Page 129 of The Right Move

“Oh shit,” Stevie says from the doorway, her eyes pinned on us. “I shouldn’t be here.”

My head snaps to her. Neither of us heard her unlock the door. Indy scurries off my lap, finding the other side of the couch.

Fuck my life. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Stevie about my feelings for her best friend, and she just walked in to find her sitting in my lap. Not only that, but my roommate is over here telling me she’s going to move out because I didn’t get to explain that those insecurities of mine don’t apply to her.

Stevie will understand. Hell, she’ll even be on board with this, but right now, I need to explain myself to Indy before she gets in her head more than she already is.

“I’m going to go,” Stevie continues, throwing a thumb over her shoulder.

“Good idea.”

“No!” Indy interrupts. “Please stay.”

She doesn’t look me in the eye when I snap my head in her direction. Indy sits at the corner of the couch, knees tucked up to her chest, evidently overwhelmed by our conversation. I’ve never dumped all that information on anyone before and now she’s sitting there with the belief that I think her living here is a form of her taking advantage of me.

It couldn’t be further from the truth.

27

RYAN

Spending the day at the gym and being able to do nothing but watch was torture. The team’s doctors and trainers poked and prodded at my knee while I sat my ass on a table and watched the team practice through a glass window.

Day one and I’m itching to be back out there. I’m not sure if I can handle four weeks of watching from the sidelines.

Ron and my coach gave me the option to stay home from road trips while I’m out, and I’ll probably take them up on the offer. Even at home games, I don’t know that I’ll be able to be on the bench. It’s too difficult, and honestly, my shitty attitude might be worse than my absence from the sidelines.

Stevie is waiting for me right out front of the practice facility in Zanders’ car. I can’t drive for a few more days, but the trainers were impressed with how well my swelling went down over the last twenty-four hours. I’ll thank Indy for that. She was doting and caring and concerned, pulling a typical Indy move by taking care of everyone else around her. But I’m not going to lie, I enjoyed being the center of her attention for the evening.

I got the okay to put a little weight on my knee by walking without the crutches, but I’m slow as fuck, lifting myself into Zee’s G-Wagon.

“Look at you! No crutches!” Stevie cheers from the driver’s seat.

“I’m not sure that’s much to cheer about, Vee.”

“Okay, cranky. I got you a coffee.” She gestures to the center console. “What did they say?”

“They were impressed by how much my swelling went down. They want me to walk on it a bit, but I won’t start any major movements until next week.”

“That’s exciting!” She puts the car in drive and starts us towards home.

“Is it?”

“Okay. Clearly, nothing is going to be good enough for you at the moment.” She shifts the subject. “What time do you need to be at team dinner? Do you need a ride or is Harold taking you?”

“I canceled it.”

“What? Why?”

Keeping my eyes towards the passenger window, I watch as Chicago zooms by. “Why do you think, Vee? I’m not in a good headspace. The last thing I want to do right now is take the boys to dinner and pretend like I didn’t let them all down.”

She stays silent, eyes on the road, mouth set in a hard line.

“See,” I continue. “Even my own twin is annoyed with me. Imagine how much worse I’ll be with other people.”

That puts a small smile on her lips. “I’m not annoyed with you, but your team still needs you. You’re still their captain.”

I brush her off. “Ethan is their captain. I just wear the title for the public.”

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