Page 18 of Game Winner
Huffing a sigh, I move into mountain pose. “Should we start wearing sunglasses indoors to hide our eyes?”
His lips twitch, and he shakes his head. “Can you please be serious right now?”
“Gio, you’re telling me that the way I look at someone is going to give me away. Something that I can’t control. What the hell am I supposed to do with that?”
Gio puffs out a breath and rubs his hands over his face. “As your friend and as your captain, I’m asking you to have a conversation with Tyler about how to handle things with the team. If you’re in a relationship, regardless of how slow you’re taking things, you should talk to Coach Nivens. And HR needs to know. Whether you tell the rest of the team is up to you, but if they ask, you and Tyler should be on the same page.”
My thoughts spinning, I drop into a yogi squat. “It’s not only Tyler and me in this. When we had dinner with Bax on Monday, we invited him to the team’s holiday party.”
“You did?” Gio blinks, and the pillow in his hands stills. Then he shakes his head like it’ll pull him from his disbelief and bops me with the fuzzy square. “Damn, talk about keeping things to yourself. I see you every day, ask what’s new, and for the past five days you didn’t mention this during any conversation we’ve had about the party? Thatwe’rehosting?”
Hoping my smile and shrug are enough of an apology, I lower myself to the mat. “I should’ve told you. Just… things are new, and I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing half the time.”
“It’s okay, bud. I’m not angry, just surprised. Bax seems cool.”
I stretch my legs in front of me, and fold my upper body forward, reaching for my toes. “Since the party’s alway crowded, I figured people wouldn’t pay any attention to who was there with me. But since my eyes are apparentlysoexpressive…”
Laughing, he slaps my shoulder. “Not just yours. Tyler’s too.”
The party is in two days, so Tyler and I need to talk soon. I roll onto my back and bring my knees into my chest, then rock from side to side. “I’ll talk to him today. We’ll figure this out.”
“Tyler is fitting in well with us. I’m glad he’s here.”
“He’s a good guy.” And I want to know more of him, and of Bax.
“So are you.” Gio sets the pillow in place. “You deserve to have someone who makes you smile the way he and Bax do.”
Leave it to Gio to say something so damn sweet. Sniffling, I swallow down the ball stuck in my throat and lift myself into bridge pose. “What you said earlier, about me keeping things to myself… I know I do that. But I’ve been trying to be better. Even if it doesn’t seem that way.”
Over the last three years, Gio and Phil, Remy, Sage, and Morgan have shown me that they are safe people to share things with. I didn’t have that before. Not really. And not with people who I thought I could trust. Like my older brother who has taken things I said I wanted just to spite me for as far back as I can remember, and my former hockey team’s captain who would throw all of us under the bus to the press or to each other if we showed a moment of weakness.
“You didn’t have a good situation before you came to us.” His voice is quieter now, more serious. “But I hope we’ve shown you that no matter what happens, we’ll support you.”
“You have. But sometimes, the instinct to protect myself, that it’s me against the world, still wins out.” Coming out of the arch, I carefully lower my body to the mat.
“Then we’ll just have to love you louder.” He grins, clearly pleased with himself.
“Got a megaphone?”
Barking a laugh, he ruffles my hair, then stands. “Sorry I interrupted your pre-game routine.”
“It’s okay.” I shift into the last pose—a reclined butterfly, bringing the soles of my feet together and letting my knees fall open wide. “Good talk, Captain.”
He and Phil plan to retire after this season, and I’m not sure what the team will be like without them. They’re veteran playersand leaders that supply a needed voice and steadying presence on our team, but they’re in their early thirties and ready to look at the next phase of their life. Though making the Metros or another NAPH team is my dream, if I’m still part of the Slash next season, I can’t imagine the team without them.
After taking a minute to fully stretch out, I follow him up the stairs and grab one of my strawberry-flavored sports drinks from the refrigerator.
Gio picks up two wrapped subs from the counter. “Phil and I are going to eat and watch a movie until it’s time to head to the arena.”
“See you there.” I get started on cooking the spaghetti and heating up the sauce and meatballs, enough for two people, and text Tyler that food is on the way.
The rest of the house is quiet. Sage is at Rhys’s apartment. Remy and Morgan are out with some of their Metros teammates for a night of playing pool.
As I’m draining the spaghetti, Tyler wanders into the kitchen wearing one of my sweatshirts and a pair of plaid pajama bottoms I lent him on our road trip last weekend. He has Benny on his shoulder, his phone in his hand, and a frown on his face. “Hey.”
“What’s wrong?” I set the spaghetti aside and wave at Benny, a habit we picked up from Remy. The yellow bearded dragon is cute and we’ve all sort of adopted him.
“I’m looking at moving companies. Having them pack everything costs a lot more than I thought. But never mind that now.” He tosses his phone on the table then gently places Benny in the small terrarium we keep by the laundry room, mostly for his visits downstairs or when Remy is cleaning the big terrarium in his apartment. “Dinner smells good. Can I do anything?”
