on either Dante or Cody.  Sure, some people had their opinions about them, but they kept it to anonymously bitching about them on the internet, and Dante could handle that.

Not only that, but in sharing the starter goalie spot, both Cody and Dante had been less stressed, had fewer injuries, and they’d brought the team to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in ten years.

A lot of people pointed out how impractical it was for them to do that.  How neither goalie could get the momentum needed.  How egos would get in the way between the two goalies.  And maybe they were correct, but with Cody and Dante, it worked.

Very few could argue with the results.  Their coach had already allowed them to continue it on into the next season.  After all, that had been the deal, and Cody and Dante had more than lived up to it.

It had been a huge risk, based on little more than a hunch, and Dante knew it could have screwed him over pretty majorly.  He’d promised to allow himself to be traded, and while there were plenty of other teams that would happily take him, none of them would have Cody.

Dante looked over at his lover, smiling a little as he caught his eye.  They were in the locker room, and while the guys had been pretty accepting, in general, Dante and Cody had agreed not to push it.  To stay professional while they were at work.

It was the Stanley Cup final, and tensions were high.  Dante was playing, simply because Cody had played the last game.  There was no tension between them at all, because they just alternated.  They won far more than they lost that way.

Cody smiled back at him, and the rest of the team was polite enough to look away from the intimate look.  They couldn’t kiss, so this was something.

Well, the rest of the team was polite enough to look away.  Except for Alex, who had been rather irritable since halfway through the season.  Since Dante and Cody had taken away the ammunition that he had against them.

The thing was, the idiot hadn’t known when to quit.  He tried to out Dante and Cody, figuring, perhaps, that since they hadn’t actually said the words out loud, anyone would care.

It was old news, though, and his big announcement had largely gone unheeded.  Maybe Becca, the reporter who had largely gotten Dante beaten up, would have listened.  She, however, had been promptly fired after using the language that she had, and had disappeared from journalistic life completely.

Alex, meanwhile, was still on the team, and he glared daggers at Dante and Cody both.

“You’re making me sick,” he growled, and Cody turned to give Alex a very sweet smile that nevertheless had an edge to it, an edge that promised to be dangerous if pushed.

“So look away,” Dante suggested, and then stood up.  He was in his gear and stretched out, ready to go.  Ready to play the biggest game of his career, and utterly focused on that.  Alex’s homophobic hypocrisy was just not that interesting to him.

And maybe that was the best revenge of all.

“I love you,” Dante whispered very quietly in Cody’s ear, and then pulled away.  “Okay.  Let’s do this!”

* * *

In the middle of the third period, Dante’s team was down by one goal.  Dante had blocked shot after shot, but two had slipped in, while the other team’s goalie had only let one in.

It wasn’t that everyone wasn’t playing hard, because they were.  Everyone wanted this.  It wasn’t every year that a team could expect to come this close to winning the Stanley Cup, and for that few hours, everyone on the team was entirely focused on this goal.

It was just that the other team was in the exact same position.

Dante was exhausted.  He had good conditioning, but there was a lot of flailing going on from the rest of his team, including his defense.  He groaned as he blocked one more shot, falling on the puck, and then he was slow to get up.

He hurt.  But then he saw Cody looking at him, he saw the concern on the younger man’s face, and it gave him new strength.  Taking a deep breath, he threw himself back into the game.

With five seconds left, Alex scored, tying the game up and bringing them to overtime.

* * *

In the locker room, Dante turned to Cody, looking him over.  The young man was fresh and clean, while Dante was pouring sweat and felt like he might fall over at any time.

Of course, what would be expected was that he would go out and play anyway.  That was just how it was done.  Only that was stupid.  Cody wanted to play, and Dante wanted to win, and right then, in that situation, Cody was their best choice.

“You go out,” he told him.  He knew that would be a tall order for most goalies, to be put in cold, but not Cody.  He was amazingly talented.  He could do it.

“You sure?”  Cody wanted to do it, Dante could tell.  Who wouldn’t?  This was a huge chance.  Huge pressure, too, but Cody could take it.

“Yeah.”  Dante wasn’t sure what people would say, but it didn’t matter.  Let them say he was old and washed up.  It was still stupid to half kill himself when Cody was there, ready and willing and eager to help him.

* * *

They won.

Dante had expected the coach to throw a fit, but it was like he’d given up.  When he let Dante and Cody do things their way, things just seemed to go better, so he just sighed and nodded when it was proposed that Dante be pulled and Cody be put on.

Cody played like a dream.  There wasn’t a shot that was taken that he wasn’t right there to block it.  The rest of the team was still tired, but they rallied and it was before the halfway point of the overtime period that the tie breaking goal went through the other goalie’s legs and into the back of the net.

And the really amazing thing was that Dante wasn’t even jealous that it was Cody who had been in the net when that had happened.  He’d always been just as possessive as any other NHL goalie when it came to letting people in his net, but Cody was an exception, it seemed.

Best of all, when the team was celebrating, Dante knew there was nothing to hide.  So when he felt the urge to take Cody’s helmet off and kiss him right there on the ice, with God and the world watching, he could do it.

“We did it, baby,” Cody said, flushed and breathless after the long, passionate kiss.

Dante nodded.  Yes, they had done it.  Together. 

With his arm around his boyfriend, with the cheers of the crowd echoing in his ears, unable to get the grin off of his face, Dante skated off of the ice.

The End

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LoveLight Press is a small independent publisher specialising in LGBT Romance. Why not visit our website or join our mailing list to see our latest titles?

More from Riley Knight

Riley Knight is an avid reader and has always had a soft spot for gay romances.  What could be better than a sweet story between two beautiful men who need each other?  It only seemed logical for Riley to write these steamy, emotional romances, focusing on an emotional and happy ending.

When not reading or writing, Riley can be found wandering the landscape and loves to go for long walks and observe all sorts of people and situations.

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