“You work the team and the rest of the athletics program,” I said, looking at him with sorrow in my eyes. This was the opposite of everything he’d tried to do since the day I met him—keep his nose clean, play hockey, and get that NHL contract when he graduated. “Put that famous Baptiste charm to work and convince players and staff to go on the record about my father. We can’t do this without you.”
Tristan looked at me for a long moment then nodded. “Okay,” he said, scrubbing his face. “Yeah, okay, I can do that.”
This could blow up in our faces, but it was the only way.
Eva was quiet for a long moment, staring at the ground. When she finally looked up, something in her expression had shifted.
“We’re taking him down. But you have to know this doesn’t mean anything more than that. We’re not anything. We’re not?—”
“Sure, kitten,” Tristan said, bending over to kiss the top of her head.
“It’s enough,” I said, my ribs aching and my lip bleeding again, but somehow lighter than I had been in weeks. “It has to be.”
36
TRISTAN
The conversation wounddown as dawn bled across Alek’s windows.
Eva pushed back from the table. “I need to lie down. My brain is—” She pressed her palms against her temples. “I need to process.”
“Get some sleep,” Alek said, kissing her forehead. “My bedroom,” he murmured, and she looked up at him softly. When she opened her mouth, he raised an eyebrow. “Rules, remember?”
Eva rubbed her cheek against his then stood up. “Yes, Sir.”
Alek’s smile was so fucking handsome, so full of affection, my heart squeezed. We all watched her go until she disappeared down the hallway and the door clicked shut, just out of sight. We’d destroyed this, and I felt like shit all over again.
Cole dropped his head into his hands. “Fuck.”
“She’ll be okay,” I said, not sure I believed it.
“Will she?” His voice cracked. “After everything I?—”
“You’re here now. You’re going to do things differentlygoing forward,” Alek interrupted, his accent thick with exhaustion. “And you’re going to get help for your drinking.”
Cole grimaced but scrubbed his face, looking young and desperate and so fucking tired.
“You should get help because you need it, but if you need another incentive, whomever replaces me isn’t going to let you stay on the team long when he realizes what’s going on.”
Cole nodded. “I don’t know how to do it without my father finding out.”
“We’ll figure it out, all right?” I promised.
“But first, you both need sleep,” Alek said, gentler. “We’ll talk more when you’re not dead on your feet.”
Cole nodded slowly then stood. I followed him out, squeezing Alek’s shoulder as I passed. Cole was asleep within minutes of hitting the guest room bed. I should have slept too, but my mind wouldn’t stop spinning.
I headed back to the kitchen, where Alek was cleaning up after us—a fucking metaphor if I ever saw one.
When I started loading the dishwasher without asking, he grunted in acknowledgment, hands full of Tupperware.
His fridge was a marked contrast to the rest of his house—containers of takeout and leftovers stacked haphazardly, no organization, half of them probably expired. It was so at odds with the rest of his militant tidiness, I found myself smiling.
“You know this isn’t going to work if you’re trying to save everyone by yourself.” I kept my voice low, casual.
He continued shoving containers into the fridge without responding.
“I mean, fucking my coach is hot?—”