“I’m not alone in the car,” she murmured, and I felt the blush on her cheeks through the phone line.
I laughed quietly. “Sweet girl, you did exactly the right thing by calling me.” I was fuckinghonoredthat the first person she thought to call was me. “Get Rami to take you to my apartment. I’ll pick up Cole and Tristan from the station.”
When Eva didn’t answer, worry threaded through me. “Eva?”
“No, yeah. It’s fine, okay.” She laughed—not a real laugh, a small, embarrassed one.
“Malyshka,” I rumbled.
“It’s fine,” she said firmly. “Rami? Can you take me to—” She paused, and, suddenly, I understood. She wasn’t ready to announce our relationship yet. “Can you take me to Coach Novikov’s place?”
The chatter in the car fell silent.
“Sure thing,” Rami said finally. I reminded myself I wasn’t his coach anymore, but still, his hesitation sliced through my chest.
“Okay,” Eva said, her voice more relaxed. “Let me know they’re okay as soon as you know?”
“I promise.”
By the timeCole and Tristan stumbled out of the station, it was past midnight. And tomorrow was not only game day, but the day they’d meet their new coach, who hadn’t even been named publicly yet.
Fuck.
I called Eva. “They’re fine, in my car, a little bit worse for wear.”
“Can I talk to her?” Cole asked, extending his hand for my phone from the backseat.
I handed it to him.
“Hey,” he said softly. “Sorry I fucked this up. I know you were looking forward to tonight.”
I couldn’t hear her answer.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
Another pause. He handed the phone to Tristan, in the front passenger seat.
“Hey, kitten.” Tristan’s smile was tired as he leaned back in the seat.
“Hockey house?” I mouthed.
He held up a finger as he listened to the phone then looked at me again. “Eva wants us to come to your apartment. Is that okay?”
It shouldn’t have warmed my chest for her to be treating my apartment like her own, gathering our odd little familythere instead of dashing to the hockey house to meet Cole and Tristan. “Of course.”
I put the car in gear and tried not to listen to Tristan’s teasing conversation with Eva, clearly trying to lighten her mood.
Eventually, he hung up and slumped back in the seat, scrubbing his face with his hands.
“What the fuck, Cole?”
Cole didn’t respond. “They were being shits about Eva,” he said finally.
Tristan whipped around in his seat. “Say what?”
“They were being dicks about Eva and her sleeping with you and me, and I—” He cut himself off. “It was a dick move. I should have let it go.” He met my eyes in the rearview mirror. “Don’t tell her. This isn’t how I— This isn’t how I want to earn her forgiveness.”
His phone was blowing up, but he slid it into his pocket.
