Page 146 of Interference

He straightened, hands tightening on the wheel. “What? Are you—do you want to go public that we’re not?”

“Yes.”

“Are you insane?” he barked. “Don’t you remember what they told us? You can’t just blow this open and—”

“What difference does it make to you?” I snapped. “We both know I’m the one who’s going to end up punted on to another team or shipped off to the minors.” I rolled some painful tension out of my shoulders. “At least this far ahead of the trade deadline, I might land somewhere decent and the Bobcats can get something for me instead of just waiving me.”

Simon scowled, glaring hard at the line of cars in front of us.

I softened my voice. “This has been hard on both of us. Keeping it a secret is fucking miserable.”

He ground his teeth, and for a long time, he said nothing at all. About halfway across the bridge, he said, “So you’re just going to out us. Regardless of what I have to say about it.”

“I was going to ask if you want to meet with everyone with me,” I said as calmly as I could. “I’m not trying to out us without your consent. I just… I can’t keep living and working like this, and I don’t think you can either.”

“Oh yeah?” He glanced at me, eyes narrow. “So how long before you and your new piece of ass are all over every social media site and magazine cover?”

“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered before I could stop myself. “This isn’t so I can go public with Wyatt. If anything, it’s so we can leave the house without worrying someone will start a rumor that I’m cheating on you. I already got the third degree from Cole Tandy for showing my face with—”

“And it turned out he was right, didn’t it?” Simon snapped. “He thought you were screwing Wyatt, and lo and behold, you’re—”

“That was before Wyatt and I started dating!” I threw back. “Which is kind of my point—I can’t go anywhere with anyone because everyone assumes I’m cheating on you. The same goes for you too.” I paused. “Look, we came out as a couple because we didn’t want to hide, and because we didn’t want to run afoul of the team or the League. I want to come out as exes for the same reason.”

“Except you know we’ll get in trouble this time, because they told us that’s exactly what’ll happen.”

“Yeah. I do. But it’s going to come out sooner or later, and I don’t know about you, but I can’t keep doing this for the rest of the goddamned season. Not if I’m actually going to be able to play hockey and keep my sanity.”

He pushed out a long breath. “It’s almost funny how fast you went from acting like you wanted to save this to wanting the brass to know you’re screwing someone else.”

Rage heated my blood, but I forced myself to stay calm. “I did want to save our relationship. You ended it. I moved on.”

“Didn’t let the grass grow on that part, that’s for sure.”

I gritted my teeth and rolled my eyes. “Look, do you want to come with me to tell them or not?”

“No.”

Icy silence hung between us for a solid minute.

I tried again, schooling my tone so I didn’t make him more defensive than he was. “Do you really want me to keep this quiet? I don’t want to keep it a secret anymore, but if you really do feel strongly about—”

“Do whatever you’re gonna do.” He gripped the wheel tighter and stared straight ahead.

And neither of us said another word for the rest of the drive.

At the training facility, after we got out of the car, Simon halted. I did, too, watching him curiously.

When he finally looked at me, there was a mix of anger and a million other emotions on his face. “Are you really sure about doing this?”

Looking him right in the eyes, I nodded. “I can’t keep living like this, and I don’t think you can either. We both need to be able to move on instead of pretending—”

“Yeah, I’ll bet you need to move on,” he snapped. “So convenient that you had someone lined up and ready for—”

“Excuse me?” I hissed, stepping right up into his space. “You dumped me, remember? This was your decision, Simon. Not mine.”

“Uh-huh.” He narrowed his eyes. “You’re really broken up about it, too, aren’t you?”

“So, what? Was I just supposed to mope and pine for you? Am I not allowed to move on with—”

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