His blond curls were flattened under his helmet and dripping with sweat, and the younger man looked panicked as he waved and pointed to the chute his team was about to go through.
Meet him. Okay.
Quinn got out of the way before people started piling up behind him for intermission bathroom breaks and jogged up the stairs to the main floor. All it took was a flash of his visitor ID and an elevator ride to the lower levels, where only staff and players were permitted.
Quinn hurried in the direction of the visitor locker room and stayed out of the way as the Toronto team marched off the ice. They were shouting triumphantly about their two-goal lead as they clapped each other on the back and removed their gloves and helmets for their break.
Quinn felt extremely guilty as Jett branched away from his teammates to stroll over to him, handing his gloves to one of the equipment managers and flashing them his golden boy smile.
The smile faded as he reached Quinn, and Jett gently steered him into a side hall to give them privacy.
“Harrison is with August,” said Jett. “Neeks almost refused to come to the game tonight, so I had to think fast, and I didn’t have your number to text you. August said he didn’t want you there, but I think that’s bullshit.”
A loud thump from Quinn’s chest told him that his heart was beginning to have palpitations.
August…didn’t want to see him.
“Niko is scared,” Jett continued, fidgeting with his hockey stick as if the movement kept him calm. “I tried to tell him to ignore August and call you over, but he won’t do it. And when I asked him for your number, he shut me out. I don’t think August is refusing to see you because of something you did—I think he doesn’t want you to see him…at his lowest, if that makes sense.”
Quinn tried to nod, but the muscles in his neck felt like they were seized. “So, I should leave him be.”
“No!” Jett smacked his stick to the floor with a loud crack. “You have to show up and try. Even if he pushes you away, at least give him the option of taking your help.”
Jett made it seem so simple, like August would open the door and fall into his arms while confessing his woes, but that wasn’t real life. August wasn’t his boyfriend, and Quinn had no right to push himself into the situation if he wasn’t welcome, but waiting felt impossible.
“He’s a lot like Harrison,” said Jett, who had caught onto Quinn’s silent turmoil. “August is quiet in his suffering. He believes he’s unbreakable because of the way people perceive him, but being tall and having broad shoulders doesn’t mean he can carry the weight of the world’s problems. That also means that he doesn’t know how to accept help when he’s piecing himself back together after reaching that breaking point.”
Quinn curled in on himself, arms crushing his chest like he was scared of falling apart, too.
“I don’t know what you are to him,” said Jett. “But when he told me that you’re the only one who makes the pain hurt less, I believed him. And if Harrison disagreed with me, he would have told me to leave you out of it instead of asking me to convince you to go.”
There was no convincing needed because Quinn was going to August; he just needed a second to breathe before he got behind the wheel of his car.
“Give me your number,” said Jett. “I want to add you to the group and have a way to contact you. I just have to grab my phone.”
Quinn took his out of his pocket and froze when he saw a text from Niko.
Niko: Please go see August. I’m so worried about him that I want to cry, and then he’ll punch me for losing the game…especially since it’s against Jett.
Quinn huffed quietly and told Niko to send Jett his number so he didn’t have to take anymore of his break time away.
“Niko will text it to you,” said Quinn, doing his best to smile so Jett would stop worrying. “Get back in the game, and I’ll take care of August, so you guys can do your hockey rival stuff when you play each other again.”
The corner of Jett’s mouth quirked upward. “He says hockey stuff like his brother-in-law isn’t the captain of the Bigfoots, his nieces aren’t hockey royalty, and he’s not going to be dating one of the best NHL players in the league. You can’t escape your fate, Quinn Harlow—might as well lace up a pair of skates and come join us.”
Quinn waved his hand in front of his face, mostly to test how shaky he was, but also to brush Jett off. “Sorry, Fraser, the smell doesn’t agree with me.”
Jett’s smile fell.
“It’s Killinger.”
Quinn shrugged and pushed himself off the wall. “Nah, it doesn’t have the same ring,” he said as he walked away.
Loud sputtering answered him before Jett shouted, “You’re starting to sound like him!”
Chapter 31
Quinn
