Chapter 3
Andrei crawls back up the bed towards him, pushing the quilts down to bare Dylan's chest.
"But you lo-ove me."
The mattress vibrates again with another message, then another.
And Dylan shouldn't be thinking about that, when he's got Andrei kneeling on either side of his thighs, but he can't quite...
"They said I could come." He thinks.
That was the gist of it.
Andrei kisses his stomach.
"Told you so."
Dylan isn't going to be distracted.
"They said you don't normally go.
To the barbeques." Now he's thinking about it, he can't remember Andrei ever mentioning them outside of that one terrible boxing day.
But the group chat seemed to imply they were a regular thing.
Dex had even said
if it gets you to come,
like Andrei has never been.
Like he didn't even go, that last time.
Andrei shrugs, sitting back on his heels so they're more face to face.
He doesn't look annoyed to be interrupted, more mildly confused.
"They are on days off," he says, as though it's obvious.
"I am busy on days off."
Which is – right.
Dylan knows that Andrei moved to Bellmore so that they could spend their few days off together but he hadn't really thought –
Stonebridge don't have team barbeques.
Not like this, last minute invites in a group chat that includes their social media manager.
They have game watch parties and late night drinking parties with squads of sexy women, but they definitely would never spend
multiple minutes
discussing how great another captain is.
But no one's said he isn't
welcome
He vaguely remembers Davies from a few years back, he played left wing on the third line and got a handful of goals in the season he spent with them.
Not a terrible performance, but they traded him for a draft pick with more growth potential and Dylan hasn't really thought about him since.
Apparently Davies still thinks about him.
"We'll have to take separate cars," he says.
Because if they're just friends having a business meeting they can't show up together.
"Oh no," Andrei drawls, kissing his stomach again.
"The environment."
Dylan shoves him.
Well, pushes him back a little.
Not too far.
"Shut up."
Andrei rests his chin on Dylan's stomach, looks up at him with his big beautiful eyes, his hair slicked back from the shower, and how is Dylan meant to deny that face anything.
"So we will go?"
Andrei just wants him to exist near them.
He can do that.
He's almost certain he can do that.
Andrei leaves first, in one of his many sports cars.
Dylan takes the land rover because that's what he drove down from Stonebridge so it makes sense for him to have it, not that anyone's going to ask.
He stops at the shop to get a crate of decent beers and a six pack of ginger ale so there'll at least be something non-alcoholic for him to drink.
Also to give Andrei time to get there first, so it doesn't seem like they both left at the same time.
Not that anyone will ask.
He slides his ring off his finger where it's been since he got home on Friday and into his pocket.
Can't wear it on it's usual chain if he's in the same space as Andrei.
Or, maybe he could and no one would notice, but he'd be thinking about it the whole time.
It's in his pocket, he can feel it, it's not like he hasn't got it with him it's just–
He doesn't know how to stop overthinking.
Which is the whole fucking problem.
He drives past the house twice.
Not because he can't find it – it's a huge fuck-off mansion with twenty cars including Andrei's unsubtle orange ferrari parked outside – but just psyching himself up to actually stop.
There's no spaces in the driveway, he doesn't want to walk halfway down the street in public in Bellmore.
He pauses by the side of the road, reaching for his phone.
Maybe he'll tell Andrei he couldn't park, but he hopes Andrei has fun and he'll see him later.
There are three messages already that must have come in while he was driving.
They are saying I cannot get Mercer to come to a Vipers bbq
Saying next time I should invite Blake Donovan, maybe he will show up.
Need you to come and defend my honour
Dylan's stomach twists, he's letting Andrei down again, and his phone goes off again in his hand.
But if it's too much and you're not coming, that's okay I know it is a lot for you
Let me know and I will come back home, we can have nice chill afternoon <3
And fuck, now Dylan feels even worse because his husband is amazing and wants him to be comfortable and all he's asked for in return is Dylan to get out of his goddamn car.
Fuck parking, Dylan pulls onto the verge of Dex's driveway which is blocking in about three other cars but whatever, that'll be later's problem.
He climbs out of the car, wastes another minute trying to decide whether he should wear his jacket or not – Margot said the jacket 'made' this outfit when she last reviewed his wardrobe but it's still pretty warm and he's got a nice enough black shirt underneath – before he realizes he's stalling (again).
He throws it over his arm, grabs the bag from the bottle shop and walks deliberately up to the house.
The door is open, but it's not his team or his house so he shifts his load to ring the bell.
They hadn't discussed how they were going to approach this, is Dylan meant to shake Andrei's hand like it's a business meeting?
Are they going to hug?
He's got the bag in the wrong hand for a handshake.
Maybe someone else will come to the door and he'll have to figure out how to introduce himself to fucking Wade Dexter who he's only ever met before on the ice in three layers of hockey gear.
"Mercer!" Andrei
bounces
down Dexter's massive fucking hallway and solves the handshake question by just flinging an arm over Dylan's shoulders.
"My close personal friend Dylan Mercer," he says, loudly enough to carry to the back garden.
His hand squeezes Dylan's shoulder once, a quick
hello
from the boyfriend rather than the business partner.
That, more than anything, lets Dylan relax a little.
It's Andrei's team, Andrei's event, Dylan just has to follow his plays.
"Hi." Andrei had called him Mercer, is Dylan meant to call him Novak?
That doesn't seem friendly.
Dylan tries to remember what he'd said at the last press conference.
Surely he calls him Andrei at the camps, right?