Page 146 of Edging Coach
Yeah, it sucked that they’d all be reporting that I’d been fired. Yeah, they’d all have a field day with their headlines. Yeah, there would be unsavory accusations about how this relationship had come to be.
I could live with all that.
Because Devon’s career was intact. People recognized his talent and potential, and no one was making any noise about Vancouver cutting him loose. Quite the contrary.
Hairs would get whatever was coming to him. Emil was still pissed about this whole situation, and I had no doubt that as soon as this presser was over,“deal with that motherfucker”was next on his to do list.
The dust was settling. The smoke was clearing.
And somehow, by some miracle, I still had the man I loved.
CHAPTER 40
DEVON
Our captain took me aside the next night. Not Lous—Wheels. Karim fucking Khoury. Because I played for Vancouver. For now, anyway.
I appreciated he chose to do it away from the others.
“There’s no shame in taking the night off,” Wheels said. “Yesterday was…intense.”
As I gazed into his dark-brown eyes, I saw only compassion. Much as I had with Lous when he’d rubbed my shoulder yesterday before taking off to get to practice. The wait for Jack to leave Emil’s office had been interminable.
The wait for the press conference had been interminable.
The press conference had been interminable.
We’d gone back to my hotel. We’d ordered room service, and then we’d crawled into bed—naked—and had a nap.
Much like we had done repeatedly in Tofino. Only there we’d been giving his body a chance to heal. Yesterday had been about me.
“I’m okay,” I told Karim. “Really. My head’s in the game. You know, if I have something to prove?—”
“You don’t.”
“I do. I really do. I need to show that I can focus—even if I have a gay lover. I don’t want the naysayers claiming I’m too wrapped up in Jack.”
“It shouldn’t matter what other people think—especially the homophobic assholes whose opinion matters less than zero.” Wheels held my gaze.
Something in the way he spoke let me know he had some experience—even peripheral. When people spewed hate, sometimes bystanders in the vicinity got hit as well. As witnessing Emil who took flak and Lous who had felt the need to come out in order to support Jack and me. Talk about brave…
“Look, if I get out there and things aren’t going well, I’ll talk to Coach.”
“You give me a signal and I’ll talk to Coach. I have a solid relationship with him.”
In my mind, of course, I wondered if that meant they were somehow involved.Jesus. Not every guy is screwing his coach. Like…how many teams in the League? And probably not a single one with your interesting predicament.“You shouldn’t have to run interference for me.”
“I’m protecting my team. In the end, that’s all that matters. If that means you get cared for as well, I’m okay with that. Look, I’m going to be honest.”
Oh shit. Nothing good ever comes of that. It means he might’ve been lying to me at any point until now.“Sure.”
“You’ve got so much fucking potential. Like they said at the press conference today—Toronto’s loss is our gain. Make those fuckers regret ever trading you. Hell, if they’re smart, they already realize it.”
“That simple?”
“Yep. Truly that simple.” He leaned in so we were mereinches away. He squeezed my shoulder. “Play your best damn game.”
I blinked. “Thank you.”
