Page 23

Ruben

“What the fuck was that?” I mumbled to myself as I walked into the exam room where one of the players was waiting for his ice bath. “Brian, can you get him settled?” He nodded while I stepped into the bathroom and threw water on my face. I stood at the sink staring at myself in the mirror and wondered how this shit had even happened.

Max had never mentioned an ex and it didn’t sound like they were that serious, but maybe I was wrong. Or maybe what Max said was the truth, that the asshole had been using his friend to try to get him back. There was a knock at the door before Max walked inside. The bathroom wasn’t large and with his gear on he took up a lot of room even without all his pads. “We need to talk.”

“What was that?” I asked.

“I’m not completely sure. Look, I know I never mentioned Joel, but it wasn’t that I was trying to keep it from you. It’s just that it was over, and he moved to Seattle. I never expected to hear from him again.”

“Did things end badly?”

“No, it just ended. We went out one night and he told me he’d gotten his dream job and was moving to Seattle. He had never mentioned in the year we were together that he was trying to get a job out of town, and he didn’t really care what I thought about him leaving. So, I got over it.”

I hadn’t known Max for long, but I knew he wasn’t a liar, and he wasn’t afraid to admit if he’d done something. So, when he told me how things had ended for them, I had no reason to doubt him and every reason to think his ex was a dick. “I’m going to speak to Coach and tell him there was a misunderstanding that we worked out. He doesn’t need all the details. But you might want to reach out to Joel and tell him I’m not a child and I won’t tolerate his games. If he’s got something to say to me, he needs to speak directly to me. Although I have no clue why he’d even feel the need to do what he did. Why didn’t he just reach out to you?”

Max looked down at the floor and thought for a moment before answering. “I’m not really sure, but don’t worry, I’ll speak to him.”

“Thanks, now we better get back out there before anything else happens,” I said, and we walked out of the bathroom; he went to the locker room while I went to the exam room to continue the physical therapy treatments we’d barely started.

By the time I left work I was more than ready to stay home for a week or more. What had been a wonderful night had turned into a shitty day that was both confusing and infuriating in its ridiculousness. I pulled up to my house and sat in my car for a moment trying to figure out how all this had happened. The fact that Max hadn’t mentioned an ex made me think he was over him, but I wasn’t sure of anything.

The sound of a car door slamming got my attention, and I glanced in my rearview mirror to see Max walking up behind my car. “Hey,” I said through my lowered window.

“Can we talk inside?” he asked while shoving his hands in his pockets and rocking on his heels.

I slid out of the car and walked over to stand in front of him. “Of course,” I murmured and reached out my hand to him. He stared at it a moment before gripping it far tighter than I expected. I led us into the house and over to the couch. “Are you okay?”

He leaned in and buried his face in my chest as my arms automatically wrapped around him. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I should have told you about Joel, but I didn’t think it mattered. He was gone and never coming back and as far as I knew we were done and that was all there was to it.”

“Hey, what happened before we met is really none of my business. I don’t think you want a list of everyone I’ve ever been with, do you?” I smiled as I tilted his face up to meet my eyes.

“God no.” He shuddered and covered one of my hands with his own. “Jason has always been very protective, and Joel knows it. But I really have no clue why he’d even bother with all this.”

“Maybe he just likes causing trouble,” I said.

“He definitely likes that,” Max said. “I don’t want to talk about Joel anymore, and I don’t want to spend any more time trying to figure him out. I talked to Jason and told him to leave me out of their conversations. He was friends with Joel when he lived here but I didn’t realize they were still communicating, and honestly, I don’t care. I just don’t want to worry about him causing us trouble when we’re doing nothing wrong. Jason spoke to Coach too and told him what happened. I think Coach wanted to knock some sense into him but decided we’d be doing extra drills tomorrow.”

“You know, if you said you were still in love with Joel, I’d be hurt, but I’d understand,” I said because I needed him to know and I needed to say it for my own sanity.

“It wasn’t like that. We were together, but it was more for convenience rather than want. I thought I’d miss him when he left, but I didn’t and the more I thought about the fact that he didn’t even tell me he was leaving, the easier it was to get over him not being here.”

“He was crazy to do that to you, but I have to admit I’m glad he left because we would have never had a chance if he was around,” I said.

“I’m pretty sure you would have always had a chance. The pull I feel to you is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I want to be with you as often as I can.”

“I feel the same, and I’m happy you decided to stop by.”

“Would it be asking too much to stay?” he said, and even if I thought it was a bad idea I didn’t have it in me to deny him.

“Never,” I whispered before my lips were on his.