Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 87771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“Like a fish caught on a hook.”
“That’s sounding pretty fated to me,” Nicky said.
“It’s not,” I reassured the group. It can’t be.
There were a few different reasons why I’d lived my life as a single bachelor all these years. The primary reason being that I didn’t mind being alone. The other, and more weighty, reason was because the world assumed (wrongly) that I was straight, and being on a professional hockey team meant that I flew under the radar for the most part. There were gay men out and proud on the ice, Eli being one of them, but I also saw the added scrutiny and attention they got. Some of it good, some of it bad.
All of it attention.
And attention was the last thing needed for someone who had an even bigger secret to hide than who he liked to sleep with.
So I buried that part of myself. It wasn’t that I didn’t satiate my needs; I just didn’t go looking for any deep and meaningful connections. There were a few guys spread around the country who were regular hookups for me, all of them having signed a pretty heavy NDA, so it wasn’t like I’d been celibate while being stuffed in the closet.
But what happened when that deep and meaningful connection potentially landed on your front doorstep?
Soren chugged the rest of his beer and set it down on the table with a clink. “It will make working on the team difficult, no?”
“It can,” Emmy said, eyebrow arched. “But if it really is a fated pull, then who are we to stop you?”
“You are my teammates, my best friends. You have all the right to stop me,” I said.
Raquel shook her head. “No, you’re mistaken there, Gabe. We’re also your pack. And as a member of your pack, I want to see you happy, and I want to see that happen with your fated mate. Even if it’s the new guy in town.” She had an arm casually looped through Emmy’s.
Fated mates… could it be? What was the implication of that? And was it worth upending the quiet and calm life I had built up for myself?
A buzzing sense of anxiety flitted through my system. I licked my lips, bit at a hang nail on my thumb. I’d become so used to being alone. Actually enjoyed it—or so I thought. But I couldn’t help and notice the little spark of joy that seemed to have come alive in my chest the moment I scented Eli.
Did I chase that spark or snuff it out before it could catch?
I looked around the cozy dining room, filled with people I loved. The only people I could truly be myself around. The ones who could drop to their fours and take off running through the woods with me, howling at the moon and nipping at our tails. Raquel was right.
But she was also wrong. Very, very wrong. I wasn’t going to break. I wasn’t going to fall for some silly old wolves’ tale. It was simply a wave of lust. The guy was hot, and I wanted to fuck his brains out. I probably just needed to nut and get rid of this damn brain fog. That would solve things. That would keep me safe. Keep me hidden.
Protected.
“Whatever,” I said. “Let’s finish eating and then go for a night run. That sound good to anyone else?”
“You really have some energy to burn, don’t you?” Dylan asked.
“Next time, don’t miss practice,” Emmy said with a playful wink. “Who knows what other newbies show up for you to obsess over.”
“I’m not—okay, whatever, fuck you.”
Emmy laughed and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “What do you want, a burger or a hot dog?”
“I’ll take a double burger, please.”
“With a side of fate fries?” Dylan asked.
Damn it. That was a good one.
I rolled my eyes and stuffed down my laugh. “You’re such a moron.”
Chapter Four
Vaseline Filter
ELI
Goddamn, it was quiet in my house.
I didn’t like that. I was used to either having Ben around to talk to if the silence got too heavy or I’d put on some random YouTube video on the TV just so I could have background noise. Sometimes that was a hockey game, sometimes it was an eight-hour-long city walk through some place I’ve never been to, or a tutorial video on a new photography technique.
I was a man of varied tastes.
But my television still wasn’t hooked up. The mount broke, and I hadn’t gotten around to ordering a new one.
So I slumped back into my couch and stared at the plain white wall in silence.
…which lasted about five seconds before I stood up and decided to busy myself with unpacking some boxes and decorating the house.
I didn’t have all that much in terms of decorations. I had a few paintings—random shit I’d bought at Marshalls—and a couple of nice lamps and pots I’d gotten in the breakup. Ben had been the one with the talent at interior decorating and pretty much took control of putting together our entire apartment. It was very apparent when all I had to pack in terms of household items as I was leaving was a random cookbook I’d never even opened and a couple holiday decorations.