Page 78 of Wingmen

“No.” He looked at her. “Pretending I’m not.”

She sighed and nodded. “How long have you known?”

“Officially? Like six weeks. Actually?” He sighed. “Always.”

“How did you find out? Officially, I mean.”

He laughed. “My hockey idol sucked my cock in the back of his Lexus.”

Drew’s eyebrows lifted and her mouth did an impressed downward turn. “Helluva way to find out.”

“Claro.”

“Wait– Is this the guy from the bar? The second greatest of all time.”

Elliot sighed. “Yep.”

She pinched her lips together, watching him. “And where is he now?”

“No idea. At his apartment, probably.”

Taking drugs?Hopefully not. Probably not. He was too smart for that.

Drew came and sat beside him. She put her hand on his bare knee. It startled him, but he assumed she probably wasn’t trying to have sex with him at this point, so he didn’t worry about it so much. It was nice, actually.

“Thanks,” she said.

“For what?”

“Telling me that. Listening to my thing.”

He nodded. She nodded. Like a pair of bobble-head dogs on a dashboard. He wondered what Dustin was doing.

Eventually, she sighed and picked up her hand. “I should probably go.”

“You’re not really leaving though, are you?”

“I don’t know what else to do. I don’t think I have a choice.”

“Is it just money? I can lend you money.”

“No—” She shook her head. “That’s not?—”

“No…” He sat up. “Why don’t I just do that? You said they’re notactuallykicking you out of the program?”

“They’re rescinding my stipend because I didn’t meet performance criteria. So, no. Notactuallykicking me out, but?—”

“If you just need money to stay in it…

“I don’t wanna take your money, Elliot.”

“Drew, I’m a professional hockey player. I make a million dollars a year and that’s thelowend.AndI’m the best of all time.” She rolled her eyes, but he sat up and looked at her seriously. “When my contract’s up at the end of next year, they’re gonna start paying me…just astupidamount of money. And what am I spending it on?” He gestured around at the room. “A house for my mom, I think, but apart from that…?”

She was chewing her lip and watching him anxiously. “I don’t think I can feel good about that.”

“Please?”

“I don’t know if I could pay you back.”