“We? Haven’t you heard of privacy?”
“Baby boy. You could have done this before I arrived and I wouldn’t be helping you GUST. You have only yourself to blame.”
I sighed. “Fine. Step three?”
“Obviously, you need to figure out your situation with Derek.” She leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Do you like him or is it just a sex thing?”
Across the bakery, a mom was ushering her young daughter out with a pink box in hand. Sabrina flashed her a bright smile as they passed. I slid down in my chair, willing the ground to open up beneath me.
“Can we save the sex talk for when we get home?” I gritted out.
“Why? They left.” She raised an eyebrow. “So itisa sex thing?”
“We haven’t had sex.”
“Technically.” She paused. “Yet.”
“Yet,” I relented. “I do like him. But… it’s complicated.”
Sabrina narrowed her eyes. “In what way? You’re single. He’s single.” She made an obscene gesture with her hands and I sunk down in my chair another inch.
I exhaled. “Derek is Avery’s mentor. Not justthey play on the same team. He’s the veteran who’s been taking Avery under hiswing—giving him advice, helping him adjust, preparing him to eventually take over his spot when he gets too old or too injured. Avery looks up to him.”
“Aww,” Sabrina said, leaning in. “Like his hockey big brother.”
“Basically.” I tore off another piece of cinnamon roll. “So if things went sideways, Derek wouldn’t do anything to spite Avery—he’s not like that. But it would still be… awkward. For practices. For travel. For the locker room. Avery would be stuck in the middle.”
I stared at the pastry in my hands.
“And then what? If I fuck this up, I’ve ruined the one good thing I have going here. Where would I even go?” I laughed but it came out hollow. “Back to Toronto? Restart the whole disastrous cycle again? I can’t. I can’t do that.”
Sabrina’s expression softened a fraction. “So you’re worried about blowing things up for Avery and yourself by extension.”
“Yes.”
“And you don’t trust yourself not to,” she added.
“Well, I have zero self-control.” I ripped off another piece of cinnamon roll to emphasize my point.
“It’s been a while since... you know.” She gestured vaguely to the neon sign at the back of the bakery. “It wouldn’t hurt toget stuffed.”
I choked on my coffee. “Seriously, Sabrina? I’m eating.”
“What? It’s the name of the bakery. I’m being thematic.” She grinned, completely unrepentant. “Besides, you brought it up. You’re the one who sucked his dick and ran.”
“I shouldn’t have told you.”
“I knew something had happened between you guys the second he walked into the room and was eyefucking you.”
“He was not eyefucking me.”
“If you say so.”
“I hate you.”
“You love me.” She chewed on another piece of cinnamon roll. “Now finish your coffee. We have therapists to interview and a love life to salvage.”
25. Derek
