Page 99 of For the Win

“Yes.”I drop my head forward.“Oh my God, yes.I was terrified.All I wanted was to get away from him, to make sure the door was locked and I was safe.I ended up in bed with the covers wrapped around me, shaking like we were having an eight-point-oh earthquake.”

“Ari.”His tone is gentle.“It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay!”I pause.“I should have told him about Lucas.”

He frowns.“You haven’t?”

“No.”I hang my head.“Another screwup.If he knew, he probably wouldn’t have dropped by like that.Or at least he would have understood why I freaked out.”

Taj gives a terse nod.

“I know, I know, I fucked up.Wait.I know I’m not supposed to be hard on myself when that stuff happens.I just feel like I should have handled it better.I pissed him off, and...”I stop because of the pinch at the back of my throat.

“You really like him.”

“Yeah.I think he’s a good guy.Now that I’ve had time to calm down and think about it, I actually like it that he just dropped by like that.He said he missed me.”I blow out a sharp breath.“I missed him too.”Which is crazy, but that’s where we are.

“So, you made him feel like shit because he wanted to see you and did something spontaneous.”

I drop my head forward.“I’m an asshole.”

“I didn’t say that.”His voice gentles.“But I know why you reacted that way.Hedoesn’t.”

“True.”Sighing, I meet Taj’s eyes.

“What are you going to do about it?”

“I texted him an apology.But I haven’t heard back.”My voice quivers.

“Ah.”

“You need to tell him what happened.”

“Oh yeah,that’llmake him feel better.”

“If he can’t deal with it, then it’s for the best.But you can’t have any kind of relationship without honesty.”

“That’s true.”I purse my lips.“But I can’t tell him now.He’s out of town, and when he gets back...”I pause.“Unless they lose these two games in Vancouver.Then they’ll be out of the playoffs.Shit.”I slump against the counter.“But if they’re stillinthe playoffs, I don’t want to distract him.He hasn’t even read my text.”

Taj grimaces.“I’m sure he’s just trying to focus.”

“Yeah.”I nod.“I thought of that.”

We make dinner then watch the game together.I’ve been so distracted by what happened that I forgot to be nervous about the game.

“They need to win this game,” I tell Taj, who already knows this.I wriggle around on the couch waiting for the opening puck drop.

“You need a glass of wine.”

“Okay.”Not going to argue with that.

Taj fetches us each a glass of Merlot from the kitchen.I settle in cross-legged with a cushion on my lap.

Taj used to go to hockey games with me in college but hasn’t watched much since then, like me.But we basically know what’s going on, groaning when the Condors take a penalty, sitting on the edge of the couch when there’s a scrap behind the Condors’ net, throwing our hands in the air when they score.

“Yes!”

Harrison assisted on that goal by Eddie Rintala.Whoop!

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