Page 22 of Back in the Game (Pride in the Game #1)

Dad was angry, but not at Chase. I remember he got into it with Mom over the phone because she had borderline kidnapped him. It was a fine line, since he was the one who had let Chase get on the plane, and she was his mother, and so on.”

When Jett paused again, Harrison moved closer to lean into Jett’s warmth and comfort him. The pain in his voice made it easy to hear how hard it was for Jett to talk about this. And after what Jett had just done, he decided it was worth the risk to his pride to be more vulnerable alongside him.

He had a brother of his own once, and he couldn’t have imagined being separated from Luca in that way. They’d been so close until they’d been torn apart. Maybe Jett’s pain was another version of his own: to still have a brother, but be separated by forces he couldn’t control.

“Go on,” Harrison whispered.

Jett nodded—more to himself than to Harrison—and kept going. “I blocked it out at first. My dad kept me out of it, and I focused on hockey. But Mom would send me tons of texts about how she and Chase missed me, and how I was missing out on their lives.

I missed her wedding. I was supposed to go, but the lawyer told Dad I shouldn’t, in case she tried to stop me from coming back. I missed the birth of my half-sister. I missed all of it.

But by then, I was angry at Chase because he’d left me here. Dad had to work a lot, and I always had hockey, but I still spent a lot of time alone. I was pissed when he missed March Break, and Easter—and then it was summer vacation, and he still wasn’t back .

I shouldn’t have been so damn stupid. I shouldn’t have cut him out like that. I didn’t see how badly he was hurting. How alone he was with his new family and school.”

Jett’s hand flew to his mouth, making Harrison jump. He could feel Jett’s body trembling beside him, each breath coming in short, panicked gasps.

Harrison didn’t need Jett to finish the story to guess what had happened. His heart broke into a million pieces for this man who was nothing but joy, sunshine, silliness, and strength—and he was using all of it to deflect from the pain he carried every day.

The darkness in Jett’s life that he had suspected was this, a mirrored image of his own. It was no wonder they were drawn to each other.

“Jett.”

“It’s all my fault.” Jett’s voice broke, and Harrison pulled him closer. He didn’t know what instinct inside told him to do so, but he knew he needed to hold this man together.

“No, it’s not,” Harrison told him firmly. Why was it so much easier to tell Jett that with his usual stubborn conviction, but not himself?

“I should have gone to visit him. I knew he wasn’t okay, but I was mad at him. I thought he’d tell us he wanted to come back.”

Warm droplets landed on Harrison’s arm, and he knew Jett was crying. He tried to hold him closer, but Jett shoved him away and sat up, his shoulders heaving.

“Why didn’t he just come home?”

“It wasn’t your fault,” said Harrison.

“I was one phone call away.”

“Your mother should have known better—”

“Why didn’t he call ?”

“Jett—”

Harrison reached out, and Jett smacked him away.

“I was right here ,” said Jett. “I was one fucking room away, Harrison.”

Harrison pushed himself into a sitting position, ignoring the protesting pain in his leg.

“You needed someone and I was right here,” Jett said again. “Why didn’t you say what was wrong? Why did you do that to yourself? ”

Even if Jett wasn’t actually mad at him, it didn’t stop Harrison from feeling like crap. “Jett, we hardly know each other,” said Harrison quietly, and the tone in his voice immediately settled Jett into silence.

They sat on the bed, staring at one another in the darkness. The rain was finally stopping, but every droplet sounded like a gunshot in the quiet room.

Finally, Jett said, “I want to know you. What do I need to do for you to let me in?”

Harrison tried very hard not to scoff, not at Jett, but at himself. He had been asking that same question for five years. He didn’t know if he would ever find the answer.

“I was right here ,” said Jett. “If you need someone, I’m one room away.”

“Only until you go back to Toronto for the next season.”

There. Harrison had finally said it. He hated how stupid it made him feel. He wasn’t some needy boyfriend whining about their hockey player skating off into the sunset for another year, but it was what he felt like.

It made him mad when he thought about how much he would miss Jett’s company.

He didn’t like how light he felt when Jett was near, and knowing it would end soon made him like it even less.

He had been dealing with his loneliness ever since the accident, but he knew that spending time with Jett was undoing all the work he’d put into building those walls.

With one heartbreaking smile, Jett was ruining everything.

Harrison wanted to hate him, but he craved that lightness more than he wanted to stay angry.

“Come with me,” said Jett.

Harrison blinked, unsure if he’d heard him correctly.

“Harrison—come with me.”

“No,” said Harrison without thought. “I can’t.”

Jett made a strangled sound in his throat and leaned closer until they were touching. “I can’t leave you here knowing this might happen again. “I can’t do it again.”

“I won’t do it again,” Harrison lied.

“You will,” said Jett .

It’s my life ! Harrison wanted to scream, but all he could do was clench his jaw until he thought his teeth would crack. Saying it would do no good. Jett would see through everything now.

“You will want to do it again,” said Jett, and Harrison squeezed his eyes shut like that would somehow block him out. “It’s how you cope, and our talk tonight won’t change how you feel. But if it’s okay, I would like to alter the reward of your challenge.”

Harrison couldn’t help himself. “You don’t wanna be my friend anymore, Fraser?”

Jett chuckled into the darkness. “We’re already friends and you know it, Killinger.”

“Then what did you have in mind?”

Jett went quiet, and Harrison sat and waited, rubbing his hand over the heating pad on his leg to soothe the ache.

“The next time it gets to be too much, call me,” said Jett. “No matter what time it is for you or me, promise me you’ll pick up the phone and dial my number.”

Harrison’s hand went still.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to give you what you need, but I want you to give me the opportunity to try. Just one chance is all I want.”

And just like that, Harrison was left with no wall between them. He didn’t have to wonder if Jett would be too tired or busy to pick up the phone, because after hearing about his brother, he knew this was serious for Jett.

Still, Harrison wasn’t sure he wanted to put that kind of pressure on someone playing professional hockey.

The game demanded both physical skill and mental fortitude—and if your mindset was even slightly off, it could cost the team a win.

That was the main reason he’d never opened up to Arlo about the moments when he needed to feel numb.

He couldn’t control when they happened, and he didn’t want to add to anyone’s stress levels. That wasn’t who he was.

“Harrison?”

Letting out a sigh, Harrison flipped a coin in his mind—and made his choice.

“If you uphold your end of the bet, we’ll exchange numbers,” said Harrison. “And I can’t make any promises, but at least you’ll be right there if I need you.”

“Oh, I’ll get that number,” said Jett. “And I’ll use it to call you every day.”

Harrison was already regretting his choice.

“Go back to your room before I smother you with a pillow.”

He felt Jett lean in closer. “You don’t want me to stay in bed with you? I hear I’m a good little spoon.”

Jett was teasing him to lighten the mood, but the thought of anyone besides him spooning Jett made him feel…murderous.

“Get out of here before we both regret it,” Harrison growled, not missing when Jett’s breath caught in surprise.

There was no light to see each other, but the tension was bleeding into the air around them. Harrison realized that if he wanted to, he could pin Jett to the mattress and do what he’d been dying to do, and that Jett would let him.

But there was no time for that now. They only had days left together.

Harrison didn’t move, and Jett seemed to get the hint. He got off the bed and turned his phone flashlight on, blinding Harrison on purpose.

“You’re a jackass,” said Jett.

“Tell your right hand I said hi.”

Harrison could barely make it out when Jett flipped him off before marching away, making sure to switch his bedroom light on before he shut the door behind him.

And even though this had been one of the heaviest nights he’d experienced in a long time, Harrison found himself smiling and shaking his head.