Page 22

Max

I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew Griffin was starting shit with Ruben and I had no clue why. He’d always been a good friend but for the most part we stayed out of each other’s personal lives, which was why he hadn’t said anything about Joel until he was out of the picture. When I talked to him earlier, I had admitted that I really liked Ruben and hoped we’d eventually get to figure out what was between us, but his reaction today was over the top.

“Max, can you meet me in my office?” Ruben said as I walked off the ice.

“Sure, Doc.” Yep something was up. I set my stick by my locker and took off my leg pads before walking into his office. Griffin was sitting there with his arms crossed looking like Ruben had somehow wronged him, but he’d never once mentioned Griffin, so I doubted there was anything there.

“Max, Griffin,” Ruben said as he leaned against the wall across from us. “What’s going on?”

“I have no clue what this is about,” I said because one look at Griffin I knew he wasn’t going to say shit unless he was forced to.

“Griffin?” Ruben said and matched Jason’s energy.

“Call me Jason.”

“Jason, what’s going on?”

“Look I know it’s none of my business, but Max’s boyfriend left him just before you showed up, and I know he’s trying to act like it’s all okay but it’s not. Then he came in today looking so happy and told me that you two were now seeing each other. I don’t want him to get hurt again, and this time I’m going to do all I can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

My eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my head as I listened to Jason speak. “What are you talking about?”

“I know you said you didn’t care when Joel left, but you’d been with him a year. There’s no way it didn’t hurt, and you know nothing about this guy. He could do the same shit and hurt you worse. Who’s to say he won’t be moving on next week?” Jason ranted.

“I’m not leaving, actually I’m very happy working with the Titans and don’t see that changing anytime soon,” Ruben said. “And as for what’s going on between Max and I, that’s really none of your business. As long as it doesn’t cause issues with the team then there’s no reason for you to be involved.”

“He’s my friend, and I’m not going to stand back this time and let him get hurt,” Jason said, and stood toe to toe with Ruben.

“Jason, what the fuck are you doing?” I finally managed to say. “None of this makes any sense. You’ve never cared about anyone I’ve been with before and I don’t judge any of your choices. Why does it matter now?” I gripped his arm and pulled him back from Ruben because he was so worked up, I wasn’t sure what he’d do.

“That motherfucker called me last week to check on you. He told me that he’d made a mistake and wanted to find out if I thought you’d still be interested in him,” Jason blurted.

“Who? Joel?” I asked.

“Yes, he wants you back.”

It all made sense then. Jason did not like being in the middle of relationships, but he and Joel were somewhat friendly even if he wasn’t upset to see him move. Apparently while he hadn’t called me, he’d called Jason and dumped his emotional bullshit on him. “What did you tell him?”

“That you were happy and working hard, but then he asked if you were seeing someone, and it was literally right before you told me you were hot for Doc.” He dragged his hand down his face as the fight drained out of him. “Look, I’m sorry. He kept pressuring me to talk to you and he wouldn’t back off. I guess I just snapped.”

“He made his choices without considering my feelings or what I wanted. As far as I’m concerned, we had nothing, and we won’t have anything in the future. I really like Ruben, and I want to see where things can go, but we’re still getting to know each other. He’s nothing like Joel,” I said, not holding back and not caring who else heard what I said.

“I have no clue who you’re talking about,” Ruben finally said.

“My ex.”

“His ex,” both of us said at the exact same time.

“So, does this mean you’re not going to kill me after all?” Ruben said to Jason.

“Only if you keep calling me Griffin,” he said.

Ruben rolled his eyes before stepping to the door. “You two work this out, I’ll give you some privacy,” he said before walking out and closing the door behind him.

“What the fuck, Jason?”

“Dude, I’m so sorry. Joel has been hammering me nonstop about who you’re seeing and if it’s serious or not. When you told me this morning you were seeing Doc, I guess I really did lose my shit. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to tell you I’d been talking to Joel, or pressure Doc to stay away. God, I’m such an idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot. You were trying to be a good friend. I mean you did it in a stupid way, but I get what your intention was. When did Joel call you?” This sounded exactly like him. He never dealt with anything head-on. It was always planting that seed of suspicion and letting someone else run with it. He was a master manipulator and good at gaslighting. But I hadn’t realized that until he was gone.

“Two days after he moved. At first, he sent me texts. I thought he was just wondering how you were doing but then he acted like he felt really bad about how things ended and that he wanted to get back together with you, and he knew you’d feel the same way. But he needed time to figure out how to talk to you. It stressed me the fuck out because I knew he hurt you when he left.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of Joel.” I wasn’t sure how I’d do that, but I did know I needed to speak to Coach and tell him what happened, so he didn’t think Ruben had anything to do with this. It was all because of Joel, and as soon as I was done here, I’d be calling him to tell him I knew what he was doing and that he was done using Jason to do his dirty work.