Page 9 of One Touch

“Not yet. The insurance claim is delayed until they determine the cause of the fire. So, in the meantime, I’m stuck. I’m almost excited about going on the road just to escape this place.”

I’d heard about his apartment building catching fire a week ago. It sucked to be upended from your home, and I was thankful it hadn’t happened to me. Never mind the slight relief I’d felt when I heard he hadn’t been there. It was merely because he was a teammate; losing someone at the start would be bad for the team. I didn’t need anything else disrupting my schedule or routine. That was all.

“Hey, I'm just throwing this out there, but if I can get Coach to lift the stupid babysitting order he's got me under with Harrison, you wanna look at apartments?" Bell offered.

My insides turned molten at his words.

“Bell!” I interrupted. The two guys jolted and turned toward me, almost like they hadn’t known I was there. “Shouldn’t you be running drills with Harrison instead of gossiping?”

“I wasn’t—” he started with a frown before stopping himself. Was it because my eyes promised death if he continued to talk?We would never know. “Whatever, dude,” he mumbled and skated off.

“What’s your problem?” Miller asked.

“I don’t have a problem.”

“Sure you don’t. I’m doing what you said and staying away from you, so how about you take your own advice and stay away from me, too?”

“For me to stay away from you would mean you’d have to register on my radar. Newsflash, you don’t.” My eyes trailed over him as disgust pulled at my lips.

Miller’s face turned redder, but this time, it was no doubt from anger and not arousal. The whistle blew before he could respond, and I secretly wished Coach had waited a few more minutes. I was dying to hear what he would have said. There was something about poking the affable guy that lit me up inside.

Except you shouldn’t care about that.

Shoving all my emotions down, I fell back into my routine and followed along with my teammates as we transitioned from the ice to the weight room. I was one of the first there, so I started my rotations without any prompts. I was on my second station when the rest of the team entered. Their laughter and chatter filled the space, so I shoved my earbuds in and tuned them out.

Despite my focus, I couldn’t help but watch Miller and Bell. Were they that good of friends already? Or was there something there? They were both out in the league and new to the team. So, was their friendship more than just being the new guys? To each their own, I suppose. I would never date a teammate—not that I was interested in men. But even if I was, a teammate would be the last person I would get involved with. Too messy with too many possible complications for my career to risk it. Thankfully, I would never have to worry about it.

I didn’t date, nor was I attracted to men. So it was a moot point.

After finishing my stations, I headed to cool down before hitting the showers. Another advantage of being first in was getting into the showers before everyone else. I washed up and stood under the spray for a few minutes, letting it massage my muscles. At the sound of others coming into the locker room, I turned off my shower and dried off. With my towel wrapped around me, I returned to my locker to dress.

A missed call from my brother halted me, and I immediately pulled out my phone to call him back.

“Is everything okay?” I asked when he answered.

“Hey, bro. Everything’s fine.”

I sucked in air and sat when my head became fuzzy. It took me a few seconds to realize Landon had continued to speak.

“I’m sorry, repeat that.”

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but I was hoping you could do me a favor.”

“Anything.”

“Thank you. Miller’s not the cleanest roommate, but he’s good.”

“Wait. What does Miller have to do with the favor?” A cold sweat broke out across my bare skin. I glanced down, noticing I was still only in my towel.

“He needs a place to stay, and you have that extra room. I figured he could crash with you until he can find a new place. The rental he’s in is horrible. Not only are his neighbors loud, but the bed is two sizes too small for his tall frame. Plus, it’s an hour drive from the facility.”

“And this is my problem, how?”

Landon sighed. “I know you don’t like people in your space, but like I said, it would be a huge favor to me. He’s a good guy and wants to do well on the Aces, but he’s barely getting any sleep. He was talking to Reese last night, and I thought maybe you could help him. It wouldn’t be forever.”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Lathan, come on. You’d barely know he was there.”

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