Page 76 of Playoff
“Things were a little rocky to begin with, but Josh is a big supporter of my career. So I leaned on that angle and we were getting along pretty well by the end of the week. Josh was adorable with my nephew, so that helped too.”
“And his knee?”
“His recovery is a little ahead of schedule, but they keep warning him not to push it.”
“But it’s a good sign, right?”
She nodded, a smile lighting up her face. “Yeah. There’s a really good chance he’ll play next season.”
“I’m happy for you.” I was. Ducky returning meant Alek wouldn’t be re-signed. But there was no future with him anyway, so better he wasn’t around, tempting me.
She set down two mugs of coffee, mine already doctored the way I liked it.
“Thanks.”
She picked up her cup and took a sip. “So what’s up with you? You’ve been a little different lately.”
I tensed. “How so?”
“You’ve seemed…happier. No, not quite that but less worried, or stressed. Lighter.”
Had I?
“When everything came out about Den-Alek, I thought you’d be more wound up, but it’s been the opposite.”
I wasn’t sure being less worried was a good thing. It was making me do stupid things. Maybe Katie could help me figure that out. “Okay, so something’s been going on for the last six weeks or so.” Had it been that long? Alek had been traded here at the end of January, and now it was March, the trade deadline just passed. Alek was guaranteed to be here through the postseason, and this was the team the Blaze would end the season with. “But you have to swear to me you won’t tell anyone, not even Josh.”
“Josh won’t tell anyone. Really, you can trust him.”
I shook my head. “It’s not that I think he’ll say anything, but he’ll react, and I cannot have that happen.”
Katie took a moment to study me. “Can I tell him that there’s something I can’t tell him? I don’t want to keep secrets from him.”
I got that. But still— “Will he let it go if you tell him that or will he keep digging?”
“He’ll respect my promise.”
I sighed. “Okay, well, here’s what’s been going on.” I told her everything. The first night we hooked up, finding out who Alek was, and the continued sex encounters, till Fitch caught us again and said we should fuck it out.
Katie looked gobsmacked. “You and Alek?” I nodded. “I don’t know what to say. With everything that happened between your families?—”
“I know. Believe me, I know. If my parents ever found out, they’d pressure me to snoop through his phone and private things to get any information I could find to get his money. And Justin?—”
Justin and Alek had been getting along better, but my twin would consider this a betrayal. After all Justin had done, I couldn’t choose a Denbrowski over him. There were billions of people in the world—why did it have to be him?
“What would Justin do?”
“He’d be hurt. And angry. He gave up a lot to keep the family together when we lost basically everything. And Alek didn’t do it, but he’s part of that story. Choosing Alek would be like spitting on everything Justin did.”
“Choosing?”
I shrugged. “Being with Alek is a choice.”
“So why not just stop the whole thing?”
“We were supposed to stop after the first time once we found out who we were. But somehow we keep doing this.”
“And the sex is that good.”
