Chapter 11 #2
“I was sore for a few days. My neck still acts up sometimes in ways it didn’t before that. And I had a few cuts from the glass, a bruise from the seat belt… it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t fun either.”
“I bet.”
“The kids were both banged up too, but everybody walked away. They were just freaking out. She was shaken up from the crash. So was he, and then he realized what kind of car he’d hit, and he almost passed out.”
“Because it was so expensive?”
Liam nodded. “Licensed driver for two weeks, and he just totaled his mom’s Corolla. Then he realizes the car he hit was a Porsche, and he legitimately started hyperventilating.”
“I’m sure he did. Did he recognize you?”
At that, Liam chuckled softly. “Kind of? I was trying to get him to breathe and calm down, and when he looked up at me, he thought he was hallucinating.”
“Oh! Wow, yeah, I could see that.” I laughed. “If I was on the brink of a panic attack and suddenly a celebrity started trying to calm me down… yeah, I might wonder if I was seeing things.”
“Right? Anyway, then he calmed down a bit. Which is when he realized he hadn’t been hallucinating, and then he freaked out all over again. By the time his parents got there, he was pretty much inconsolable.” Liam grimaced. “I felt awful for the kid. He genuinely thought his life was over.”
“I think any kid does after their first accident. My oldest totaled my car when he was seventeen, and he was terrified of how his mom and I would react.”
Liam glanced at me. “Kind of a natural reaction, isn’t it?”
“It is. So what happened after that? What did the cops do?”
“They didn’t come. The cops around here, they’re…” He made a disgruntled sound and waved a hand. “Anyway, they basically told us that as long as there’s no serious injuries, just get someone to tow the cars and then file police reports for our insurance.”
“Nice,” I muttered.
“Right? And like, I knew if it got out, we wouldn’t be able to keep this kid’s name off it.
Someone was going to realize he was the one who’d wrecked Liam St. Clair’s car, and there was a good chance some batshit fans would target him for potentially injuring me.
” He sighed. “A woman rear-ended Craws last season, and he had to miss I think three or four games as a result. Her name got out, and she started getting literal death threats.”
“Shit, seriously?”
Wincing, he nodded. “I love our fans, don’t get me wrong. But there are some who can take things too far. I didn’t want this kid catching any smoke, so I paid the tow truck drivers for their silence, and I just ate the loss on the car.”
I blinked. “You didn’t get your insurance involved?”
“Nah. It hurt—that was a $300,000 car—but I can afford it, you know? I can definitely afford it more than a family who could barely afford to even own and insure two cars. I mean, can you imagine what that would do to their insurance rates if their sixteen-year-old totaled a car like that?”
“Having paid to insure my own teenage drivers…” I put my hand to my chest. “I think I’d be paying a cardiologist’s copay for a while after that.”
He nodded. “Exactly. So I figured I could absorb the loss more than they could.”
“That’s… That’s a really considerate thing to do. I bet they were seriously grateful.”
“They were, and I think he learned a valuable lesson. Just… without financially crippling his family, fortunately.”
“Lucky kid. Bet his parents have reminded him repeatedly that the next car he hits won’t be driven by someone so generous.”
Liam chuckled, and though it was hard to tell in this light, I thought he blushed.
From there, we shot the shit about hockey, Pittsburgh, and some of the team’s upcoming road trips.
Though Sewickley was twenty-five minutes from where I lived in the South Hills, it felt like only a fraction of that time before I was directing him into my complex’s parking lot.
Disappointment wound itself tight in the pit of my stomach as I took off my seat belt.
“Anyway, uh…” I smiled. “Thanks for the lift. And for having me over. It was a great time.”
He returned the smile, oblivious to what that did to my ability to think.
“Don’t mention it.” I was about to open the door, but then he cleared his throat and fidgeted in the driver seat.
“Listen, uh, before you go…” He met my gaze in the low light.
“Some of the guys and I—we golf a lot when we’re in town.
” He scowled at the rain splattering on the windshield. “When the weather’s good, I mean.”
“Yeah, this wouldn’t be a great time for it.”
“No. No, it wouldn’t.” He laughed, and he sounded… nervous? After a moment, he said, “But when the weather is nice—shit, I didn’t even ask if you golf. Do you?”
“Not very well, but as long as no one’s expecting me to try out for the PGA…”
This time, his laugh was a lot less nervous, and suddenly there was a lot less air in this car. God, he made me dizzy.
“Trust me,” he said, still chuckling, “nobody will have that expectation. We all have pretty high handicaps.” He scowled, though there didn’t seem to be any real heat in the expression.
“Except for Barns. Christ.” He let his head fall back against the seat.
“We’re about to start giving that clown a negative handicap just to even the field. ”
“Isn’t that what the handicap is supposed to do?”
“In theory. But he’s just so damn good.” Liam tsked. “Jackass.”
I snorted. “Okay, even if I didn’t care about golf, I think I’d want to go with you guys. The shit-talking has got to be off the charts.”
“Well, yeah.” Liam grinned. “We’re hockey players. Chirping is what we do.”
“Sign me up, then.”
“Sweet.” He took out his phone and unlocked the screen. “Add yourself to the contacts and I’ll text you.”
Is he…
Is he asking for my number?
To play golf, Garrett. Calm down.
I recovered my dignity enough to enter my name and number. When I handed back the phone, he sent me a text with a golf emoji.
“There.” He shot me a smile that somehow managed to be both mischievous and shy. “Now you have mine too.”
“Yeah, I do. I, uh…” I pocketed my phone and gestured through the blur of rain to my apartment building. “I should get going. But, um, shoot me a text if you guys want someone to tag along on the golf course.”
He looked genuinely pleased by that idea. “I’ll do that. Have a good night.”
“You too. And thanks again for the lift.”
“Any time.”
I didn’t let myself hold his gaze a second longer or I was afraid I’d say or do something stupid. Instead, I got out and jogged from the SUV to the door. Once I was out of the rain, I turned around and waved at him. He smiled and waved back.
Then he was gone, and I was home, and my heart was beating faster than it had any right to.
It also occurred to me then that I hadn’t asked why his fourth garage bay was open. There may or may not have been a story there. Or he might’ve just had more garage than one person needed. I was just curious because…
Well, because I was curious about Liam.
Probably a lot more curious than I needed to be. This man was my son’s teammate. The fact that he was openly gay didn’t mean he was an option for me.
And besides, this was a man who was built like a god, not to mention richer than that god. He was not in the market for an average-at-best middle-class dude with a decade on him and a grandkid on the way.
That middle-class dude could certainly dream, though.