And maybe that made me a monster, but I could live with that.
“What are you doing after your game tomorrow?” Hugo asked, coming to another stop. I had a feeling we were right outside of my dad’s room, and I was pretty sure Hugo was giving me a moment on purpose.
Which was why I loved him.
“I have plans with one of the rookies. He and his sister are taking me to a bar.”
“To find a boyfriend?”
I kicked at him, and the edge of my shoe caught his shin, making him laugh. “Don’t be a dick.”
“Pardon. You know I was just joking. I’m glad you’re making other friends.”
“You make me sound pathetic. I have friends who are not the disaster trio or their boyfriends.” I sniffed and squeezed the handle on my cane, rolling the tip between my feet. “But Gavin’s a good dude.”
“Ah, yes. Gavin Alvise. I’ve been watching him. He was in the Paralympics two years ago, yes?”
“Mm. I guess. I haven’t been paying much attention.”Blind hockey was new to the Paralympics, and I’d declined the invitation the last two times they asked. It was too much pressure, and my time off was fucking precious to me. “Anyway…”
“When is your next day off?” Hugo asked.
“Sunday. Well, we have an early afternoon game, but it’s at home.”
“Okay. I will pick you up, and we will eat good food and talk.”
My anxiety settled a little. “Thanks.” I knew what came next. It was time to go in and see him. It was time to hear his voice and acknowledge that he was in a bed and probably very frail and wouldn’t know who the fuck I was.
“Can you lead the way?” I asked. I didn’t actually want him as a guide. I wanted him as a friend. As a physical comfort.
Hugo seemed to understand what I meant, and he took my hand instead of offering me his arm, squeezing my fingers. When the door opened with a small squeak, I stepped past the threshold and braced myself for what was about to come.
The moment was anticlimactic. I was kind of expecting my dad to get agitated, to demand to know who this new, weird-looking stranger was in his room. To maybe think I was an old childhood friend or his brother who’d died when he was eleven, like he’d done to Jonah a few times.
Instead, there was my brother, who pulled me into a hug, then Boden, who showed me to an empty chair.
And then there was silence.
“So. This is it? This is what happens all day?” I eventually asked.
Jonah sighed. “I mean, I guess. Sometimes, when he’s cognizant enough, he goes on walks, and they have crafts and a dining room where he can eat with other people. But he hasn’t been doing that lately.”
I took a moment to answer. “So, when he wandered off…”
“I guess it was one of his more lucid moments. He was looking for Nikos.”
Nikos was Alexio’s brother. I liked that guy. He and his wife were two of my favorites of the new people who had come into our lives now that Jonah had started humping the NHL’s grumpiest D-man.
Which maybe wasn’t fair to him. They were in love or whatever, blah blah fucking blah.
But Niko made me food, and his wife knitted me socks, and they didn’t mind when I was feeling particularly dickish. I hadn’t even tormented them with goblin porn, which should have said everything.
“Was he hurt?” I finally asked.
“No. But they put extra security on his room. There’s an alarm on the door now, which will alert the nurse’s station if he leaves.”
“That’s something, considering what we fucking pay for this place.” I was just a tiny bit bitter aboutponying up ten grand a month, which was only half of what this facility cost. Not that I couldn’t afford it, but I didn’t love spending my money on a man who’d helped make my entire childhood miserable.
I shifted in my seat, feeling a little on edge. I didn’t really know what the fuck I was supposed to do. “So, we just…sit here? I mean, is he awake?”
