Traded Out by Samantha Wayland

Author:Samantha Wayland [Wayland, Samantha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Loch Awe Press
Published: 2018-08-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

“Jamie! I have the perfect guy for you,” Bryan announced as he sat down across the table.

Jamie continued to chew his pizza and absolutely did not roll his eyes.

“I’m good, thanks,” Jamie said once he’d swallowed the bite.

They were at a good Italian place in Sydney on Cape Breton, and Jamie was enjoying his slice of pie, his nice cold beer, and the warmth of Olle pressed along his side in the undersized booth.

The team had taken to dragging a bunch of tables together, often with a booth, and packing themselves into as little space as possible. Jamie had never appreciated hockey players’ lack of personal space boundaries more, since Olle always liked the corner, and that meant Jamie had a perfectly innocent reason to be practically in Olle’s lap most of the time.

They still called these team bonding dinners, but more and more, it was about two-thirds of the team jammed together, including Jamie and Olle and their friends, and about one-third who sat at the other end of the table, or ducked out early, or sometimes didn’t come along at all.

No one, including Rupert, seemed concerned about that, so Jamie wasn’t either. It probably wasn’t a coincidence these were the same guys who often dressed and undressed where Jamie couldn’t see them.

“But he’s my cousin,” Bryan said, rubbing his hands together with enthusiasm. “Super nice guy, I’ve known him my whole life and can totally vouch for him.”

Before Jamie could decline politely again, Olle put his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “What makes you think he’s perfect for Jamie?”

Bryan blinked owlishly.

Jamie choked back his laughter. It was hard to tell if Bryan was more surprised that Olle had spoken up, since he was usually content to sit back and listen, or if the deer-in-headlights look was because now he had to come up with an answer besides “he’s gay”.

Bryan finally arrived at, “He’s really nice.”

Olle nodded. “And Jamie is really nice, too, right?”

“Yeah?”

“What else?”

Bryan shrugged. “I don’t know, man. He’s a good guy.”

“Good looking?”

Bryan blinked. “He’s my cousin.”

Jamie felt Olle tremble with silent laughter but nothing showed on his face.

“Does he play hockey?” Olle asked.

“No?” Bryan said, sounding confused.

“What does he do?”

Bryan shrugged. “Something to do with fashion, I think?”

Mike guffawed a few seats down the table. Jamie shoved a huge bite of pizza into his mouth.

“Fashion,” Olle repeated as if fascinated. “And where does he do fashion?”

“Uh…Montreal?” Bryan said.

Olle nodded again, as if this made sense. “So, only a ten-hour drive. What are his other interests?”

“He…ahh…” Bryan was clearly at a loss. Jamie almost felt sorry for him. “He has cats?”

Almost.

Now Alexei was giggling uncontrollably, too. Half the team watched him with varying degrees of alarm because goalies could be unpredictable.

“Jamie is allergic to cats,” Olle said flatly.

“Oh.”

“Bryan,” Olle continued, “does your cousin have anything in common with Jamie other than being gay?”

“Ummm…”

“Because, I don’t know if you know this, but just because two people are gay, it doesn’t mean they’re automatically compatible,” Olle

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