Page 23 of The Waiting Game

But it was lonely as hell, which was probably why he’d crashed in Jonah’s room last night.

Jonah had fallen asleep quickly but Felix had stayed up to watch a couple of episodes. When he’d felt his eyes growing heavy, he’d contemplated getting up and going back to his room.

But he’d been warm and comfortable, relaxed with Jonah pressed close. A warm body beside him was better than an empty bed, even if it was only his teammate and everything was G-rated.

Besides, how many sleepovers had they had as kids?

They’d practically lived in the garden shed loft in warmer weather and in winter, they’d slept in Jonah’s room.

The hardest thing Felix had ever done was leave Jonah and Grandma Ji-min after he’d graduated college and had gone to Vancouver to vie for a spot on the NHL squad at the Vandal’s rookie camp.

Felix froze, staring at his sleeping best friend.

Had that been harder than leaving Whit in Vancouver when they’d traded him to Toronto two seasons ago?

Harder than sitting in a jail cell, hands cuffed, shaking with fear that he’d destroyed his future?

Harder than going to rehab and opening his veins, pouring his soul out for the scrutiny of his fellow fuckups in group therapy and the supervising counselor?

Felix closed his eyes, throat thick.

Nothing had been as hard as leaving Jonah that first time.

Wondering if their years of friendship would shrivel and wither away, neglected in the face of the tremendous pressure of their first season as pro hockey players.

It hadn’t, clearly.

They were as close as ever.

But the fear and loneliness of those first few months had verged on overwhelming.

Felix would chalk it up to how young he’d been then but the relief he’d felt when Jonah had welcomed him home a few years ago had proven that he and Jonah were inextricably linked and this wasn’t the sort of friendship either of them would grow out of.

Felix scrubbed his face again. Gah, why was he getting all weird this morning?

This perpetual navel-gazing he’d been doing since he got out of rehab was exhausting.

Felix peeled himself out of bed, not worried about waking Jonah. He always slept like the dead. He always had a wakeup alarm set on his phone and a backup call from the front desk to be sure he was up and moving.

Felix collected his phone and key card, futilely attempting to smooth his wild hair down. Why couldn’t he have been born with nice, well-behaved hair like Jonah?

When Felix opened the hotel room door, he came face-to-face with Colton in the hallway.

“Morning,” Felix rasped.

Colton did a double take, then shook his head like he didn’t even want to know. “Morning, Haler. See you at breakfast.”

Felix disappeared into his room, already stripping off his shirt.

He had just enough time to shower before he ate.

When Felix walked into the conference room where their breakfast buffet was set up, most of the team had already arrived.

Annoyed he was running late, Felix dithered between oatmeal and eggs before deciding on both. Like always.

He lifted the silver lid of the next serving tray and made a face. Eww. Turkey bacon. He ignored that crime against humanity and went for the remaining turkey sausage instead.

There was a warm press against his elbow. “Hey, save me some,” Jonah protested, still sounding sleepy.

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