Coach stopped and turned. “Yeah?”
“Would it be okay if I borrowed Jenkins for a minute?”
Silas groaned. First the girls, now Harris? He wasn’t going to end up in anyone’s good graces if people kept pulling him away.
Coach briefly looked between Silas and Harris. “Sure. Just make sure to send him to the locker room, ASAP. Got it?”
Harris flashed a congenial smile. “Absolutely.”
Once the rest of the team was gone, Harris’ smile fell. He glared at Silas. “What did you do?”
Silas didn’t like the way Harris was talking to him. He’d dealt with enough already. He lifted a corner of his mouth into an arrogant smile. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”
Harris lifted his chin. “Miriam.”
Miriam?Silas’ smile fell. “What happened?”
“Not so cocky now, are you?”
Silas glared at him.
“Fine.” Harris ran a hand through his hair. “I know you two used to date before you left for the Wolves.”
Silas really hated that narrative. He sounded like a monster every time someone said that.That’s because you are.“That was two years ago.”
Harris snorted. “Spoken like a true jerk who thinks time makes everything better.”
Silas stood up straight and pushed his shoulders back when he took a step toward Harris.
Even though he was a couple inches shorter and several pounds lighter, to his credit, Harris only cowered slightly before he puffed out his own chest. “You broke her heart, and now you’re back acting like everything is okay.”
Everything was not okay. Nobody knew that better than Silas. Not that he was going to admit that to Harris. He crossed his arms waiting for him to continue.
“She didn’t show up for the game today.”
Silas dropped his arms to his sides. “What do you mean she didn’t show up? She loves home games.”
“Exactly. And I know for a fact that she isn’t sick. I saw her at work this morning, and she seemed fine.”
The words felt like a punch to the gut. Silas wasn’t sure if the ticket manager knew the full extent of how badly that hurt him. It killed Silas to know that Harris could pop into her office anytime or suggest going to the hip new restaurant for lunch. Both were things that Miriam wouldn’t even consider with Silas.
He kept his face blank. “Did she say why she wasn’t coming?”
Harris shook his head. “Only that I’d be manning the Storm table by myself because she was staying home.” He paused and gave Silas a tight smile. “Though I suspect it has something to do with you. Ever since you guys went to that school visit together, she’s been acting weird.”
How much did Harris know? He wondered if Miriam had confided in her coworker about what happened. His breath caught as he remembered the ground rules that Greg had laid out years ago when he’d first found out that Silas and Miriam were a couple. If Harris blabbed and Greg somehow found out, Miriam would be in trouble. Silas didn’t want that.
He also wasn’t sure that Harris actually knew anything. He shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe she ate some bad Chinese.” He mentally cringed once the words left his mouth, hating himself for creating that mental picture of Miriam sick with food poisoning.
“It wasn’t food poisoning.” Harris narrowed his eyes. “And don’t think that I don’t have my eyes on you.”
It took everything in Silas not to laugh at the childish threat. What was Harris going to do? Poke him in the chest until he got a bruise? The dude was soft from a cushy office job whereas Silas was lean muscle from daily workouts.
“Noted.” He hitched a thumb toward the locker room. “Mind if I get back to the locker room in time to hear Coach go over the plan for tonight’s game?”
Harris looked like he had more to say, but he shook his head and walked off in the opposite direction.
Silas snuck inside and grabbed a spot on the bench without making a big commotion. He listened as Coach went over the plays for that night’s game and told them who the starting lineup would be. Silas tried to focus on what was being said, but all he could think about was what Harris had said—and what that meant for Silas and Miriam’s future.
