Two Man Advantage by Toni Aleo
The bartender looked back at him and smiled. “Sure, buddy.”
“Thanks.” He pressed the home button on his phone to see how much longer he had until his flight.
Two more hours.
Fuck. He was ready to be home.
He had spent the day walking through New York to clear his head, but everything reminded him of Matty, and he couldn’t take it. So he’d decided to go home. Unfortunately, he’d missed the direct flight to Colorado by six minutes, and since he had nothing better to do, he figured he’d wait for the next direct flight. He had a thing about layovers; he almost always seemed to miss them. So direct, it was. Gave him a chance to drink his sorrows away and watch his buddy on the NHL Awards.
Man, he should have just gone. But Matty wanted to stay in New York, Avery was coming up, and like always, Wells had cared more about Matty and his needs and wants. Okay, that wasn’t fair. Matty cared about what Wells wanted, he did, Wells knew that—except when it came to being completely committed to Wells. It just sucked because, in Wells’s mind, their relationship was a runaway train and there was no stopping it. But just when things were great. Perfect, even, Matty was there, trying to throw barricades up to stop it, to take time to think and overthink the whole fucking thing. Wells wanted Matty to stop. To just love him, and things would be fine. They’d get through it, but their love, their relationship, wasn’t controllable.
That would be their undoing.
When his phone lit up, he looked over to see another text from Matty.
Matty: Okay, it’s almost nine. What the fuck, dude? Where are you?
He swallowed hard, ignoring it because if he didn’t, he’d give in. He’d ignore this incident and just go along with whatever Matty wanted. But then again, how was it fair that Wells wasn’t giving Matty a chance to explain? Matty had just gotten his ass reamed by his dad, and Wells really didn’t give him the time he said he needed. It was just that Wells felt he didn’t need time. Matty should have known what he wanted and done what he promised.
But how many fucking chances was he going to give the guy?
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.
There couldn’t be a third time. But somehow, that just felt wrong. He loved the guy, he did. But damn it, what he’d said hurt. He wanted Matty to be sure, to know that they were good. Wells needed time. They both need time.
But maybe he shouldn’t leave.
Man, he wished he could talk to Wren or Jensen. They were at the awards, dressed to the nines and having a great time while he was sulking in an airport bar. He could really use them at that moment. They’d know what to do. Or they’d say something, and he’d do the opposite. But at least he’d be doing something instead of sitting there, feeling sorry for himself.
Glancing up at the TV, he leaned back when he noticed they were awarding the Vezina Trophy, the one Jensen was up for since he was the best damn goalie in the whole world. Wells might be a tad bit biased, but that was beside the point.
Just as he knew they would, the presenter said, “From the Nashville Assassins, Jensen Monroe.”
Wells almost stood, but he did clap as the camera turned to where Jensen was giving his beautiful wife a long and lusty kiss. Those two were almost too much. Wells loved it. They belonged together. As Jensen climbed the stairs, a bashful grin on his face and tears in his eyes, Wells’s own eyes started to flood as he shook his head.
Damn, he was proud.
“That’s my best friend.”
The bartender nodded, obviously not believing him as he took his plate and wiped the bar in front of Wells. On the TV, Jensen held the trophy before setting it on the podium and grinning at the crowd. His speech was, of course, humble and professional, just like Jensen was. He was a class act, but when he paused, his face twisting, Wells knew something was wrong. Especially when he left the podium before jumping off the stage. Wells sat up, his own brows coming together when the camera cut to where Jensen was holding Wren up as she held her stomach.
“Oh no,” he murmured before pulling out his phone and going into their family chat.
Wells: Did Wren just go into labor?
Mom: I was just about to ask you.
Dad: Is she okay?
Vaughn: WREN IS IN LABOR!!!!!!!!!!
Vaughn: We’re going to the hospital. Come ASAP!
Oh. Oh, shit.
Gunner Cade Monroe was born before anyone could get there.
Wells met his parents at the airport since their flights were thirty minutes apart, and the three of them rode to the hospital, all too excited to even think. No one had gotten a picture of the baby yet since, apparently, Wren wanted everyone to be surprised when they saw him. Wells couldn’t even sleep. He was so excited to meet his nephew, which sucked since his new flight hadn’t left until the following morning. He guessed that was good though, since he really couldn’t sleep anywhere but in his bed. Or Matty’s.
And that was another reason he couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t stop thinking about Matty. He’d continued to text Wells all throughout the night, but Wells just couldn’t answer him. He was too upset. Too hurt. And he wasn’t sure what to do with all his emotions. He believed so greatly in them as a couple, and Matty had let him down. It was killing him, honestly, since he didn’t know what to do next.
“Why didn’t Matty come?” Wells looked up and met his mother, Elaine’s, curious gaze. “Could he not make it?”
Wells shrugged. “Yeah.”
Winston, his father, laughed. “Wow, that was believable.”
His dad always could see right through him. “What?”
“You two are fighting, I’m guessing. He’s got that lying face on,” Winston teased, and Elaine examined him more closely.
“He sure as hell does. Wells, lying to your mom. That’s rude.”
Wells laughed, shaking his head. “Shouldn’t you two be thinking of your brand-spanking-new grandson and not me?”
“One thing at a time.” Elaine waved him off. “What happened? He was a darling at your wedding that turned into Wren’s.”
“A little quiet, but nice. You two seemed all in love,” his father added, and Wells shrugged.
“Same problem as before. He doesn’t want to fully come out… Or, no, wait, he does. He’s just thinking too much. He wants to control everything, and no matter how much I explain to him that you can’t control life, he doesn’t seem to want to listen.”
Winston’s brow rose. “If you know that about him, why are you so upset?”
Wells paused. “Because I want him to be all in.”
“Maybe he is, but he’s trying to navigate it?”
Elaine nodded. “Matty isn’t like you, honey. He hasn’t been out and proud like you have been for the last fifteen or so years. This is new for him. This is hard. Didn’t you say his parents don’t know?”
“His dad walked in on us yesterday morning, sleeping, and lost his mind. He called us faggots, he ripped Matty a new one, it was ugly. He said Matty’s family wouldn’t love him if he kept on with this lifestyle and that he didn’t raise any gay.”
Winston rolled his eyes. “I’ve been there, and it was not one of my finer moments.”
Elaine grimaced. “Not at all. I still get palpitations thinking about it.”
Wells swallowed hard, not sure what to say, but then his father went on, “I don’t know that there is a father out there who wants to raise a homosexual son, but sometimes it doesn’t work out the way we want. The thing that sucks is we don’t know how to act. We get scared our boy will get hurt, not just emotionally but physically, by stupid people who aren’t open-minded. Soon your anger bubbles over, and the next thing you know, everyone is just screaming and nothing is being done.”
Wells nodded. “That’s how it was yesterday.”
“And that’s how it was when I found out you were gay,” Winston said. “It’s hard. It’s not an easy pill to swallow. You blame yourself. You blame the other guy. It’s c
Elaine tapped Winston’s hand as Wells sighed. “You were there.”
“Nah, I sucked,” he answered, waving her off. “But I’m making up for it.”
Wells smiled as Elaine nodded. “I think what your dad is saying is that this isn’t easy. Matty’s probably feeling so much, and he doesn’t understand all those emotions. Just think how it was for you when your dad found out.”
Wells looked away and bit his lip. He had been scared out of his mind and wanted to run. He wanted to be alone and figure out what he had done to make his father so damn mad. He’d wanted to fix it, but he refused to change who he was. Was Matty feeling all that? And had Wells just walked out on him when he needed him the most?
Wow. Was he a selfish fuck?
“I’m scared he’ll never truly come out.”
Both his parents looked over at him, and Winston shrugged. “Is he trying?”
Wells nodded. “With his family, yes. But he’s worried about what people in the league will think.”
“You said Matty has to control everything, and we all know you can’t control what others think of you. It’s an idea he has to get used to, but, Wells, I saw that boy stop a wedding and fight for you. Do you really think he wants to give that up so easily?”
Holding his father’s gaze, Wells shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Then maybe that’s something you need to consider.”
Wells looked away as he twirled his phone in his palm, mulling over his father’s words. “I wish his dad hadn’t happened. I wish Matty had been able to handle it in his own way instead of the way it went down.”
Winston shrugged. “I, too, wish that. I wish I could have heard the words leave your lips, you telling me face-to-face, instead of seeing some dude with his tongue in your mouth.”
Wells grimaced, and Elaine made a face. “Winston, honey, the cab driver.”
Winston let out a booming laugh. “I’m sure he’s heard worse.”
The cabby laughed, causing Wells to chuckle. “I live in Vegas.”
“Exactly,” Winston said, pointing to the cabby, but Wells’s mom wasn’t satisfied. “Fine, I’m sorry, but it’s true,” Winston continued with a deadpan expression. “It’s a lot for a father to accept. But you know what, seeing that man, Matty, standing there looking up at you like you hung every star and the moon in the sky, I realized that love is love. It doesn’t matter what I’ve been brought up to think is right, it matters what you want. Who you want to love and who loves you.”
Wells’s throat clogged with emotion as he held his father’s gaze. “I hate that it took me so long, but, Wells, I raised you to be a good man, did I not?”
Wells swallowed, unsure where this was going. “Yes, you did.”
“Unlike that asshole I dragged out of your room, who I never saw again—”
“You dragged him out of my room by his hair. Of course, he didn’t come back.”
Winston thought that over. “Well, nevertheless, if that were you, you’d come back and you’d make things right. Maybe that’s what you need to do. Go talk to Matty’s dad man-to-man, without the shock of seeing his son in bed with another man.”
Elaine smiled over at Wells. “That would make you the bigger person, and I’m sure they would appreciate that. It would also show that you care for him.”
Wells thought that over as they pulled up to the hospital. But before he could even get a word out, his parents were out of the car and heading inside, leaving him to pay. Laughing, he got out the money and paid as the cabby shot him a grin. He got out and shut the door just as his phone went off.
Matty: So, I’m assuming we’re over. I think that’s shitty, just FYI. I get it, I’m an idiot and I said some shit, but I wasn’t thinking. At least have the decency to call me and break up with me if that’s what you’re doing.
Rolling his eyes, Wells hit the button to call Matty. He answered on the first ring. “Wow, you actually called.” His voice was hard, and Wells could just picture him, his shoulders down as he rubbed the spot between his eyes.
“Yeah. Listen, Wren had my nephew, and I’m in Vegas to see them.”
“Oh,” he answered. “I hadn’t realized you left.”
“Yeah, I wanted to just go home, but then Wren went into labor.”
“I thought home was with me.”
Wells paused, biting his lip. “I thought so too, but some of the things you said really hurt—”
“I didn’t mean them—”
“But maybe I should have been a little more understanding of the situation. It was a shock and not good for anyone at that moment.”
“It wasn’t.”
“I think we just need to chill for a minute.”
“Chill?”
“Yeah. I’ve got some things I need to do.”
“Oh.”
Silence stretched between them, and Wells let out a long sigh. “Okay, well, I’m gonna go meet my nephew.”
“Give Wren and Jensen my best.”
“I will,” he answered, toeing the ground as the heat of Vegas made sweat bead and start to run down his forehead. “I guess I’ll call you later.”
“Sounds good.”
“All right, bye,” he said before he hung up, rolling his eyes once more. When his phone sounded again, he looked down to see a text from Matty.
Matty: I have a lot more to say.
Wells: Then why didn’t you say it?
Matty: What’s the point? Would you even listen?
Wells: Yeah, but we can talk later.
Matty: Fine.
He loved the dude, he did, but man, was he frustrating. They were acting like a pair of teenagers fighting, not a pair of men who knew what they wanted. Wells wanted Matty, and he was pretty sure that Matty wanted him. The disconnect they were having was fixable if both of them would just take time to listen to each other.
But first, Wells had to meet his nephew.
Then he had to go back to New Jersey, where he would swallow his pride and make an effort to fix things.
For Matty.
Because Wells loved him, and he wasn’t giving up on what he knew they could have.
Twenty-Five
Matty sat at the bar in his kitchen, kicking the bottom of his chair as he stared at his phone, begging it to go off.
And for it to be Wells.
Man, if he could do the previous day over, he would. He would have had the balls to truly stand up to his dad. To correct him, to defend Wells, and not to say the hurtful things he’d said. He hadn’t been thinking, he was just freaking out, and because of that, he may have lost Wells for good. In a way, he’d known it would happen. Wells was too good for him. He was a good person with great intentions, while Matty was so closed off from the world that he couldn’t find any way to complement Wells’s good qualities. But man, Wells complemented Matty. He made Matty a better person, but because of Matty’s inability to let shit just happen, combined with his overthinking, he may have pushed away the only person he’d ever truly love.
He remembered reading an article on Facebook once, something about how a person only had three true loves in their life. He had his first love, his high school crush, Caleb. Then his relationship in college with a guy named Graham, who, at the time, he thought was it. But then Wells walked into his life, and everything changed. The love he had for Wells was Caleb and Graham in one, and then times a million. Wells was his home.
So why was Wells being so difficult?
Had Wells been a bit selfish when everything went down with Matty’s father? Yes, he had, but he’d had every right. In a way, Matty had been leading him on. Running hot and cold. One minute, ready to come out to the world, and then the next minute, he was hiding, begging Wells to hide with him. Matty couldn’t do that. That wasn’t fair to Wells.
But his anxiety about what people thought of him was freaking him th
It wasn’t fair to him either.
When his phone went off, he almost fell off the stool trying to turn his phone to see who it was. It was a picture from Wells. Opening it, Matty saw it was of Wells with his nephew. Gunner Cade, it said. The baby was precious, so big with a sweet round face and long lashes. But Wells stole the picture. His grin was unstoppable. Tears were in his eyes, and he looked elated, over the moon. When the next picture came through, him kissing Gunner, Matty smiled. Wells was smitten with that baby, that was obvious.
Wells: Isn’t he perfect?
Matty: He is. Looks a lot like Wren.
Wells: Yeah, he’s great.
Matty: Wish them the best and give him a kiss for me.
Wells: I will.
Matty: Thanks for sending that to me. Did Wren get the flowers?
Wells: She did. She said thank you. And when Vaughn gave me my phone back after taking the pictures, the only person I wanted to text was you.
Matty’s breath caught as he opened the picture once more to stare at Wells. He missed him, so much, and he wanted to fly out there, be with Wells and his family. Though he knew maybe the two of them needed a little space. He’d hurt Wells, and he was aching over it. Wells didn’t deserve that, not with everything he continued to do for him, not with how much he loved Matty.
As he went to text Wells back, he was surprised when there was a knock on his door. He wasn’t expecting anyone, and he knew it wasn’t Wells. He almost ignored it, but when they knocked once more, he got up, putting his phone on the bar as he went to the door. Pulling it open, his eyes widened when his mom looked back at him. Unlike his father, his mother, Thea, was smiling as she reached up to him with her small frame, squeezing him in her arms. He went willingly, wrapping his arms around her.
“Oh, baby,” she murmured against his neck, kissing him before pulling back and cupping his face as he gawked at her. His mother did not travel anywhere without his father, and she also hated the city.