Page 11 of Against The Boards

I glared at him. “Don’t look at me like that.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “What are you up to today? You want to get some training in?”

“Actually, I need your help.”

“What’s going on?” he asked.

I laughed. “Why are you so nice?”

“Maybe you could learn from me.”

I ignored that, even though he was probably right. Noah was a saint. A lot of the guys gave him shit for being a ‘stereotypical Canadian,’ but I think that was just his personality.

“I still have stuff at Stephanie’s, and she wants me to get it today. We better do it now while she’s at work. Can you lend a hand?”

“Of course!”

I finished up my breakfast and listened to Noah tell me about Dinah’s three older brothers grilling him last night. Dinah’s brothers were super protective of her, but she didn’t let them get away with it. I was glad Dinah and Noah had figured things out because I had never seen my linemate look happier.

I hated to admit it, but I was jealous of what they had. I’d been happy with Stephanie, but she wanted more. A lot of women said they didn’t want marriage and kids, but in my experience, that was a lie. When Stephanie asked if I ever thought marriage was in our future, I couldn’t lie to her. I didn’t want to get married or have kids.

Noah followed me to Stephanie’s place, and we spent a couple of hours packing up my stuff into our respective vehicles. I owed Noah one. I then left my key on Stephanie’s kitchen counter with a note that read ‘sorry’ in my sloppy handwriting. I wished things had gone differently, but there wasn’t any room for compromise when you wanted different things.

I spent the rest of the day unpacking my stuff in my new condo, even though I was half wondering if I should get in my SUV and drive up to Boston until training camp.

Eventually, I called my sister because I needed her advice.

“What’s this? A call from my baby brother?” Liliana teased when she answered the phone.

“Hi, dweeb,” I said.

“Hey dickhead,” she joked back.

I groaned. “I really am.”

“What do you mean?”

She laughed for a long time after I explained everything that had happened.

“That was bad, right?” I asked her.

She laughed her ass off some more. “I can’t believe you asked her that! And told me!”

My sister and I were pretty close, so me telling her this wasn’t that weird. I was the first person she came out to. It hadn’t gone well with our parents; they disowned her, and Liliana went to live with our grandparents while she finished high school. I had wanted to go live with them, too, to escape the insufferable fights my parents had day in and day out, but Dad wouldn’t allow it. I’d have more sympathy for my mom if she didn’t look my sister in the eye and tell her she wasn’t welcome in their home. Since leaving for Colorado after I got drafted, the only home I went back to was my grandparents.

“Why did you ask her that?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “I was very drunk.”

“Michael!” my sister scolded. “Tell the truth!”

“Did you use your ‘mom’ voice on me?”

“Yes! Tell the truth.”

“I don’t know.” I paced around my room in annoyance. “She annoys me. She’s still mad about what I said the first time we met.”

“You asked if her tits were fake; I don’t blame her.”