Page 31 of Rule 3: Never Fake Marry the Coach's Son

“What are you doing?”

“People would probably ask about it if they see me wearing a wedding ring,” he says.

He’s smiling when he says it, but the words gnaw at my heart. He slips the ring into my palm, and it feels heavy, even though my trainer would gasp if he heard me say that, even though, scientifically, that doesn’t make sense. I lift super heavy dumbbells each day.

I stare at the platinum band. “I don’t want this.”

“It was a lot of money,” Oskar says softly. “Maybe you could try to return it? Or, I don’t know, sell it off? It would be a loss, but you would get something for it.”

I stare at the ring, heavy in my palm. It’s not supposed to be here. This is all wrong.

“I am not selling your wedding ring, Oskar.” I give it back to him, then fold his fingers around it, just in case the ring slips away from him on the plane. “You can put it on a chain.”

“You want me to wear it around my neck?”

For some reason his eyebrows are doing some sort of upward movement thing, and maybe it’s because of the altitude, because there’s no reason for him to act surprised. Is there?

“I think I have a chain that would work,” he says, and the tension from my shoulders eases, more efficient than even the work of the team’s masseuse.

It’s not completely okay. I want him to post pictures of us on his social media accounts. I want to see his face lit up and glowing. But that’s not the kind of marriage we have.

Finally, the plane lands.

I squeeze his hand as we exit the plane, even though we’re not entering a wedding chapel or a jewelry store, even though hand squeezing isn’t something I’ve done with other men.

But Oskar is different.

Oskar has always been different.

Oskar drops my hand first, casting a look around as if he half expects to see some paparazzi or influencers around us.

Which honestly, I guess there could be.

They probably loiter around airports. Finn and Noah were followed around by them a lot after they got married.

Something hits my stomach.

I’m pretty sure Finn and Noah didn’t intend for their wedding to be announced. In fact, other teammates have speculated that Finn and Noah just got married after drinking too much, though that seems dubious given how utterly and revoltingly devoted they are to each other.

Is this going to get out? Are people going to know?

From Oskar’s wide-eyed look, he’s just had the same thought. Oskar and I have always been on the same page.

“People might know,” he says.

“I knew that before we got married.”

“But—”

“Is fine,” I tell him.

He looks uncertain, and I hate it. I hate that just because he happens to be a man that there would be anything people might think was strange about marrying him.

Oskar is perfect.

“If I was gay, you would be my perfect husband,” I tell him.

His face crumples, and I’m not sure what I said.