“I’ll be there for every game,” said Quinn. “Even the away ones.”
Eren shook his head, ripping the glove compartment open so he could grab napkins to blow his nose. “I want you to be with the girls. You don’t need to come to away games. Just sit in her spot during practice, and come to the home games. That’s enough for me.”
Quinn wasn’t convinced, and he didn’t want Eren to spiral. He was pretty sure playing sports had a mental thing to them, so he wasn’t about to back down on this topic.
“Eren, the girls are sad, but they’rethriving,” said Quinn. “You’ve built them a great support system. They have friends at school, and you know, the help you hired? They love those girls. The only thing they want right now is for you to be happy and score more goals, so if me following you around like a groupie is what you need, I willbe there.”
Eren had shoved his face into the napkin and was refusing to come out.
“Do your teammates know?” Quinn asked. “I’m not sure how close you are with them…”
Eren lifted his head, but he kept his eyes glued to the tissue. “They know Esme is gone, but I try not to bring that energy into the room. We worked most of the sympathies and pitying looks out during training camp, but there’s one guy who’s being a bit of a drag.”
“Snow?” Quinn guessed.
Eren slowly shifted his gaze away from the napkin to meet his eyes. “Some guys take a cup loss really hard. It was his first playoff run to the finals, and Snow has always been touchy at best. Last season, he really synced up with us, and that put the team on a roll. But this year it’s…fuck. I was hoping that when Cote got traded here, Snow would have someone younger to connect with, and then we could get back into the ‘Let’s kick some ass and bring home a cup’ mindset. But he’s still in a total slump.”
Hockey was too complicated for Quinn, but he was trying his best to follow along. “August is one of your best players, right?”
“Gusty is a massive and talented two-way defenceman,” said Eren, and Quinn could hear the pride in his voice. “Which means he can play as a forward and a defenceman. He’s also ambidextrous, so we can put himanywhere, and he will get the puck to the net.”
Yeah, that sounded important. No wonder Eren, as the Bigfoot captain, was so upset that his all-in-one teammate was underperforming.
“You said you knew him,” said Eren. “From school?”
Quinn’s cheeks heated so fast that his skin prickled. “Yes.”
“Can you—”
“No.” Quinn turned the car on, scrambling for the air-conditioning so he could cool down. “We weren’t on friendly enough terms for me to start up a conversation with him. He probably doesn’t remember me.”
Eren raised an eyebrow, and Quinn looked away so he could glare out the windshield.
“I’ve seen pictures of you from high school, and you do look…different.”
It was hard to compare the black clothes, black eyeliner and dyed hair to his take on the neo-Victorian fashion he wore today. Most of which consisted of a lot of lace under crop tops, skinny jeans, and corsets.
Quinn didn’t doubt that August wouldn’t recognize him; he just happened to keep running into him like a weirdo because he was waiting around for Eren all the time now.
“Come to the Calgary game,” Eren said, so quickly that Quinn had to turn the car fan down to hear him.
“What?”
“The Calgary game,” Eren repeated. “I have a seat saved behind our bench. I know you don’t like crowds, but just for this game—just this one, I promise.”
Eren saving the seat meant he had been planning to ask Quinn to come. He would have bought his own damn tickets and flown there himself if Eren hadn’t offered, because despite the bravado, his brother-in-law was falling apart.
Fuck August Snow. Quinn didn’t have any more time to waste on that prick when he had family who needed him.
“I’ll be there,” said Quinn. “For this one, and all the rest of them. Stop being afraid to ask me, and let mehelpyou.”
Eren blew out a breath, relaxing his posture. “Fine. You’re flying with us, and I’m buying you all the food you want and paying for your hotel room. Bring your laptop so you don’t fall behind on your studies, too. I don’t want you to fail because of me.”
Quinn was careful to mind his rings when he smacked Eren on the back of his head. “Don’t get bossy with me, Callahan.”
Eren yelped and rubbed his head, giving Quinn a betrayed, wide-eyed look.
“Don’t you start,” Quinn grumbled, putting the car in drive so he could follow the next person out of the parkade. “I literally watch you get smashed against the boards, punched in the face, and have your teeth knocked out. There’s no way a little slap hurt you.”
