I’m rambling. I need to stop.
“Enzo,” Axel says slowly. “That apartment isn’t for you.”
I freeze.
“It’s for Patricia.” His eyes are all tenderness, and my heartbeat escalates.
He’s not sending me away.
He’s not.
I want to speak, and I try to open my mouth, but the only thing on my mind is that Axel wants me here.
Even though there’s an apartment I could be in instead.
Relief breaks over me.
“Or whoever comes after her,” Axel continues. “She deserves her own space—a real home, not a guest room. She needs her own kitchen, her own bathroom. And we should be able to, uh, converse without wondering if she’s overhearing.”
I go rigid. Did Patricia overhear our heated conversation last night?
“This is a good thing,” Axel promises.
The floor tilts beneath me.
“I...” I don’t know what to say.
“I want you here,” Axel says. “We’re Luca’s family. And…”
He hesitates.
I wonder what he was going to say.
“We’re teammates,” he says.
I nod. “Blizzards.”
“That’s right. And Cannons before that. But you’re the only man on the Blizzards team I want to live with. I don’t want to get rid of you. I want this to work.”
“Oh,” I manage.
“You’re not temporary, Enzo. Okay? You’re Luca’s family. You’re...”
He stops.
“I’m what?” The question comes out barely above a whisper.
“You’re important,” he says finally. “To Luca. To this whole... situation. I don’t want to do this without you.”
“Okay,” I say. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.” But his voice has softened. “Talk to me next time. Don’t just... spiral.”
“I don’t spiral.”
“You absolutely spiral. You can see danger on the ice like no one else. But life isn’t ice hockey, Enzo. People aren’t opposing teams who want to ram you into the boards. People are generally nice.”
I want to argue. I don’t have evidence to support the argument.
