Page 68 of Playoff
We’d only been able to get through a couple of games before the league called about the name on my jersey. The team had blamed a nameless equipment guy, and the issue was let go. I was back to wearing the Denbrowski jersey, but the team calling me Alek was habit now.
No one outside of the team appeared to know what it had been about, or I was sure some of the guys we played against would have taken the information and used it against JJ. Teams like LA, who were coming to play in Toronto soon. I wasn’t looking forward to it.
“I’ll do better.” He walked on down the aisle. I stared after him with no idea how to respond.
I was an asshole, I knew that. Partly because of how my life had been messed up by Mom and Dad’s actions. I’d never tried to change, because that shit wasn’t my fault and I needed to protect myself. But maybe if JJ and his twin could try to do better, I should too.
Damn it.
Chapter 29
Is that a challenge?
Jess
* * *
I worried about how things would go with Justin and my parents every time the team played in Vancouver or Seattle. Mom and Dad asked for tickets, and Justin would always arrange them. After, they’d drop hints about their financial constraints. Once he’d given me his POA over his finances they couldn’t guilt money out of him, but they did make him feel bad, and I hated that.
They were used to me being a hard-ass but it was stressful for all of us. Justin refused to stop giving them any money, so my job was to make sure they didn’t exploit him. This trip, with Alek on the team, would be so much worse.
Then Justin told me Alek walked out, apologized for his parents, and left.
The three of them had been confused by it, and so was I. I’d messaged Alek before the game to get information Justin wouldn’t give me. I didn’t like bothering the others, since I did it so often. And yes, I’d wanted to reach out to him. I definitely hadn’t expected Alek to do something to help my twin. It gave me warm thoughts about my booty call buddy, and that wasn’t good. I sent him my thanks and he brushed it off.
I didn’t like that. I mean, yeah, we didn’t have a relationship. But we’d shared things, beyond orgasms, and I thought there was a nice guy hiding under the asshole. And while we’d mutually shared those orgasms, he’d done something outside of sex for me, and it felt like the scales were out of balance.
Our relationship, such as it was, wasn’t the kind that was supposed to get out of balance like that. Not like…
Like what? My parents? They were masters at keeping track of favors and things owed. That probably contributed to how I felt. Justin? I was still paying him back for what he’d given up for us. I owed my grandmother so much for how she stepped in for Mom and Dad, and even though I was here with Justin like she wanted, I still was torn about abandoning her. She might not remember me, but she deserved someone to visit her.
Would Alek think I owed him? Could I do something to offset it?
I wished I had someone to talk to about this, but I couldn’t let anyone know I was hooking up with Alek. No one at work, for sure. I never told my book clubs about my connection to the Blaze. The guy who’d asked for Justin’s autograph the morning after sleeping over had been in one that I’d had to quit after that fiasco. I was afraid to share with anyone connected to the team or who knew about us and his parents’ Ponzi scheme. That basically eliminated anyone I knew in BC or Ontario.
So, I resorted to my usual stress reliever. Justin made comfort savory food when he was stressed, and I baked. I got the best feedback from baking bread. I made some loaves of a rich whole wheat that were healthy and tasty, and a couple of coconut for a sweeter option. Justin knew my quirk, like I knew his, but since he’d just seen our parents he wouldn’t be surprised that I was letting out some tension. The extra loaves I could give to Alek. Keep things balanced, at least in my mind. The team was on their way from the airport, so I wrapped one of each and took them down to the storage locker to hide, like some kind of spy.
Justin was eating a slice of coconut bread when I got back to the condo. I shook my head. “What if that wasn’t for you?”
“Then you’d make more.”
He was right. “Good flight?”
“Good enough.”
“And Mom and Dad?”
He grinned, something I didn’t see often enough. “They’re probably still trying to understand why Alek apologized to them for his parents.”
Something I was questioning too. “Did he tell you why?”
Justin cut off another slice. “He gave me the PR answer, not the real one. But I told him I’d try better to get along. I said I would before, but I didn’t make much of an effort.”
There was no reason for that to make me go gooey. “Maybe he’s not as bad as we thought.”
He drew his brows together. “Maybe. I said something about the trade deadline to him and he looked a little shocked. Maybe he wants to stay. Guess we’ll see.”
I wanted to ask more questions, about what answer Alek had given him and if he was likely to be traded, so I went to my room. Asking that wouldn’t be suspicious at all. I pulled out my phone.
