Trade Deadline - Avon Gale Page 0,57

range anymore.”

“I might have an idea or two,” Daniel said shiftily. “But we’ll have to save it for when we’re alone. I brought batteries, though. Keep it on tonight, okay?”

Micah looked down at the box, then back up at Daniel, his hazel eyes shining. “Okay. Do you want your present now?”

Daniel shook his head. “Save it for the morning. I want to try these out.”

They spent the next few minutes putting in the batteries and setting the two-way radios to the same channel.

“Let’s see if they work. Stay here.” Micah disappeared into the house. A little while later, Daniel’s radio crackled. “Testing, testing. You awake, Danny?”

Daniel smiled at the familiar question. It had woken him from sleep so many times when they were kids, but he’d never minded. “Yeah, I’m awake.”

“Come find me. I’m feeling really tired all of a sudden. I think I might wanna lie down, but this bed is awfully big...”

Daniel’s laugh scared Petey awake again. “I need to take care of the dogs. ETA: five minutes. Over.”

“Roger that. Micah out.”

Daniel walked the dogs to the grassy area on the other side of the deck. While they did their business, he pressed down the button on the side of his radio. “Hey, Micah?”

“Yeah?”

“I do know you. Maybe it has been twenty years, but underneath, in your heart, you’re still the boy I knew. I loved that boy. He was my best friend.” Daniel hesitated, his stomach quaking. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

The silence of the next few seconds was pure agony.

Then Micah’s answer came, soft and hoarse: “I know you too, and I feel the same. You must know that. So, please get in here and say that again. Over.”

“Say over, over?” Daniel joked.

Micah’s voice was choked with amusement when he replied, “Say whatever you like, as long as you do it in here.”

Grinning, Daniel pushed the button down again. “On my way. Daniel out.”

“Daniel in,” Micah insisted. “Hurry up, yeah? I’m warning you, I’m going to kiss your face off. Over.”

“And over?” Daniel laughed up at the night sky. God, he’d forgotten what it felt like to feel this carefree, to have that familiar, butterfly flutter in his stomach, that achy, flushed excitement of new love. “Merry Christmas, Micah,” he said into the radio. “You better watch out. Santa Claus is coming to town.”

When he got to the room Micah was sleeping in, the one right next to his own, Micah was still laughing.

“You absolute dork,” he said, grabbing Daniel the moment he stepped inside. “That was terrible. I mean it. So fucking bad.” He pressed his smiling mouth to Daniel’s and gave him a kiss that made Daniel’s head spin.

He broke the kiss to look down into Micah’s face, and his happy, playful expression, the gleam in his eyes, was something Daniel knew he’d never forget.

“Now, come here, Santa.” Micah grabbed Daniel’s hand and tugged him toward the bed. “I’ve been a naughty boy.”

Chapter Sixteen

As someone who had never cared about sports before, Micah was unprepared for his reaction to the Thunder versus Venom game. He knew it was going to be a hard game for the team, because it seemed like the Venom were very good at hockey and the Thunder...not so much. But he had no idea what it was going to be like, ensconced in his spot amongst the other Thunder family members in the reserved section, when the team went down 3–0 in the first period.

“Uh-oh.” Tabby groaned. She was sitting next to Micah, decked out in her Thunder jersey and sans kids, who were visiting her parents in Georgia. “Don’t tell Daniel I said this, but games were a lot more fun last year.”

Micah gave a weak laugh. “I bet.” He watched as the teams lined up for another face-off, with the announcer reading the newest Venom goal in a somber voice. The cheers in the arena weren’t somber, though, and that was because there were almost more fans in green and gold than blue and white.

“This seems bad,” Micah said, glancing around. The faces of the other friends and family members were almost identical to Tabby’s—tense and unhappy as the team took another penalty. Micah didn’t know all the ins and outs of hockey but he was definitely starting to learn, and it didn’t take a seasoned pro to know that a bad penalty kill when down three-zip could only spell disaster.

“It is,” said Tabby, grimly. “They’re not playing like a team and not communicating