Page 99 of These Wicked Games
“Uh, yes. Just for now. Um, Mr. Tremblay has kind of exhausted all other options.” Felix walks with us into the kitchen. “Can I make you anything?”
“They aren’t staying.” We see Grey leaning against the counter with his cane in hand.
“Grey—”
“Let’s get this over with, huh? How are you doing? Shitty. How are both of you two doing? Great. Fantastic. I’ll see you guys next time.”
“Grey, hold on—”
“If you were here to visit, that would be one thing, but I don’t need you guys checking to make sure I’m still fucking breathing.” The words are sharp, and I think I see Oli flinch. Felix shrinks back a bit.
My man remains unphased glaring right back. “Atlas told us you were being a dick, and fine, be a dick to us. But don’t you dare do that to him. Atlas doesn’t deserve that.”
“Great. Is that all?”
I think I see the muscles in his neck cord, and while I know Oli wants to fix this right now, what Grey is going through is something neither of us can understand or fix quickly. Oli should understand. He nearly lost his own career nearly a decade ago because of my shithead father. “Oli, we need to give him space.”
“Listen to Andre. Enough. I just want to be left alone.”
“Don’t shut us out! If this were the other way—”
“But it’s not!” he roars. “It’s not, Oli. It’s not the other way around! You two have each other. You’re still playing! You don’t know what I’m going through!”
Slowly I reach for Oli, to pull him away, but my stubborn man doesn’t budge. Instead he walks closer, and I think I see Felix flinch away. “Listen to me you stubborn fuck!” He leans into him. “I’m not going to just leave you alone to go through this. Pride night is tonight. Then we have a two week break for the World Face Off. You better fucking believe I’ll be here bugging your ass whether you want it or not.” He grabs the back of Grey’s neck, forcing hisgaze onto him. “You are my brother, and my best friend. You will not go through this alone.”
Grey’s lips purse hard, and I think I see them tremor. He flinches out of Oli’s grip “Fuck off, Oli.”
“No. I won’t just fuck off, because if this were the other way around, I know you wouldn’t leave me or Atlas. You can be a dick to me, but don’t you dare take it out on him. He needs you, Grey!” I watch them both, red in the face. I see Felix take a giant step back.
“Um, I uh, think . . . I think that Mr. Tremblay—”
“It’s Grey,” Oli snaps, and Felix jerks back a bit.
“Right, sorry. Grey would like to be alone now. Okay?” He doesn’t take a move to separate them, though. He looks like he’s just praying that Oli will give in and back away. Oli glares right through Grey for one moment more before conceding, and I nearly have him out of the kitchen before he turns back around.
“We’re going to be here again this weekend.” He looks at Felix. “Make sure he doesn’t do anything fucking stupid.”
Finally we’re leaving, and although I hadn’t thought this would go well, I hadn’t expected it to be that bad either. Oli storms toward his car, then stops, paces like he’s about to go back inside, then concedes, sinking against his car with his head in his hands. “Hey.” I step between his legs, pulling his attention to me. “He just needs time, okay? It’s only been a few months.”
“He’s being an asshole!”
“He has plenty of reason to be. He’s in pain, okay? Mentally, physically, emotionally. He just needs time. Alright?”
“Atlas, he—”
“Hey.” I hold his attention to me, then kiss him. “I know he does. I know. I can see it. That’s their business, though, and whileGrey is hurting right now, Atlas has to know that. It’s not personal, for either of you. He’s going through some hard shit right now that neither of us can understand.”
Finally Oli nods, looking away, and the hurt in his eyes shines. I want to make this better, but we just can’t. “Come on. I want to see you in your new jersey.”
“These are fucking sweet.” Ryker holds out his jersey in front of the mirror. I slip mine on over my gear, trying to figure out where the hell Oli went. He disappeared the second we stepped into the arena. “Our fans will love these.” I look at the black jerseys with the rainbow flags across our chest, and arms. Our signature Otters’ logo sits on the front in bright teal, holding on to the rainbow. We’re going to sign our jerseys and auction them off after the game.
We’re playing Orlando tonight, and most of their players have agreed to wear their own pride jerseys and auction them off to their fans too. I can’t wait to play. I’m not sure why, but since my father got arrested, I’ve refound my love of the game. Landon comes in with his jersey, and there’s been an odd tension there since Grey’s injury. If the way he acted earlier toward us was bad, who knows how he’s been treating Landon. “How’s it going?” I ask him.
“Ah.” He shrugs, looking around to the other guys, maybe trying to get out of this conversation. “It’s going. Alyssa, she’s justbeen so upset. I want to be there, but I don’t know what to do. Shit feels hopeless.”
“Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing. Just be there for her.” I don’t know how to handle this thing with Oli and Grey, let alone Landon and Grey’s relationship, which wasn’t great to start with. I can’t imagine how Grey is treating him now. “Hey, have you seen Oli?”
“Oh, I think I saw him down at Coach’s office a little bit ago.”
