Page 62 of Comeback
“Sure sounds like it,” I said sarcastically.
“Yeah, okay, D’s pissed, but can you blame him?” Reavo countered. “You straight-up left us after Soupy died—it was one gut punch after another. But you never even told us where you were going, man, never even left us with a way to contact you—”
I folded my arms. “Because I didn’twantto be found. Did you ever think that showing up in my life would only cause me more problems?”
Dane’s ears perked up. “Yeah? Like what?”
“Thanks to your surprise visit, Emma doesn’t wanna see me anymore. So, I hope you’re happy.”
“I am happy, actually,” Dane quipped with a smirk. “Serves you right, if you ask me.”
Reavo elbowed Dane to shut him up again.
“Look, I’m sorry to hear that, Hath,” Reavo said. “But if you’ve got nothing tying you down out here, why not come back to Dallas?”
“I can’t,” I said.
“Why not? You’ve obviously kept yourself in game shape.”
“I can’t do it, Reavo. I lost my love of the game.”
“What does that mean?” he asked.
Dane stood and motioned for the door. “This is a waste of time. I told you he wouldn’t come back.”
Reavo refused to get up, though, and continued his sales pitch. “Hath, I know you and Soupy were real close. But don’t you realize his death fucked usallup? We’re all hurting from that shit, man. Still today. And it’s only that much worse, because you’re not there to help us heal together.”
I frowned. Maybe Emma was right. Maybe the boys really didn’t know about the affair. But if that were true, it only made me feel guilty for leaving—I still couldn’t tell them. I couldn’t taint Soupy’s name, even after what he did to me.
“Look. It’s more than Soupy dying, okay? But I can’t tell you what happened. I’m sorry.”
Reavo looked more confused than ever. “The fuck?”
“It’s true, isn’t it?” Dane asked suddenly. “You left because of the affair.”
Reavo shot him a look of genuine confusion. “Huh? What affair?”
I leapt forward, planted my hands on Dane’s chest, and gave him a powerful shove that sent him stumbling back across the kitchen.
“You motherfucker,” I growled, advancing towards him. “Youknew?”
“You know you could’ve justtoldus about it, right?” Dane replied.
Reavo shouted, “Whataffair are we talkin’ about here, boys?!”
I grabbed Dane by the collar, his shirt bunching in the clenched fist that I held against his chin. We stared each other down, face-to-face.
“What are you gonna do, Captain? Punch me?” Dane taunted. “Go ahead. Try.”
Reavo jumped between us and pried us apart. “Cut it out!” he roared, keeping the two of us held at arm’s length. “No one’s fighting.”
Dane and I still wanted to kill each other, but there was no way either of us were going to get around Reavo. He was a buzz saw who chewed up the league’s toughest fighters. More importantly, he made a living out of protecting his teammates on the ice—and he certainly wasn’t going to let us hurt each other off it, either.
“Now can one of you explain to me what the hell’s going on?” Reavo asked.
“You didn’t have to run,” Dane huffed. “You could’ve just told us, man. Noneof this shit had to happen. None of it.”
“Youshould’ve told meabout it while Soupy was boning the woman I was ready to call my fuckingwife,asshole.”
