Page 69 of The Chase

“You want to move out?”

“Dude, you don’t want to hear me fuck your sister.”

I shuddered, remembering how I found out about Benny and my sister dating. “True.”

“And I don’t want to hear you with your lady. We’re both old enough that maybe we shouldn’t have a roommate.”

I nodded. I hated being alone. I got too into my head and doubted myself. But Benny had a point. I was old enough to be on my own. If he wanted to ask my sister to move in with him and start their life together, I wouldn’t stand in his way. I wanted Rox to be happy, and Benny did that.

“When are you gonna ask her?”

He shrugged. “Soon. I’m looking at a place nearby I want to buy. What if she says no?”

I shook my head and drove into the parking lot of the practice facility. “She won’t. Listen, my sister loves you. It took her a lot to get over you asking her rude questions, but honestly? I’ve been jealous of you.”

“Me?” he asked.

I cut the engine of my Maserati and shook my head at him. “Not of you, specifically. Of what you have. What Noah and Dinah have, what Riley and Fi have. I thought I found it with Max, but she keeps pushing me away. Proving to me I’m just not good enough.”

He peered at me with a curious look, and I got out of the car, already feeling like I had said too much. I hated being this vulnerable with anyone. Least of all, one of my teammates. I’d never hear the end of it.

Benny followed me into the facility, close on my heels. “You need her to know you’re willing to fight for her. You need to prove that you have her back. If you don’t want to put your heart on the line, if you don’t want to help her wrestle her demons, you might as well sever your ties now.”

“How do you help Rox with that?”

We walked into the locker room together, and I started stripping off my clothes and getting my gear on. Benny stripped his own clothes off and started wrapping the rainbow-colored tape around his stick.

He arched an eyebrow at me. “Usually, it helps when I get on my knees and spend a long time in-between her—”

I threw a towel at his head, and he laughed at me. “EW! I don’t want to know that! I’m close with my sister, but I’m not that close.”

Noah gave me a weird look as he pulled his practice jersey over his head. “Do I even want to know?”

Benny was still laughing to himself. Dick.

I shook my head. “Dude, you do not.”

I got the rest of my gear on and skated out onto the ice beside Noah. We had been playing well, but I was nervous we wouldn’t make the playoffs again. It wasn’t like I had been slacking off. On the ice, I was skating my ass off, and when I was off it, I was watching a ton of game tape. And not just during practice either, but on my own time, too. I’d blame Riley for that; that dude was such a stats fiend, it was growing on the rest of us.

During practice, I compartmentalized my unsure feelings about my girlfriend’s mental health and focused on what I was doing on the ice. I went through our drills while we were on the ice, and I sat attentively in our team meetings afterward. I laughed when the assistant coach gave me some shit about too many PIMs lately. I couldn’t wait to tell Max and hear her laugh about it.

After we spent some time reviewing game tape, we went into the weight room to get more strength training in. Noah had been on me lately that we needed to be faster, bigger, and stronger on the ice if we wanted to make the playoffs. He was hungry for the cup this year.

Benny and Riley were doing squats while I spotted Noah at the bench press.

“Is Max still having those night terrors?” he asked.

I groaned. “Yeah.”

“Dinah woke me up last night because we heard her screams.”

I sighed. “Sorry. It scared the fuck out of Roxie and Benny.”

“She okay?” he asked while he finished his set and put the barbell back on the rack.

“Not really. And she tried to break up with me.”

“You’re okay now, though, right?”