“I’m not swearing at you.”
“Really?” she deadpans. I can picture her, pressing her palms together and blinking at me from behind her mahogany desk in her office that sits way too high in a skyscraper in Manhattan. “Should I call Seattle and tell them you’ll pass? Maybe call the league and say you want to be removed from the draft entirely? You can go to Europe like your other little friend, what a waste of talent that was.”
“I don’t want to go to Europe.” I push off the frame, scrubbing my face. “I wanted to play in Canada.”
“Ah.” She sounds like she’s nodding along. “So the girlfriend could go to grad school at home and you maybe wouldn’t be apart for even longer. You know, Bohdan—”
“If you tell me Sloan’s just lucky to be along for the ride, I swear to God, Shay—”
“I wouldn’t say that,” she interjects softly. “I like Sloan, quite a lot. I was going to say that I want you to remember what you want. That we probably couldn’t have handpicked a better team for you. They structure their offense in a way that complements your playing style. You’re going to respond well to their coaching, it’s exactly what a player like you needs to bring out the best.”
“I’m already the best.”
She laughs. “There he is. This is a good thing. You have a record-breaking career ahead of you, Bohdan. And I can’t wait to say I knew you when.”
I nod, even though she can’t see me.
Shay clears her throat again. “I have other calls to make. Not all my clients are going to fare as well in this draft as you. But I can try to negotiate something for her. Flying her out? God knows I’ve had to ask for stranger things, and God knows teams have given players stranger things.”
“I’ll have the money to fly her to Seattle.”
“That you will. I’ll make sure of it.” I can hear the smile in her voice.
I tell her the truth, even though I’m not sure why. She’s my agent, not my mother. She’s barely a decade older than me. “I’m not disappointed. I don’t want to disappoint Sloan. There’s a difference.”
“Can I give you some unsolicited advice? I won’t even charge you for it.” Her words turn sharp. “Life is full of disappointments. I promise you, in the grand scheme of things, this won’t be one. Celebrate. Enjoy. Make headlines with Choi about drinking too much and causing a scene at a bar, waving around money you don’t have yet. I don’t care, I’ll clean up after you. Just don’t listen to anything Valdez says, or you’ll end up in a frozen wasteland. My other line’s ringing.”
She hangs up, leaving me standing alone in the middle of the hallway.
I hear the low murmur of Talon’s voice from downstairs, followed by the echo of the best sound in the world.
Sloan’s laughter.
I take each step down the stairs, hating that she might stop laughing when I get down there, turn the corner into the living room, and she sees it all over my face.
It’s not what I’m met with when I round the corner.
Talon sits in the middle of the couch, leaning forward, elbows on his knees and eyes glued to his video game, fingers moving with rapid speed across the controller. Tia sits beside him, watching and looking like she wants to grab the controllerbecause whatever her brother’s doing seems wrong, judging by the sounds of rapid gunfire and seemingly dying characters coming from the television.
Sloan’s got her legs tucked under her at the end of the couch, an old sweater of mine with my number stitched along the hood hanging off her shoulders, and a textbook from her favourite archaeology seminar open on her lap.
“Well?” She closes the book, looks up, wrinkling her nose, and there’s all this excitement etched in the curves of her cheeks.
Talon’s phone vibrates against the coffee table. He chucks the controller to Tia and leans forward, eyes tracking the screen.
He looks back up at me, grin splitting across his face. “Seattle? No shit.”
I nod, a bit afraid to look over at Sloan, but she’s out of her seat, textbook clattering to the floor and her arms winding around my neck, head buried in my shoulders before I can start fumbling over some semblance of apology.
“I’m so proud of you,” she whispers, small hands pushing into my back.
I wrap my arms around her and press my mouth to the crown of her head because I’m a coward and I do want to enjoy it, just for a minute, before she looks at me and I see the wheels turning.
“And you!” Talon bounds off the couch, practically pushing us over to get to Jay when he steps off the stairs. He claps his hands to his shoulders, shaking him. “Philadelphia. They’ve had the worst fucking record the last three seasons, but—”
Jay shrugs. “Not anymore.”
Talon gives him another shake before he turns to me. “You’ll get the mountains, Jay gets the ‘passionate’ fans, and I’ll get the chocolate.”
