“Steal their plays. Is very dirty, Zeki. Criminal.”
“With permission,” I told him. I gritted my teeth so hard my temples ached.
He sighed and shrugged. “I mean, is not terrible idea. If we learn from their team, then our team’s not expecting, you know? Because their plays different. They listen.” He tapped his ear. “And they’re so fun. We have beers sometimes after long game nights. You should come. You would like.”
“Pass,” I said, but normally, when it felt good to ignore his invite, this time, something in me ached. “Does, uh…does Jonah go out?”
“Mm, no. He has so much going on. With his dad. You see Peter today?”
I shook my head. “No. Nikos is staying there for now. But I was going to drop by tomorrow and help him go through the pile of paperwork he found in his closet. He said there are a couple doctors on there, so we can make a few calls.”
Vanya shook his head. “Is so fucked-up what his wife did. And Jonah seems so sad about it.”
I bowed my head. I didn’t want to comment this time. It was too complicated, and I didn’t know enough. Only what he’d said out loud when he was interviewing the shitty home health nurse, and that had been enough to shift my entire perspective.
It didn’t mean I liked him any more, though I was starting to wonder about that because every time I saw his face, my guts started doing strange things. But it did mean I understood a little better. And having dealt with Peter for this long, I could see him being the man Jonah hated.
“Well, anyway,” I said, “I think I might talk to Noah about an additional practice with their team.”
“Okay. I tell Tucker. He’ll be saying yes though.”
I lifted a brow at him. “You think?”
Vanya snorted. “Yes, we good friends now. Of course he say yes to me. And if he tells me no, I just whine to his husband, and he make Tucker say yes.”
“You know his husband?”
Vanya looked confused. “Of course. Amedeo. Very small, very shy. He cook me delicious Italian dinner last night.”
“Jesus Christ, Vanya,” I muttered.
He blinked at me, his eyes wide and owlish. “What?”
“Nothing. Never mind.” He was so fucking weird, and I was so damn envious because I wished I could be like that, but I had no idea how.
It was easy to be a dick. It was easier to be friendless because then I didn’t have to try so hard, and I didn’t have to feel the stab of disappointment in my gut when people found me off-putting and rigid. It was simpler to just keep to myself, play good hockey, and eventually retire into some kind of obscurity.
It was what I wanted.
Or, at least, what I told myself I wanted.
I could worry about the complicated shit after the NHL. For now, this was fine.
And with what I had going on with Jonah, maybe it was better than fine. Maybe, right now, it was pretty fucking good.
Peter was watching TV when I got to his place. The apartment was overly warm, though there was a window open in the corner, and it smelled like Nikos’s cooking. I found him and the long-haired friend of Jonah, Ford—I think—in the guest bedroom, sitting on the floor surrounded by a bunch of open boxes and stacks of paper.
My eyes caught on Ford, and I realized that he’d taken his leg off. He was in long sweats with one of the pant legs tucked into his waistband. I did my best to look away as quickly as I could, but I was pretty sure he caught me.
He didn’t seem uncomfortable though. He offered something like a smile and gestured to one of the boxes. “Dig in, if you feel up for it.”
My bones ached and popped as I sat, propping my back against the wall. I was bruised to hell and back from a nasty check I’d taken from one of San Diego’s fucking D-men. A giant-ass Finn in his rookie year who fought like he had something to prove.
He was tossed in the second period for high sticking and clocking Antero under the chin. He’d seen us walking out after the presser and blew a couple of kisses. Antero offered him double middle fingers, and he laughed his ass off all the way to his gigantic SUV.
“You good?” Ford asked, eyeing me carefully.
I grimaced as I pulled a stack of papers into my lap. “Not too bad. Getting a little old to be taking hits like the one I had last night.”
