Tough Guy
Tough Guy follows Ryan Price, an NHL enforcer and defenseman whose entire career has been built around one thing: Taking and delivering hits to intimidate the other team. Traded to the Toronto Guardians, he's assigned to protect star (douchebag) players like Dallas Kent. Ryan is good at his job and miserable doing it. He hates fighting, hates the "Pay. The. Price." chant from the crowd, and manages his severe anxiety with medication that comes with its own complications. Then he walks into a pharmacy to pick up a prescription and runs into Fabian Salah - The boy he billeted with in Halifax thirteen years ago, the boy he's never quite stopped thinking about. Now Fabian works a retail job and playing indie music at a venue called the Lighthouse.
What starts as carrying Fabian's gear home from a show and exchanging numbers becomes eating (tonkotsu) ramen, going to a gay club, a cheek kiss on a dark street, and something Ryan has never let himself have before. He's terrified of being outed, of not being enough, of his body not cooperating the way he wants it to. But Fabian is patient and warm and completely unbothered by things Ryan expected to be dealbreakers. They figure it out together, slowly and then all at once, in an apartment decorated with fairy lights and candles, in scrambled eggs and Folgers coffee the morning after, in Ryan showing up to Fabian's open mic nights and Fabian watching Guardians games on his phone. Ryan asks Fabian to be his boyfriend. Fabian says yes.
The cracks in Ryan's hockey life deepen the longer the season goes on. He tries to talk an opponent out of fighting and gets headbutted for it. He plays through a severe back injury on Toradol injections. When Fabian finally confronts him about it, Ryan snaps and says "hockey is all I am" and Fabian walks out. Two miserable weeks later, Ryan gets news that Duncan Harvey, the opponent he refused to fight, has died of an overdose. He goes to the funeral, runs into Ilya Rozanov, and gets an unexpected offer to coach at a charity hockey camp over the summer. Something clicks. Ryan realises that hockey being all he is might be the actual problem.
At the end, Fabian plays his album release show to a packed crowd, wearing the pearl necklace Ryan gave him for Christmas. Ryan is standing at the back of the venue wearing the scarf Fabian gave him. They go home together, Ryan tells Fabian he's quitting the NHL, and they pull up real estate listings for a townhouse. That summer, Ryan coaches at Rozanov and Hollander's charity camp in Montreal - accidentally walks in on the two of them making out in an office - and texts Fabian photos of pastries. For the first time in his career, Ryan Price is not bracing for the next hit.
Official Book Synopsis
They have nothing in common—so why does Ryan feel most like himself whenever he’s with Fabian?
Pro hockey star Ryan Price may be an enforcer, but off the ice he struggles with anxiety. Recently traded to the Toronto Guardians, he’s determined to make a fresh start in the city’s dynamic LGBTQ Village. The last thing he expects to stumble upon in his new neighborhood is a blast from his past in the fabulous form of Fabian Salah.
Aspiring musician Fabian loathes hockey. But that doesn’t stop him from being attracted to a certain burly, ginger-bearded defenseman. He hasn’t forgotten the kiss they almost shared back in high school, and it’s clear the chemistry between them has only intensified.
Fabian is more than happy to be Ryan’s guide to the gay scene in Toronto. Between dance clubs and art exhibits—and the most amazing sex—Ryan’s starting to feel something he hasn’t experienced in a long time: joy. But playing the role of the heavy on the ice has taken its toll on his body and mind, and a future with Fabian may mean hanging up his skates for good.
He held his breath, not wanting to make even the faintest sound that might compete with this perfect gift Fabian was giving the audience. Ryan couldn’t believe this was actually happening in front of him and that there were people in the world who were not here witnessing what was surely humanity’s most impressive achievement.
“What? About the fact that you suddenly look like bearded Captain America instead of, like, the dad in How to Train Your Dragon?”
The honest answer was that Ryan couldn’t quite recall what happiness felt like, but that would be an awkward thing to admit, so instead he just said, “Sure.”
Something about being naturally awkward, shy, clinically anxious, terrified of flying, and, oh yes, gay, didn’t exactly make him a friend magnet in the ol’ locker room.
