“Nothing to be sorry about.” I shrug. “I know his history.”
He chuckles. “I swear his eye twitches every time Theo says you’re his girlfriend.”
“Jealous of a child? He sounds insane,” Lyla says, shooting Lachlan an amused glance.
He rolls his eyes as he leans down and kisses her. When he pulls away, he gazes at her with so much love that I have to look away. Isn’t that what I said I always wanted? Their kind of love? Finn looks at me the way they look at each other, and I’m sure I reciprocate it.
“Thank you,” I say, smiling at them. “This was helpful. Weird, but helpful.”
They laugh as I stand up and begin saying my goodbyes to them. “I’m going to see if Tia Nina needs help with Theo, and then I’m heading out.”
By the time I leave, I feel a little lighter, at least on this front. I haven’t stopped thinking about what Leo could possibly have to show me.
49
FINN
Ilet out a harsh breath as I walk toward the locker room. Cameras and journalists are already piled up outside of the door, waiting to pounce the first chance they get. I’ve always made it very clear that I won’t speak to them. Especially before, during, or after games, but part of my contract with the Owls—the part that makes me a minority owner—says I need to play nice and speak to them. It’ll be difficult to do, especially after our first loss of the season. As we get near the cameras, I glance at our goalie, who’s been brooding since the game-winning puck slid under his glove during the last ten seconds of the game.
“I knew I should’ve gone left,” he grumbles when he catches me looking.
“It’s in the past now. Get your head ready for tomorrow,” I say, repeating the advice I got when I was a first-year player and I lost my first game.
We walk inside, where our coaches are waiting. Coach P gives his usual pep talk, but unlike the last handful of games that we’ve played and won, the championship belt the team has been passing around is nowhere to be seen. We made a decision after our firstpreseason game to only celebrate wins. I know better than anyone how long the season is and that losses are inevitable, so we won’t sit around moping about them. The WWE-style championship belt will only be handed out to our MVP after a win.
They wait a few minutes after the pep talk to let cameras inside. A group of them catches me and I decide to answer their questions quickly—we’ll be fine for tomorrow, there was nothing we could do to stop that last puck, we should have been more aggressive, blah blah blah bullshit. Once I’m done playing nice, I walk toward my stuff.
“Yeah, basketball practice started already,” I hear Damian say to someone as I walk by, and my ears instantly perk up. “She says she won’t try to play professionally.”
I glance over and see him talking to one of the wingers from the team we just played against. Max Gomez is a Fairview native, so I’m not surprised Damian knows him. I just don’t understand why I’m hearing my girlfriend’s name coming out of his mouth for a fourth time in as many minutes.
“She always said she only wanted to play college ball,” Gomez says. “What will she do now?”
“More work for the Alma Foundation. She wants to expand on the mental health thing and also start providing sports equipment to underprivileged kids.”
My heart swells with the same pride I hear in Damian’s voice as he speaks about Josslyn’s goals.
“Damn, good for her,” Gomez responds. “She’s gotten a lot of sponsorship deals.”
“Yeah. I’m pretty sure she’s still one of the highest paid college athletes,” Damian responds.
“I swear, breaking up with her was the stupidest shit I’ve ever done.”
Damian laughs. My hands freeze on my laces. I feel myself scowl andglance over my shoulder again. This time, I look at Max a little closer. He’s tall and dark-skinned, with light brown eyes and a buzz cut. He has a carefree smile and a wistful expression on his chiseled face that makes an uncomfortable feeling curl in the pit of my stomach. I’ve been trying to pretend Josslyn had no guys in her life before me, but I guess it’s unavoidable.
“Does she still hate when people call her Josie?”
Damian scoffs. “I wouldn’t know. I haven’t tried since the time she punched me in the nose.”
“Yeah, she gave me the silent treatment for two days when I did it,” Gomez says, smiling. “I heard a rumor that she’s dating Barlow now.”
I turn back around quickly and keep undressing.
“Yeah. It’s the happiest I’ve ever seen her,” Damian says. “No offense.”
“Nah, she deserves it.” Gomez laughs. “It was good to see you, brother. Let Joss know I asked about her.”
I reach for my phone. She’s been on my mind all day, as usual. The only reprieve I get from thoughts of her is during games, and even then, when I’m on the bench, I wonder if she’s watching from home, and if so, where she’s sitting and what she’s wearing. My smile drops and my stomach twists painfully when I unlock my phone and find a picture of my emails from Tom. Goddamnit.How am I going to explain this to her?
