Chapter Twenty-Two
Cole
The Panthers had somehow managed to pull off the win tonight.
I wasn’t sure how, since we were all over the place.
But Oscar Lane, our goalie for the game, had managed to stop Utah from getting the puck into the net.
Our Captain managed to make one goal, and that was all it took.
I knew why my head wasn’t in the game tonight, but I wasn’t sure about everyone else.
“Great game tonight, Lane.” Wyatt Murray, our team captain and right defense-man, clapped him on the back. “You’re a damn brick wall.”
Oscar nodded. “Thanks,” he mumbled softly as he stripped off his pads and began to get undressed.
He was the closest thing I had to a best friend on this team.
So much so that we lived together in a duplex I had bought.
When Oscar was first traded, he had been staying with Jax and Maverick, which he said he didn’t mind, but when I asked him if he wanted to move in with me, he jumped at the idea.
He was a good guy. Quiet, clean, and funny.
He didn’t party hard or get into trouble, so he checked off all the boxes.
Plus, I never had to worry about him bringing anyone home.
Oscar didn’t seem interested in sex or a relationship.
When I asked him about it once, he had just stared at me before retreating to his bedroom.
I guess it was really none of my business.
I changed into my suit quietly, smiling and nodding as my teammates spoke to me, but I couldn’t help but think about who I knew was waiting for me at the bar.
Dad had texted me to tell me that Dean, Reed, and Zach were going to be there when the team arrived to celebrate with us, and my stomach was twisted into knots.
Reed had shown up to the game. What did that mean?
Was he going to let me down gently, or was he going to tell me the truth about that summer and why he couldn’t say goodbye?
“You good?” Wyatt nudged my shoulder, a giant smile on his face.
I plastered a smile on my face. “Great. Never better.” The boy I fell in love with is suddenly back, and I don’t know what to do with that, but hey, I feel fucking amazing. How are you and your husbands?
“Why does that feel like a lie?” Wyatt pulled his suit jacket over his broad shoulders.
Sometimes it felt weird to be playing with him.
The guy had been a rookie when my dad was captain of the Boston Terriers, someone I had looked up to growing up.
Not that I still didn’t. But he was my teammate now, my captain, and I was lucky enough to call him a friend.
His blue eyes were a little wrinkled around the edges, his blond hair sprinkled with a little silver, but he was still the same guy I remembered from when I was a kid.
I shrugged. “I would never.” I managed a soft chuckle that felt real as I followed behind him out of the locker room before I stopped and waved Oscar over. “You joining us tonight? It was your shut out. Come for one drink.”
“No, I don’t think I will. I’m tired.” Oscar shook his head as he climbed to his feet to tower over us.
Oscar Lane was not the same man he had been when I first met him.
Back when he was a rookie, he was all smiles, laughs, and funny jokes.
But now he was sometimes short on words, and he didn’t socialize much with anyone.
Not even his teammates. Something had changed him, but I wasn’t sure what.
Just because he was my friend didn’t mean he told me things.
We watched movies and television together, roomed together when we went on the road, but I didn’t know much about the man other than his name.
Not where he came from, if he had any family, or what his favorite food was.
“Not even if Tate is going to be there?”
Oscar’s eyes widened, and the tips of his ears burned pink. His lips twitched as he fought back a smile.
“That’s what I thought. Let’s go, big guy.”
He rolled his eyes. “We’re just friends.”
“Sure.” Wyatt smirked. “Noel and I were just friends once, too.”
Oscar had a unique friendship with the youngest Frost brother.
Although Tate was friendly with everyone, when Oscar had moved in with the Olsons, the two of them hit it off immediately, and no one missed the way Oscar lit up when they were in a room together.
Especially Tate’s oldest brother, Maverick.
They had already been secretly talking online before that, but I was the only one that knew. And I vowed to keep that secret.
But mentioning Tate was all it took to convince Oscar to come out with us.
It didn’t take my mind off Reed, and when I stepped into the bar, there he was.
Sitting with my dads, his friend Zach chatting with Tate, who was waving his hands in the air as he spoke a mile a minute.
Oscar’s eyes narrowed, his entire body grew tight, and his nostrils flared.
Friend, my ass. That was pure jealousy right there.
The second Tate saw Oscar, he forgot all about Zach and hurried over, then his thin arms wrapped around Oscar in a hug.
It was cute how they looked together with the height difference and all.
Wyatt was already off to find his husbands, which left me standing alone, and I had no choice but to go over to where Reed was waiting.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to say hello to him.
It was just how excited Dad and Dean looked.
They had loved Reed, his parents, hell, his entire family, and hoped that we would be more.
But we weren’t because he had left and taken all of those dreams with him.
“Great job tonight, son.” Dad gave me a tight hug, clapping me hard on the back. “And it’s good to see Reed here. I’m glad you two were able to reconnect again,” he murmured.
I shrugged. “Thanks, Dad.”
I didn’t want to talk about Reed. I had never said a word about what happened, even though it had eaten me alive from the inside for months.
I had been embarrassed and ashamed, hiding it away like a deep, dark secret.
I thought Reed had cared about me. That we were endgame.
That he loved me the way I loved him. But maybe it was just meant to be a summer fling and my first heartbreak.
“Proud of you.” Dean moved in, and I couldn’t stop the smile that spread over my face.
He was a great man and an even more amazing stepfather.
I was lucky to have both of them in my life.
He patted my chest when we pulled apart.
“We’re not going to stay, but we wanted to see you before we went home. ”
I glanced between the two of them. “You’re leaving already?” Stay. Help me.
“We’re old, and we don’t want to keep the sitter waiting. She struggled to get Trish to sleep tonight.” Dad chuckled as he slipped his arm around Dean’s waist.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re not old.” The mention of my little sister made me smile.
She was growing bigger every single day and turning into a mini version of Dean with her white hair and big emerald eyes.
But she was the sweetest, kindest little girl in the world.
And just a little spoiled by all of us. She even had her cousin, Rhodes Olson, wrapped around her finger, and he was a couple of years younger than she was.
“Tell that to my knees.” Dad chuckled
Dean nodded. “You should come to dinner at Mav’s tomorrow. It’s family night. And you should bring Reed.” They both gave me hugs again, told me they loved me before they left me staring at Reed, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but in this place with me.
I glanced around the bar, watching Zach speaking with Ezra, Tate and Oscar smiling with one another, and anger suddenly spiked in my veins. I gritted my teeth as I marched over to where Reed stood.
“What the fuck?” I grunted.
“Please don’t do this here, Cole.” He took a step away from me.
I shook my head. “Don’t play stupid. You know what I’m talking about.
We spent the entire summer together. And then poof, you were just gone!
I woke up to find you had gone back to New York.
Without an explanation or even saying goodbye?
We had made plans together. Do you have any idea. ..God, I’m so mad at you right now.”
“I’m sorry, okay? I don’t know what else to say. I made a mistake. If I could go back, I’d change how I did things. I wouldn’t have done it the way I had.”
“A mistake? You made a mistake. A mistake is not using your turn signal or maybe rolling through a stop sign when there was a cop down the road. Not disappearing on me in the middle of the night and ignoring my calls and messages. I fucking loved you.”
Reed’s chin quivered as he stared at me, his eyes full of tears. “Please don’t do this here. We could go somewhere else and talk. Alone,” he begged.
“I think that I’m owed some sort of explanation. I’ve waited long enough.” Rage burned behind my eyes as I fisted my hands at my side.
I was devastated when I woke up and Reed was gone.
Too embarrassed to go to his parents to ask them for his address at school or to tell my dads what had happened.
So, I suffered in silence and tried to forget.
I tried to find someone else when I started dating Fiona, but my heart was never in it, and she was just using me. Maybe we used one another.
Reed shook his head. “I can’t do this right now.” He tried to push past me, but I grabbed his arm, yanking him against me. “Cole, don’t, please. Let go.”
“Don’t what? Try to have a conversation with you? The one you owe me?” Tears slipped down his cheeks. “Jesus, baby, what happened to you?”