Page 73 of The Import Slot
“She broke my heart,” he says, almost in a whisper.
“Well, at least you know how I feel,” Vicky says.
“How can you have a broken heart when you called it off?” Johnny says.
“It’s complicated and I’m not getting into it with you.”
Johnny and Vicky stare at each other for a moment, then Johnny sighs as he shakes his head.
“Prez, we’ve got a game to prep for,” he says.
“Ryan, we’ll talk soon, okay?” Jen says.
I can see this isn’t about us right now, so I nod. “Will you and Johnny be okay?” she asks.
“Yeah. We’d dealt with loads of shit in the past. We’ll be fine.”
It’s true. Out of all the teams I’ve played for, every single time there’s beef off the ice, be it with one guy or the entire roster, it’s temporarily forgotten while we’re playing.
We head to the lift, and I pull my phone out and text my brother, telling him I haven’t slept with Vicky and that I’m just mad that he didn’t tell me he was getting married.
“Don’t make the same mistake as me,” Johnny says as we ride to the eighth floor. “If you think what you’ve got with Jen is worth it, don’t fucking look back.” The elevator doors slide open, and he leaves. “See you in half an hour.”
I head into my apartment just as my brother calls me. I hear him sigh as soon as I answer.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”
“Wanna tell me what’s going on?” I ask.
“I’ve fucked up, man.”
This isn’t new information, but he doesn’t need to hear that right now. The last thing he needs is another kick while he’s down.
“Were you going to tell me you were getting married?”
“Yes. Of course, I was. But as soon as she called it off, I just shut down. I couldn’t go there when I knew she’d be there too. I’m fucking heartbroken,” he says.
“She still loves you, Lee. Maybe you can figure it out.”
He scoffs. “I doubt it.”
“Why did she call it off?” I ask.
I already know that they split up after college. It was just before Liam left to play in Toronto. Vicky had told him she didn’t want him to have to choose between her and hockey and Liam shut down. He put all his focus on his game, and then our mom died. It was horrendous for both of us.
“Was it about your social media?” I ask.
Liam had a wild time showing off his party lifestyle on social media after they’d split, and I’m wondering if that came back to bite him in the ass.
“Nah, I was just making it look like I’d moved on,” Liam says. “Look, it’s complicated. She’s still not over what her dad did.”
“But she should know what her dad did doesn’t mean everyone would do the same.”
“It has obviously had more of an effect than it should have. We got talking again, got back together and then spoke about marriage. We were going to just go to that place in Scotland and get married. It was her idea. But she flaked again. I couldn’t sign that one-year extension quick enough after you’d agreed to go in my place. I needed any distraction I could get.”
I sit silently for a moment, and then Danny comes out of his room and taps at his watch.
“I’ve got to go, man. I’ve got a game.”
