Carson studies me again with that calm, practiced gaze.
“Okay,” he finally says. “Tell me what’s going on.”
I swallow hard. The lie is sitting on my tongue like a stone.
“My shoulder isn’t right,” I say, keeping my voice steady. “It’s not coming back the way it should.”
He narrows his eyes slightly, but his expression gives nothing away.
“And you decided this… tonight,” he says.
“Yes.”
“And this is about Tanner,” he says, like he’s connecting dots on a whiteboard.
“It’s about the team,” I say, too fast.
His mouth twitches like he’s biting back a smile. Again.
“Don’t trade him,” I say. “If I retire, he doesn’t have to go. He can be your starter. He can be yourfuture.”
Carson leans back in his chair.
“You’re too late,” he says.
I blink. “What?”
“He came to see me a few hours ago,” he cuts me off. “He instructed me to turn it down.”
The words don’t land right away. I stare at him. “No.”
Carson’s gaze doesn’t waver. “Yes.”
“But—he—how could he do that?”
Something in me lurches. At first, it’s shock, but quickly, it turns to anger. Not at Carson. At myself.
I took the one thing Tanner wanted—belonging—and I threw it back at him like it meant nothing. I told him what we had wasn’t real life.
And he still turned down a starting position.
Did he do this for me? No, he couldn’t have. Could he?
I drag a hand through my wet hair, yanking hard enough it stings. “I—I don’t understand.”
“He told me he’d rather be your backup than be a starter anywhere else. He believes in the Sasquatch, and he wants to be part of what we’re building here. You’re the biggest part of that, Louis.”
He continues, his voice quiet but sure. “And then you come storming in here tonight, ready to retire. To make sure he gets to live his dream.”
I stare at him. For a second, the room tilts.
Carson’s mouth twitches again. “I’ve never seen two guys fight so hard to give the other guy the spotlight.”
He shifts forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees. “Lou, I’m going to ask you a question.”
I nod, still trying to process.
“This decision to retire, is this about your injury,” Carson says, “or is this about Tanner?”
