Page 57 of Power Forward

Alex drops his face into his hands and lets out a strangled groan.

There’s a flurry of heat sizzling in the bottom of my stomach at the thought of indulging in Hayden in a different way.

The next day, I decide to pay a visit to my old captain after practice. Ethan was the first guy to welcome me to the team when I was traded from Buffalo. Of course, with him being the captain, it was only natural he was the one to welcome me into the fold, but he went that one step further than my previous teams. He made sure I knew that he was there if I needed anything, and that included watching my kids sometimes.

Isabela and Ryan adore him too. So much so that they like to FaceTime with him on a weekly basis.

I fired off a text to Jacob asking if he was home when I left the rink, and he let me know that while he was at work, Ethan was—or should be—at home and to let myself in. But despite the open invitation, I still rasp my knuckles on the door before I let myself in and kick off my shoes.

“J?” Ethan calls out from the living room. “You’re home early. Something up?”

“Wrong J.” I round the corner and flash a wide smile.

“Jackson, hey. What’s up?”

“I thought I’d come see how my old captain is holding up.”

I sit down next to him where he’s sitting on the couch with his leg propped up on the coffee table, crutches resting at the side.

“Less of the old, thanks,” he grumbles. “It’s okay. I’m fucking bored out of my brains, though. Who knew TV was so shit, eh?” He waves a hand at the wall-mounted TV that’s showing a sports talk show. “These presenters don’t know squat either. Have they alwaysbeen this shit?”

I laugh. “I’ve gotta hand it to you because I don’t think I’d cope with daytime TV. It’sBlueyin our house, all day, every day.”

He grunts and turns the volume down.

“So, how’s the knee? What have the doctors said?” I ask.

“Not a lot. Just that it’s healing as it should be, and I’ll hopefully be done with them soon.” He points to the crutches. “But I’ve gotta admit, I’m glad I waited to do it now and not while I was still playing because I think I would’ve pushed myself to be back on the ice sooner than I was ready. Though, now I hate that Jacob’s waiting on me.”

“Maybe he wants to wait on you. You ever thought of that?”

“He’s too good.” His lips tip into a small smile beneath his scruff. “Anyway, enough about me. Jacob mentioned you’re dating Cassidy.”

I lean back into the cushions and huff out a laugh. “Wow, news spreads fast, huh?”

He gives me a bored look. “Don’t act like it was some big secret. If you were trying to keep it under wraps, you did a shit job.”

I let out a choked laugh. It’s not like I can deny it.

“Yeah, it’s fairly new, but we… uh…” I run a hand through my hair. I might as well be completely honest about everything now. “We actually used to date when I was playing for Boston.”

This time, he doesn’t try to hide his surprise. His eyebrows lift, and his mouth drops open. He blinks at me for a beat, then shakes his head slightly. “Wow, okay. Well, I didn’t see that one coming.”

“That was kinda the point. We worked hard to keep it a secret because we didn’t want anyone to know.”

Ethan’s brows furrow as his expression turns thoughtful. “Huh, you know, that makes a lot of sense.”

“What does?”

“I’ve known Hayden for a long time. I don’t know him well enough to consider us friends, but enough that we’d acknowledge each other whenever we were in the same place.” He rubs the scruff on his jaw. “He always seemed like he was running from something. I’d heard some talk that he dabbled in drugs, which wasn’t my scene at all, but it seemed like he had some demons he was fighting. And now that I think about it, it kinda happened after you were traded to LA.”

I drop my gaze. There’s a cold, hollow feeling in my chest. Did my trade trigger his downward spiral? We haven’t had the conversation yet on what truly happened between us, but was it the beginning? He never touched drugs when we were together, despite a few of our teammates doing the occasional line or two.

I struggle to swallow from the heavy lump forming in my throat.

Fuck. Did I fail him? Did I give up on us too soon? Did I miss the signs that he was hurting and was pushing me away to protect himself?

“He was running from himself, I think.” My voice cracks slightly.

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