“He’s been in surgery for the past few hours.”
He sits down next to me. “Any word from the doctors?”
“Not yet.” My knee bounces with the restless energy flooding my insides.
The other guys find seats or lean against walls, crowding the waiting room. Then another elevator full of guys shows up. Everyone speaks in hushed voices, grave looks on their faces.
“This is really fucked up,” Masterson finally says to me. “The guy’s a hero, and he’s fighting for his life in surgery.”
“What exactly happened?” Carter asks. “The news said something about the FBI and game fixing, but they didn’t give details. Do you know anything about it?”
I look around the room at my teammates, at my family, at all these people who showed up.
And I know I can’t keep lying to them.
“Actually, yeah,” I say slowly. “He was working undercover, helping the FBI take down the gambling syndicate that destroyed his career in Detroit.”
“He told you all that?” Cam asks. “About him being undercover for the FBI? That seems like a lot to share with a colleague.”
“Uh, yeah.” I sweep a hand through my hair. “But…”
The guys look at me, waiting.
I take a deep breath. “The other part is that we’ve been together for weeks.” The words tumble out of the mouth.
“Together how?” Cam asks.
I catch Parker’s gaze. He gives me a slight nod.
“Together like we’re in a relationship. Like I’m gay and he’s the person I’m in love with.”
Colby stops pacing. Jaren’s eyes widen. Everyone stares at me.
“Holy shit,” someone says. I think it’s Keating.
“Yeah.”
“You’re gay,” Carter says. It’s not a question, and I know with one glance that he isn’t shocked.
“Yeah.”
“And you’ve been secretly dating Coach Christensen.”
“Yeah.”
“For how long?”
“We hooked up in Vegas a couple of years ago after a game. I didn’t know who he was then and when he showed up in Oakland, we kind of…” I sigh. “Fell in love.”
Cam leans back in his chair. “That’s why you’ve been so fucked up this season. All the performance issues, the weird ass behavior. You were dealing with this.”
“Well, not only this. I was dealing with a lot of things.”
“Like what?”
So I tell them all the same story I told my family, but with more details about the hockey side of things, including how Zane was forced to work with the FBI, how the syndicate tried to recruit me, and how I signed their contract thinking I could handle it myself.
“You signed a contract with criminals?” Logan asks.
