Page 83 of Drop the Gloves
“Amy’s just a friend,” he grumbled.He’d been over this with Dalton last season, but he didn’t have the energy to put up much of a fight.
“I know.I’m just giving you shit.Looks like you overdid it, though.”
“I did.”Evan listened to the sound of Dalton chewing until he could hazard a bite of his plain toast.“Remind me to never drink again.”
“Abs, if we win the Cup, I’ll be pouring you that first beer myself.You want a mimosa or something?Hair of the Dog or whatever?”
“Ugh.”His stomach threatened to violently expel his toast.“Absolutely not.”
Dalton shrugged.He’d almost finished his breakfast platter.“Suit yourself.”
Evan had managed a whole quarter of toast when Riley showed up wearing sunglasses and a wrinkled shirt, clean-shaven for the first time in months.He sat down with nothing but a huge mug of coffee and proceeded to dump five packets of sugar into it without saying a word to Dalton or Evan.
“You gonna drink your breakfast?”Dalton asked.“They’ve got actual food.”
Riley gave him the finger and added more sugar.
Evan frowned.Everyone was prone to being surly in the morning, especially hockey players who’d spent the night drinking, but Riley wasn’t usually grumpy after.He might be tired and yawn more than usual, but there wasn’t much that could keep him quiet.Riley sitting there, dark shades obscuring his eyes, and silently giving attitude was weird.
“You all right?”Evan asked, and Dalton laughed.
“What?”Riley said, glaring at Dalton.
“Abs looks like he had to crawl out of bed this morning, and he’s asking you ifyou’reall right.”Dalton ran a finger through the syrup on his plate and sucked it off.“Funny, because you probably outdrank Abs by like ten beers, and he’s the one who looks green.”He stood up and took his plate.“You just look like a douche,” Dalton said and walked off.
“Ten beers?”When Riley didn’t argue, Evan asked, “Why’d you drink so much?”
He shrugged.“Bored, I guess.You?”
“I didn’t have ten beers—” Riley tilted his head enough to glare at Evan over his sunglasses, this tiny peek at hazel enough to stop him short.“I was being dumb, I guess.”He gulped.“Maybe next time we can be smart and entertain each other.”
Riley’s lips quirked in an almost smile, but then he rubbed his eyes under the sunglasses and any trace of amusement was gone.“We’ll see.”He reached over and took a slice of toast from Evan’s plate and took a huge bite of it.With his mouth full, he asked, “You don’t have any family or friends waiting to steal you in Quebec, do you?”
Evan watched Riley’s mouth longer than he should’ve.He shook his head and said, “Je ne français.”
Riley snorted, sending crumbs flying.This time his smile didn’t disappear.“Even I know that was crap.I thought you were Canadian.”
“I am,” Evan said.“NotFrench-Canadian.That’s completely different.”
“Uh huh.Sounds like an excuse to me.”Riley wiped the back of his mouth, sipped his coffee, and asked, “You have fun with your friend?”
“Yeah.She’s one of the few people who don’t make me talk about hockey.Get to be Evan and not Abs for a bit.”
Riley was quiet.Evan wished he would take off the stupid sunglasses.He didn’t like that his misery was obvious, but he couldn’t tell what was going through Riley’s head.Not that he could do that anyway, but he liked having a fighting chance.
Abruptly, Riley pushed away from the table.“For the record,” he said, “you can be Evan any time you want with me.”
And then he walked away, leaving his coffee and Evan behind like he didn’t care about either.
35
Evan still feltlike shit when they arrived in Quebec.He did what he had to with the team until they let everyone go to their rooms, where he promptly took a shower and then slept for twelve hours.He woke up the next day feeling a bit more human, but he’d skipped breakfast in favor of more sleep; his stomach rumbled as he brushed his teeth.They had meetings to go over footage in an hour, but they were using the hotel’s conference rooms.Maybe if he was quick, he could grab something just to tide him over until lunch.
When he opened his hotel room door, Evan nearly tripped over something tucked into the doorjamb.He bent down to find an ordinary paper bag, but it became magical when he opened it and found fresh beignets.There was no note or anything, and no clues as he looked up and down the hallway, but there was really only one suspect.Only one person on the whole Riveters who wouldn’t just notice Evan had missed breakfast, but do something about it.
Abernathy
Thanks for the beignets you’re the best
