“Hey,” Lex repeats back at me, and his face relaxes with a small smile.
“How’s your dad?” I ask the first thing that comes to mind.
“Oh, uh.” He shakes his head and the feed shakes a little but then stabilizes. I guess he set his phone on a table. Sure enough, he appears again, further away and looking to the side, that small smile now gone.
“I didn’t go see him after all.”
All the stupid, unnecessary nerves I’d been feeling get replaced with concern.
“Why? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, everyone’s fine. I just didn’t really feel up to it.”
I scramble for something to say, and wonder briefly if I should push while I see him suck in a deep breath then face the camera again.
“I decided it was better if I spent the day talking through my options with my agent. Considering what that means, you know, leaving the Empire, I really didn’t want to go see Dad after.”
I understand instantly.
Ruko is . . . well, he’s good people.
I mean, when I first met him, I was scared shitless of the guy. Who wouldn’t be wary of the very recent ex-husband of their new stepmother? Especially when he’s six-five and built like a tank?
But Ruko is awesome. He made me forget that initial fear in under an hour, and though it still baffles me how he and Lyla got together and got divorced, I know he’s a very loving father and a great person to have on your side—which obviously Lex does.
Ruko is also... very passionate about the Empire—to say the least.
He played for them for more than a decade, he won a lot of trophies and cups and whatever while playing for them, and he had a big part in making themThe Empire.
The guy’s proud of his achievements, and why the hell shouldn’t he be?
He’s never been shy about that pride, either, or about his love for his former team, so I understand Lex’s resistance to talking to him about it, even though I know if he told Ruko only half of what he told me about his team, the man would riot.
Still... because I understand, I don’t push him in that direction.
“And how did that conversation go?”
The long-suffering sigh is something Lex rarely does, but I recognize it from every single time he’s gone off on a tangent about something, so I set my phone down in the little stand I have for it on my desk and lean back.
“Patrick almost shit a brick when I first told him.” Lex rolls his eyes dramatically. “He demanded I tell him every single reason, and since he’s, you know, supposed to defend me or whatever, I told him. All of it. More than I’ve told you actually,” he adds quietly, then shakes his head as if to clear it. “He also told me I need to write down, and like, document anything that happens from here on out so he has all the information he needs when the time comes to waive the no-trade clause.”
“When is that happening?” I force my voice not to sound too eager.
“There’s no way to know for sure, but I did tell him I want it to happen this season, and the trade deadline is March sixth this year, so...”
“Did you talk to him about possible teams?”
“Yeah, I made a fuck-no list.” The cheeky grin isn’t as effective as it usually would be, but I melt at the fact that he tries.
“I’m proud of you,” I tell him seriously, but he scoffs and leans back on his couch, again shaking his head. “Seriously, Lex. I am. You’ve toughed it out as long as you’ve been able to, even when you didn’t have to. Even when you know you have so many people on your side that would actually go to war for you if you’d told anyone what was really happening. And I’m not only talkingabout your father, your brother, or your uncle Paul. I mean, if you’d told your mother or your cousins, you know they’d have probably bought the damn team.”
He keeps shaking his head, but this time the tiny smile is as genuine as it can be.
“That would be a massive pain in the ass,” he mutters. “And probably against the rules of the NHL, something about conflict of interest and favoritism.”
“Yeah, maybe, but you’ve still been going through this alone. And I get that everyone’s overreactive history is probably why. So Iamproud of you, and I know you’re going to end up in a way better situation once Patrick sorts everything out.”
“Yeah, he was so fucking offended on my behalf.” Lex scoffs, but his shoulders are lower, his breathing more calm. “The thing is, he isn’t offended because I’m part of some imaginary hockey royal family or whatever, he was so fucking mad because I’m his client, and because I’m a good player. He didn’t mention Dad once in the whole time we talked.”
