“I trust you, angel.”
A knot forms in my throat. I didn’t know just how much I needed to hear that, to see he means it in his eyes.
My phone vibrates with an incoming call then. I connect it to my computer and make sure my anti-tracing software is working, then hand it to Lex. He gets to take the lead here.
He answers the call and puts it on speaker. “Tucker.” No fanfare.
“Hey, Lex. Long time. What’s up?” Tucker doesn’t sound surprised in the least that Lex picked up the call, which I find... odd.
“I didn’t know Eli asked you that favor until day before yesterday,” he says, getting right to the point, and though I look for it, I don’t find any emotions—positive or negative—bleeding through his voice.
That has to be good, right?
“Shit,” Tucker hisses, and I can hear rustling.
I wince, shift on my seat, and Lex clearly notices because he pats my knee reassuringly.
“What matters now is that no one ever finds out, so I just want to know who you told and if you trust them.”
“Man, no. Of course I didn’t tell anyone. I literally only mentioned to the GM after we played the Pirates before Christmas how you Jankowskis are built different, and that if there was ever a chance to snatch one of you up, he should take it. Then I talked about the two years you and I played together for Luxton. After the shove happened, I called the GM and told him to check whether LA was shopping you around.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah, ’course that’s it. I’m not that stupid,” he grumbles.
“Well, I have no fucking clue how things work for the Demons, and you got this done especially fast, so excuse me for wanting to make sure no one finds out about this and I end up not being able to play for the NHL ever again.”
“Nah, dude. I get it.” A heavy sigh sounds. “Can’t blame you for freaking out if you didn’t know. But I promise we’re all good. I’m not risking being on Eli’s bad side, not even for a Cup.”
Lex snickers at that and then it’s... it’s like they’re just two sports boys talking.
I shake my head and listen on.
“Nessy told me he met you today. How was that?” Tucker asks.
“It was good, really good actually.” Lex nods. “They invited me to a team dinner on Friday, and I told them I’ll be going to the game tonight and Sunday.”
“That’s cool. So, I invited Eli already, but you’re welcome to come to my brothers’ birthday party Sunday morning. It’s gonna be insane, man, but the kids are cool.” The insane is clearly a bad thing.
“Thanks, uh...” He looks up at me and I nod repeatedly. “We’ll be there.”
“And my, guess since they haven’t posted anything about it, is that the PR department dropped the ball big time and didn’t even give you a fucking sweater with your name and number, so how about we deal with that before the game? Can you get here like half an hour before puck drop? Or wait, are you watching from our box?”
I... had no idea about any of it, or the team dinner on Friday, so I can only sit and listen.
“Michael just told me he got a suite for the rest of the season, so we won’t be with you, sorry. But yeah, I can be there early, no problem.”
“You lucky bastard,” he says ruefully. “Okay, I’ll figure out which is your suite and come get you. I bet the guys would love to see you before the game too if you’re up for that.”
“Oh, uh—” He stutters a bit, but then straightens as if bracing himself. “Okay, yeah.”
“Awesome, later.”
“Team dinner?” I ask when he hands me my phone back.
“Yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that. I, uh...” He scratches the back of his neck, and though my heart wants to fall at the realization, I refuse to let it.
“It’s okay. New team, you don’t know them. I understand perfectly if you want to go alone, Lex.”
