Page 118 of Interference

Anthony froze. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, definitely.” In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. “There’s really nothing I can do to make up for everything you’ve done for me. Having you join us for Christmas is… I’d say it’s the least I can do, but it’s probably the most I can do.”

He stared at me for a few seconds. Long enough to make me wonder if maybe the idea had sounded better in my head.

I cleared my throat. “If you want to, I mean. If you’d rather—”

“It sounds great.” Anthony’s smile made the floor tilt beneath me. “As long as I’m not imposing. I know your mom’s got her hands full right now.”

“She does, but honestly, having a ton of people over for Christmas is like the highlight of her year.” I managed a smile myself. “She loves having a full house.”

“I’d be happy to tag along. Just… make sure she’s really okay with it. Given everything she’s handling right now…”

“I will. But I can pretty much guarantee she’ll be thrilled.” She would be, too. No matter how overwhelmed she was, fawning all over visitors was one of her favorite things in the world. She’d always been a social butterfly, but she’d had to become somewhat of a shut-in ever since Dad got sick, which hadn’t been good for her. And that made me feel guiltier for not coming to visit more. I could’ve helped with Dad, but also given her something else to focus on. Maybe, in some small way, bringing a new guest for Christmas would lift her spirits a bit. I met Anthony’s gaze again. “What, um… What about Moose and Bear? I think they’ve gotten used to having someone here all the time.”

Anthony laughed. “I’ve got a friend who’ll come in and check on them. She’ll take them for walks, too, if the weather is nice. I guarantee they’ll put me on a monster guilt trip when I get back, but they’ll be fine.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds like them.” Sobering, I quietly asked, “So… you’d really be game to come meet my family? Spend the holidays with us?” Hope swelled in my chest, both at the prospect of seeing my family and of introducing them to Anthony.

His smile made my heart flutter. “I’d love to.”

I leaned across the cushions and kissed him softly.

And for the first time in a long time, I had something to look forward to.

Chapter 33

Anthony

I felt a lot better about things with Wyatt after we talked it through. There was no way in hell I was throwing him to the wolves if we decided we didn’t want to be together. Our situation was uniquely complex, but we were both rational adults. Wyatt wasn’t going to take advantage of me helping him. I wasn’t going to take advantage of him having less power in the situation. We cared about each other as much as we were into each other, and I fully believed we could navigate this without losing sight of that.

Of course, I’d thought a lot of those things about Simon, too, and that had blown up in my face. Then again, in retrospect, there had been a power imbalance between us, especially in the beginning, and I realized now that Simon had taken advantage of it.

Between his salary and his endorsements, he made a lot more money than I did. While I’d been perfectly happy with a more modest house in the suburbs, he’d been the one to decide we should drop five million on a house in Medina. That amount had been staggering for me. But nothing says “first world problems” like “I only make three and a half million annually,” so he’d steamrolled over my concerns, and now here we were. We’d dropped a substantial down payment on the place, and the mortgage was manageable with one or both of our salaries, but he’d never missed an opportunity to remind me how much more he’d contributed than I had.

Now that he’d moved out, he’d decided it was unfair for him to pay for two places, so he only paid for the one he was living in. Fine. I could handle the mortgage. It wasn’t like I was a huge spender anyway, and the payments weren’t breaking the bank. But I hadn’t come from money. My parents had driven themselves into debt to help me chase my hockey dream, so even now that I had a shitload of money, frugality was a hard habit to break, at least when it came to spending money on myself. I’d bought my parents a house and made sure they were living the good life, and I spared no expense if a friend needed something. But I still winced at the cost of my suits or putting gas in one of my cars.

Simon knew that. At first, he’d acted like it was endearing. He’d said he liked that I was careful with money and didn’t spend like crazy.

But looking back now, I had to wonder if there was more to that.

At the time, I just hadn’t wanted to fight about his expensive tastes or the price of the house. I’d been trying to keep the peace and find a way back to solid ground with him. Money had never been a hill I wanted to die on when we still had so many other hills left to fight over.

In hindsight, though, there was something insidious about the pattern of Simon and money. Pressuring me into a mortgage that he knew would make me anxious. Buying me a bright red Ferrari for my birthday, knowing the insurance would be expensive and I would rarely drive it for fear of damaging it or driving up those rates. Encouraging me to use his tailor for my bespoke suits instead of the way more reasonable one whose work was just as good.

More than once, when I’d been at my breaking point and brought up the possibility of splitting up, he’d run me through a tally of all the financial things that would be purely my obligation going forward. He’d remind me that we’d have to sell the house, but he’d frame it as something we needed to do because I couldn’t afford it on my own. I could afford it on my own, but he knew his way under my skin.

“You’ve only got two years left on your contract,” he’d ominously reminded me a few times. “If they don’t extend you, where are you going to find the money to pay for this place on your own?”

“You don’t think they’ll extend me?”

“Maybe they will. But look at your stats. There’s half a dozen prospects they can bring up who can replace you, and without your cap hit, they can easily grab a defenseman from somewhere else in the League. Do you really want to be on the hook for this place and a new one if you get traded?”

That didn’t make me want to stay with him, per se, but it did make me back down because I’d suddenly be worried about my professional future instead of my relationship. The next thing I knew, we’d be back to fighting about something else, he’d be threatening to leave, and I’d be bending over backwards to get him to stay.

Christ. That was exhausting just to think about. Why the fuck had I put up with it for so damn long?

Well, that was an easy enough answer…

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