Page 116 of These Wicked Hearts

Eventually Grey pulls back and gives me a soft smile. “You need to talk to him.”

“I know.” My voice shakes. “But what if I do, and it ends. Everything ends. What if I lose him completely?”

“If he doesn’t want the same things you do, you never had him to begin with. Not all of him.” He pats the side of my face. “How is everything else? The team and all that. Are they treating you good?”

I take it for the distraction I know it is. I take a breath and wipe my eyes.

“It’s okay. Not like the Otters.” I smile sadly. “I uh . . . you’re not going to like this next part.” Grey’s eyes narrow. “I room with Rome, actually.”

“What?”

“I know, I don’t know.” I scratch the back of my head. “He’s not like I pictured.”

“A bigger dick than you imagined.” He snorts.

“Honestly, no. I mean, I confronted him the first day we roomed together. About you. He said he didn’t mean it, that he tripped going into the hit. I don’t know if I believe him, though.” I look at my friend, and his jaw tightens as he looks out his windshield. “It’s not like we’re friends, don’t worry. I’d never.”

A soft smile splits his lips. “You can relax, it’s okay. I don’t know, though. That hit was dirty. He can make all the excuses in the world for it, but it was.” He sighs. “The thing is, looking back now, if it wasn’t him, it would have been the next one.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve had two ACL tears. Ligament strains. I’ve had cartilage damage. The list goes on. It was only a matter of time before it caught up to me. What he did was wrong, but looking back on it now, I know it would have happened at some point anyway. Turns out I’m not Superman.”

“Of course not. Superman is an alien.”

He chuckles, patting my head. “I missed you.” Grey watches me a moment. His blue-gray eyes make me feel like he’s trying to take me apart piece by piece. Oli calls it his look of judgement. “I mean it, Atlas. No more hiding.”

“I promise. No more hiding.”

“These are awesome,” I say, holding up a navy-blue jersey. “Can I have one?”

“No.”

“Why not? I’ll pay for it.”

He shakes his head. “I just need to check to make sure they’re correct. We got our last shipment, and we had to return them all. We have a game next week. If they’re not right, I need to have them sent back today,” Grey says. “Are you uh, staying?”

“You’re going to the game, right?” I ask. Grey nods. “I wanted to go watch them play.”

“Come with us. We’re in a box with some of the other family. Does that mean you’re staying?”

“If it’s not a problem. If not, we can get a hotel.”

“You’re staying with us. I’ll text Felix. We can cook out on the grill tonight. Oli and Andre are supposed to be coming up tonight too. I’ll get a fire going. It’s supposed to be mild today. New York weather is weird.”

“If it’s not a problem.”

“It’s never a problem. We have two guest rooms, and Lianna has her own room.”

“How far along is Alyssa?” Grey’s sister is engaged to the other goalie on the Otters, and she announced she was pregnant when they got back from Oli and Andre’s wedding.

“Almost six months. She’s having a boy.”

“Holy shit, congratulations to them. How does Lianna feel?”

“She’s making it real clear that she’s still my number one. As if there was even a question about it.” He laughs. “We’re going to fly out when she has the baby to help with Lianna. Landon’s just hoping he’s not on the road when she goes into labor.”

“Coming around to him, then, are you?” I grin.