Page 89 of Interference

I slumped in my chair and focused on my food. “Yeah. You’re probably right.” I sensed my teammates getting ready to argue, and I quickly said, “I think we should distract him with a rumor about Nova secretly using jarred sauce for his ‘homemade’ wings.”

That earned me a green bean to the forehead, and everyone at the table howled with laughter, including Simon. Nova tried to scowl, but even he couldn’t help chuckling. The joke successfully derailed the conversation, too, and the rest of the postgame meal was spent coming up with progressively more outlandish rumors to let Cole Tandy get his hands on. In the end, we were all daring each other to tell Tandy that our GM was a reptilian, Coach Haskins had once literally eaten a puck after losing a bet, and Russell was secretly the father of Tal Markstrom, a rookie out of Los Angeles who was his much younger doppelganger.

The attempted gossip about my live-in friend was forgotten.

Or so I thought.

Simon had barely pulled out of the parking garage before he glanced at me and said, “I need you to level with me.”

“Um. Okay?”

“Are you and Wyatt a thing?”

“A thing? Like—” I sighed. “No. We’re not.”

He flicked his gaze toward me again, his jaw working as he drove.

“You know Tandy,” I said. “He’s just looking for something he can—”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you need to hand him any gossip fodder,” Simon snapped.

I straightened. “Hand him—what are you talking about? I was literally just walking the cats with Wyatt.”

“Uh-huh.” Simon’s knuckles blanched as he gripped the wheel. “Is that really all you’re doing with him?”

The impulse to plead my innocence was almost too much to hold back, but I caught myself. Simon was the one person on the planet who knew damn well I had every right to do whatever the fuck I wanted with Wyatt.

While I was sick and tired of his accusations and I was damn sure going to stand up for myself, I didn’t want this to turn into a screaming match. So, I kept my voice even. “I don’t think it’s any of your business what I’m doing with him.”

“For fuck’s sake,” he growled, and thumped the heel of his hand against the wheel. “You are fucking him, aren’t you? And when the hell did that start? While we were still—”

“Whoa, whoa. Hold the fuck on.” I twisted toward him and narrowed my eyes. “I said it was none of your business, because it isn’t. We’re not together anymore. And that was your choice, Simon. Not mine.”

“Yeah, and you’re obviously real broken up over it if you’re already—”

“I’m not doing anything with Wyatt,” I snapped. “But even if I was, it’s not your concern anymore.”

“Except it is,” he said through his teeth. “Because we still have to sell the image of being happy together.” He gestured sharply over his shoulder with his thumb. “And now we’ve got reporters—Cole fucking Tandy, Anthony—sniffing around because you’re getting comfy with that guy in public. We have to keep up appearances until the season is over.”

“So, what?” I leaned against the door. “I can’t socialize? I can’t be seen in public with anyone? Because I don’t know if you’ve forgotten, but I date women, too.”

Simon’s lips twisted. I’d long suspected he didn’t care for the fact that I was bisexual—the first year of our relationship, he’d gotten weird any time he saw me near a woman—and sometimes I thought he tried to forget it. After all, he’d described us both as gay in interviews before. So he probably wasn’t happy about the reminder.

Tough shit.

“Look,” I went on. “If someone had a picture of me getting touchy-feely with someone or making out with them, then maybe we’d have something to argue about. But you and I aren’t together anymore, and Wyatt and I were literally just walking the cats and his dog.”

“And you brought him to Thanksgiving.”

“Yes, Because he’s staying at the house, and it would be rude to ditch him.” I shifted around again and leaned back against the seat, pressing my elbow in the door as I kneaded my throbbing temple. “I know Cole Tandy is a dick. And I know how to handle him and any rumors he tries to start. But where you and I are concerned? We’re over. Which means my love life isn’t your business anymore.”

I was genuinely surprised I couldn’t hear his molars grinding. Or that the car in front of us didn’t burst into flames from his glare.

The drive was about twenty minutes after that.

And neither of us said another word.

Chapter 26

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