Chapter 7
SEVEN
Grey
“I feel like we’re cheating.” Andre drives, and while I’m really grateful that he’s helping me out, I wish he’d do it without talking. I’m in so much fucking pain! This is why I stopped going to appointments. “How are you holding up?”
“Fucking peachy.” All I wanted to do was set up some appointments, but when my doctor met me in the waiting room, he made me show him my knee. Let’s just say he was not happy one bit.
They brought me back and gave me a joint fluid aspiration. So much fun. After that little treat they gave me a corticosteroid injection, and it somehow feels ten times worse than before.
“Isn’t this what your caregiver is for?”
“He’s not my butler.” And this errand is for him. “Sorry to bother you on your day off.”
He shrugs. “I was planning on spending the day coloring in the arms of the sexiest man alive, but you know . . . hanging out with your grumpy ass is just as good.” I flip him off. “What about Atlas? Or even Oli. Why me? Oh! Am I your favorite? Please say I’m your favorite.”
“No.” He pouts. God, he’s ridiculous. “Atlas asks too many questions and he’s still mad at me.” He never even wrote me back. Which fair. I know I hurt him. “And Oli is an asshole.”
A dreamy look settles in his hazel eyes. He sighs. “That he is. Damn I love him.”
A small smile slips onto my face. A small one! “Great game last night. You were fucking incredible.” Andre’s head whips to me. “Eyes on the road.”
“You watched the game!? Damn. Look at you coming around.”
“Wore my Pride jersey too.”
“Aww, adorable! In your living room like a little fanboy. So cute.”
“Shut the fuck up.” He laughs at me. Dick.
“Felix will take me from now on.” I only got a glimpse of the things I want Felix to tell me—the things I’m assuming.
People don’t just up and leave without any of their belongings and show up somewhere with bruises like that.
I remember what Oli had told me about Andre and the bruises he had on his skin. “I appreciate this.”
“So, where is your hot caregiver anyway?”
What?! “He’s not hot.” His brow arches. “He’s not!”
“Uh-huh. Alyssa made sure to pick some eye candy this time so you can’t fire them as easily. I see right through her.”
“She didn’t know what he looked like for one . . . two, I’ve had other male caregivers . . . and three, mind your damn business.”
“Ooh, someone’s blushing,” he singsongs. “He looks like a hot librarian. Or like a computer repairman. Gonna let him take a look at your hard drive?”
“Will you shut up?”
“Have you ever seen Criminal Minds?”
“No!” Why is he still talking?
“Look up Spencer Reid. Same vibes. Trust me.”
I turn as best I can in my seat to glare at him. “Does Oli ever tell you how fucking annoying you are?”
“All the time, sweetheart.” He blows me a kiss.
“Anyway! My totally normal-looking, average at best caregiver isn’t feeling well.
” Hungover as hell. I told him to get some rest. He looked damn near green this morning.
I told him I was meeting up with a friend.
Andre glances over, a bright shiner on his face from the game last night.
“Nice shiner.” One of the Florida players knocked into him with a force that sent his helmet flying.
Oli made sure to come to his rescue and spent five minutes in the sin bin as a result.
A feral grin slides onto his lips. “Don’t worry about me. I was well taken care of.”
“Gross.”
“Head tappies on the ice, downstairs head tappies off the ice.” I’m going to be sick.
My head rests on the window. “Where is the idiot I call best friend anyway?”
“He had a bit too much to drink after the game last night. He’s sleeping it off with Atlas. You know, I understand you being upset, but I didn’t know that meant Oli and I were adopting him. He’s very needy. The cuddling is out of control.”
A grin splits my lips. “I was a dick to him.”
“You’ve been a dick a lot lately.” Andre muses. “Don’t know where the strong silent scary dude I met months ago is, but please tell him I miss him.”
“I’m not scary.”
“You scared the shit out of me when we first met. You’re a giant—”
“We’re hockey players! We’re all giant.”
“Yeah, well, you look like you’re contemplating the death and mutilation of everyone around you. You are my man’s best friend. So I wanted you to like me.”
“I do like you.” Andre snorts. “Really, I do. He didn’t even like you!” He laughs at that. “Seriously, I love this new version of Oli. You don’t understand. He’s a completely different man . . . for the better. It’s all thanks to you.”
“Wow.” He pats my good leg. “Thank you. I have been told I’m pretty magical.”
I just can’t with him. “Felix can take me next time, but this trip is kind of about him.” I want to get his opinion on everything. I have my suspicions, but getting another perspective may help. “I want to talk to you . . . about Felix.”
“Why?”
“Please don’t tell anyone. I don’t know for sure.” I’ve been around it enough to assume, and I think Andre will think the same. He nods. “Um, well, last night, he and I were drinking?”
“Oh, hot! Tell me more.”
“Not like that. He’s not—” Not what? Okay yes, he is attractive.
Meek and quiet, which I don’t mind at all.
A little awkward, absolutely. “It’s not like that.
Last night I helped him undress for bed.
” His brows climb higher. “No, listen. I saw bruises along his side going all the way up his ribs.” I glance at Andre as his hands tighten on the steering wheel.
“He also—” I take a breath. “He’s really thin.
I could see his ribs. He also has bruises that look like fingerprints along his hips. Deep purple. Fresh.”
“Finger marks?” I nod.
“When he showed up to my house he had nothing. I thought maybe his bags were in the hall, or at the door or something. But last night I put him in bed, and there was nothing of his in his room. He has nothing. When he was drunk, he said he took nothing with him when he left.”
“Well, I guess that’s weird but—”
“You don’t just leave without your things unless you’re forced to.
” I want to be as delicate as I can because of Andre’s own history.
Oli, with Andre’s permission, let Atlas and me in on the things he went through with his abusive father.
Can’t say I was surprised. I always had this gut feeling about Tripp.
I know evil, and there was no light behind that man’s eyes.
“Those bruises along his ribs were fresh and healing. I’d say days old. ”
“Days?”
I nod. “Which makes me believe this job was an escape for him.” I’m not even mad.
I don’t even care and I have to admit, having someone to talk to last night was nice.
I’m an outdoorsy guy, and being around that fire with a cold drink and good company did a lot for my morale.
I’ve been going stir crazy in that damn house alone.
“I’m sorry. I know this is hard to talk about.”
“Don’t be.” He swallows before shaking himself out of whatever path his brain went down. “What do you think it is?”
“Last night, he mentioned an ex. I’m wondering if the bruises are from him.
When I asked him why he didn’t have anything, he said it was all he had time to take.
” Andre curses under his breath. “I want to get him things for his room. I have a feeling he doesn’t have a bank card, or an account either. ”
“And I was the choice because of my own history?”
“No, I just needed help and didn’t need a bunch of questions or Oli’s bitchy attitude.” And while Andre runs his mouth more times than not, he’s easy to talk to. He’s a good guy and I love that he loves my friend. He’s good to him.
“You know the attitude is because he loves you, right? He’s really fucking worried about you. You know him. He just wants to make you feel better.”
Fuck, I know that. It’s just that Oli has a habit of riding people. Oli likes all his problems buttoned up in a neat little box, but that’s not the way life is.
That’s not the way it’s going to work with me either. It’s why I’ve put off telling them. Atlas will be upset, and Oli . . . I don’t know. I know part of him will think he’s at fault, and I can’t deal with that.
“He needs to worry less.”
“He wants to try and do whatever he can to make you feel better. He wants you to be back out on the ice as much as you do. His line isn’t the same without you.”
Here it is. Just tell him. Maybe telling Andre will help a little. I want to get better. I need to take these steps, and Andre is a safe start. “Andre . . .” I sigh. “I . . . I’m not coming back.”
His head snaps to me. “What?!”
“I haven’t told anyone, but Alyssa and Landon know. I won’t be able to play again. With my knee, it’s too risky. If I get reinjured, I could cause permanent damage. My body has hit its limit.
“Shit.”
“It’s why . . .” I swallow. “It’s why I’ve been like this.”
Andre’s quiet for a moment, and I let my confession settle. “If Oli knew, he—”
“I know, but not yet.” I take a deep breath, keeping the emotion from clogging my throat. It’s out. I said it and it’s out there now.
I feel a little lighter.
“Putting it off isn’t going to make the reality not real. You need to tell Atlas and Oli. Soon too, because I won’t keep this from Oli forever. I don’t keep things from him.”
“I will . . . soon.” I need a distraction. I’ll tell them, I will. Just not yet. “I’m in so much fucking pain. I don’t know what the hell they did to me.”
“They’re probably testing that fluid to make sure nothing else is going on.
Not going to lie to you, your knee looks fucking disgusting.
” I glare at him. “You’ve got to put the work in.
My third year on the Vipers I had a pulled ligament, So I know physical therapy is hell.
It gets worse before it gets better. You just have to stick with it and listen to the people around you. ”
Shit, I know that.