Page 79 of Stick By Me

Babe? That was new. As my heart warmed, I blew out a breath. “I’m doing all right. Cornell proved to be what we thought they were, hard to beat. But at least last night we showed them who was boss.” I forced a smile. It still didn’t quite take the sting out of tonight’s game.

“How’s your chest? When that puck hit you, I almost threw our coffee table across the room.” He tugged the edge of his lip up. “Good thing only Remy was with me. He understood. Axel would have thought I’d lost my mind.”

“I wear pads, Leo. I’m fine.” There was a little sore spot, but not enough that I was bruised. Leo didn’t need to know though. I stepped to my bed and lay on my back, resting over the pillows on the headboard. “But I’m glad in a weird way it upset you so much.”

“Uh my God. I’m not listening to this garbage.” Jonah jumped from his bed, strode to the door, and saluted me. “I’m going to go console Ace. He’s feeling like he let us all down tonight.” He walked out and the door clicked behind him.

“Poor Ace.” Leo shook his head and tsked.

“It wasn’t his fault. The puck was in our defensive zone for probably seventy percent of the game. They dominated andscored. End of story.” I blew out a ragged breath. “Let’s talk about something else. The game is over, and I’m done dwelling on it until we hit practice on Monday. I’m sure the coaches are going over the footage and coming up with drills for us to work on already.”

“Yeah, okay. So, what does your schedule look like this week?” He raked his fingers through his long, dark bangs.

“I have finals, but they’ll all be done by Thursday. I leave for Minnesota on Friday, so?—”

“So we can hook up on Thursday night?” He curled one edge of his lips. “Maybe I’ll take Friday off of work, so we can stay up all night.”

My dick twitched in my joggers. “I like that idea.” It seemed so far away from today. “Leo? I really fucking miss you.”

“Me, too. I can’t wait to hold you in my arms all night long again.” He gave me a faint grin, his gaze going far away.

“Have you thought any more about when you want to come out to your brother?” I tucked my hand behind my head, under my pillow. Maybe he’d get a chance to do it before we met up.

Pursing his lips, he said, “I’m sorry, but no. I tried, but it never seemed to be the right time. Axel and Remy are both busy studying for finals, too, right now. Plus, Axel’s band has been practicing to learn some new songs for their show in Vegas.”

“Oh.” I nodded, my heart sinking. Someday, things would be different. He was trying. I glanced at the corner of my screen, the time reading eleven. It was getting late here. “Anyways, I need to go and get some sleep. We have a long day of flights back home tomorrow.”

“Okay, sleep tight and all that. Love you, Archer. I’m really looking forward to having you home.” He kissed the screen on his phone.

With a soft chuckle, I kissed back. “Love you, too. Babe.” And every day, I loved him even more. There was no end to it. I hung up the phone and held it over my heart.

Finally,all my damned finals were over, and I could spend some time with Leo. I strode to my SUV, parked in a lot at ASU, and looked up at the gloomy sky. We were in for some rain. It was about time. It had felt like a million years ago that I’d seen rain. Funny, being from Minnesota, I never thought I’d be looking forward to clouds and rain. But living in the desert with sunshine beating down every day, it was fucking fantastic.

As I climbed inside my car and threw my backpack on my passenger seat, my phone buzzed in the side pocket of it. With a smile, I lifted it out. It had to be Leo. I glanced at the screen. Uncle Tad scrolled across it. “What the fuck?” I answered the call.

“Archer? Oh, thank God.” He breathed heavily into the phone. “When are you supposed to get here?”

“Uh, hello to you, too.” I started up the car and the call shifted to the car’s speakers. Uncle Tad was Dad’s brother. Maybe he heard about me and Dad not?—

“Sorry, but we have a situation up here,” he said. “I’m just going to be blunt. Your dad had a heart attack and he’ll be going into surgery in a few days. He needs a full-on fucking bypass.”

The air left my lungs, and I blinked a few times, then clutched at the sweatshirt over my chest. “Wh-what?” Dad was in his early fifties. Wasn’t he too young for this shit?

“He’s been having problems for a while now. The docs wanted to put a stent in, but he kept putting it off and making excuses. You know how he is.” He tsked. “When can you get here?”

“I fly out tomorrow, late afternoon.” I scanned around me at the other students, smiling and getting in their cars. Probably all happy-as-fuck to be done with finals, too, and looking forward to going home. “Is, is he all right though? Do I need to change my flight?” Fuck, and not see Leo for another week? A knot formed in my stomach as my chest squeezed.

“I don’t know. Might be a good idea. I mean, if you can.”

“Okay.” I stared at nothing. Would I lose my last parent?Over the fucking Christmas holiday? And the last time we spoke…my vision blurred, and a lump crawled up my throat. “I’ll check on flights and get back to you.”Don’t die, Dad. Don’t fucking die on me. I hung up the phone and dropped it into my lap. “Holy fucking shit.” My breath hitched and I bit back a sob. This couldn’t be happening. Just when things were looking up. I breathed in deeply. “Call Leo, Archer. Call fucking Leo.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

LEO

“No, I can’t get the part in for another week. You’ll have to tell the client that’s the only option.” I peered into my screen, open to a Teams meeting with Leslie, a rep from our inside sales team, the other screen open to our inventory management system. Sales reps hated hearing no. All they wanted to do was give the clients what they asked for, but there was no way in hell I could make the shipping process go any faster.

“Okay, I’ll let them know.” Leslie pursed her lips. “Tell me if anything changes.”

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