Page 161 of The Long Game
Hayden left a few minutes later, but not before Shane gave him a reassuring hug. Haydenhaddone a good job keeping their secret. He didn’t deserve to feel shitty about this.
When Shane went back to the living room, he found Ilya staring at his phone with one hand over his mouth.
“Are you watching the video?” Shane asked.
Ilya nodded.
“Is it bad?”
“Terrible. Hayden needs to write down what he is going to say in these videos. He is all over the place.”
Shane dropped on the couch beside Ilya. Anya hopped into Shane’s lap, and he held her there, stroking her back and trying not to look at the video.
“There we are,” Ilya said. He was quiet a moment and then said, “Oh yes. This would be hard to deny.” He huffed. “We are really going for it.”
“This is a fucking nightmare,” Shane said faintly.
The couch began to shake, and Shane realized that Ilya was laughing. “It’snotfunny.”
“Is very funny!” Ilya squeaked out. “Hayden’s stupid FanMail video. Oh my god. This was somebody’s birthday greeting. Someone named Brad.”
“Sorry, Brad,” Shane mumbled.
That made Ilya absolutely lose it. He fell over on the couch, howling with laughter. Anya whimpered with concern.
“Stop laughing!” Shane said, but now he was laughing too.
Anya leaped to the floor and starting pacing back and forth in front of the coffee table while Shane fell on top of Ilya and laughed until his body ached with it.
“We are so fucked,” Shane sighed when he’d finally calmed down. “How many messages are on your phone?”
“A lot. We should call Farah now.”
Shane nodded slowly. “Probably. Okay. Yeah. Call her.”
Ilya tapped his phone, then set it on the coffee table on speaker mode. Both men crouched forward, waiting for her to answer.
“Ilya. God. How are you holding up?” Farah said as soon as she did.
“Oh. You know.”
“Is Shane with you?”
“Yes,” Ilya said.
“Hi. Hello,” Shane said.
“I’m so sorry this happened. You guys must be devastated.”
“I think I’m more...dazed?” Shane said. “I don’t know. It doesn’t feel real.”
“I wish it wasn’t, but I’m here to help.”
“What do you think the league is going to do?” Shane asked.
“Legally, I’m not sure they can do much. But Crowell will try to do something, that’s for sure.”
Shane’s stomach cramped. Ilya huffed angrily beside him.
