Fire and Ice - Chapter 34
LJ's messing with me again. "Post too large"...grumble, grumble. So this wasn't how I wanted to post this chapter, but oh well...
Chapter 34
Brady checked into the Marriott down the street from the rink, went up to his room and put his bag on the bed. He sat, still stunned and disappointed, and thought about the night’s events, wondering where everything had gone wrong. He stared at the generic landscape art on the walls, at the greyish-blue carpeting, at the dark blue bedspread-and had never felt more depressed in his life.
He couldn’t fault Jack, not really. For all intents and purposes, Brady realized Ennis really did seem to be the love of Jack’s life. Brady sighed a few times, feeling hot tears burning behind his eyes, but he wouldn’t give in. He slapped his hands on his thighs, took a deep breath, and stood to unpack his bag. He laid his clothes carefully on the bed, staring dully at the shirt he’d bought the night before, a nice soft cotton button-down, white with blue stripes, one that he’d thought Jack would like. So much for that, he thought, letting the fantasy of Jack undressing him fall away into nothingness.
Turning away from the bed, he stripped off his clothes, laying them beside the clean ones. He took his toilet kit out of the bag and put it in the bathroom where he emptied it out onto the counter. He always did that on the road; put everything in its place, even if only for one night. It made him feel less transitory, less uprooted. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. This night was one of the times it wouldn’t, but he did it anyway. Hopefully it would restore some sense of order and place to his life.
He sighed, staring at himself in the mirror. Ever since he’d heard Ennis’s name called out by the PA announcer, he’d felt stripped raw, his nerves exposed and burning. Everything had crumbled in that instant and he’d been powerless to stop it, and he suddenly realized that was how Jack must have felt when Ennis left him. But why the fuck does Ennis get his way in all this? he thought angrily. Why were Jack and I left to sift through the shit he left behind, and then he comes back and gets Jack back? It’s not fucking fair.
Finding no answers to his questions, Brady turned on the hot water in the shower, thinking it would be quite a while until he felt normal again.
***
The feeling of Ennis inside him set something off in Jack, something beyond the slowly-building orgasm teeming through his body. He had vowed to hold off coming as long as he could, but the intensity of the moment between them when Ennis had slid inside him had burned itself in Jack’s brain and he couldn’t shut it off-at least, not as long as he looked down at Ennis, watched that rugged, masculine face go slack as Jack rocked up and down on his cock, listened as Ennis moaned and grunted and gasped Jack’s name on each stroke.
He knew that Ennis felt the same burning, the same connection he did, the hunger for each other that couldn’t be sated if they were apart. He could see it in his eyes; Ennis never wavered, never took his gaze off of Jack the whole time they were joined, and Jack reveled in it. This new Ennis was so much more open, so willing, so wanting what Jack wanted and needed, it blew him away. He thought he’d never feel this with another human being, especially not with Ennis. With all the crap they’d been through together, Jack had nearly given up on ever getting Ennis over to his side, much less ever seeing him again.
And now here they were, joined in spirit and soul as well as body, and Jack wanted to cry.
He had always heard about people who cried during sex, overcome with the emotion of it, but he’d never quite understood why. He’d never been that kind of person until he met the man who currently was positioned beneath him, thrusting up inside of him, making Jack feel like he was the end-all be-all of Ennis’s existence. Jack felt like a tribal warrior, wanting to pound his chest and yell and show the whole world what it was like to be loved and revered and cared about by Ennis-but more importantly, that Ennis seemed to have shed his fears and doubts and was now happy and proud to be with Jack. That, more than anything, made Jack happy and feel loved.
****
Never thought, thought Ennis as he pushed his hard dick up into Jack, that I’d ever have this again. Never thought he’d ever let me back. Thank you, Jack-thank you for taking another chance on me.
Then he realized that was something he should say out loud.
“Jack?” he grunted, pushing his hips up with his one good leg.
“Yeah?” he answered as his sweat dripped onto Ennis.
“Thank you.” Fuck, that sounded dumb.
“For what?” Jack bit his lip as he rocked.
“For…this,” Ennis choked out. “For…for waiting for me, for letting me…ugh…for letting me figure shit…oooohhhh…out…for letting me come back.”
Jack winced as Ennis plowed into him with steady strokes.
“You could always come back,” Jack replied with gasps. “You just had to figure it all out. And you did. Fuuuuck…I’m just glad you did and we can start over.”
Ennis grunted and pulled Jack’s hair. He rotated his hips just a bit and thrust, and he felt Jack shudder. “You like that?”
“Yeah, En, that’s it,” whispered Jack. “Come on. Harder. Fuck me harder.”
“Shit.” Ennis pushed up inside him, hitting that spot that sent Jack through the ceiling.
“Yeah…there…oh shit…yeah…do it…oh fuck…”
“Now,” grunted Ennis. “Come now!”
The growl in his lover’s voice spoke straight to Jack’s crotch; he shot hard, jerking and spraying Ennis’s chest with fluid. As he shot, drops of sweat dripped from his forehead onto Ennis and mingled with the semen on his body, but Ennis didn’t seem to mind because he was grabbing Jack’s hips tight, holding him still as he shot his own release into Jack’s tight ass. They rocked and bobbed for a few minutes until Jack collapsed on top of Ennis and rolled to the side, Ennis’s dick sliding out of him.
Minutes passed with panting breaths that soon subsided. Jack looked over at Ennis, who was staring at him.
“What?” Jack asked.
A smile ghosted Ennis’s lips. “Nothing. Just…just glad to be…I’m glad we’re back together.”
Jack kissed Ennis deeply, then sat up and got off the bed. He knew that, verbally, that was a lot for Ennis to say, especially after sex.
“Me too. Your knee okay?”
Ennis moved his leg. “Yeah. You being on top helps.”
“I’m glad to be on top any time you want me there,” laughed Jack, and Ennis laughed too.
“Where you going?” asked Ennis.
“Gotta take a piss. You want a beer?”
“Yeah, that’d be good.”
Ennis watched as Jack walked his fine naked ass out the doorway to the hall and beyond. He rolled over in the bed and smelled sex, sweat, and the unmistakeable scent of him and Jack together. If I could bottle that, we’d make millions, he thought, then realized how silly he felt thinking such a thing. But why? Why is that stupid? Straight people probably think that kind of shit all the time. Doesn’t make us any less than what we are. And I need to stop worrying about what everyone else thinks. That’s how I got in this shit in the first place.
He heard the toilet flush and the refrigerator door close, and then Jack was back, climbing into bed beside him, handing him an ice-cold beer.
“Thanks,” he muttered, pulling Jack close. Jack kissed him on the forehead.
“You’re welcome,” Jack replied, taking a long swig of beer. “You know, I’m not a beer guy but damn, it tastes good after sex.”
Ennis nodded and swallowed a couple of gulps. “Sure does.”
“So…you’re glad to be back?”
Ennis looked slyly at Jack, who pretended to be interested in the label on his beer bottle, and he grinned, knowing Jack was in the mood to talk.
“Sure am.”
One corner of Jack’s mouth lifted in a smirk. “Ever the eloquent cowboy, I see.”
Ennis ruffled Jack’s hair. “I’m no cowboy, Jack.”
“That’s too bad,” Jack stuck out his lower lip, “because I have this fantasy of you rounding up cattle on your folks’ ranch, wearing a cowboy hat and chaps and all that shit.”
Ennis laughed. “Well, I have done that on occasion. Not the chaps, but the jeans and hat.”
Jack’s eyes brightened. “You have?”
“Calm down, eh?” Ennis patted his leg. “You’ll see me in that get-up someday.”
“I will?”
Ennis took a deep breath and exhaled. “My mom…my whole family wants to meet you.”
Jack, stunned, sat the beer bottle on the table beside the bed. “They do?”
Ennis grinned. “Mm-hm. How about after you win the championship, we go to Calgary?”
Jack stared at the blankets bunched up around his waist but said nothing.
“Bud?” Ennis asked, suddenly afraid. “You okay?”
“I-I’m fine,” Jack said a little shakily. “I just -I just didn’t think that things were going to go like this.”
“Whaddya mean?”
“I-I can’t help but wonder-what happened? What made you change?”
Ennis felt Jack’s confusion; he wondered too. “I don’t know, really.” He pondered a minute. “I think-I think it’s just that I was so miserable without you. My life was shit, my knee was fucked, I couldn’t play hockey…I was seriously considering just getting drunk and passing out every night because everything was so shitty. The only thing that cheered me up was you…thinking about you and being with you. And I have a confession to make.”
Jack looked over at him.
“I stole your red t-shirt-the coffee shop one.”
Jack, relieved that it hadn’t been something worse, chuckled.
“I took it home with me,” Ennis went on. “And you want to know something even more pathetic?”
“What?”
“I slept with it every night.”
Jack felt hot tears burn behind his eyes. “That’s not pathetic, Ennis. It’s…it’s sweet.”
“Sweet,” huffed the other man. “I’m supposed to be this big tough hockey player, and I sleep with my boyfriend’s t-shirt.”
At the word ‘boyfriend’, and with the ease at which it had slipped from Ennis’s lips, Jack crumbled.
“So…I’m your boyfriend?”
Ennis grinned and looked down at their nakedness. “If you’re not, then this is a really awkward situation.”
Jack smiled a misty smile. “It may take me some time to get used to this new Ennis.”
“Take your time. I’m not going anywhere.”
Thank God, thought Jack. He took Ennis’s beer from him and rolled over on top of him.
“You ready again?” asked an incredulous Ennis as Jack pinned his arms to the mattress and he felt Jack’s erection pressed against his thigh.
“I’m always ready for you,” answered Jack. “Now, didn’t you say something a while back in a text message about tying me up?”
****
A month later…
I can’t believe I’m doing this, thought Brady as he walked up to the opulent Toronto apartment bulding’s desk.
“Yes, sir?” asked the concierge.
“I’m here to see Ben Patterson in 1102.”
“Your name, sir?”
“Brady McKay. He’s expecting me.”
The concierge picked up the phone and dialed a number. “Mr. Patterson, Mr. McKay is here to see you. Yes. Yes sir, absolutely. No problem.” He hung up and looked at Brady. “The elevators are down the hall to your left. 1102 is four apartments down on your right as you exit the elevator. Oh, and sir, do you have a bag?”
Brady looked shocked. So this is how the rich live, he thought wonderously. “Umm…yeah, but I left it in my car…the valet…”
“I’ll ring down to the valet desk. We’ll bring it right up, sir.”
“Thank-thank you,” stumbled Brady. He had never encountered this kind of service before, and he suddenly felt young and very inexperienced. In some of their phone conversations, Ben had told him of his off-ice lifestyle; his father had died and left him a sizable inheritance. With the money, Ben had bought an apartment in downtown Toronto in a security building, living as he’d always hoped to if he made the NHL. So far though, the minors were his hockey home and he could live like an NHL star in the off-season. Brady had wondered about it, but had no idea how Ben had really lived until he saw it with his own eyes, and he was impressed.
He shook on the ride up the elevator, and stepping out on the 11th floor, he took a deep breath and rotated his neck a few times, hearing the tension snap and pop as he walked down the hallway.
Okay, here we go, he thought as he knocked on Ben’s door.
****
Two weeks after the Tornadoes won the championship, Jack announced his retirement from hockey.
Ennis and Jack had carefully crafted their plans with help from Jeff, Lisa, Catherine, and their agents. The team held a press conference announcing Jack’s retirement from the team, and the fans and press were a bit shocked, as they’d heard no previous talk about it. Jack answered questions about what he was going to do, whether or not he’d consider coaching, all the usual inquiries at such an event. He handled the press well, with his usual charm and bright smile and humour, and they lapped it up. The team had asked to display the championship trophy and Jack’s scoring leader trophy at the event; he let them have their glory moment at his expense.
Meanwhile, Ennis watched it all from the back of the room, behind a doorway where no one could see him. He was proud of Jack, and a little sad, but he knew that it was what Jack wanted.
Ennis and Jack had talked to Mike and Perry, telling them everything. To their credit, the two coaches were supportive and helpful, and admitted they weren’t really shocked by the news. Their help was invaluable to getting Jack and Ennis started on their new life together. Ennis told them about the picture and that Todd had been the one to leave it in his locker; Todd was fired soon afterward, with the warning that he’d better change his ways or the two coaches would see to it that his career in hockey would be nothing more than a memory.
As for Ennis, only a handful of people knew that his career was over. Everyone agreed that Jack would announce his retirement and that everything would go on as assumed, that Ennis would return to the team when training camp started in August. But the plan was to keep quiet all summer; when camp rolled around, it would be announced by the team that Ennis would have to retire too, due to his bad knee and his doctor’s advice. That gave the two men a bit of breathing space in between announcements, hoping that the coincidence of them both quitting hockey would be seen as nothing more than that-a coincidence.
Ennis took Jack back home to Calgary where he introduced Jack to his family. Everyone loved him. Ennis’s father and brother were reticent and uncomfortable at first, but eventually Jack won them over with his friendliness and charm. His first ride on a horse was a source of great humour to the family, but being the trouper that he was, he was willing to make a fool of himself to put everyone else at ease. The best part for Jack was seeing Ennis dressed as a cowboy. Jack coerced Ennis into taking a long horse ride away from the house so they could camp out and he could enjoy his fantasy of making love to his cowboy high in the cool Albertan mountains. They set up camp, had sex, swam in the coldest stream Jack could endure, had raucous sex again that Jack was sure had scared half the wildlife, explored the mountains, had even more sex, and rode home the next day. Ennis had to hide his grin every time Jack winced at his sore ass-sore from both riding and being ridden. But the best part was just being together-the two of them, away from everyone else, just as it should be.
Tbc…
Chapter 34
Brady checked into the Marriott down the street from the rink, went up to his room and put his bag on the bed. He sat, still stunned and disappointed, and thought about the night’s events, wondering where everything had gone wrong. He stared at the generic landscape art on the walls, at the greyish-blue carpeting, at the dark blue bedspread-and had never felt more depressed in his life.
He couldn’t fault Jack, not really. For all intents and purposes, Brady realized Ennis really did seem to be the love of Jack’s life. Brady sighed a few times, feeling hot tears burning behind his eyes, but he wouldn’t give in. He slapped his hands on his thighs, took a deep breath, and stood to unpack his bag. He laid his clothes carefully on the bed, staring dully at the shirt he’d bought the night before, a nice soft cotton button-down, white with blue stripes, one that he’d thought Jack would like. So much for that, he thought, letting the fantasy of Jack undressing him fall away into nothingness.
Turning away from the bed, he stripped off his clothes, laying them beside the clean ones. He took his toilet kit out of the bag and put it in the bathroom where he emptied it out onto the counter. He always did that on the road; put everything in its place, even if only for one night. It made him feel less transitory, less uprooted. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. This night was one of the times it wouldn’t, but he did it anyway. Hopefully it would restore some sense of order and place to his life.
He sighed, staring at himself in the mirror. Ever since he’d heard Ennis’s name called out by the PA announcer, he’d felt stripped raw, his nerves exposed and burning. Everything had crumbled in that instant and he’d been powerless to stop it, and he suddenly realized that was how Jack must have felt when Ennis left him. But why the fuck does Ennis get his way in all this? he thought angrily. Why were Jack and I left to sift through the shit he left behind, and then he comes back and gets Jack back? It’s not fucking fair.
Finding no answers to his questions, Brady turned on the hot water in the shower, thinking it would be quite a while until he felt normal again.
***
The feeling of Ennis inside him set something off in Jack, something beyond the slowly-building orgasm teeming through his body. He had vowed to hold off coming as long as he could, but the intensity of the moment between them when Ennis had slid inside him had burned itself in Jack’s brain and he couldn’t shut it off-at least, not as long as he looked down at Ennis, watched that rugged, masculine face go slack as Jack rocked up and down on his cock, listened as Ennis moaned and grunted and gasped Jack’s name on each stroke.
He knew that Ennis felt the same burning, the same connection he did, the hunger for each other that couldn’t be sated if they were apart. He could see it in his eyes; Ennis never wavered, never took his gaze off of Jack the whole time they were joined, and Jack reveled in it. This new Ennis was so much more open, so willing, so wanting what Jack wanted and needed, it blew him away. He thought he’d never feel this with another human being, especially not with Ennis. With all the crap they’d been through together, Jack had nearly given up on ever getting Ennis over to his side, much less ever seeing him again.
And now here they were, joined in spirit and soul as well as body, and Jack wanted to cry.
He had always heard about people who cried during sex, overcome with the emotion of it, but he’d never quite understood why. He’d never been that kind of person until he met the man who currently was positioned beneath him, thrusting up inside of him, making Jack feel like he was the end-all be-all of Ennis’s existence. Jack felt like a tribal warrior, wanting to pound his chest and yell and show the whole world what it was like to be loved and revered and cared about by Ennis-but more importantly, that Ennis seemed to have shed his fears and doubts and was now happy and proud to be with Jack. That, more than anything, made Jack happy and feel loved.
****
Never thought, thought Ennis as he pushed his hard dick up into Jack, that I’d ever have this again. Never thought he’d ever let me back. Thank you, Jack-thank you for taking another chance on me.
Then he realized that was something he should say out loud.
“Jack?” he grunted, pushing his hips up with his one good leg.
“Yeah?” he answered as his sweat dripped onto Ennis.
“Thank you.” Fuck, that sounded dumb.
“For what?” Jack bit his lip as he rocked.
“For…this,” Ennis choked out. “For…for waiting for me, for letting me…ugh…for letting me figure shit…oooohhhh…out…for letting me come back.”
Jack winced as Ennis plowed into him with steady strokes.
“You could always come back,” Jack replied with gasps. “You just had to figure it all out. And you did. Fuuuuck…I’m just glad you did and we can start over.”
Ennis grunted and pulled Jack’s hair. He rotated his hips just a bit and thrust, and he felt Jack shudder. “You like that?”
“Yeah, En, that’s it,” whispered Jack. “Come on. Harder. Fuck me harder.”
“Shit.” Ennis pushed up inside him, hitting that spot that sent Jack through the ceiling.
“Yeah…there…oh shit…yeah…do it…oh fuck…”
“Now,” grunted Ennis. “Come now!”
The growl in his lover’s voice spoke straight to Jack’s crotch; he shot hard, jerking and spraying Ennis’s chest with fluid. As he shot, drops of sweat dripped from his forehead onto Ennis and mingled with the semen on his body, but Ennis didn’t seem to mind because he was grabbing Jack’s hips tight, holding him still as he shot his own release into Jack’s tight ass. They rocked and bobbed for a few minutes until Jack collapsed on top of Ennis and rolled to the side, Ennis’s dick sliding out of him.
Minutes passed with panting breaths that soon subsided. Jack looked over at Ennis, who was staring at him.
“What?” Jack asked.
A smile ghosted Ennis’s lips. “Nothing. Just…just glad to be…I’m glad we’re back together.”
Jack kissed Ennis deeply, then sat up and got off the bed. He knew that, verbally, that was a lot for Ennis to say, especially after sex.
“Me too. Your knee okay?”
Ennis moved his leg. “Yeah. You being on top helps.”
“I’m glad to be on top any time you want me there,” laughed Jack, and Ennis laughed too.
“Where you going?” asked Ennis.
“Gotta take a piss. You want a beer?”
“Yeah, that’d be good.”
Ennis watched as Jack walked his fine naked ass out the doorway to the hall and beyond. He rolled over in the bed and smelled sex, sweat, and the unmistakeable scent of him and Jack together. If I could bottle that, we’d make millions, he thought, then realized how silly he felt thinking such a thing. But why? Why is that stupid? Straight people probably think that kind of shit all the time. Doesn’t make us any less than what we are. And I need to stop worrying about what everyone else thinks. That’s how I got in this shit in the first place.
He heard the toilet flush and the refrigerator door close, and then Jack was back, climbing into bed beside him, handing him an ice-cold beer.
“Thanks,” he muttered, pulling Jack close. Jack kissed him on the forehead.
“You’re welcome,” Jack replied, taking a long swig of beer. “You know, I’m not a beer guy but damn, it tastes good after sex.”
Ennis nodded and swallowed a couple of gulps. “Sure does.”
“So…you’re glad to be back?”
Ennis looked slyly at Jack, who pretended to be interested in the label on his beer bottle, and he grinned, knowing Jack was in the mood to talk.
“Sure am.”
One corner of Jack’s mouth lifted in a smirk. “Ever the eloquent cowboy, I see.”
Ennis ruffled Jack’s hair. “I’m no cowboy, Jack.”
“That’s too bad,” Jack stuck out his lower lip, “because I have this fantasy of you rounding up cattle on your folks’ ranch, wearing a cowboy hat and chaps and all that shit.”
Ennis laughed. “Well, I have done that on occasion. Not the chaps, but the jeans and hat.”
Jack’s eyes brightened. “You have?”
“Calm down, eh?” Ennis patted his leg. “You’ll see me in that get-up someday.”
“I will?”
Ennis took a deep breath and exhaled. “My mom…my whole family wants to meet you.”
Jack, stunned, sat the beer bottle on the table beside the bed. “They do?”
Ennis grinned. “Mm-hm. How about after you win the championship, we go to Calgary?”
Jack stared at the blankets bunched up around his waist but said nothing.
“Bud?” Ennis asked, suddenly afraid. “You okay?”
“I-I’m fine,” Jack said a little shakily. “I just -I just didn’t think that things were going to go like this.”
“Whaddya mean?”
“I-I can’t help but wonder-what happened? What made you change?”
Ennis felt Jack’s confusion; he wondered too. “I don’t know, really.” He pondered a minute. “I think-I think it’s just that I was so miserable without you. My life was shit, my knee was fucked, I couldn’t play hockey…I was seriously considering just getting drunk and passing out every night because everything was so shitty. The only thing that cheered me up was you…thinking about you and being with you. And I have a confession to make.”
Jack looked over at him.
“I stole your red t-shirt-the coffee shop one.”
Jack, relieved that it hadn’t been something worse, chuckled.
“I took it home with me,” Ennis went on. “And you want to know something even more pathetic?”
“What?”
“I slept with it every night.”
Jack felt hot tears burn behind his eyes. “That’s not pathetic, Ennis. It’s…it’s sweet.”
“Sweet,” huffed the other man. “I’m supposed to be this big tough hockey player, and I sleep with my boyfriend’s t-shirt.”
At the word ‘boyfriend’, and with the ease at which it had slipped from Ennis’s lips, Jack crumbled.
“So…I’m your boyfriend?”
Ennis grinned and looked down at their nakedness. “If you’re not, then this is a really awkward situation.”
Jack smiled a misty smile. “It may take me some time to get used to this new Ennis.”
“Take your time. I’m not going anywhere.”
Thank God, thought Jack. He took Ennis’s beer from him and rolled over on top of him.
“You ready again?” asked an incredulous Ennis as Jack pinned his arms to the mattress and he felt Jack’s erection pressed against his thigh.
“I’m always ready for you,” answered Jack. “Now, didn’t you say something a while back in a text message about tying me up?”
****
A month later…
I can’t believe I’m doing this, thought Brady as he walked up to the opulent Toronto apartment bulding’s desk.
“Yes, sir?” asked the concierge.
“I’m here to see Ben Patterson in 1102.”
“Your name, sir?”
“Brady McKay. He’s expecting me.”
The concierge picked up the phone and dialed a number. “Mr. Patterson, Mr. McKay is here to see you. Yes. Yes sir, absolutely. No problem.” He hung up and looked at Brady. “The elevators are down the hall to your left. 1102 is four apartments down on your right as you exit the elevator. Oh, and sir, do you have a bag?”
Brady looked shocked. So this is how the rich live, he thought wonderously. “Umm…yeah, but I left it in my car…the valet…”
“I’ll ring down to the valet desk. We’ll bring it right up, sir.”
“Thank-thank you,” stumbled Brady. He had never encountered this kind of service before, and he suddenly felt young and very inexperienced. In some of their phone conversations, Ben had told him of his off-ice lifestyle; his father had died and left him a sizable inheritance. With the money, Ben had bought an apartment in downtown Toronto in a security building, living as he’d always hoped to if he made the NHL. So far though, the minors were his hockey home and he could live like an NHL star in the off-season. Brady had wondered about it, but had no idea how Ben had really lived until he saw it with his own eyes, and he was impressed.
He shook on the ride up the elevator, and stepping out on the 11th floor, he took a deep breath and rotated his neck a few times, hearing the tension snap and pop as he walked down the hallway.
Okay, here we go, he thought as he knocked on Ben’s door.
****
Two weeks after the Tornadoes won the championship, Jack announced his retirement from hockey.
Ennis and Jack had carefully crafted their plans with help from Jeff, Lisa, Catherine, and their agents. The team held a press conference announcing Jack’s retirement from the team, and the fans and press were a bit shocked, as they’d heard no previous talk about it. Jack answered questions about what he was going to do, whether or not he’d consider coaching, all the usual inquiries at such an event. He handled the press well, with his usual charm and bright smile and humour, and they lapped it up. The team had asked to display the championship trophy and Jack’s scoring leader trophy at the event; he let them have their glory moment at his expense.
Meanwhile, Ennis watched it all from the back of the room, behind a doorway where no one could see him. He was proud of Jack, and a little sad, but he knew that it was what Jack wanted.
Ennis and Jack had talked to Mike and Perry, telling them everything. To their credit, the two coaches were supportive and helpful, and admitted they weren’t really shocked by the news. Their help was invaluable to getting Jack and Ennis started on their new life together. Ennis told them about the picture and that Todd had been the one to leave it in his locker; Todd was fired soon afterward, with the warning that he’d better change his ways or the two coaches would see to it that his career in hockey would be nothing more than a memory.
As for Ennis, only a handful of people knew that his career was over. Everyone agreed that Jack would announce his retirement and that everything would go on as assumed, that Ennis would return to the team when training camp started in August. But the plan was to keep quiet all summer; when camp rolled around, it would be announced by the team that Ennis would have to retire too, due to his bad knee and his doctor’s advice. That gave the two men a bit of breathing space in between announcements, hoping that the coincidence of them both quitting hockey would be seen as nothing more than that-a coincidence.
Ennis took Jack back home to Calgary where he introduced Jack to his family. Everyone loved him. Ennis’s father and brother were reticent and uncomfortable at first, but eventually Jack won them over with his friendliness and charm. His first ride on a horse was a source of great humour to the family, but being the trouper that he was, he was willing to make a fool of himself to put everyone else at ease. The best part for Jack was seeing Ennis dressed as a cowboy. Jack coerced Ennis into taking a long horse ride away from the house so they could camp out and he could enjoy his fantasy of making love to his cowboy high in the cool Albertan mountains. They set up camp, had sex, swam in the coldest stream Jack could endure, had raucous sex again that Jack was sure had scared half the wildlife, explored the mountains, had even more sex, and rode home the next day. Ennis had to hide his grin every time Jack winced at his sore ass-sore from both riding and being ridden. But the best part was just being together-the two of them, away from everyone else, just as it should be.
Tbc…