“Let’s skip ahead to the part where you believe me.”
He blew out a breath. “Okay. I guess I would have...kissed you?”
“Would you have?”
He shook his head. “No. I would have waited for you to kiss me.”
“And when I did?”
“I would have liked it?”
Fabian pressed his lips together to keep from laughing. He would put role-playing on the list of things to work on with Ryan.
When the urge to laugh had passed, he kissed Ryan and said, “I would have liked it too.”
“Are we still going on this date, or should we just stay in?”
Fabian got to his feet and went to the closet. “Oh, we are goingout. I am going to romance the hell out of you, Ryan Price.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
For the rest of December, things were as close to perfect as they’d ever been for Ryan. Coach had been riding Ryan to fight more, but he couldn’t argue with the effort Ryan had been putting in on the blue line. Ryan felt he was playing the best hockey of his career for Toronto right now. And maybe that wasn’t sayingmuch, but he was still proud.
Nilsson had been out for the past few games with a minor injury, so Wyatt had gotten to take over starting goaltender duties, which made games more entertaining for Ryan. Wyatt had also been on fire, winning three of the past four games, and even getting a shutout in the last game. Ryan had earned himself three assists in the past week. For the first time in a long time, hockey wasfun.
Ryan and Wyatt had also visited the community center a couple more times together, and that had only bolstered Ryan’s renewed love of the game. The kids were fantastic, and the center had greatly appreciated Ryan’s donation of a bunch of pairs of brand new hockey gloves.
The rest of Ryan’s days and nights were full of Fabian. They split nights between Fabian’s apartment and Ryan’s. Although Ryan’s was much bigger and newer, he preferred the hominess of Fabian’s place. Ryan went to Bargain Brunch whenever possible, and went out with Fabian and his friends to interesting performances and talks and art exhibits. He loved all of it, and was even starting to feel less like an outsider when they all hung out together. He felt at home for the first time since he’d left Ross Harbour as a teenager. Toronto’s Village was something else; it was easy for Ryan to believe, if he stayed within in its boundaries, that the entire world was gay. It was exciting.
Almost as exciting as his relationship with Fabian. When Ryan went to his shows, he could never quite believe that he’d be going home with the gorgeous man onstage. The man who had an entire club full of people entranced and in love with him, but who had chosen Ryan. It was unreal. It was, in fact, so hard for Ryan to believe, that he was often shy about approaching Fabian after he got off stage. Ryan would linger off to the side, waiting patiently as Fabian talked and laughed with the many people who wanted time with him.
But then Fabian would smile at Ryan, beckon him over, and go up on his tiptoes to give Ryan a slow, toe-curling kiss in plain view of anyone who happened to be watching. Ryan couldn’t believe how lucky he was.
He still had to get on planes and leave Fabian behind, but even that was easier to bear when he had a wonderful boyfriend to call from the road. His therapist had noticed the change in him, and was very encouraging and excited.
So of course something had to go wrong.
“Traded?” Ryan asked miserably. “Where?”
“Ottawa,” Wyatt said. “They need a goalie, and they like what they’ve been seeing from me lately.”
Ryan swallowed hard, and was glad they were having this conversation over the phone. He was embarrassingly close to crying. “When do you leave?”
“Today.” He exhaled loudly. “I’m sorry, Pricey. I wanted to call you so you’d hear it from me first.”
“Thanks.” Ryan really did appreciate it. He couldn’t imagine how devastating it would have been to find out by seeing a headline online, or hearing it second hand.
“At least I won’t be too far away, right?”
“Right.” Fucking hell. Wyatt was the first teammate Ryan had ever had that he could truly call a friend. But, “This will be good for you,” he conceded.
“I know. I’m excited about it. And Lisa already has a lead on a job at a hospital in Ottawa, so that should work out too.”
“Good.” Ryan got out of bed and started pacing. “That’s good.”
“I’ll miss you, big guy. You’ll keep going to the center, right?”
God,would he?Ryan didn’t like the idea of going alone. “Sure,” he said. “I can do that.”
