LOGINPOV: KhyleAfter wading through twenty very technical minutes of mandatory new car talk, Gunner firing question upon question at Khyle until he directed him to the manual that was in the glove compartment, the atmosphere mellowed and thoughts turned to idle conversation.About the cold. And the car."Heated seats are the best, eh?""Yeah, pretty sweet.""My old car, she didn't have that. And you fucking miss it on a day like today. Get in your car, and the seat's like a park bench."Khyle chuckled. He'd never thought of it like that, but that was true. Khyle looked over when Gunner didn't say anything else for a full ten seconds, worried that he might be into or up to something Khyle wouldn't want to know about.He was casually flipping through Khyle's pack of CDs, ones he'd had for years but hadn't had the luxury of listening to for a few months in his old beater with its broken CD player.Khyle let the enforcer occupy himself for a few moments, enjoying just being. He found himself
POV: Dual, Khyle and GunnerHe lifted the key fob and hit the button, and his car chirped back at them, the sound echoing off the cement walls of the structure around them, confusing the senses. Gunner, though, turned his head toward the sound. But his expression quickly became annoyed, like he was thoroughly stuck on a crossword puzzle."Where's your jalopy?" he frowned. Khyle felt his eye twitch, but the typical slight against his car was forgotten in the next instant, and he nodded toward the space ahead, feeling a small upward pull on the side of his sore lip."You're standing in front of it."Gunner seemed to take a moment to process where he was supposed to be looking. Khyle pressed another button, and an engine fired up. Blue eyes widened, first in surprise, then amazement. Not that the car in front of him was the most expensive thing on the road. But it was admittedly as nice as his own. Better maybe. Except that this one apparently belonged to Santos."Get outta here!" he bar
POV: Dual, Khyle and GunnerKhyle winced, grimacing as well when Gunner scuffed his hair and slung a heavy arm around his shoulders, practically dragging him into a walk. They weren't going running today. Khyle had declared a day off. Besides, he knew Gunner would have worked out already. He was aware of his habits, and he knew the man was anal about keeping himself up to par, and then some.Instead, he had some stuff to drop off at the local animal shelter, worn blankets from his dad's clinic, things of that nature. Gunner had, almost too agreeably, been all in on Khyle's morning plans. He'd said he had a few old towels to add to the donation pile, even though the ones in his hand looked suspiciously brand new.Khyle scowled back at him. Everything from his own general discomfort to Gunner's many faces, it was all throwing him off his determined stride and into a willful state of petulance he couldn't seem to reel back in."What's that supposed to mean?" he shot back. "You think I lo
POV: GunnerThe skin of Khyle's lip was warm and soft.He only wanted to see what damage Khyle had done to himself last night. And before he knew what had possessed him, he'd reached out and taken Khyle's chin in his hand. It was nothing, really. They were a physical bunch, and close contact with another guy on the team was as normal as taking a piss, nothing at all, but.As soon as he felt that hot skin burning under his fingertips, sinking into his palm, he felt something about himself letting go. Maybe it started before that. He wasn't sure. But Gunner's eyes slit in concentration, and almost like an afterthought, he felt himself slipping somewhere.Until he felt the vibration run through his fingers when those lips moved.Distantly, he heard a low voice. And he blinked slowly as if waking from a fog dream.It sounded vaguely annoyed. That was never a good sign."You know, some people just ask."The world suddenly got brighter, the late-morning sun breaking through the clouds above
POV: Dual, Khyle and Gunner"Yo, Santos. For such a pretty boy, you took that stick to the face like a boss."The thin January air curled like cold steel around their breath on this Canadian-est of days. The storm had dragged a cold snap in its wake. A large man, his appearance smooth and controlled, an unlikely contrast to his feral and often savage nature, moved toward a deceptively leaner but equally tempered and eruptive male as the two took stock of each other for the first time in what felt like weeks.In reality, it had been little more than a day and a half.Pretty boy raised an irritated eyebrow before the flesh between his rich brown eyes rumpled into the deeper version of his trademark scowl. He choked on a nameless sound and took in cold air as he opened his mouth, at first intent on coming up with something as deeply scathing as pretty boy. Something Gunner could suck on.But last night's texting debacle was on the shortlist in his mind. And regardless of Gunner's stupid
POV: Dual, Khyle and Gunner"Yo, Santos. For such a pretty boy, you took that stick to the face like a boss."The thin January air curled like cold steel around their breath on this Canadian-est of days. The storm had dragged a cold snap in its wake. A large man, his appearance smooth and controlled, an unlikely contrast to his feral and often savage nature, moved toward a deceptively leaner but equally tempered and eruptive male as the two took stock of each other for the first time in what felt like weeks.In reality, it had been little more than a day and a half.Pretty boy raised an irritated eyebrow before the flesh between his rich brown eyes rumpled into the deeper version of his trademark scowl. He choked on a nameless sound and took in cold air as he opened his mouth, at first intent on coming up with something as deeply scathing as pretty boy. Something Gunner could suck on.But last night's texting debacle was on the shortlist in his mind. And regardless of Gunner's stupid
POV: KhyleThe locker room was exactly what he needed it to be, which was loud and irreverent and completely indifferent to the weight he'd walked in carrying.Shane was in the middle of something that involved his athletic cup and the phrase saddle up, which Logan was objecting to on grounds that
POV: GunnerGunner heard him coming before he saw him.That was Kensei's particular quality of movement, unhurried and deliberate, the footfalls of someone who was going somewhere specific and had decided on the pace and was not going to be rushed by anything. Gunner recognized it the way he recogn
POV: KhyleYou would think that an outburst of such epic proportions would have been enough to jolt them out of their feud and back into sanity.Yes, you would think that.And you would be wrong.Two days past Christmas, Khyle stood outside the arena doors and took a breath of cold Seattle air and
POV: GunnerThe locker room after the game had the specific quality of a space where something significant had happened and everyone present was still processing whether it was over.It wasn't over. Gunner knew that. The fight had been real and the ejection had been real and the suspension was real







