Page 54 of Over the Line

Garrett’s shoulders fell, and his expression turned to one of resignation. “Yeah. I, uh… I thought about that after I went home.” He raked his free hand through his graying hair. “I shouldn’t feel weird. We’re adults, and…”

“I know. I had the same thought. But… it does feel weird, doesn’t it?”

Reluctantly, he nodded. “Yeah. It does.”

I swallowed. “As much as I don’t want to say it, I think we should cool it.” My own disappointment was instantly heavy and cold. Fuck. Did we really have to?

He sagged back against his chair and sighed. “Yeah. Me too. It sucks, but…” He waved a hand as if he didn’t know what else to say.

I didn’t know what to say either. Yes, it sucked, but there wasn’t anything we could do to change it. Not while I was still playing hockey on the same roster—more and more on the same line—as Garrett’s son. Even if they weren’t in a precarious place in their relationship, I wasn’t sure I could do this. It just didn’t feel right.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“I know. I get it.” He smiled, and it was the most forced smile I’d ever seen on his face. “It’s fine. There’s no hard feelings.”

With a forced smile of my own, I said, “No. No hard feelings. I’ll, uh… probably see you at games, so, you know… say hi.”

“I will.” He glanced offscreen, then met my gaze again. “I should let you go. I need to get to that meeting.”

“Right. Yeah. Thanks for, uh, taking my call.”

“Don’t mention it.”

We ended the call, and I sat there alone in my car.

I kind of wished he’d put up a fight. Like at least tried to argue why we could do this. Just… tell me that being with me might be worth the potential fallout.

But he didn’t, and I understood.

God, I hated this. Indulging in my attraction to Garrett had been one of those rare selfish things I let myself do. My whole life was my career. I was a captain and a mentor. I was a role model for young players and fans alike. I was the player who said, “We shouldn’t do this because it’s not good for the team.”

Couldn’t I be completely selfish this one time?

Well, not completely selfish. I prided myself on being anything but selfish in bed and in relationships.

But I ached to be selfish in the sense that it was about what I wanted instead of what the public or the club expected of me. Selfish in the sense that this was for me, not Liam St. Clair the hockey player.

Except it would also jeopardize the delicate relationship Garrett was trying to repair with his son. I didn’t know the whole story there, only that it had taken them a long time to get to where they were now. Nothing I had with Garrett was worth ruining the progress they’d made.

But God, just this once, I wished we could be selfish together.

CHAPTER 15

GARRETT

I expected to be a bit lonely whenever Chris was on the road. I was still new to Pittsburgh and hadn’t yet made friends. My coworkers were friendly, but we weren’t quite to the point of getting together outside of work. So when Chris was gone, I was alone in this new city.

But it wasn’t just his absence that left me climbing the walls.

Liam

We just checked into our hotel and have a team meeting in 20. I’ll be back in my room in about an hour, I think?

Is the team meeting to tell everyone to behave while they’re in town?

LOL Nah. It’s one of those meetings that sometimes makes me wish I wasn’t captain.

oooh, so you have to be the adult in the room.