“I said shut up.”
I stare at my locker without really seeing it. My hand is throbbing where my knuckles connected with Alex’s face and I'm already regretting the outburst. Stupid. Fucking stupid. Now everyone knows there's something going on with Natalie and me.
“So that's what's been eating you,” Jake says.
Theo sits down next to me. “He fucked up. Let him be. We've all been there.”
“Speak for yourself,” Nova chimes in from his stall. “I've never fucked up with a woman in my life. But hey, Wall, if you need tips on how to grovel, I'm your guy.”
I turn my head and glare at him with enough venom to strip paint.
He holds up his hands. “Or not. Just offering.”
“Leave him alone,” Theo says. “Everybody get dressed and get out.”
The conversation slowly shifts to other topics. Exhibition games. Roster predictions. Who got fat over the summer, and who came back in the best shape. I tune it all out and focus on getting dressed, my movements mechanical and my mind a thousand miles away.
When I'm finally ready, Theo catches my eye and jerks his head toward the door. I grabbed a ride with him this morning since my car is in the shop, and I'm not looking forward to the conversation I know is coming.
We make it to the parking garage before he speaks.
“So what really happened with you and Natalie?”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit.” He unlocks his SUV, and we climb in. “I've never seen you that happy, man. Not even when we won the Cup. And now you're punching guys in the face for making stupid comments. Something happened.”
I stare out the window as he pulls out of the garage. “She lied to me.”
“About what?”
“Her ex showed up. She got in his car and drove off with him. And when I called her, she told me she was with Avery.” My jaw tightens at the memory.
Theo is quiet for a moment. “That's it? That's the big betrayal?”
“What do you mean, that's it? She lied to me.”
“People lie by omission all the time. Olivia doesn't tell me everything that happens during her day. Doesn't mean she's betraying me.”
“This is different, and you know it. She didn't tell me about her ex.”
He glances at me as he merges onto the highway. “No, it’s not. You’ve built it up in your mind to be bigger than it is.”
“She lied.”
“Yeah, you said that already. But why did she lie? Did you ever ask her that?”
“She said she was trying to protect me and that she didn't want to ruin my day after my first time back on the ice.” I scoff. “Bullshit excuse.”
Theo keeps his eyes on the road. “You'd just skated for the first time in months. Maybe she genuinely didn't want to dump her ex-boyfriend drama on you in that moment.”
“So lying is okay as long as the reason is good enough?”
“I'm not saying it's okay. I'm saying people make mistakes. And from what you've told me, it sounds like she made one bad call.” He pauses. “Don't lose someone special because you're judging her based on shit other people did to you. That's not fair to her.”
I glare at him. “You don't know what other people did to me.”
“No, I don't. But I know you've got walls up that make the Great Wall of China look like a garden fence. And I know Natalie somehow got past them.” He pulls off the highway toward my building. “Olivia says she's solid. And when my wife says someone is solid, they are. She's got a radar for bullshit that's never wrong.”
