“You don’t get to scare me anymore,” I say finally.“And you definitely don’t get to scare him.”
James studies me for a long moment.
“You think he’s going to stay?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“He won’t.”
“He already did.”
Leo steps slightly forward beside me.
“The league review board meets next week,” he says calmly.“You’ll be receiving notice.”
James doesn’t answer, which tells me everything I need to know.
“I’m not here because I’m afraid of you,” I say one last time.“I’m here because I’m done with you.”
And for the first time since I met him, he doesn’t smile back.
Outside the building, the air feels lighter than it did when we arrived. It feels like something invisible finally shifted out of the way. Something I didn’t realize I had been carrying with me all this time.
“You did well,” Leo says as we walk toward the car.
“I thought I was going to be more nervous,” I admit.
“You were,” he replies.
“I mean, while I was talking.”
“That’s because you were telling the truth,” he says simply.
I stop walking.
“Thank you,” I say.
“For what?”
“For making sure he can’t do that again.”
Leo smiles slightly.
“He won’t,” he says. “And you should thank your boyfriend.”
“Blake doesn’t know I’m here,” I tell Leo as we walk away from the training facility.
“You think it’s a coincidence I showed up here?” Leo asks, and all I can do is smile.
Chapter 25
Blake
Two weeks after surgery, the rink smells the same as it always has. Cold air. Steel. Freshly cut ice. Rubber from skate guards dragging across concrete.
It should feel normal. It should feel like coming home.
Instead, the first time I step through the tunnel toward the practice sheet with my arm still stiff from rehab bands and slow rotations and instructions I’m trying very hard not to ignore, it feels like walking into a version of my life I’m not entirely sure I still belong to.
