by Toni Aleo
“It’s disgusting,” Benedict said, looking away.
Thea cleared her throat. “He won’t do that to your career. I’ll make sure of it.”
Wells shrugged. “Even if he did, I wouldn’t leave Matty. I don’t want a career or any success if I don’t have someone to share it with.”
Thea beamed as Benedict slowly shook his head. But before anyone could say another word, Wells’s attention was brought to the screen where Matty was standing at a podium. “What the hell?” he gasped, and Benedict looked over, as did Thea, as a news flash ran along the bottom of the screen.
Matthew Haverbrooke of the Rangers, son of the NHL commissioner, comes out as gay.
“Holy shit,” Wells muttered as Benedict turned red, reaching for the remote to turn it up.
“I stand before you, with my team and my organization behind me, to say that I am a proud gay man. I’ve hidden it for years, and I’m no longer willing to do that. I have been blackmailed and ridiculed for my choice, but I refuse to allow anyone to let me feel like less than I am. I am a good hockey player, I love my family, and I love my boyfriend. I want the world to know that I won’t stop playing the game I love because of who I love. I want the world to know that, no matter what, I will be me. This wasn’t easy, but I won’t stand in the dark when I know I can have a life out in the open where I can be happy. I want to thank my team for their support. My teammates are class acts. My organization has supported me since I asked for this conference last night. I want to thank the fans because I know they’ll support me.” He paused, inhaling deeply as Wells’s heart pounded in his chest. “I want to thank my family for their love and support. But most of all, I have to thank my partner, Wells Lemiere, who has been beside me through this and who has been the most supportive man I know. He is the reason I am who I am today. And I’m so grateful for him.”
Benedict was shaking with anger, but Wells was grinning.
Matty was out.
He did it for Wells. Wells had been so worried about fixing things for Matty, when Matty was off trying to fix and make things real for Wells. They were a mess. A crazy, totally insane mess that Wells wouldn’t have any other way. Matty was it.
With elation inside of him, he glanced from a grinning Thea to a glaring Benedict who looked as though he really was going to kill Wells at that moment. When Benedict’s phone started to ring, Wells shrugged. It was about to be a real trying time for Matty’s father, but Wells couldn’t care one bit.
He wanted to get home to Matty.
But first, he had something to say. Standing slowly, he held Benedict’s gaze as he said, “I don’t expect you to welcome me with open arms. I don’t even expect you to do the same for Matty, but please allow him to be happy. Love who he is, because he is a damn good man. Surely, you see that. Surely, you know that this is who he is, and he deserves to be proud of that. I know that I’m proud of him. That I love him, and that won’t ever change.” Pushing his chair in, he shot them both a grin. “Again, thank you for welcoming me, but I need to go home.”
Without letting either of them say anything, Wells left the room, running through the house and out the door, a grin so big on his face. As he reached his car, he got in. He had just started it when he noticed his phone was blinking with a text.
Matty: Did you see the announcement?
Wells: I did.
Matty: Come home.
Wells: I am.
Twenty-Seven
Matty was shaking as he paced his apartment.
He didn’t want to leave just in case Wells showed up. He tried calling him to get an ETA so that he could go get some beer and maybe some food, but Wells didn’t answer. Matty wasn’t sure if Wells would be there in the next ten minutes or the next ten hours. If he was coming from Vegas, it could be hours. But what if he had already been on his way back to New York when he saw it? Matty hated not knowing, and it annoyed him.
He just wanted Wells to be there.
Tapping his toe on the ground, he looked around, trying to find something to do. He considered calling Avery or maybe even his mom, but he didn’t have anything to say. He knew Avery was on her way to New Jersey and that his mom had gotten home fine. They had both texted him. A smile pulled at his lips as he thought of his mom. He hadn’t expected her to stay the night, but it was really nice to have her. She was the one who’d suggested calling Brendan for the press conference. It would be the ultimate declaration of love, as she called it.
And she was right. Matty felt so much better now that the weight of not knowing what would happen was gone. He felt good. His teammates and his organization went above and beyond to make him feel loved. His coach even sent him an Edible Arrangement that he had already devoured. Well, except for the strawberries since they were Wells’s favorite. His teammates had all messaged or emailed him, saying they were behind him one hundred percent. It was mind-blowing, and he wished he had done it a long time ago.
It would have saved him so much pain and loneliness.
Glancing around, he realized he had nothing to do. He had cleaned, he had eaten, and he had already watched his shows with Wells. All he could do was wait. As he went to fall onto the couch, though, his phone started ringing. Jumping back up, he jogged to the bar, reaching for his phone. When he realized it was his mom and not Wells, he found himself disappointed.
Swallowing past that, he answered the FaceTime call. “Hey, Mom.”
But when the camera came on, it wasn’t just his mom, it was Ashlyn too. “Hey! It’s us. Ashlyn and me.”
Matty grinned, feeling a little guilty as he sat back on the barstool. “Hey! You remember me, Ashlyn?”
His niece grinned, nodding her head. “Hi, Uncle Matty.”
“Hey! What are you up to?”
“Eating.”
“Hey, I love to eat.”
“Come eat with me.”
“I will tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” she pouted. “Today.”
She was tugging at his heartstrings, but before he could answer her, Avery was reaching for her. “Don’t make Uncle Matty feel bad. He’ll be here tomorrow. Great press conference, it’s all over the TV.”
Matty blushed. “Thanks. It felt good.”
“You looked great,” she answered, and his mom beamed.
“So professional and handsome.”
“Thanks, guys,” he said, looking away.
“Mr. Wells?” Ashlyn asked then, and Matty smiled.
“He isn’t here, sweet girl.”
Her little lip popped out as Avery kissed her cheek. “Don’t worry, Uncle Matty will come with Mr. Wells tomorrow, right?” Avery glanced over at him. “So we can eat as a family.”
She knew Wells and Matty had gotten into a fight, so he shrugged. “He’s on his way here, so we’ll see.”
“He’ll come,” his mom said then, waving him off.
Matty’s brows pulled in. “How do you know?”
“He told me so.”
Matty could only blink. “Huh? You don’t even know him.”
“He left here maybe an hour ago.”
“He was there? And an hour ago? That means he should be here any second as long as he didn’t hit traffic.”
“Which we all know he will since it’s New York,” Avery supplied, but Matty was still convinced Wells’s arrival was imminent.
“Why was he there?”
“He came to talk to your dad and me.”
Matty was flabbergasted, his jaw dropping. “Wait, what? Why?”
“Because I wanted them to know my intentions toward you.”
At the sound of Wells’s voice, Matty whipped around, his jaw still hanging open, to find Wells in the doorway, a small smile on his gorgeous and rugged face. “You really should start locking this door. Haven’t you learned your lesson yet?”
“Mom, I gotta call you back.”
Hanging up the phone, he threw it down on the counter before looking back at Wells. He slowly pushed the door, his eyes on Matt
y as it closed. “You went to see my dad?” Matty asked incredulously.
“Yeah, my dad suggested that maybe it would help. Make things a little smoother for you. I also wanted him to know that I respect them, both of your parents, but I will be with you because I love you, and no one will ever keep me from being with you.”
“Not even me?” Matty asked, his voice breaking. “Because I’m a pain in the ass.”
Wells swallowed hard as he shook his head, his eyes never leaving Matty’s. “No, not even you.”
Unable to handle it, Matty headed right for Wells and then collapsed into his arms. Their lips met at almost the same exact moment as Matty squeezed his eyes shut, his arms going around Wells’s neck and pulling him closer. Leaning back, he kissed the side of Wells’s mouth, and their eyes met as Matty shook his head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said what I did. I wasn’t thinking, and I was freaking out. I’m really fucking sorry.”
But Wells shook his head, grasping at Matty’s biceps. “No, I was a dick. I expected too much from you when you’d just had it out with your dad. I’m an asshole.”
“No, Wells, really. You’re not. I had already burned you once, it was expected.”
“Yeah, but I promised that I would be understanding, that I would stand beside you no matter what, and I kind of fucked that all up.”
Closing his eyes, Matty pressed his nose into Wells’s. “From the very moment I met you, Wells, I’ve been hesitant and too worried about what everyone else would think, when all I really should have been worried about was what you thought and what I felt. Wells, when I’m with you, I feel complete.”
Kissing Matty’s top lip, Wells smiled. “Your mom says that’s ’cause you’re a bit immature.”
Matty grinned as he met Wells’s gaze. “She might be right, but that’s not the case anymore. Well, I still might be immature, but I don’t care about anything else but you, me, and hockey. My family…they’re insane, and my dad can hate me and you for the rest of our lives, and I wouldn’t care. You honestly resuscitate me, you give me a reason for being, and I can’t live without that.”
Wells fought back a grin. “Wow, you’re laying it on thick.”
Matty shot him a look, digging his fingers into Wells’s back, his eyes locked with his. “Because I want you to know I can’t be without you, I just can’t. Because in the middle of this crazy fucking world, there is only you, smiling back at me. And, Wells, I fucking need that.”
“Matty—”
“No, listen, for real. I need you because you make me feel needed, important, and for a long time, I longed for that. You’re the only person I’ve ever wanted to give everything up for, and I don’t even feel guilty about that. I just want to love you.”
“That’s all I want. We have the advantage—do you see that now? Together, we can win.” Matty’s eyes started to cloud as Wells reached up, holding his face, his eyes burning into his. “Matty, I knew the moment I met you that you were it. I didn’t care who you were, I didn’t care how old you were, or if you were in the closet. I just had to have you. We click, we complement each other—”
“You complement me, not me for you.”
But Wells shook his head. “No, it goes both ways. Don’t you get it? This is it. This, right here, us—we have what people wish they could have, and I refuse to give that up.”
“Me too,” Matty agreed, his breathing heavy as he got lost in Wells’s eyes. “And nothing can ever change that.”
“It sure the fuck can’t,” Wells promised. “I’m yours.”
“I don’t want it any other way.”
A grin pulled at Wells’s lips as Matty caressed his nose with his. Nothing was promised, not tomorrow, not the future, nothing. Everything could change in an instant, but Matty knew that no matter what, Wells would be there.
Beside him.
Loving him.
And that was all he’d ever need.
Epilogue
“Marry me.”
“What?” Wells glanced briefly at the house he hated before looking back to Matty. “What did you say?”
Matty’s mom was standing in the doorway, waiting for them. They could hear Ashlyn in the back with Jace, and they also knew that Laurence, Seth, and his dad were inside, but Matty’s eyes were serious and dark.
“Marry me.” Matty turned, facing Wells, while Wells gawked back at him. “I know this is sudden.”
“You can say that.”
Matty shot him a grin. “But no matter what happens in that house, marry me.”
Wells didn’t even think, he just nodded. “Yes.”
Matty’s grin grew as Wells leaned over, pressing his lips to his, their fingers threading together. Pulling back, Matty looked at Wells, then to their hands. “I’ll never get used to the thrill of holding your hand in public.”
“Yeah, you will,” Wells teased, kissing his cheek. “But I’ll never get over the thrill of being with you, ever.”
Matty flashed him a wide smile as they headed toward the house. “Ready?”
“Nope,” Wells answered, and Matty stopped.
“We can leave—”
“No, I’m not ready ’cause you didn’t get me a ring. I mean, shit, Matty, aren’t you a gentleman?”
Matty tried to glare, he really did, but then he couldn’t help but start laughing hard. “I hate you.”
“I know,” Wells said, leaning into him and bringing Matty’s hand up to kiss the spot where a ring would go. “I’m a pain.”
“But my pain,” Matty confirmed. “And FYI, this is my first time proposing, and since you’re a dude, I thought you wouldn’t want a ring yet.”
“It’s your first and last, Mr. Haverbrooke, and I don’t need anything. I’ve got you.”
“That’s the damn truth,” Matty agreed as they came to the steps where his mom was beaming down at them.
“I’m so excited you guys are here!” she gushed as she held the door open. “Come here,” she demanded before bringing them both down for kisses on the cheek.
“Hey, Mom,” Matty said while Wells hugged her tightly.
“Thank you for having me. These are for you,” Wells said, handing her the flowers he had insisted on bringing. It was sweet. Though, it made Matty look like a jerk since he’d never brought Wells’s mom flowers.
“You’re the sweetest, I swear it,” she said, patting his cheek as they walked in before her. “So Ashlyn and Jace are outside, I’m sure you heard them. Seth and Laurence are in the family room since, apparently, they haven’t eaten in a year, and I’m not sure where Avery is… Oh, here is your father.”
Matty tensed up a bit as his father stopped in front of them. Benedict looked from Wells to Matty before nodding. “It’s nice you two could make it.”
And then he walked away.
His dad wasn’t a hugger, but still, he could have shaken their hands or something. But what did Matty expect? It had only been a few days since his dad had found out, and he was already being bombarded by the press for a statement on his gay son. Matty found himself worried for Wells, though. But when he looked up at him, Wells shrugged and said, “At least he tried?”
Matty started laughing as he leaned into him. “Yeah, I guess.”
“He drives me insane,” his mother complained as they all headed toward the family room. “I need to drink more.”
Matty smiled widely. “Mom, you’re a hoot when you drink.”
She waved him off. “Everyone says that.”
When Avery came out from the bathroom, a smile crossed her lips before she hugged Matty and then Wells.
“I feel like it’s been eons since I saw you two!” She smacked Wells’s arm and beamed. “I saw on Facebook your sister had her baby. Markus had posted a congratulations. Did they make it home from Vegas yet?”
Wells rolled his eyes. “Not yet, they’re leaving at the end of the week. Letting my nephew get a little older before they fly home.”
“Oh, good. Matty had said it was an
ordeal.”
“My whole family is an ordeal.”
“Aren’t all families?” she asked, and they all laughed at that.
Wasn’t that the damn truth?
Heading into the family room, they saw that the table was full of food. Wells’s mouth started to water as Avery moved past them, heading outside to get her husband and daughter. Coming around the table, Seth held out his hand. “Good to see you again, Wells.”
“You too, man. How are you?”
“Good, thanks. Are you going to be in the city for long?”
“I think we’re going to head back to Colorado for a while before training camp starts. We want to hang with my parents for a bit.”
“Yeah, and we’re going to stop in Nashville to see Wells’s new nephew,” Matty volunteered.
Wells beamed. “And maybe another stop in Florida to hang with Ashlyn?”
“That would be perfect,” Matty agreed, and Seth shook his head.
“Well, I’m jealous. I wish I could get away.”
Matty laughed. “Perks of working hard to make it in the NHL.”
“Ah, fuck off,” he said, and all of them started laughing as who Wells assumed was Laurence came up beside Seth.
As their laughter subsided, Laurence looked from Wells to Matty and then cleared his throat. Wells could see Matty tense up as he met his brother’s gaze. “I won’t apologize for how I feel.”
“I’d never ask you to,” Matty replied. “I just hope I’m not losing a brother because of who I love. Considering I’d never do that to you.”
“I’d never love another man.”
“Well, that’s where we are different, then.”
Laurence chanced a glance at Wells and then shrugged. “I guess so, but I don’t like this.”
“And that’s your choice.”
“A stupid choice,” Seth added.
“But his choice,” Matty reiterated. “But no matter what, this is the man I love, and he isn’t going anywhere.”
Wells looked over at Matty and winked. “I’m not.”
“Mommy is having a baby!”
