Good friend. Right.
He smiles, dipping his chin. If only he knew.
“My absolute pleasure, Mrs. Lowes,” I tell her, gently patting her back. “I’ll see you guys at home, alright?”
She pulls back with an extra squeeze, and the line continues. Seth, Tiffany, her fiance, Lauren and her husband, Aura, Avery, and looking a little worse for wear, EJ. He shoots me a look of pained gratitude before he hugs me, remembering our chat outside of that bathroom.
“Give it a minute, alright?” I murmur, and he lets out this little breath that makes me worry. Like he’s going to break. I don’t like that. Wyatt is eventually going to go back to Pittsburgh and that distance will make this fight much worse if they don’t sort it out. “It was one mistake, Eej.”
“A bad one,” he grumbles, but he hugs me a bit tighter at the same time. At some point, I’ve created a camaraderie with Dalton. Like two scorned puppies at the back of a kennel.
I pull back. “Which you feel horrible for. Give him a minute to get his thoughts sorted.”
He sniffs, crossing his arms in front of his chest, but manages a nod. I pat his shoulder, glancing discreetly at Lowesy instead. Igesture toward the exit, and he gets the hint. He follows me out to my rental car after one last awkward goodbye to everyone.
“If Wyatt doesn’t come around before he leaves, you need to talk to him,” I tell Dec, and his brow furrows. I know we’re not supposed to get involved in crew business, but this involves Saltzy, too. “EJ isn’t going to survive being away from him if they’re still fighting. I’m worried about him. Talk to Wyatt.”
Lowesy stares at me. “Wyatt loves that guy more than anyone on this planet.”
I lean against the door. “Saltzy or Eej?”
“Both,” he says. “It’s going to take him a second to reconcile the fact that EJ could do that to him.”
“He…” I stop myself. I promised EJ I wouldn’t say anything.
“I know what happened,” Declan confirms with a dip of the chin, “but Wyatt would have put someone six feet under for what EJ did to Cap. He’s struggling with feeling that anger toward his number one.”
I let out a long breath, knowing exactly why I’m worrying about this so deeply. If EJ can’t get forgiveness from his best friend for trying to defend him, there is no fucking way I’m getting forgiveness for what I’ve done. I can’t admit what that might mean for me.
“I’ll keep an eye on it,” Lowesy promises, slapping me on the shoulder. “Thanks for looking out for him.”
My throat is suddenly very dry. “I’ll see you in a few days.”
“Have a safe flight, man.”
I think about EJ the whole way to the airport and as I drop off the rental car. I think about the betrayal Wyatt must feel knowing that his best friend would willingly hurt him like that without a second thought. I think about how stupid I am for not taking one look at that situation and realizing how bad the fallout could be if I acted on what I wanted.
She wasn’t a mistake. She was just…inevitable. Necessary. Unavoidable. I probably should have approached the whole situation differently, maybe sat Fork down and told him that I’m interested in her. That, at some point, things shifted. I should have done this anyway besides the way I did it.
But he knows my game. He knows I have no intentions of dating, marrying, or being a permanent fixture in anyone’s life—even her. He would have shot that down immediately, and then what? I eventually cave anyway, and now it’s worse, because he deliberately told me no?
My head is fucked.
My heart? In the shredder.
I check my luggage and head to my gate. Tiny little airport, not many places to go. I’ll say this about small, Canadian towns, they tend to leave us hockey players alone. They let us exist. I’ve been stopped a few times since touching down here, but have been more or less unbothered apart from some waves and knowing smiles.
I’m looking for a seat next to an outlet when I hear a voice that makes me stop dead in my tracks.
“Is that world-famous defenseman, Boston Black?” I freeze, slowly turning around to find Ariana Forkerro tucked into a chair, pink headphones dangling around her neck. She flashes a tired smile. “Word on the street is that he had areallylong night.”
My heartbeat picks up. Her admitting that, saying it out loud,sends my anxiety through the roof. I shoot her a very clear look of warning, only refraining from shushing her because I don’t spot Carter or Arden anywhere in the vicinity.
She catches my wandering eyes. “Relax, they’re grabbing food.”
I sigh, dropping into the seat across from her. I find the will to meet her eyes, and I try not to read into the look there. Thesmugness, the triumph, the absolute pleasure that I’m losing my everloving shit right now and she’s just…fine.
I run a hand over my face.
