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Growing up in Minnesota, his family had often spent time on Lake Superior when he was younger, before the demands of having a young, elite hockey prospect had taken over every aspect of their lives completely. He and Luke used to go wakeboarding off the back of their dad’s small Tidewater center console, but he’d never seen anything quite like this. He was still getting used to the fact that these guys made serious money.
And that now, so did he.
“When we get out there, you wanna drive?” Koski asked, gesturing toward the helm.
Ryan shook his head, smiling. “Nah. I think I’ll just watch you have all the fun.”
“Grab a beer and get comfy. Is about a 45-minute ride to where we anchor. Water will be too cold for swimming but is nice view.”
He went back down to the cooler, grabbed two beers, and returned, handing one to his teammate before making his way to the seat in the front of the fly bridge. The wind was whipping around him as Koski pushed the engines to max speed, but it was a nice distraction from his thoughts, which mostly consisted of how much he wished it was he and Hayes out here together instead.
Ryan knew he wasn’t getting over Hayes anytime soon, but dammit if he wasn’t gonna try.
The kid still had needs.
He’d fucked two guys since breaking up with Hayes, both of whom he’d met on Grindr, and both of which had been an absolute disaster.
The one was a hot, 19-year-old twink with a Jacob’s ladder, which Ryan had really enjoyed tonguing and sucking on. However, he had some very serious daddy issues, something Ryan had tried to, but ultimately couldn’t get on board with, especially when it ended with him crying and begging him to tell him he was a good boy.
“I…yeah, I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”
The other was an older man in his late 40’s who’d fucked Ryan into a coma, but who Ryan had discovered was married when he’d gone to the bathroom to clean up after they’d finished. His wife wouldn’t stop blowing up his phone that he’d conveniently left face up on the hotel nightstand, taunting Ryan to take a peek. He’d never gotten dressed and dipped out of a hotel room so fast, which was really saying something considering his checkered sexual past.
He’d also hooked up with a girl again one night after an away game in Dallas, when the guys all went out to a club afterward, just to see if he still could. She was a gorgeous blonde with huge fake tits and a tiny waist: the closeted Ryan Baylor special. They’d ended up back at her place, where they’d climbed into the hot tub together and he’d fingered her until she came. After a lot of effort and frustration on her part, he’d finally managed to orgasm, but only because he was thinking about Hayes.
It was all useless; he knew that.
Hayes was his lobster.
His really mouthy, pain-in-the-fucking-ass, broken, drug-addicted lobster, but his lobster nonetheless.
Once they’d gotten to the spot where they were going to hang out, Koski asked Ryan to head to the stern and toss the rear anchor while he dropped the front one via the winch to avoid swinging too much in the strong current.
The scenery was gorgeous. They were far enough out in the bay that they could just barely make out the skyline in the distance, but they were anchored right across from a small island where the water was super clear. They grabbed a couple more beers, shed their shirts, and headed up to the bow, where, after spraying each other down with sunscreen, they lounged out on either of the two sun pads.
“This NHL life is shit, eh, Baylor?” Koski joked, setting his beer down and folding his arms behind his head.
“Totally. The worst.”
“How is your boyfriend? He is doing OK in treatment?”
Ryan’s face flushed at the word “boyfriend” and he took another sip of his beer. “He’s doing really well. But, uh, we’re actually…broken up at the moment.”
“I’m sorry to hear,” Koski offered. “And you are OK with that?”
Ryan nodded. “Yeah. It’s…I don’t think it’s permanent or anything. He just…made some bad decisions, lots of bad decisions, and right now he needs to focus on getting better. I figured this was…one less thing for him to worry about.” Ryan kept talking, even though Koski hadn’t asked. “I’m still there for him. I go to family therapy sessions with him, we talk every night. It’s not like I abandoned him. I just…I don’t know. I’m sorry. I’ll shut up now.”
Koski shook his head. “Talk all you want. I will listen.”
Awww.
Ryan decided to change the subject. “So that workout, man. My quads are fuckin’ screaming today.”
“Told you. But did you see what happened today at practice? You moved. You were much faster. You’ve made such good progress so far. I’m proud of you, and I’m really glad you’re here, Baylor.” He looked over at Ryan who looked right back at him.
“I’m…really glad I’m here, too.”
“So, did you…you wanna see below? You think is nice up here? Wait until you see below.” Koski stood up, extending his hand to help pull Ryan to his feet. Ryan grabbed onto it and immediately felt the electricity between them. He knew exactly what was going to happen when they got down there.
