Page 27 of Back in the Game (Pride in the Game #1)

“You okay? You sounded serious on the phone,” Arlo said as he smoothly slid into a booth at the bistro halfway between their respective hotels.

Arlo didn’t look surprised. He paused to order them drinks when the waitress came over, waiting for her to walk away before he replied.

“Did he get you pregnant?”

“What?”

Arlo shrugged. “Well, it would explain the crying.”

“It’s called I miss him and I haven’t heard from him, and I’m being stupid and falling for him when he lives four provinces away, and he didn’t goddamn follow me to training camp, and he’d rather sit in the woods and brood and be a hermit.”

Arlo’s face broke into a grin. “You asked him to live with you? Bro, you move fast.”

“I didn’t—” Jett broke off. “Oh god, I did.”

“Did you…not mean to?” Arlo looked like he was enjoying this way too much, and his handsome Killinger looks comforted Jett as much as they made him ache to see Harrison.

“No, I did. I forgot to clarify that he wouldn’t be living in my condo and like, sharing my bed, and we’d be a couple. I was desperate not to leave him, so that’s on me. I don’t care if he doesn’t want to live together. God, I’ll buy him the condo next door.”

“And he doesn’t know any of this?”

Jett sighed. “No. I’m freaking out. My teammates are worried about me, and I’m playing terribly. I might get sent back down at this rate.”

“You are not because you’re Jett Fraser. You realize that you playing like shit ,” Arlo made finger quotes, “is like a mediocre player’s best, right? ”

“Yeah, and mediocre players get traded all the time.” Jett began fiddling with a napkin, crinkling it and tearing the edges. “Hell, sometimes good ones do. Nothing is guaranteed.”

“Toronto is not going to trade you.” Arlo took the napkin from him before he made a mess.

“You were a Number One Draft Pick for fuck’s sake.

Call my stupid cousin and tell him you love him, and tell him you want his dumb hermit babies, and you want him to build you a log cabin, or whatever it is that he does in the Nova Scotian wilderness. ”

“Can’t you call him?”

Arlo snorted. “And tell him that? Might be weird coming from me.”

“No, that like—uh—I mean, don’t tell him I miss him—or—or maybe you should? Maybe just ask how he is. See if he misses me too.”

Fuck, he was such a mess. What was it about Harrison that made him incapable of speech?

Arlo gave him a long stare. “Can I take a hose to you? You’re giving… desperation .”

Jett opened his mouth but was interrupted by the waitress returning with their drinks, a beer for Arlo, and a strawberry daiquiri for Jett. She asked if they were ready to order food, and he realized he hadn’t even looked at the menu, despite arriving before Arlo.

Luckily, Arlo seemed content to take charge of the situation. A minute later, the waitress was gone with their orders.

Jett picked at another napkin, that awful gnawing feeling in his stomach that had nothing to do with hunger. His eyes pricked with tears as he remembered that last day, curled in bed with Harrison while they talked about embarrassing hockey stories and Jett’s eccentric father.

He hadn’t realized how affection-starved he was, and now it seemed impossible to go without it. He also thought about how he’d chickened out from trying to kiss Harrison again, but it was all he could think about.

Jett jumped when Arlo flicked a sugar packet at him, and he quickly flicked it back, realizing he’d been lost in thought.

“I’ll call him,” Arlo said. “But you should too—text or call, whatever feels right. You don’t have to spill your guts, just start with a hello.

Talk about the weather, talk hockey, complain about your clearly less-talented teammates.

The guy’s been through it, and he’s been alone for a long time.

My guess? It wasn’t about not wanting to move.

It was about leaving the safety of what he knows.

That kind of isolation becomes a shield. ”

Arlo had caught on to the main reason for Jett’s sulking, which was why he wanted to have this conversation with him, not Ryan.

“You think so?”

Arlo nodded. “You know, my mom is his dad’s sister. My mom married my dad and had me, and she thought she was too good for the family. We lived in Halifax and never talked to the poor Killingers . Then Harrison’s dad’s business took off, and suddenly my parents tried to get in with them again.

“When I came out at sixteen, my parents kicked me out. I hitchhiked to Windsor and begged Harrison to take me in. He’s my cousin—we’d never even met before that.

It had only been a year since the accident, and he was still a wreck, but he let me stay.

He drove me to school every day, made sure I was safe, and pushed me to stay on the hockey team.

He was there when I graduated high school, and when I got accepted to Acadia on a scholarship.

He doesn’t like the judgment that comes with the hockey world, but he still loves the game.

And more than that—he shows up for the people he loves.

Even if it takes him a while to talk himself into it. ”

They were quiet for several minutes after that, but Jett’s heart thumped hopefully in his chest again. He needed to convince Harrison to come to Toronto, but he understood that he had to give him time. Just because Jett often jumped into things head-on didn’t mean everyone else did.

“Do you—have you spoken to your parents since then?”

It was such a personal question that Jett regretted asking it the second the words left his mouth.

He could see both sides of it—wanting to reconnect with an estranged parent, and also needing to keep that distance for self-preservation.

He didn’t let himself think about talking to his mother anymore.

But when it came to his dad... he loved him so deeply, he couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have no parent in his life at all.

Arlo grimaced and let out a dry, humourless laugh.

“Yeah, don’t tell Harrison—but they messaged me two weeks ago, right after the news broke that I was headed to Montreal.

Somehow, in just two paragraphs, they managed to congratulate themselves, ask me for money, and guilt-trip me. Impressive, really. ”

“Fuck them,” said Jett, surprising himself with the amount of fury in his tone. “If joining this business has taught me anything, it’s that the people who show up for you are the ones who matter. You make your own family of friends and teammates, so you don’t need them.”

Arlo looked grateful, and then he began to laugh. “Oh shit.” He laid his head down on his arms, choking on laughter.

Bewildered, Jett waited for him to explain, laughing a little and taking a sip of his drink.

Arlo sat back up and wiped at his eyes. “I just got the best idea of how to get Harrison’s attention. Do you know anyone who works in the Sunbursts store at the arena?”