“I thought it could be good. Cross is gonna be on crutches and in rehab for the ankle a long time. His shoulders were in knobby knots.” Rusty’s face heated at the mention of that weekend toScott, but he wasn’t ashamed of anything, and Cross said he could talk to Scott.
“Yeah, true. That’s not a bad idea.”
“Except there’s not an actual class within an hour of here.”
“Probably online ones.”
“Sure. Except they say practice with a partner.”
Scott dropped back onto his couch, stretching his bare feet out in front of him. “I won’t say no if you want to practice on me.”
Casey said, “Practice what?” as he came in the room. He picked up Scott’s legs, sat beside him, and put Scott’s feet in his lap, rubbing his ankles.
“Massage, Case. Just like that. Mmmm, ahh.”
“He can find someone else. Those porn sounds are mine.” Casey pinched Scott’s calf, making him yelp.
“I can get a massage without making porn sounds,” Scott said.
“Not from Rusty.”
“Jealous? Heisa lot younger and cuter than you.”
Casey scoffed. “Gonna pay for that tonight, Scotty.”
“Gonna make me?” They grinned at each other.
Rusty said, “You guys have an age gap, right? I mean, Scott was pretty young when you got together—”
“Unlike my ancient age of twenty-four now?” Scott quipped.
“Hush, boy.” Casey put a hand over Scott’s mouth. “The kid’s asking a serious question.” Then he added, “Yuck,” and wiped his licked palm on Scott’s shirt.
“I just wondered, like, how that worked.” Rusty eyed Casey. “Did you ever try to make him go hang out with younger guys his own age? Did it bother you?”
“Oh, he tried,” Scott said. “I was nineteen when we met. He was twenty-nine and had ten years in the Marines, all gruff and tough and growly. I practically had to stand on my head to make him notice me.”
“Noticing wasn’t the problem,” Casey muttered. He added to Rusty, “Yeah, the age gap bothered me. And the experience gap. Not just being ten years older but they’d been a rough ten years for me. I’d done tours overseas, and those put some wear and tear on a man.”
“He was hot as hell,” Scott said. “One look, and I knew I wanted him.”
“Whereas Scott was gorgeous but not my type. Fuck, he was drinking a soda in the bar I’d gone into to drown my sorrows in whiskey. Nothing about us made sense. I didn’t want to drag Scott down with my shit, and I didn’t think he could understand me, either. He wore me down.”
“Yep. Wouldn’t give up. Wouldn’t let him treat me like a kid. Made sure I was there for him, and I listened. Proved I could match him in bed too.” Scott grinned.
“I tried to push him away a dozen times.”
“Hundreds,” Scott stage-whispered behind his hand.
“He wouldn’t go. Like some kind of mosquito. Eventually I got used to him being around.” The way Casey’s hand curled around Scott’s ankle, his thumb rubbing the arch of Scott’s foot, gave his words the lie. “Is Cross trying to push you away, Rusty? I’d say,speaking from experience, that he probably wants you to keep coming back. Scott was cockier than you are, though.”
“Maybe I was actually better,” Scott quipped, then added, “Sorry. Just proving cockier hasn’t changed.”
“Probably true, at hockey anyway.” Rusty thought he had a shot at the NHL but he wasn’t going to be a generational talent like Scott. “Good thing Cross doesn’t just want me for my backchecking skills.”
“I had a hell of a lot more coaching than you,” Scott said. “High school’s nothing like juniors. You’ll be awesome in a few years.”
“Regardless,” Casey continued. “There’s a real gap between nineteen and twenty-nine, or thirty like Cross is. There’s gonna be times the disconnect catches you unaware. Or it’ll catch Cross and make him feel old or like he’s taking advantage.”
