Page 22 of Love of the Game
His answer was equally soft. “So do I.”
When I met his gaze, I saw the same desire I felt smoldering there and felt the attraction that crackled between us.
It was only a matter of time—the right time. Which wasn’t now, given everything I’d talked about with him tonight.
But I had no doubt, we’d get to those dates pretty soon.
I guessI shouldn’t have been surprised when Kara, the psychologist I’d worked with before, texted me back pretty quickly. Nor that she set up an online appointment for the next morning before I had to head in for practice. I almost felt silly as I sat there waiting in the “lobby” of the connection. I felt a ton better today—probably because I’d slept like a rock the night before. It was so quiet at Jon’s. Loki had curled up near me and purred while I nodded off. He must have wandered back to his dad at some point, because he wasn’t with me when I’d woken. Now, I’d shut the door completely and waited for Kara to join.
When she did, I noted her hair had gotten longer, but she still had that shrewd look and that comforting background in her office. “Hi, Drake. How are you doing?”
“Fine,” I said, automatically, then huffed at myself. “Well, not that fine, I guess.”
“Uh huh. What’s going on?”
I spent the next several minutes blathering it all out. The shitty start to my season. Getting sent through waivers and not being claimed. All the stuff I felt that I’d hinted at with Jon came tumbling out. Hell, I even told her about Jonand the bar and discovering he was captain and how stupid I felt because I should’ve known who he was.
“And now you’re living at his house.”
I felt my face heating. “Yeah, but he’s not pressuring me or anything.”
Kara nodded. “In fact, from what you’ve said, he’s deliberately holding back, but not out of rejection.”
“No, I know. He’s… really just… thoughtful, I guess. Kind. I mean, I haven’t dated a lot of people, but mostly they’ve been concerned about themselves. It’s like Jon’s takes me into consideration.”
“Partners should,” she said.
Partners. That word rattled around in my brain, and I shook it away. “But that’s my love life—or what might be my love life. I need help with the hockey part of things.”
“Okay. Let’s talk about that.”
We did, but it was all the same stuff I’d told her before, though I added in the conversation with Jon about loving hockey and trying to find that again. “I guess I just want to prove that I can still play.”
“Prove to who? Jon? Yourself? The Lions?”
That dirtbag, my brain supplied. “Oh, shit,” I said.
I’d screen-capped the direct messages on my Instagram account before I blocked the fucker, just in case.You’re probably just like that bitch. She wasn’t good for anything either. It’s amazing you even exist.
“Drake?”
“Uh. So I got some weird messages this summer, from a guy claiming to be my father.”
Kara paused, obviously taking in the information I’d just chucked at her out of the blue. I wonder if I’d looked like that the first time I’d read jerkface’s first message. “Go on,” shesaid.
“At first, I thought it was someone trying to defraud me or something, but the guy’s name was correct, and Mom’s the only other person who knows his name.”
Kara paged back through her notes, probably trying to remember my family situation. It’d been a while since we’d talked, so I filled her in, giving her close to the same recounting I’d given Jon. “I’m positive it was him.” I paused. “He wanted money. A bunch of money. Said I owed him, since he was my ‘dad.’” I air-quoted the last word. “I told him, very politely, that he gave up all rights to me, my mother raised me, and I have no obligation to him because he donated a little bit of genetic material to me. He said some pretty shitty stuff after that.” I filled her in how I’d handled the situation.
“Did you tell your mother?”
“God, no. She doesn’t need that shit. You’re the only one I’ve told.”
She stared at me. “You’ve been carrying this around for months, alone?”
“I mean…” I shrugged, though that itchy feeling in my brain started creeping in, “It’s not a big deal?”
“Do you believe that?” She cocked her head. “Because it sure sounds like it’s a big deal and you’ve bottled it up, to me.”
