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“Yeah, man. I’m alright. Long day.” Hayes looked at Ryan, who avoided eye contact, unsure how much of the current situation his boyfriend had divulged to his former roommate. “So I heard they’ve been giving you some starts over there, eh? That’s awesome, man.”
“Yes. Is nice not to be backup and sit on my ass all the time.”
Bridgeport’s starting goaltender had injured his groin a few weeks ago, and Osi had played so well in his absence that they’d kept him as starter even after his return.
“And your boyfriend? He has been unreal. You missed hell of a practice today, Baylor. Seggy and Dalesy got into fist fight. Was blood everywhere. Hastings had meltdown and benched both of them for next game.”
“Jesus, I really do miss all the good shit!” Ryan complained, throwing his hands up.
“Those two clowns still beefin’?” Hayes asked.
“Every goddamn day,” Osi answered. “Is just background noise now.” Osi turned to Ryan. “Why you don’t come to practice anyway?”
He looked at Hayes, who looked away. “Flight was delayed,” he replied quietly, readjusting his backpack up onto his shoulder. “Sorry to cut this short, man, but I’m exhausted. I’m gonna head to my room.”
“OK. And I assume you will join him?” He winked at Hayes, who gave him half a smile. He felt his heart starting to race a little, and his head was beginning to feel like it was in a vice.
He needed more pills, alcohol, something, or else he was about to have a real problem.
“Hey, Ry. Hayes.”
“What’s good, Nat?” Ryan waved to Osi’s girlfriend as they passed by the living room, Hayes offering her a slight nod.
Entering Ryan’s bedroom, which was Hayes’s old room, Ryan closed and locked the door behind them, setting his backpack on the floor. Hayes dropped his onto the bed and immediately began rooting through it. After about 15 seconds, he grew agitated, moving things around wildly and unzipping all the compartments. “The fuck…are my fuckin’…pills?” He stopped and glared at Ryan. “You took ‘em, didn’t you?”
“Are you insane?” Ryan retorted. He shook his head, plugged his phone in, and peeled off his shirt, tossing it onto the bed.
“Wait…here they are. Shit.” Hayes fumbled to uncap the bottle, shook three into his hand, and tossed them into his mouth, washing them down dry. He closed his eyes and began the mental countdown to when they would kick in and he would feel like a normal human being again. “Sorry, Rook.”
They’d dropped TK off at his apartment after stopping at the store so he could replace his phone that had been stolen. They made sure he got into bed and was asleep before they left, Hayes seeing that his phone was nearby and that he had plenty of water. He really didn’t want to leave him alone, but Ryan was adamant that TK was not welcome at his apartment. Hayes was also informed that if he even considered staying with TK instead of coming home with Ryan, after everything that had gone down already that day, their relationship would end.
Hayes checked his phone, making sure there were no crazy messages, but so far, so good.
But if he was being honest, it wasn’t so good.
Hayes didn’t want to be here with the man he loved more than anyone right now; he wanted to be with TK, getting drunk and high as fuck, forgetting about life for a few hours.
Forgetting about his terrible performance in the NHL and getting benched.
Forgetting about the fact that he’d held his teammate for eight hours next to a toilet a few nights ago to make sure he didn’t die.
Forgetting about the threesome with Sev that had brought back painful memories of his sexual abuse that he’d managed to keep buried until now.
Forgetting about his fight with Ryan this morning because he didn’t want to leave his teammate to potentially die on a beach alone.
Forgetting that TK almost got carted off to a California jail today.
Forgetting that he was currently going through opioid withdrawal and there wasn’t anything he could do about it but take more drugs.
Tyler Hayes wanted to take more drugs to forget the fact that he needed to take more drugs.
This is completely fucked.
“Hayes?” Ryan asked loudly, noticing he’d spaced out for a few minutes. “You good?”
“Um…yeah,” he said, shaking his head. “Fine.”
“How many did you take?”
