Ice Fairy 4 - 3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Sam’s POV

Home. Was there a sweeter word in the English vocabulary other than home? Maybe there was, like ‘engaged’, but home was sweeter still. It’s where his mother and sister would be, along with Amber, and Colby, and of course Ryan and Caleb. Sam sighed and slumped down in his seat and leaned against Brett’s broad shoulder. Despite the muscularity of it; his fiance’s body was perfect for curling up on for a quick nap.

“Happy to be going home for a bit?” Brett asked as he laced their fingers together and their hands held on tightly.

Sam looked up and nodded. “Totally. I’ve missed the fuck out of everyone.” He paused and sighed. “Damn. This has been an amazing journey so far, Brett. Hard to believe it’s halfway over already.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Brett agreed as he kissed Sam’s hand and held their joined hands to his chest. “It’ll be bitchin’ to see everyone, even if it’s just a couple of nights.”

“Yeah, it will.” Sam answered dreamily. He was depressed at having to leave his family behind; but with the schedule and the other skaters along for companionship, plus Brett, he’d survived it fairly well. He knew without Brett along it wouldn’t have gone so well. He kissed his man’s shoulder. “I couldn’t have done this without you by my side.”

“No way was I gonna be without you for four long months.” Brett commented. “This has been awesome being together this much.”

Sam sank into his man’s shoulder and curled his legs up under him. Thoughts of their nightly sex and sweetness inundated his mind and he felt warmer immediately. Brett was one hell of a lover and just being near him gave him goose bumps. He was deeply in love with his fiancé; and couldn’t wait to get back and finalize everything for their wedding. It was only nine months away.

“Yes, it has.” Sam tried on a seductive expression and lowered his lashes to give Brett a ‘come hither’ look. It worked like a charm. Brett leaned in and they kissed deeply.

They sat silently for a few minutes and Sam nearly fell asleep before Brett broke into the silence.

“So….where do you want to stay tonight?” Brett asked. “Your mom’s? My folk’s? Or with Ryan and Caleb?”

Now that was a tough decision. Sam had to truly give it some thought. He glanced up at the road signs and saw that the bus was getting closer to St. Louis. “Damn. I dunno yet. I guess I’ll see who missed us the most.”

It was a silly answer; but Sam really wasn’t sure. Of course he loved his family the most, but he didn’t want them to spend the night apart at all. There were so many appetizing options on the plate.

“Well, don’t think about that right now, baby.” Brett tapped Sam’s flat nose. “You’ve got a show to put on with all these terrific people and then you can hug everyone and be fawned over for whose house gets graced with your presence.”

Sam smiled and had no choice but to agree. It was too much stress to think about what wouldn’t happen until much later. All he knew was that that for the first time in almost two months, they wouldn’t be in a hotel room. But that also meant they wouldn’t be alone, either. He wasn’t sure he wanted his mother and sister in the same house where he and Brett were doing their sexy nightly ritual.

For that matter, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go to Brett’s house either. It was nice, and he loved his future in-laws, but it’d only be for two nights. Aw hell, this was ridiculous. He forced his head down and let out a sigh.

“Just skate, Sam. Just skate.” He reminded himself.

Brett laughed and kissed his lover’s head. “Atta boy. You’ve got a big night ahead, so rest up.”

*

Four hours later:

Brett’s POV

The center was filled to capacity and Brett was extra glad that, 1) he had great seats, and 2) that it was a sold out crowd. It was great to see so much support for his fiancé’s sport still existed. The popularity has waned over the past few years, but when Sam won the gold in extremely homophobic Russia, basically thumbing his nose at them; the world sat up and took notice of the young man.

Of course, few would ever take more notice of him that his fiancé, who sat quietly and waited patiently for the show to begin.

Usually Brett would be backstage, but this time he wanted to be in the crowd. His reasons were simple; he was trying to spot family members who would be the loudest in the room most likely, and also just to see Sam around others who loved the sport and idolized the young man. It gave him such an appreciation for the athletes and deepened his love for Sam.

As the lights lowered and the first skaters took the ice, Brett tried to focus on them; but one of them looked like Amber; and it brought back the ridiculous chat they’d had the other day over messaging.

He found it more than irritating that Amber, first of all, even knew about himself, Sam, Ryan, and Caleb all being involved sexually at all. What the fuck business was it of hers in the first place? Second of all, despite his affection for both men, his heart was firmly with Sam. He wasn’t going to ravish Ryan and run off with him or try to sweet talk Caleb into anything. Holy shit!

First of all, even when they did get married, it wasn’t a legal marriage. But even if it would be; he doubted very much that they’d stop what they were doing. If Sam had issues with it, they would’ve never even started and he was on board with whatever his man wanted. End of story and debate on that one. Bottom line; they’d keep doing what and who they were doing because no one got hurt, they all loved it, and it was damn nice coming home and if someone was grumpy it usually put everyone in a great mood.

“Shit!” Brett cursed to himself and just happened to see that the first few skaters had long since left the ice and Sam would be up next.

When they announced his name, he clapped and whistled. “Wooo!” he cheered, no caring whose attention or ire he drew.

*

When the show was over, Brett was anxious to leave the stands and find his man, but he was too tall to be too inconspicuous, especially with so many women in the crowd.

“Brett? Brett!”

Dammit. He knew that tone. It was Amber. He quickly put on his best plastic smile and happy expression and turned to greet the thunder ball heading his way for a hug.

“Brett! Good to see you!” she seemed genuine at least and he relaxed.

“Good to see you too.” His eyes traveled up to her super tall boyfriend, Colby. “Hey, Cheese Man.” He teased his friend.

“Howdy, howdy, Brett. You’re real easy to spot with all this womenfolk ‘round. Not too many of us men ‘round here for sure. Guess they don’t like skatin’.”

Brett shook his head. “No, guess not. Oh well, their loss. I think Sam stole the show, as usual.” His pride in his fiancé showed through enough that he hoped it would shut down whatever obnoxiousness Amber might have in mind.

More voices entered the scene and he felt arms go around his stomach and a tight hug be applied. He looked down into the adorable face of Kim and just up slightly into Midori’s face. Not Mrs. Ogawa anymore, she’d allowed him the great honor to call her by her first name. Brett was beyond honored.

“Kim, Midori.” He hugged them both back. “Great to be back, if only for a couple of nights.”

“I saw Sam skating! Everyone looked so happy! They clapped along with his program music and everything!” Kim was so excited she could barely contain herself; he found it endearing and wonderful.

“He did great, didn’t he? He’s wonderful every night on that ice.” Brett agreed.

“Had our attention for sure.” A deep, melodic voice rang out.

Brett and Amber’s heads both swiveled to Ryan and Caleb, who approached the group as well.

“Welcome home, man!” Ryan threw his arms around Brett and he couldn’t help but hang onto his friend tightly.

“Damn, I missed you guys.” He admitted out loud. He really did. He knew Sam did too. He felt his body be swallowed up into Caleb’s embrace next.

“It’s been a long time, Brett. Where are your folks?”

“Waiting back here. As usual.” Meredith chimed in. Wow, this was turning into a real party! All that was missing now was the guest of honor.

“Mom, Dad.” Brett felt like a little kid that’d just come back from summer camp. Or hockey camp, in his case. They’d sent him away a few times; but now he knew that the welcome home would be far warmer than what he’d gotten back then.

“My boy.” Meredith hugged him tightly and even Mitch gave him a macho hug.

Brett took in the sizeable crowd. “What a group we’ve got here, huh? I didn’t know we were a small town.” He joked.

Amber meandered up to him. “Now all we need is our Sam to join us and it’ll be complete.”

Our Sam? Brett shook it off and all he wanted was to see his fiancé emerge from the shadows and join them and maybe have some duct tape with him for his best friend’s mouth.

He hadn’t told Sam about the message that he and Amber had passed back and forth; her issues were just that, hers. Not theirs. No problems were voiced in an atmosphere of total honesty. He saw no reason to bring up drama and misery when they’d only be there such a short time. Now, to wait for Sam.