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Troy’s idea of a perfect Saturday on the road included a nice date with Harris followed by some incredibly steamy hotel sex before ordering up room service.
It did not include being at a club with the entire team, Rose Landry, and her co-stars—one of which was his cheating ex-boyfriend.
He understood, on some level, that this was probably some kind of cosmic karma for being such an asshole in the past, but it didn’t make him feel any better.
The worst thing was that the trip had gone pretty well before this. They were coming up on the end of a West Coast road trip, and had a day off in Vancouver between winning in Seattle and their afternoon game the next day. He and Harris had gotten a late lunch with his mom and Charlie, then Troy had shown Harris some of his favorite spots around the city. He’d been gearing up to finish his perfect Saturday plans when Shane had texted the team to ask if they’d want to go out with Rose and her castmates that night. Harris loved Rose (and vice versa) so Troy had agreed they could go dance. He was not, however, expecting to see Adrian coiled up next to Rose looking like a viper ready to strike.
“Boys!” Rose squealed, pulling Shane and Ilya into hugs and kissing their cheeks. “I’m so glad you brought everyone. I’ve been gushing about the Cens since we started filming, right?” This was angled back toward the actors, who all smiled and nodded and offered restrained greetings.
“Actually, let me introduce everyone. You all probably know Shane and Ilya by now. This is Wyatt, Evan, Luca, Bood, Nick, Young, and Troy. And Troy’s boyfriend, Harris.” Troy tried not to grimace at the way Adrian’s eyes widened at boyfriend. “Guys, this is Saskia, Charlotte, Simon, and Adrian,” Rose continued. Oh, did Troy know Adrian.
“Boyfriend?” Adrian asked, leaning closer to Troy. The club lights flashed pink and purple across his golden skin.
“Yep!” Harris answered, his cheer unwavering. “We’ve been together, god, almost three years now?”
Adrian’s eyes dipped toward the pins on Harris’s jean jacket, the Big Gay Apple and one that said he/him/his with the trans pride flag. Anger curled in Troy’s gut at the almost-sneer it brought to Adrian’s face.
“Do you two know each other?” Ilya asked, his narrowed eyes flicking back and forth across the table.
Adrian went to open his mouth, but Troy cut him off.
“Yeah, we met a few years ago, when I was still playing in Toronto. Some party a friend of a friend was throwing.”
Ilya hummed, not quite satisfied. “The perks of being the hometown hero, I suppose.”
“That reminds me, congratulations on the wedding! I was so excited when you came out. Is your husband here too?” Harris’s sweet, earnest voice was so good at covering up his ulterior motives. Even years after the breakup, he was still the only one who knew about Troy and Adrian.
A media-ready grin plastered over Adrian’s face. “No, he’s in LA. We try to give each other space to work.” Unlike you went unsaid, but was loud and clear.
“I don’t know how you manage it. We’re only ever apart for a couple weeks at most, and it’s difficult. At least I get paid to stare at his pretty face all day and my coworkers let me brag about him all the time.” Unlike you was, again, very obvious to all three.
“I’m gonna go get drinks. Shots okay with everyone?” Troy forced out. “You know, I think Wyatt’s a big fan of your show, Adrian. Wyatt?” As he turned away and heard Wyatt’s voice slip through the conversation to gush about characterization, Ilya caught his eye.
“I will help. With shots,” was all he said, but then the two of them were making their way through the crowd to the bar, and Troy knew he wouldn’t be getting out of this conversation.
“You two hooked up?” Ilya asked while they waited for the tray of shots.
“Dated for two years, got dumped when he announced his engagement,” Troy murmured, eyes trained on the top of the bar. “I got traded a week later.”
“Fuck,” Ilya said eloquently. “Rough year for you, huh?”
Troy shrugged. “Could have been worse. I got to come to Ottawa. I met Harris, came out.”
The trays of shots arrived, each man taking one and gingerly walking back across the room.
“I’m just worried he’ll be a dick to Harris,” Troy said, when they were still ten feet away from their group.
Ilya stopped and looked at Troy with a grave expression on his face.
“If he’s a dick to Harris, tell me. I will kill him. And make sure Rose never hangs out with him again.”
At that, Troy chuckled and nudged him with his elbow as hard as he could without upending the tray. “Please don’t make my boyfriend write a press release about you murdering my ex in his honor.”
“We’ll see,” Ilya said, walking the final few steps back to the table. “Okay, who thinks they can go shot-for-shot with a Russian!”
Troy did not go shot-for-shot with a Russian, or anyone else for that matter. He had a respectable three drinks and pulled Harris onto the dance floor, letting their hips graze as he covered Harris’s waist with his hands and kissed him slowly. He’d never taken a girl home in Toronto, but he’d gotten good at dancing with them to throw off suspicion. It was even better now that he could dance with someone he actually wanted.
“Does it bother you that he’s here?” Harris asked against his lips. They both knew who he was.
“No,” Troy said. “It just means he gets to watch how much happier I am now with you.” It didn’t even feel like a lie.
The music thrummed through their bodies, each pulse of the beat and flash of lights falling in time with the rhythm of their hips. Troy let himself get swept up in the feeling of Harris’s hands on him and his lips on his neck. More of their party had joined the dance floor, and he saw brief glimpses of his teammates when the lights changed. Every now and then he would feel someone graze against his bicep or his thigh as the crowd writhed around them.
He was breaking out of another kiss with Harris when he saw his boyfriend’s eyes go wide at something over his shoulder. Troy glanced surreptitiously backward and clenched his jaw in frustration at the sight of Adrian behind him. Then, he had the audacity to wink at them.
Troy tamped down his anger and rolled his eyes before turning to face Harris again and resolutely ignore Adrian behind him. Every now and then someone—he knew exactly who—would brush his hip or his back or his ass, too purposeful to be accidental.
Whatever. He was only here because Shane and Rose wanted their friends to meet. They’d met, and Troy was very sure he never wanted to do so again.
“Want to get out of here?” he asked, voice low and rough in Harris’s ear. At his agreement, Troy glanced over at where Ilya was dancing with Shane and Rose.
“Roz, we’re gonna head out. See you tomorrow,” he half-yelled over the music, slipping his hand into Harris’s and tugging him toward the door.
“Remember we have a game tomorrow! Nothing strenuous!” Ilya called back, as if he had any room to talk.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Harris asked once they’d reached the sidewalk, holding Troy’s hand firmly in his own.
“Yeah, I just hate that guy. Didn’t want to spend any more time with him than I had to, especially if I can have you all to myself instead.” Troy tugged their hands to his mouth so he could plant a kiss on Harris’s knuckles.
“I’m all yours, bud.”
Troy smiled, because he never doubted it.
Vancouver was a good team, but nowhere near the powerhouse that Ottawa was. It was an easy win, a nice way to wrap up the road trip. Troy had played distracted, with Adrian sitting next to Rose in her box, but they’d still won 4-1. Now, sitting on their hotel bed while Harris showered, each buzz of his phone grated at something deep in his stomach. When would this guy fucking get the message and give up?
Another buzz from an incoming message.
“Fuck this,” Troy mumbled and opened his chat with Adrian.
Adrian (DO NOT ANSWER)
Today 2:28 AM
It was really good to see you. We should do it again. Maybe make it a regular thing?
Read 9:42 AM
Today 12:04 PM
Next time I’ll wear those shorts you like so much ;) maybe with your jersey?
Read 2:19 PM
Today 7:27 PM
Troy. Come on. We both know you’re not happy.
Is that why you played like that?
Fuck off.
You have no idea what I look like happy.
So you’re admitting it?
Harris is cute, but we both know you’re not satisfied.
What the fuck?
Do I have to spell it out for you?
Troy, you like dick.
Don’t pretend I’m the bad guy for knowing that there’s no way you’re satisfied with Harris’s set-up
Those deep-throat skills shouldn’t be wasted on silicone
I like MEN
I knew you were an asshole, but you never struck me as a bigot
Does Rose know? Because she adores Harris
Almost as much as I do
Don’t make this into a thing like you always do
I just think you deserve better Troy
You’re right, I do.
That’s why I’m with Harris and not you
Tell Justin I said hi
Actually you know what? I’ll do it
Troy stop
Whatever you think is going on, you’re wrong
Troy
Read 7:39 PM
Adrian is calling…
(1) Missed call from Adrian
You have blocked “Adrian”
+1 (555) 639-2926
Today 7:41 PM
Hi Justin, it’s Troy Barrett. I got your number from Rose Landry.
Adrian was cheating on you. We dated from August 2018 to November 2020.
To be clear, I had no idea he was seeing you until after we broke up.
Which is why I thought you might be interested in him trying to hook up with me while he’s filming in Vancouver.
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Read 7:46 PM
“Everything okay?” Harris asked, his sweet voice laced with concern as he stepped into the room with a towel around his waist.
Troy dropped his phone on the bedside table facedown.
“It is now.”
Harris smiled, and Troy’s heart nearly cracked clean in two. Of course he loved Harris. How could he not? Adrian was a fucking idiot to think anything otherwise.
Harris eased onto the bed beside him. His arms fell open, and Troy immediately launched himself into Harris’s chest. There was nowhere else in the world he’d rather be.
“Actually, there’s something I need to tell you as my Comms director, not as my boyfriend.” Troy let Harris adjust him so that they could look at each other’s faces.
“I think it’s pretty unprofessional for your Comms director to be sitting on your bed in just a towel, but shoot.”
“You might be getting some blowback from Adrian Dela Cruz, or I guess I might.”
“And why is that?” Harris asked lightly, stroking Troy’s hair with gentle fingers.
“Because I sent screenshots of him flirting with me to his husband?”
Harris’s fingers stopped moving, but he left his hand in Troy’s hair.
“And why did you do that? Not that I’m complaining, but what provoked you?”
Troy turned his head into Harris’s chest, as if he could escape the words he was about to say. “He was being a dick about you. Saying I can’t possibly be satisfied because you’re trans.”
Troy braced himself for anger, or hurt, but nothing could have prepared him for the way Harris threw his head back and laughed.
“Troy, baby, look at me.” Harris’s free hand came up to dislodge Troy’s face from where it was buried in his chest. “I know you love me. I know you’re attracted to me. I know you love sex with me. I’m not worried about any of that. Maybe if he’d said something about how I couldn’t keep up with you because of my heart, I would be offended. But I don’t hide that I’m trans, and I have nearly ten years of experience dealing with assholes who have decided it’s something I should be ashamed of.”
He was right, of course, but Troy’s head was still swirling with a mix of emotions.
“Oh, you know I love sex with you?” he finally said, letting a teasing lilt enter his voice.
Harris’s hand tightened its grip around his chin, the other still woven through his hair.
“Babe, last week you had me sit on your face until you got a crick in your neck and I thought you would need to visit the trainers. The first time you fingered me, you said it was—and I quote—‘the softest thing you’d ever felt.’ When I got a new prosthetic, you literally begged me to let you suck it. I’m not insecure in your attraction to me.” Harris released his grip on Troy, who tucked himself into the crook of Harris’s neck.
“I just… You know I see you as a man right? I always have and always will. I’m attracted to you because you’re a man, not in spite of it.”
Another laugh rumbled through Harris, echoing where Troy’s ear sat against his collarbone.
“Sorry, babe, but you’re one of the gayest men I know. There is no way this relationship would work if you didn’t see me as a man. But I do know, and I love you.”
Troy nuzzled deeper into Harris’s neck, then very quickly realized he was straddling his boyfriend and practically trying to crawl inside his skin. And he was getting harder by the second.
“Then can I show you just how attracted to you I am?” He laid a kiss along the underside of Harris’s jaw, then another one next to it, relishing in the way his beard felt against his lips.
“Lead the way,” Harris laughed again, squeezing Troy’s ass before letting him pull them both down to the mattress.