Chapter 44 #2
My lips parted. “He—really?”
Chris nodded, a dazed look on his face. “Yeah. That seriously blew my mind. He straight up told me that if I didn’t want to play alongside him anymore, he’d go tell our GM he was retiring.”
“Holy shit,” I breathed.
“I know, right?” He laughed softly. “He, um… You really found yourself a good guy.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I did.” I knew that. I’d known it for a long time. But the realization that Liam would give up his career to keep from derailing Chris’s… I could barely fit that into my head.
Chris shifted his weight. “Now I feel even worse about taking that shot at him. About holding me back my rookie season.” His shoulders fell. “I’m surprised he didn’t tell Tangen to just trade my dumb ass and be done with it.”
I was already shaking my head. “No. He understood you were angry. We both did. And when people are angry… sometimes they say shit.”
“Still. I should apologize to him for that. I should’ve earlier, but I was…” He waved a hand.
“I’m sure he’ll understand.”
“He will. But I feel like an ass for it.”
“Eh, I feel like an ass for…” I gestured at him and myself.
Chris laughed, which punched through the tension, and his neck and shoulders started to relax. “Nah. You’re good.” He stepped closer and hugged me again, and I just closed my eyes and basked in it.
Chris knew about Liam and me, and now that the smoke was clearing and the shock had worn off, he was okay with us. I hadn’t lost him. I hadn’t fucked this up as bad as I’d thought.
Lesson learned—just talk to him about things, Garrett. Jesus Christ.
I wouldn’t be forgetting that any time soon.
Walking into Liam’s kitchen later that afternoon, I was overcome with a million different emotions. Love. Relief. Gratitude.
Without a word, I strode right up to him, cupped his neck, and kissed him.
When we came up for air, he stared at me in surprise. “Hello to you, too.” With a cautious grin, he added, “I take it things went well with Chris.”
“They did. They went really well.” I caressed his cheek. “And he told me what you did. That you’d retire before you let the Phantoms trade him.”
“I would,” he said without hesitation. “No way in hell am I letting him get punished for this.”
Smiling, I nodded. “I know. I would never ask you to do that, but I’m grateful you did.”
He lifted his chin and kissed me softly. “Well, luckily I didn’t have to follow through with it. I would have, absolutely, but after Chris and I cleared the air…” He exhaled, and the relief coming off him was impossible to miss.
“Still. You didn’t have to put your career on the chopping block for—”
“I did,” he said. “Chris didn’t do anything.
Over my dead body was he getting waived or traded because of this.
” He paused. “I just hope he didn’t think I told him because I wanted to use it as leverage.
I wanted him to know he was secure on the Phantoms no matter what happened between him and me, but… ”
“I think he understands.” I smoothed Liam’s hair.
“He told me when you laid it all out for him, it made him realize it wasn’t as big as he’d made it in his head.
Not big enough that he wanted anyone’s career getting altered or ended because of it.
I think that’s what made him stop and think about the big picture. ”
“Maybe. I just hope—”
I kissed him lightly. “You’re good. Trust me. He and I talked things through, too. He was just pissed that he found out the way he did.”
Liam scowled. “Trust Jack Arlen to fuck things up.”
“I know, right? Is anything going to happen to him because of this?”
“It better,” he growled. “I will personally go to his stepdad and lose my shit if Arlen still has press credentials after this.”
“Good. Fuck that guy.”
“No kidding.” He exhaled and rolled his shoulders. “I’ll deal with that tomorrow, though.” A smile started to come to life as he slid his hands up my chest. “Maybe we take today and this evening to just decompress? Catch our breath?”
“Sounds perfect to me.” I wrapped my arms around his waist and drew him closer. “I’m kind of tempted to say we can go out, since, you know, we don’t have to hide anymore. But I think I’m good with keeping a low profile, too.”
“Yeah, same. At least until the media loses interest in us.”
“You think they will?”
He shrugged. “They’ll get distracted sooner or later by something scandalous. And we’ll probably still have to contend with people taking photos and posting on social media if they spot us in the wild. But they probably won’t bother us much.”
“Good to know. In the meantime, I’m happy to just stay in and relax. I’ve been on the public’s radar for less than forty-eight hours and…” I grimaced.
Liam frowned. “That won’t go away entirely, you know. Even when they have bigger fish to fry, they’ll still notice us.”
“I know.” I smiled and leaned in closer. “I can live with that if it means I get to be with you.”
“Yeah?”
“Uh-huh.” I dusted my lips across his. “And tonight I want to have you all to myself.”
“Mmm, I can live with that.” He carded his fingers through my hair. “What do you say we order some food and find another series to binge?”
“Sounds perfect to me.”
He smiled, and then he pulled me into another kiss.
We’d have a spotlight on us going forward, even if its brightness varied depending on what else was pulling the media’s focus. I was intimidated by that, and a bit nervous about it, but it came with the territory of being with Liam.
My biggest fear about us had come and gone. Chris knew about us. Things had been dicey for a brief period, but now they were settled.
Nothing left to do but enjoy being with the man I loved.