Page 60 of These Wicked Games (Wicked Sins #1)

twenty-nine

Andre

F our months later.

We wait at Grey’s door, knowing he won’t be the one to answer it.

He alternates between crutches and a wheelchair.

At first we’d had hope that after surgery things would improve, but the damage was even worse than they’d initially thought.

I’ve only known Grey for a short time, but seeing him sink deeper and deeper into himself hurts, and I know it bothers Oli way more than he’s letting on.

He knocks again, and I’m about to tell him we can try again later when the door swings open to a tall, lean man standing in the doorway.

He’s wiry, with glasses that are far too big for his face, and his mop of brown hair is disheveled, like he ran from the other end of the house to get the door. “Hi uh, can I help you?”

“We’re here to see Grey.” Oli glares. “Who are you?”

“Oh, sorry.” He laughs nervously, meekly sticking out his hand. “I’m Felix, Grey’s new caregiver. Uh, I just started. I haven’t had a chance to really go through things yet.”

“Caregiver?”

Felix nods timidly, and while he’s not much shorter than we are, he’s about half our size. He looks between us nervously.

“Oli, why don’t we stop scaring this poor man and ask to be let inside?” I nudge him. “We’re just visiting. We just wanted to see him. Tonight’s an important game for us.” I wish he could be there. I know if he were in his right mind, he’d want to be.

Tonight we’re throwing a special pride night. Most of the players are wrapping their sticks with rainbow tape, and we’ve commissioned special jerseys we’ll auction off after the game. All the money will be donated to the youth shelter downtown. This was all Oli’s idea, and I’m so proud of him.

We’ve gotten our fair amount of shit from players, fans, and reporters over the last four months, but it’s never stopped Oli from being loud about who he is. “Can we come in please?”

“Oh, yeah um, no problem. He uh—” Felix looks back inside the house, then lowers his voice. “He's not happy right now.”

“He’s never happy anymore.” Oli pushes past him into Grey’s home, and Felix follows behind us. “So, are you staying here or—”

“Uh, yes. Just for now. Um, Mr. Tremblay has kind of exhausted all other options.” Felix walks with us into the kitchen. “Can I make you anything?”

“They aren’t staying.” We see Grey leaning against the counter with his cane in hand.

“Grey— ”

“Let’s get this over with, huh? How are you doing? Shitty. How are both of you two doing? Great. Fantastic. I’ll see you guys next time.”

“Grey, hold on—”

“If you were here to visit, that would be one thing, but I don’t need you guys checking to make sure I’m still fucking breathing.” The words are sharp, and I think I see Oli flinch. Felix shrinks back a bit.

My man remains unphased glaring right back. “Atlas told us you were being a dick, and fine, be a dick to us. But don’t you dare do that to him. Atlas doesn’t deserve that.”

“Great. Is that all?”

I think I see the muscles in his neck cord, and while I know Oli wants to fix this right now, what Grey is going through is something neither of us can understand or fix quickly.

Oli should understand. He nearly lost his own career nearly a decade ago because of my shithead father. “Oli, we need to give him space.”

“Listen to Andre. Enough. I just want to be left alone.”

“Don’t shut us out! If this were the other way—”

“But it’s not!” he roars. “It’s not, Oli. It’s not the other way around! You two have each other. You’re still playing! You don’t know what I’m going through!”

Slowly I reach for Oli, to pull him away, but my stubborn man doesn’t budge.

Instead he walks closer, and I think I see Felix flinch away.

“Listen to me you stubborn fuck!” He leans into him.

“I’m not going to just leave you alone to go through this.

Pride night is tonight. Then we have a two week break for the World Face Off.

You better fucking believe I’ll be here bugging your ass whether you want it or not.

” He grabs the back of Grey’s neck, forcing his gaze onto him.

“You are my brother, and my best friend. You will not go through this alone.”

Grey’s lips purse hard, and I think I see them tremor. He flinches out of Oli’s grip “Fuck off, Oli.”

“No. I won’t just fuck off, because if this were the other way around, I know you wouldn’t leave me or Atlas. You can be a dick to me, but don’t you dare take it out on him. He needs you, Grey!” I watch them both, red in the face. I see Felix take a giant step back.

“Um, I uh, think . . . I think that Mr. Tremblay—”

“It’s Grey,” Oli snaps, and Felix jerks back a bit.

“Right, sorry. Grey would like to be alone now. Okay?” He doesn’t take a move to separate them, though.

He looks like he’s just praying that Oli will give in and back away.

Oli glares right through Grey for one moment more before conceding, and I nearly have him out of the kitchen before he turns back around.

“We’re going to be here again this weekend.” He looks at Felix. “Make sure he doesn’t do anything fucking stupid.”

Finally we’re leaving, and although I hadn’t thought this would go well, I hadn’t expected it to be that bad either.

Oli storms toward his car, then stops, paces like he’s about to go back inside, then concedes, sinking against his car with his head in his hands.

“Hey.” I step between his legs, pulling his attention to me.

“He just needs time, okay? It’s only been a few months. ”

“He’s being an asshole!”

“He has plenty of reason to be. He’s in pain, okay? Mentally, physically, emotionally. He just needs time. Alright?”

“Atlas, he—”

“Hey.” I hold his attention to me, then kiss him. “I know he does. I know. I can see it. That’s their business, though, and while Grey is hurting right now, Atlas has to know that. It’s not personal, for either of you. He’s going through some hard shit right now that neither of us can understand.”

Finally Oli nods, looking away, and the hurt in his eyes shines. I want to make this better, but we just can’t. “Come on. I want to see you in your new jersey.”

“These are fucking sweet.” Ryker holds out his jersey in front of the mirror.

I slip mine on over my gear, trying to figure out where the hell Oli went.

He disappeared the second we stepped into the arena.

“Our fans will love these.” I look at the black jerseys with the rainbow flags across our chest, and arms. Our signature Otters’ logo sits on the front in bright teal, holding on to the rainbow.

We’re going to sign our jerseys and auction them off after the game.

We’re playing Orlando tonight, and most of their players have agreed to wear their own pride jerseys and auction them off to their fans too.

I can’t wait to play. I’m not sure why, but since my father got arrested, I’ve refound my love of the game.

Landon comes in with his jersey, and there’s been an odd tension there since Grey’s injury.

If the way he acted earlier toward us was bad, who knows how he’s been treating Landon. “How’s it going?” I ask him.

“Ah.” He shrugs, looking around to the other guys, maybe trying to get out of this conversation. “It’s going. Alyssa, she’s just been so upset. I want to be there, but I don’t know what to do. Shit feels hopeless.”

“Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing. Just be there for her.” I don’t know how to handle this thing with Oli and Grey, let alone Landon and Grey’s relationship, which wasn’t great to start with. I can’t imagine how Grey is treating him now. “Hey, have you seen Oli?”

“Oh, I think I saw him down at Coach’s office a little bit ago.”

Why would he be there? I don’t have much longer to wonder, as Oli comes in flanked by the rest of our guys. I look down to the gift box he’s holding. Everyone circles us. “What’s going on?”

I look at the gift box before he hands it to me. I look around at my teammates. What the hell is going on? Then Coach and Jessica walk in, flanked by Melanie. “What’s this?”

“Open it.”

Swallowing, I tear the paper off, seeing a box inside. I set it on the bench and open it. My eyes go wide. Holy shit.

I pull the helmet out of the box. An otter swirls around the top of the helmet, with colored pencils in it’s paw.

My number is on one side, and on the other, where my father’s used to be .

. . sixty-two . “Oli.” I look at his number.

I’d been planning on getting a new helmet for the new season. “This is amazing.”

“Our new goalie needs a new helmet. A fresh start.” I swallow. When I got my helmets designed on my old team, my father always insisted on putting his number on it. After a while it was just expected that I’d always have his numbers on my helmet. More control. Not anymore. I’m free of him.

“Thank you.” I have no words; I’m speechless.

Oli cups my wrist, pulling me to stand. Finally he hugs me, and I feel bumped as everyone around us joins in.

News of my father’s abuse went wild the Monday after his arrest, so I’ve been glad for the busy schedule we have.

I don’t have time to answer thousands of questions about what happened.

I’m going to let the law speak for itself.

The only thing I know is that these are my people. My family. Even Grey. We’re all family.

Everyone lets us go, then it’s just Oli and me, hugging here in the locker room. “This is incredible. Thank you.”

“All the guys pitched in. It took a little longer than I thought, but I think it’s worth it.”

“It’s amazing. Are you excited about tonight?”

Oli nods. “Thank you for coming with me earlier. I appreciate you being there.”

“He’ll come around. He’s in pain. Inside and outside.”