She currently occupied the only other bedroom in my house, though now, with realizing everyone was probably going to want to stay with me more often, I was eyeing one of the larger, more expensive brownstones I still couldn’t believe I was able to afford.
IfI wanted to spend the money.
Which also added to my anxiety.
My phone began to ring, and I nearly jumped out of my skin before looking at the screen and seeing my stepmother’s name. I felt a little breath of relief pass out of my lungs. I loved her like the mother I didn’t quite remember.
When my father brought her home, I’d been terrified. I’d grown up on fairy tales of evil stepmothers who tormented the children that came before their own. But she wasn’t like that.
Not once. Not ever.
“Mama,” I said as I answered.
“Ivanushka.” Her voice was raspy now, softer as she aged. It was a reminder I wouldn’t have her or my father forever. “Are you busy?”
“No. Just at the hotel.” My eyes scanned the front. I was looking for someone in particular—the man who had given me everything I’d been pining for for almost a year, then had hurried off like I had terrified him. “We had a game in New York last night, and I’m driving home.”
“How did it go?”
I wasn’t surprised she didn’t watch. She wasn’t much of a hockey fan. “We won. The season’s going well.”
There was a beat of silence, and then she said, “You sound different. There’s something wrong.”
She could always read me a little too well.
“I met someone. We had a good night, but…it’s complicated.”
“Tell me he’s not married,” she said.
I groaned. “Mama. No.”
Her laugh warmed me. “My good boy, of course he’s not married. What’s the problem, then?”
Closing my eyes, I thought back to the club. To the man with the copper hair and dark eyes and a smile that made me want to punch his teeth in. A man who was so worthless and yet had Micah so fucking scared.
“I think someone hurt him. And I think he likes me, but I don’t know if he’ll ever be ready to love me the way I could love him.”
“All you can do is have patience. And remember that you deserve to be happy. And sometimes what makes us happy is letting go of what we want.”
I hated when she was reasonable. “I don’t know if I can.”
She laughed again. “I’m not surprised to hear you say that. But I’ll be here to remind you if you ever need me to.”
I sat back and closed my eyes, smiling. “I hope you can meet him soon. You’ll like him.”
“I know you’d never bring home someone yourfather and I wouldn’t adore. And I think we might come down near the end of the season. Earlier, depending on how the playoffs go.”
I fully expected to make it through at least one or two rounds, but the cup felt far this season, and my gut was usually right about those things. I opened my mouth to tell her that, but across the way, I saw the first person with a white cane exiting the building and heading for the busses.
My heart leapt in my chest. “I have to go. Sorry, Mama. I’ll call you later. I love you.” I didn’t give her a chance to reply, and I’d probably pay for that through guilt later, but it didn’t matter.
Micah would be out soon, and if I was lucky, I’d get the chance to speak to him as I waited for both him and Alexio to appear.
Off in the distance, I could see the lobby doors of the hotel opening and closing again and again. Most of the guys exiting were from the Fury. A lot of them had very cute guide dogs I wasn’t allowed to pet while they were in the harnesses, and several of them had long white canes like Jonah and Micah carried around.
Fuck.
Thinking about Micah made my head spin. Last night had been…something. There were no words in any of the languages I knew, which was currently three.
