Page 71 of Scoring Position

Fuck. “How did you know?”

“Please. Who else would you have signed a contract with that you need to break?” She rolled her eyes. “Of course I’ll do it for you. I won’t even ask why you don’t just talk to your dad and fire him the old-fashioned way.”

Nico picked up his fork, suspicious. “And what willthatcost me? That’s definitely extra.”

Ella smiled and reached for her pineapple. “You’re gonna tell me about your boyfriend.”

“You were going to make me do that anyway.”

“Mm-hmm.” She took a sip. “But you’re not even going to make me work for it. Not really.That’sinteresting. It means you want to tell me.”

He kind of did. “Not, like,details,” he clarified.

Ella cackled. “Oh Nico. I would never expect that. But tell me—is he good to you? Really?”

This time Nico couldn’t help the flush, or the smile that came on its heels. The past few weeks had been challenging in many ways, but still, he could answer her question with an unequivocal yes.

“Good. Now I want all the details you’ve been dodging over the phone.”

“I haven’t—”

“You have. That’s okay, though. This is much better.” She picked up her knife and fork and dug into her meal. Apparently Nico was to be the entertainment to go with dinner.

“What do you want to know?” He picked up his own fork and settled in.

Usually telling Ella about his romantic exploits felt like seeing the dentist. But today he found it more difficult to stop talking—about how Ryan helped him fix his hockey game, the way he handled Nico’s parents’ visit. The way he was in the locker room—reliable, ready to step up when someone needed a shoulder.

“But he’s only under contract until April, right?” She took a sip of her wine. “What are you going to do after that? If he signs somewhere else.”

Yeah, that… was the problem. Nico cleared his throat. “We haven’t talked about it.”

Ella hummed. “Do youwantto talk about it?”

There someone went again, asking him what he wanted. “Sort of?” He sighed and pushed some of his chicken around his plate, his appetite deserting him. “But our careers make everything so complicated.” He outlined the possible scenarios of what could happen between now and October.

“Okay, that’s a lot of practical stuff to work around.” Ella swirled her wine and frowned thoughtfully. “But at the end of the day, does it really matter?”

“Of course it matters.”

She waved it away. “Ja,ja,jawohl. Real-world practical shit needs to be worked through, but isn’t the more salient question do you want to work through it?”

Ah.

“Because I don’t care how good the sex is, managing some sort of long-distance nightmare is not going to make up for it. But if youlikehim, it’s worth wading through all the shit for a few years. Hockey isn’t going to last forever.”

She made a good point. Hockeywasn’teverything, and life didn’t come with guarantees. He could play another fifteen years, or suffer a career-ending injury next week. Giving up on a relationship because of hockey seemed almost silly when he looked at it that way.

“I guess I could throw it all away for love,” he said sardonically, because he didn’t want to label his feelings. He wasn’t ready.

Ella rolled her eyes. “Quit being a drama queen. I’m just saying you should make sure your love life is also a priority, not that you have to throw away your career.”

“God, Papa would love that.”

“I’m imagining the shit fit now.”

“Ryan might have to go into hiding. Witness protection.”

Ella winced. “That bad?”

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