“I wasn’t lying,” Caleb said. He walked forward, felt out for the table, then set his glass down. “Youwereflirting.”
“I was being nice!”
“You said I look cute in my gear.”
“You do! Is not flirting. Oh god. He must think…I need…” I stopped and cleared my throat. My stepmother would have my balls if I was rude. “Thank you for nice time today. I must go fix big problem.”
Caleb caught my arm as I rushed past him. “Are you two a thing?”
My entire body sagged as I came to a halt. “No.” I wanted that to be a lie, but it wasn’t.
“Do you think you will be?”
“I don’t know.” That one was hardest to say because god, I liked Micah so much, and I wanted everyone to know he was mine. Even when he wasn’t.
“You know that’s probably not a pool you should swim in, right?” he said as he let me go. “I mean, I love my brother. I really do. But he, you know, gets around.”
I frowned. “I don’t know this saying. It means what?”
“He sleeps with everyone he meets. I mean, not literally,” Caleb said quickly. “But he doesn’t exactly have standards. And I think he’d tell you if there was something for you to worry about. I assume he’s careful and whatever. But he’s not the kind of guy you have for more than a night.”
Something about that didn’t sit right. The words felt heavy in my gut. Did this man—Micah’s own brother—not know him? Did he not realize all the jokes Micah made were to cover up the fact that he was in pain?
That he didn’t want anyone to see it?
“Micah and I have good friendship. I know him. You don’t need to warn me.” I took a step back fromhim, then turned and went to grab my shoes. “See you around, yes?”
“Whenever you want,” he called after me. “My door’s open.”
I waved goodbye before realizing I was too far for him to see it, but I couldn’t seem to form any words, so I stepped out of the house and let the door shut firmly behind me.
I would have to talk to Caleb eventually. But for now—at this moment—I needed to find Micah and let him know that it didn’t matter if we weren’t a thing.
He was it for me.
At least for now. Until he was sure I wasn’t it for him.
And when that happened, I’d probably still wait a little while longer.
It took me a while to figure out where Micah would go. It wasn’t home, of course, but since the Fury had a game the next night, there was a damn good chance he’d be at the arena.
I’d been there enough now, doing training with the blind team, that the security guard took one peek at my badge and waved me in. The back lot was relatively empty, which made sense as the PPHL didn’t have to share an arena here with the NHL.
But there were enough cars here to tell me I was probably not wrong.
I pulled up and parked next to a very bright yellow Mustang and jogged from the parking lot to the entryway. My badge scanned red twice, but right when I was about to panic, like maybe Micah had my access revoked, it beeped and turned green, letting me in.
My heart was going a thousand miles a minute. It was ridiculous to think he’d have the authority to do that, but I never really knew with him.
Combing fingers through my hair, I turned the corner and almost plowed right into a man with a dog. It took me only a second to recognize Ben, the Fury’s coach.
“Shit,” I cursed in Russian. “So sorry, Ben. I didn’t mean to almost kill you.”
He straightened himself and pulled his dog closer to him, offering me a smile. “It’s fine. Maximov, right?”
“Yes, sorry,” I said again. “Is me.”
His brow furrowed. “Did…we have an appointment tonight?”
