Between the Pipes

by Stephanin Hecht

  She gave a long sigh as she rolled her eyes. “Because I knew it would give you a big head. Now will you help Andy or not?”

  Trey grew serious. “I don’t know. Kids and I don’t make for a very good mix.”

  “Why, are they afraid of you or something?”

  “No, worse.” He swallowed nervously. “I’m afraid of them.”

  She put a hand on her hip and gave him a glare that screamed she wasn’t buying it. “This coming from the guy who took on not one but two of the Cougar’s meanest defense men.”

  “That was different. Kids are so messy and chatty and they always stare at you with those big eyes of theirs.” He gave a shudder that wasn’t entirely faked.

  This time she did slug him. “Get over it! I happen to know that the Hawks have a short break in games so I expect to see you at Andy’s next practice.”

  “Fine, but only because I own you big time,” he shot back, his gut already clenching at the prospect of being around so many snotty noses. “What rink does he skate out of?”

  “This one.”

  “Ha! There’s proof right there your sister doesn’t love him. The kid is probably sucking in lethal amounts of asbestos every second he’s in here.”

  “Just make sure you’re there. The practice starts at five.” She thumped her finger in his chest. “And don’t be late.”

  He rubbed the spot, scowling at her. “Like I would dare piss you off. I’d rather take on the whole Cougar team.”

  Chapter Two

  As Wade walked to the front door of Bran Flake Arena, he had to repress the ball of excitement bouncing around in his chest. He tried to remind himself that he was a full-grown man of twenty-eight and a police officer, so he sure as hell shouldn’t be getting all starry-eyed and jacked up just because he had a slight chance of meeting his favorite hockey player.

  Shit, if the guys at the station could see him now, he’d never live it down. While they could take having a gay officer on the force, he had a feeling that if they all knew he had a serious case of fan fever, he wouldn’t hear the end of it.

  Try telling that to his pounding heart because with each step he took closer to the rink, the quicker his pulse raced.

  He spotted Andy first. His nine-year old nephew was lying on his stomach, his body twisted at an odd angel as he struggled to do up his own goalie pads. Wade felt a bit of sympathy for the kid. Most goalies his age usually had a parent around to help out with stuff like that. Since Wade’s sister worked two jobs and Andy’s father was only around when it suited him, the kid usually had to dress himself.

  Wade rushed forward to help, but some strange man reached Andrew first. With a red helmet and trim body that was covered in a perfectly fitting black workout suit, the newcomer didn’t look like any of Andrew’s regular coaches.

  The glare from the eye shield on the helmet made it impossible for Wade to make out the man’s features. He did seem to know what he was doing because he did up the straps on Andy’s pads with a quick efficiency that showed he’d completed that task numerous times before.

  “Thanks for helping him out,” Wade said as he approached.

  “Hey, Uncle Wade,” Andy exclaimed as he broke out into a gapped-tooth smile.

  The stranger glanced up at the same time and Wade nearly forgot to breathe as he caught himself in the blue-eyed gaze of the one and only Trey Canton. While Wade hoped to meet the goalie, he never dreamed it would have happened so quickly.

  Full sensual lips kicked up into a crooked smile as Trey replied, “No problem. These things can be really tricky. Don’t worry though, in a couple more years, Andy will be a pro at them.”

  “I didn’t recognize you in a regular player’s helmet,” Wade replied stupidly.

  That sweet grin grew wider, showing off a hint of cock-jerking dimples. “Yeah, USA Hockey rules stipulate that all coaches have to wear helmets while on the ice. Since I didn’t want to yell around my goalie cage, I borrowed my brother’s gear.”

  “Which one?” Wade asked, still unable to tear himself away from those eyes.

  “Huh?” Trey cocked his head to the side in the most endearing way.

  “Which brother.”

  “Oh! Devon. I try not to touch Chad’s stuff since his wife gets picky about it getting too dirty.” Trey laughed, the sound running over Wade’s body in the most pleasant way. “Like anyone can actually keep hockey equipment clean. The stuff always ends up reeking no matter what you do to it.”

  Wade found himself smiling in turn as he nodded. He’d been around the rink enough to know the stench that could come from the equipment. Although at that moment, hockey gear was the last thing on his mind. All he could think of was how all the pictures in the local sports paper hadn’t done Trey justice.

  Just a hint of blond hair poked out from under the helmet, while the workout suite did nothing to hide how muscular Trey’s body was. Not the overly buffed kind of muscles one got from spending too much time at the gym, but rather ones that were attained from being in perfect shape—no doubt due to the many hours the guy put in on the ice.

  Before, Wade had just seen Trey as a great hockey player and a terrific asset to the Hawks. While he admired and was in awe of the man’s performance on the ice, Wade had never really looked at him in a romantic light. Now as he gazed down at the younger man, Wade had to admit he wouldn’t mind getting to know the man instead of just the goalie.

  “You played a great game the other night,” Wade said. The compliment wasn’t false either. Trey had made some saves that had left the crowd breathless.

  “Yeah, until I gave up that soft goal during the second period.” Trey shrugged.

  “But that was the only one you let in and they must have had at least fifty shots on net,” Wade pointed out, surprised that Trey focused on his single error instead of just taking the compliment.

  “It was a good thing Devon scored those three goals.”

  Wade repressed the urge to frown at the way Trey yet again deflected a compliment. Before he could comment on it, Trey took control of the conversation.

  “So, Uncle Wade is a cop,” Trey observed as his gaze flicked over Wade’s dark blue uniform.

  “I just got off duty,” Wade explained.

  A smirk passed over Trey’s face, as if he wanted to say something more about that, but he held it in. Giving Andy’s leg as pat, he said, “Okay, buddy, let’s hit the ice.”

  Andy wobbled to his feet, his movements painfully slow. Wade noticed how Trey didn’t rush forward to help until it looked as if Andy was going to fall. Even then, he only held on long enough for the kid to regain his balance. Wade felt a rush of anger that he’d let a child struggle like that. Then he realized Trey was doing it so Andy could get a feel for the equipment and learn how to function with it on.

  Once Andy was standing, Trey gave him an encouraging smile. “Good job. Once you learn how to do that on the ice, there’ll be no stopping you.”

  Andy beamed with pride as he waddled his way to the door leading to the ice. Trey followed behind him, showing so much patience that Wade felt his respect for the man shoot up. It must have taken a lot of control not to snap at the snail’s pace Andy moved at. Once they finally hit the ice, Trey shut the door and directed Andy to one side of the ice.

  Wade took a seat in the butt-numbing metal bleachers and watched Trey work with his nephew. Instead of just throwing Andy in net and taking shots at him, Trey took the youth through a series of skating drills.

  While Andy appeared to be trying his best, he didn’t seem to be making much headway. Instead of feeling dismayed over his nephew’s lack of improvement, a thrill of excitement went through Wade. From the looks of it, they’d be needing Trey’s coaching skills for a long time.

  A pang of guilt hit Wade. He knew that he shouldn’t be using his nephew as a lure to trap hot guys, but hey, if it worked, then Wade wasn’t too proud to take the help. After all, hadn’t Andy’s mother, Mary, and their sister, Amy, been nagging at h
im to find a guy and settle down? Before now, he’d been too wrapped up in his job to think about cruising for guys. If he were to show an actual interest in Trey, they’d probably be happy.

  Wade groaned as he ran a hand over his dark hair. Who was he kidding? Even if they didn’t approve, he still planned on pursuing Trey. One look at those sweet blue eyes had guaranteed that much. Wade just needed to figure out how to make his next move. Somehow he didn’t think a rink full of kids was the time or the place to ask someone out.

  Once he got Trey alone and in a different environment, however, Wade wouldn’t give up until he had the other man in his bed.

  While he tried to keep focused as he took Andy through a series of skating drills, Trey’s attention kept wandering to the hunk of man meat sitting up in the stands. It was almost as if the gods had taken Trey’s list of what would make a perfect man and individually checked them off as they created Wade. Brown hair that wasn’t too short, but still long enough to grab on to when playing? Check! Warm, sexy as hell, bedroom, brown eyes? Check! Tight body, without one ounce of flab on it? Check! Chiseled abs and a great personality? Check and check! A cop? Chec…what? Oh, now that one won’t do at all. Run away as fast as you can.

  Trey let out a sigh of regret. If not for that one last thing. A small thing really, when you stepped back to look at it. But if you took in Trey’s past and all the hurt that could happen if the family secret were discovered, that one small thing became a great, big, pain-in-the ass issue.

  “This is hard,” Andy complained, his tiny voice cutting into Trey’s regrets.

  Trey blinked a few times to clear his mind of his own problems so he could focus on Andy’s instead. Hot cop issue aside, Trey had been pleasantly surprised to discover he actually liked his new coaching gig. It wasn’t just because of all the awe and adoration the kid heaped on him either, although that had been kind of nice. No, it was mostly because it felt good to share some of the knowledge that’d been literally beat into his head.

  The defiant part of him took a sense of pride in knowing that, unlike his father, Trey could pass along that knowledge with kind words and gentle encouragement. It was much better than the scorn, abuse and curse words Dad had used to teach Trey and his brothers. He was so caught up in teaching Andy that Trey almost didn’t notice when another miniature goalie tottered over their way. Trey paused to look at the newbie.

  The kid grinned back. “Coach said to come down here with you.”

  “Okay,” Trey replied, thinking that teaching two couldn’t be that much more difficult than one.

  Soon he had three and then four of the ankle bitters at his end of the rink—all of them looking up at him in rapt adoration, much like baby chicks would stare at their mother.

  “Amy so owes me for this one,” Trey muttered under his breath before he began coaching his four new mini-Treys.

  Wade grinned as he watched the growing group of students assembling in front of Trey. The goalie seemed to take it all in stride as he carefully took them through a series of intricate drills. While he never once shot a puck at the kids, Wade had no doubt the lesson was valuable. He’d often heard that the goalie had to be the best skater on the team.

  He thought back to the games he’d watched this season and to the smooth, effortless way Trey moved on the ice. Now that Wade knew there was a hard body and cute face to go along with all that skill, Wade planned on never missing another game.

  All too soon the practice ended and Trey was herding his students off the ice. Wade met them at the door leading to the ice.

  “You’re great with them,” he complimented, trying to think of a way to ask the guy out.

  He bit back a curse as all the little goalies made no move to leave. If anything, they seemed extremely interested in the conversation. Damn, how was he supposed to make the moves on someone when he had an underage audience?

  “They’re great students,” Trey answered before he gave Andy’s helmet an affectionate tap. “So, I’ll see you next practice then?”

  Andy nodded as much as his oversized goalie mask would allow. “Are you really going to get me tickets to the next game?”

  “Sure thing, I’ll even take you back to the locker room so you can meet the other players,” Trey promised.

  Andy’s eyes grew so wide they nearly swallowed his face. “That would be cool.”

  Before Wade could even think of a suave way to ask Trey out, the man was leading his small troop away. Just as they reached the door to the locker rooms, Trey turned and flashed the sweetest smile.

  “Maybe I’ll see you at the next practice, too?”

  Heart thudding in his chest, Wade nodded dumbly. “Yeah, sure.”

  The corners of Trey’s lips twitched as if holding in a laugh before he ducked through the door.

  Wade stood there for a long time, feeling a bit awkward and idiotic. It’d been a long time since anyone had garnered that kind of reaction from him. The fact that it was some twenty-three-year old kid with a somewhat shy, yet snarky attitude stunned him. When he’d first arrived, he’d been excited at the prospect of meeting one of his favorite hockey players, instead, he found himself lusting after the guy. Not exactly how Wade had planned his day.

  When Andy came out in his street clothes twenty minutes later, Wade forced himself not to glance around or linger in the hopes of running into Trey again. He just took Andy’s bag and led his nephew to the car.

  On the way home, Andy talked non-stop about his new hero.

  Wade tried to keep up with the excited stream of chatter, but in the end, just gave up and nodded from time to time. That seemed to placate the kid because he never stopped talking until they reached Mary’s house.

  Once they arrived, Andy jumped from the car and raced inside, no doubt eager to share all his news. Wade gathered up his nephew’s equipment before following at a more sedate pace. When he saw Amy sitting at the kitchen table, he blinked in surprise.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, setting the bag and pads down.

  She blinked innocently at him. “What? Can’t I visit my sister and nephew?”

  “In the middle of a work week? I didn’t think you took a break long enough to eat until the weekends,” he quipped in response.

  She rolled her coffee mug between her palms and gave him a look so speculative, Wade felt like a mouse being stalked by a cat in a pantsuit.

  “So how was Andy’s new coach?”

  “Very patient,” Wade replied warily. Whenever Amy got that look in her eyes, it meant she was up to something.

  “Did you talk to him at all?”

  All of a sudden, her devious, diabolical, maniacal, evil plan became so obvious he wondered why he hadn’t seen it all along. “You’re trying to set us up? Aren’t you?”

  “Now why would I do that? You specifically told me to butt out of your personal life so many times that I would be foolish to be sneaky like that.” She did that whole I-am-so-not-guilty blinking thing.

  He had to resist the childish urge to roll his eyes. “Please, you’re the queen of sneaky.”

  “He’s single,” she sang out, still all innocent.

  “I didn’t ask you if he was or not,” he replied in the same tone.

  “He hangs out at Peacocks.”

  Wade paused, surprised. “You mean that bar in the middle of bumfuck nowhere?”

  “That would be the one. He usually goes on nights when they don’t have a game the next day.”

  That meant the chances were good that Trey would be there that very evening. Since Wade knew the Hawks’s schedule by heart, he was aware they had a small break in games.

  He hesitated. Did he really want to drive all the way to Peacocks on the off chance Trey may happen to show up? Was it even worth it? One thought about how sweet the man’s smile was answered that question for Wade. Hell, yeah.

  Chapter Three

  It’d been a while since Wade had been to Peacocks so he almost forgot how much of a dump the plac
e looked from the outside. Luckily for him, the bar happened to be a classic case of not being able to judge a book by its cover.

  As soon as he opened the cracked, warped wood door of the equally worn-down building, he found the interior had the perfect bar-slash-club feel to it. A huge dance floor took up the center of the bar, the lights pulsating over the glossy, tiles perfectly. Several dark, leather booths and couches lined one side of the bar, most of them already occupied despite the early hour. A huge bar took up the other side—the black light reflecting the multi-colored spotlights that flashed over the entire area.

  He scanned the sea of bodies, searching for Trey. It didn’t take him long to find the man. Trey stood nearly dead center in the middle of the dance floor. He wore only a pair of tight black jeans and a look of pure bliss as his thin body swayed sensuously to some old Madonna song. Even from a distance, Wade could make out several droplets of sweat trailing down Trey’s muscular, tan chest. More sweat clung to his honey blond hair, making it stick up on end in places. While on anyone else it may have looked foolish, with Trey, it gave him a whole debauched look that caused Wade’s cock to begin to swell to life.

  At one point, Trey must have worn a shirt because a dark red tee was haphazardly tucked into the back of the waistband of his too-tight-to-be-legal pants. The shirt trailed down a bit, the ends bouncing whenever he rocked his hips.

  Trey opened his eyes and by the glazed, unfocused look of them, at first Wade wondered if he were on something. It only took a few moments of watching to dash that thought away. Trey may be high alright, but it only came from the feel of the music while he danced.

  Wade remained rooted with bone-crushing arousal as he watched Trey close his eyes again and then slowly trail his hands up his chest to his neck before threading them in the sweaty, blond strands of his hair. A soft smile played on his full lips, almost as if he were in a happy place that he alone could achieve.

  On their own accord, Wade’s feet began to move forward. The entire way over, his gaze remained fixed on Trey and the ball-tingling show he was putting on. With each thrust of the man’s hips or sway of his chest, Wade grew harder—so much so that the press of the zipper from his jeans nearly became painful and his pants were nowhere near as tight as Trey’s.