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again, so he turned and staggered toward the elevators under the weight of his bags, all of which he’d already lugged to the arena and back.
    Alexei took his large equipment back from his shoulder and left him with only his suitcase. Normally, Mike would object to that, but his brain felt scattered in a million directions, so he let it go. He remained silent for the elevator ride, ignoring Alexei’s scrutiny. As they walked down the hallway toward Alexei’s room, Mike could remember every decision he’d made that night, but he still couldn’t quite figure out how he’d ended up here.
    Alexei fished his keycard from his pants pocket and Mike definitely didn’t watch how the fabric strained across his belly and thighs.
    When the lock flashed, he pushed his way into the room and dropped his bag before coming to a halt and staring at the one king-sized bed.
    “Oh,” he said, brilliantly articulate as always.
    “Is that a problem?” Alexei asked from behind him.
    Why would it be? Mike thought somewhat hysterically. Guys crashed together all the time and the bed was practically big enough to fit a third person anyway.
    “No problem. I just feel bad that I’m taking up half your bed.”
    Alexei chuckled. “I promise not to molest you while you’re sleeping.”
    Mike laughed, maybe a little too loudly, and bent to open his suitcase. Thank fucking Christ he’d packed pajamas for home.
    “You want to go out with the guys?” asked Alexei.
    Mike froze. Shit . He really didn’t want to see any more of Quebec City than the inside of this hotel room and whatever was out the bus’s windows on the way to the airport, but he couldn’t tell Alexei that.
    “No, I’m good. Tired. I think I’ll just stay in tonight.” He looked over his shoulder at Alexei. “If that’s okay with you, I mean? I know it’s your room, so if you don’t want me here while you’re out—”
    Alexei put his hand over Mike’s mouth. “What is the matter with you?”
    “What? Nothing,” Mike said when he could speak again.
    “You’re being weird.”
    “I’m not. I just. I don’t want to go out, okay?”
    Alexei had spent so much of the past couple hours studying Mike’s face, Mike was starting to feel like a specimen under glass. He considered a carefree smile, but then remembered he sucked at those.
    At last, Alexei nodded. “Okay, we stay in. Think room service will bring us some beer?”
    Mike smiled, his relief so powerful he managed a real smile. “Yeah. That would be great.”
     
    Alexei had been sure that whatever was bothering Mike would be resolved once they’d sent his father back north on his own, but he’d been wrong. There was something still there, lurking in Mike’s eyes. He was trying hard to hide it, but when Alexei came out of the bathroom after his shower, he caught Mike standing at the window, looking down on the street below, with a tight, almost anguished look on his face.
    Alexei put his hand on Mike’s back, his skin warm through the old soft t-shirt.
    Mike looked over his shoulder at him. “You remember when I first got to Moncton. How I was kind of beat up?”
    “Kind of?” Alexei asked calmly, even as his stomach roiled at the memory. “Mike, you were covered in bruises.”
    “Right.” Mike turned to look out the window again. “I told you that I’d been attacked. The night before.”
    “I remember.” Perfectly.
    “It happened here. In Quebec City.”
    Mike jumped a little when Alexei slid his hand around Mike’s waist, pulling closer until his chest pressed to Mike’s back and his palm rested against his belly. ”I’m sorry.”
    He figured Mike wouldn’t be comfortable with Alexei so close for long, but it was the best comfort Alexei knew how to offer. Mike surprised him when he just shuddered and leaned into Alexei’s hold. “Yeah. Me, too.”
    Alexei didn’t know what else to say. He was practically choking on the questions he’d spent most of the last four months waiting to