“And I’d have been right,” Dawson countered.
“Yeah, but we were still using your name to get it done. Just not usingyou.”
“It was still my call,” Dawson reminded his agent in a hard voice. Not wanting to let himself fold to the obvious distress and concern in Alex’s voice. That wasn’t a lie. He’d been genuinely, really worried about Dawson, and looking back, seeing it described from Alex’s point of view, maybe he should’ve been.
“Yeah, it was,” Alex admitted. “And I’m so fucking sorry that I went along with it. I didn’t realize until it was too late that Simon gave a shit for the wrong reasons. By then, how was I supposed to fix it? I just thought if it got settled, then it would be over. You’d move on, because you were doing so much better. Happy, for the first time in a year, at least. I didn’t even realize how long it had been or how bad it had gotten, until I saw you today.”
Dawson didn’t know what to say. He’d known he’d been coming out of it. Known that he’d feltsomuch better, these last months.
But hearing Alex say it that way? He couldn’t help but think of what Aidan had said earlier.You cannot be this dense.
Because it was Toronto and the Thunder, yes, and it was the support he’d gotten from his teammates, for sure, and the success he’d had here to start the season, but it was more than that too. It was rediscovering his friendship with Aidan. Getting to know some of the other guys like Lane and Trevor and Nate. Being forced to befriend Mo against his will, but discovering he really liked the guy. Finally having Marty as a coach.
But it was more than even that.
It was Cam.
The rookie had wormed his way in and spread his sunshine around, lighting up all his shadows.
Dawson sighed. “I get it. You were only trying to do the best thing for me. He wasn’t.” He didn’t say Simon’s name. “But you were.”
“I wish I’d seen through it earlier. But yeah, he was definitely a clout-chaser. Only gave a shit about you because you brought in more business. Didn’t want you to fall apart because he worried about what it would mean forhim.”
It was easier than Dawson had expected to reply back andmeanit. “But you were only worried about me.”
Alex looked incredibly relieved. “Oh God, yeah. I was. I hoped you’d see that. I . . .I know I fucked up—”
“You can’t do that shit again. Not ever again,” Dawson stressed.
“I won’t. Iwouldn’t. I know it was a mistake,” Alex agreed.
Dawson had a feeling he would struggle for some time with who to trust and who not to trust—after Ackerman and then Simon, that wasn’t much of a surprise—but he’d always trusted Alex. It wasn’t so much building that trust back from scratch but polishing the scratches and pounding the dents out of what already existed between them.
The waiter arrived then, with their wine, and after pouring their drinks and taking orders for an appetizer he also recommended, disappeared again.
“To new beginnings,” Alex said, lifting his wineglass.
Dawson picked up his own and tapped it against the lip of Alex’s. “New beginnings,” he echoed.
“So, what’s happening with the case, now?” Alex asked after they’d discussed what they were going to order.
“I told the prosecutor that I’d be happy to do whatever she needed,” Dawson admitted. “Itdidfreak me out, and then today happened—”
Alex shot him a knowing look and interrupted, bluntly, “You can’t think that has anything to do with this.”
“Last year—”
But Alex didn’t let him say it. “No,” he said, as confidently as both Aidan and Cam had been. “That was a whole different thing. That was running out of time—and yeah, could Flynn have thrown a Hail Mary, sure? He could’ve. But it was chancy, either way. Either throwing to the end zone for the win or having you go out there, at the edge of your range, and try to take it to overtime. Neither was really agoodchoice, but they took the better chance. And you being a stronger chance than Flynn throwing a Hail Mary? I’d think aboutthat.”
Dawson did. Sat with it for a second. “I can see it,” he agreed. “Still . . .I still get worried about it all going down the tubes, again.”
“I think anyone would be,” Alex empathized.
“I’m going out of my way to make sure that it won’t,” Dawson added.
“Yeah, you are,” Alex said, leaning forward. “You’ve beenmoneysince you got here. This changes nothing.”
“Okay,” Dawson said, and to his surprise, he believed that was true now more than he had five minutes ago.
