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“Tell Mila I’ll make her proud.”
I pause, her name making my heart pound harder. “What’s she got to do with it?”
“She called Steve, the Anaheim owner, this morning and told him if he doesn’t call me up he’s…” My brother laughs. “A dumbfuck. I know I wouldn’t have gotten this chance without you guys and I won’t let you down.”
I lean a hand on my locker, unable to speak. Even after the way I treated her last night, Mila helped my brother get his biggest break. I feel about two inches tall.”
“When’s your first game?” I ask, clearing my throat.
“Tomorrow.” He moves the phone away from his mouth and yells out with excitement, then returns the phone to his mouth. “I’m playing tomorrow. I’m about to jump out of my skin, man. I can’t fucking wait.”
I shake my head, wishing I didn’t have a road trip starting tomorrow.
“I’d be there if I could.”
“I know.”
“Are you going to call them?”
He knows who I mean. Our parents. Neither one of us talks to our mom much anymore, because it’s too hard. And if we ever see our dad again, it’ll be at his funeral, where we’ll toast the end of a mean sonofabitch who beat his wife and kids.
“No,” he says softly. “The only family I want at any of my games is you and Mila.”
Hearing him call her family gets to me. It’s the truth, but for how much longer? I have a feeling Mila will be willing to pay any price to escape me after the way I treated her last night.
“The first one we can get to, we’ll be there,” I say, though I have a bad feeling it’ll be just me.
“Hey, I have to go. My new coach is calling me.”
“Okay. Congrats, man.”
“Thanks. I love you.”
Our mom used to say that to us all the time. It’s been years since anyone has said those words to me. They sound foreign, like something people say to others, but never to me.
“I love you, too,” I say.
Dom claps me on the shoulder as soon as I hang up, grinning. “He got the call?”
“He got the call.”
“That’s great. They need him.”
I nod, Mila front and center in my mind. I find a quiet corner of the weight room and sit there alone for a few minutes, thinking.
Why did she make that call? Was it guilt? My gut tells me it wasn’t. No matter why she did it, I have to thank her.
I leave the locker room and walk straight to her office, finding Quentin at his desk.
“Is she here?” I ask.
His expression is guarded; his mood is much different than his talkative, merry one yesterday.
“I’ll see if she’s available,” he says.
He types something on his computer and then looks up at me, unsmiling. “She’ll see you. Don’t upset her.”
I shake my head and start walking toward her office.
“Just because I have small muscles doesn’t mean I can’t shank you,” he says.
“Noted.”
I walk into Mila’s office and close the door, my heart sinking when I see her. She’s wearing a black suit, her hair pulled back at the nape of her neck. Though she doesn’t need it, she usually wears eye makeup, but today she doesn’t have any on. I can tell her eyes are red and swollen behind her dark-rimmed reading glasses.
“Hey,” I say.
“Hi.”
Her tone is crisp. Part of me wants to tell her I’m sorry and she doesn’t need to explain anything to me. My pride won’t let me, though. I’ve shared my entire self with her; I need the same in return.
“Thank you for making that call for my brother.”
She looks back at her computer monitor. “I did it because he deserved it, not for you.”
“All the same, thanks.”
She takes off her glasses and sets them on her desk, narrowing her eyes at me. “Do you really think I cheated on you last night?”
“No,” I admit.
“I’ve never been emotionally reliant on another person. I was trying so hard to be…normal. Less defensive. I don’t go with the flow, but for you…I did.”
I nod, not sure where she’s going with this.
“Why can’t you just trust me?” she asks.
I sit down in front of her desk. “I do trust you. I didn’t get much sleep last night and I can’t think about anything else today but you. Our relationship hasn’t been conventional, and I…” I look away. “I’ve already let my guard completely down. Maybe you’re not there yet. But you won’t be able to get there with me acting the way I did last night. I’m sorry. And I won’t lie, it gutted me to see another man opening that door and you walking inside. But if you tell me nothing happened, I believe you.”
Her eyes widen with surprise. “You do?”
I nod, letting my gut guide me. “You’re honest to a fault. You said you’ve been faithful to me, and I don’t know if this makes any sense, but…I can feel that it’s the truth. I feel it when we’re together.”
