About

Ross Roman has spent his entire life knowing exactly who he is. At least, that’s what he tells himself. He’s a talented college hockey player on a full scholarship, physically imposing, fiercely competitive, and accustomed to being one of the best players on the ice. Hockey is his identity, his future, and the thing that earned him a place at an elite university. Then he gets assigned a roommate. His roommate is another scholarship hockey player and, much to Ross’s irritation, arguably the better one. Worse, his roommate is openly gay. Ross has never had a gay friend, let alone lived with a gay man. He grew up in a traditional Russian family where being gay was never something openly discussed, much less something Ross ever imagined for himself. At first, Ross tells himself his hostility toward his roommate is because they’re rivals. Then he starts getting angry whenever his roommate brings guys back to their apartment. He tells himself it’s because he doesn’t want strangers around. Then he starts noticing exactly what those guys look like. He tells himself he’s disgusted. Then he realizes he’s jealous. Ross doesn’t have the emotional vocabulary to understand what’s happening to him, so he reaches the simplest conclusion: He must be homophobic. Except Ross isn’t disgusted by his roommate. He’s attracted to him. And the more he tries to bury that fact, the worse their rivalry becomes.