Page 75 of Unrivaled

What had happened to him?

Grady thought he knew. When his parents died, he buried himself in hockey and used that as his armor against his feelings. There was no time to grieve when there were games to win. The only person he let in was Jess, because she was already family. That way he only had one person to lose—like there was a cap on potential suffering. And Jess was enough.

Until she wasn’t. Until Max slid past his defenses like some kind of Trojan horse, and now here Grady was, being treated like family by his rival’s parents, siblings, and niece and nephew, and thinking about how much Jess would love it. About whether it would be okay if he invited her along next year.

And now Grady was casually assuming he’d be welcomed back, when there was nothing at all casual about that assumption.

Gru butted against his leg, and Grady realized they’d reached the end of the sidewalk. He bent down to ruffle Gru’s ears. “You’re a good boy.”

Gru nudged Grady’s hand with his wet nose in acknowledgment.

When he returned, the house was mostly dark but not yet quiet—everyone must be upstairs. Max wasn’t in the bedroom, so Grady picked up his wineglass and took it out to the pool, where he sat with his feet in the water.

The holidays were hard. He always found himself missing his parents more than usual. Only now he found himself missing them in a different way. He wished they could’ve met Max. He wanted to know what his mom would have thought about him, if she’d be scandalized to know about Max’s tattoo or if she’d think it was hilarious. Would his dad be upset Grady was sleeping with one of his rival team’s star players?

Jess might know. She’d gotten to interact with their parents as an adult. Grady wondered if it had felt like a more familiar, comfortable version of this—warm and safe and inviting and joyous. Full of love, even if it wasn’t for him.

Except—wasn’t it? Max treated Grady with the same teasing affection he had for his family. He’d invited Grady here to join them. He listened to Grady’s stupid problems with his team, to his recaps of dates Grady had no business going on, and to Grady’s guilt over Jess’s disastrous love life.

He invited himself to Grady’s house when he was lonely. He let Grady walk his dog. Everything Grady had wanted but never let himself reach for, not just sex but companionship, family, Max had put within his grasp. And he hadn’t asked for anything in return. And the way he looked at Grady sometimes, when they were high, when Baller went to Anaheim instead of Grady, when Max fucked him the first time—

Four months ago, Grady could never have been comfortable on a night like tonight. Too many strangers, and he didn’t have much experience with kids. He knew he came across as standoffish.

But it was easy to be around Max. To loosen up and let himself have fun.

Grady would’ve said it didn’t make any sense, except he had the sneaking suspicion itdid. Max had offered to help him navigate dating like a person instead of a prickly, perpetually annoyed asshole. The thing was, Grady was still a prickly, perpetually annoyed asshole. But Max treated him like a person anyway, and Grady didn’t want to give that up.

Before the horror of the realization could fully dawn on him, the patio door slid open. “Hey. Mind if I join you?”

Grady wished he did mind. He shook his head. “Water’s nice.”

“How can you tell?” Max teased as he sat beside him. “You’re barely touching it.”

Without meaning to, Grady leaned over until their shoulders touched. His heart was still pounding too fast, but the panic receded. Max was loud and sometimes crass, but never cruel, and his arm against Grady’s was warm and solid, just like the rest of him. “Didn’t want Gru to freak out.”

Max ran his fingers across the surface of the water. “No worries there. He’s passed out cold on the bed you got him.”

Grady leaned back on the cement pad and smiled at the sky. “That’s from Santa.”

“Oh, my mistake,” Max laughed.

Grady reached for his wineglass only to discover it was empty. Tragic. But judging by the lethargy in his arms and legs, he didn’t need any more alcohol.

“You all right?” Max asked after a minute. “I know we’re not the most chill family. Not what you’re used to.”

“You’re great,” Grady said without thinking. But he wasn’t ready to say the rest of it—didn’t know how—so he added, “Your family, I mean.”

Max let it slide. “So how come you’re sitting out here in the dark by yourself?”

Everyone else was upstairs.But that wasn’t the real reason. “Just thinking. Holidays are still hard. Not like they used to be, but….”

“I understand. This is only the third year we’ve played the game without my grandfather.”

“Super Max?” Grady guessed.

Max’s laughter blended softly into the night. “He was a Henry. He’d have loved that, though.”

With Max’s warmth beside him, the alcohol in Grady’s blood seemed that much more potent. He succumbed to gravity and lay back against the cement. “How come you’re always the lobster?”

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