Page 42 of Forbidden Forward

He lifts his empty plate, and I take it from him and load it up again. With my back still to him, I try my best at a subtle prod. “You guys must be finally gelling. Looks like you’re all in sync, on the same page, firing on all cylinders. Every other metaphor I can’t think of right now.”

When I turn around, he’s eyeing me from under his heavy brows as if he’s calculating my angle. “Not on the same page, not on all cylinders.”

I push the full plate under his nose. “No? What’s the problem?”

He lingers over his bite, and the silent pause stretches and stretches. “Same problem,” he finally says.

“You’re talking about Colby Chase.”

Once more, I get the eyes-under-the-brows effect, only there’s more glare to it this time.

“Why is it that my simply saying his name gets you all pissy?”

“Look, I want to enjoy this breakfast you went to the trouble to make for me, okay?” he bites back.

Folding my arms over my chest, I tilt my head and wait. Two can play the glaring game.

He drops his fork on the plate with a loud clang. “Fine,” he sighs. “I don’t like the guy. At. All.”

“I get that part, but what I don’t get is why.”

Donny’s eyes dart toward the window, then swing the opposite way before coming to rest on me again. A growl rumbles from him. “They traded Benny for him.”

“Wait. I thought the trade involved a mess of players going back and forth.”

“It did, but to get Chase, they threw Benny into the deal.”

Oh my God. I think I get it. “And Benny was your bestest bestie. You guys have been linemates forever, going back to juniors.”

“That’s beside the point,” he snaps. “They fucking downgraded. We’re a worse team because of that, Jack.”

I need to tread carefully here. “Except the stats say otherwise, so maybe management knew what it was doing. And maybe it’s taken this long for things to shake out.”

“Ha! Meanwhile Ben gets injured and misses the rest of the season because his new coach overplayed him.” My brother is seething now.

Unfolding my arms, I hold up my hands in a surrendering gesture. “Okay. Maybe they mishandled him, and what happened to him sucks for sure, but that’s on his new team. That’s got nothing to do with your team. The Surge. That’s who I’m talking about. Benny’s a good player, but he’s more skill than grit, and let’s face it, you guys need grit.” I count off an undersized third-line winger and an aging D-man who fit the bill.

“And Chase,” he snarls.

Yeah, I purposely avoided that name when I was listing their toughest players. “And Chase,” I agree. “He’s a big guy who doesn’t mind throwing his body around and going to the dirty places. Didn’t you tell me once that every team needs someone like that?”

Donny shovels in another pile of food, like he’s trying to stuff down his irritation. When he comes up for air, he pierces me with a green-eyed stare. “Since when do you have a hard-on for Chase? Is it because you’ve run into him a few times in the parking garage? What, did he put you under some kind of spell?”

I mete out my words with the utmost care. “He strikes me as a nice guy, nothing like his on-ice personality. Remember that enforcer you used to talk about? Shoot. I can’t think of his name, but he was a menace to play against, and then you found out he’s organizing all kinds of meet-and-greets between cancer kids and their favorite players. You found a whole new level of respect for him. Oh! And there’s that YouTube of him signing ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’ to his three-year-old daughter.” I laugh. “Remember that? It was adorable. You said so yourself.”

Donny places his fork on his plate and stands. “Colby Chase doesn’t have a three-year-old, and he doesn’t sing ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider.’”

“That wasn’t my point. I only meant that—”

“Jack, for Christ’s sake, give it a rest! I want to enjoy these next few days, and to do that, I can’t devote a single thought to the guy, much less hear his name or how ‘nice’ he is.” He air-quotes the last bit.

It’s time to stop pushing. I’m never going to convince my brother that he’s got Colby all wrong. “Okay, I won’t mention him again.” Not in the next three days anyway. “So what are you planning to do with your time off?”

His tone softens, and I feel a rush of relief. “I was thinking of heading down to Florida and hitting the beach.”

I wait for him to invite me. He doesn’t. “Oh. Going with anyone?”

He shrugs as he places his dishes in the dishwasher. “Maybe one or two of the single guys. We haven’t come up with an exact plan yet.” He cants his head my way. “Do you mind staying here alone?”