He rebounded quickly, ready for more, but Coach’s roar stopped both of us cold.
“What the fuck is this?” he demanded.
“He talked shit about Wes,” I explained.
“I don’t care if he talked shit about your mother. There’s no goddamn fighting in this goddamn locker room! Do you dipshits think we need anyone else getting injured?”
“No, Coach,” I answered, not even a little bit sorry.
“No, Coach,” Alvarado echoed.
“Laps. Both of you.” Coach pointed a finger in the direction of the rink, as if we could see it through the locker room. “If I walk onto that ice, whether it’s in half an hour or three hours, and either of you isn’t skating, you’ll wish you were suspended.”
Alvarado shook his head and let out a disgusted sound. Big mistake. Coach was on him before he took his next breath, his face just inches away from Alvarado’s.
“You got something to say, rookie? You want to run that big fucking mouth of yours some more?”
Alvarado sobered, shaking his head. “No, Coach.”
“You are your own worst goddamn enemy, Alvarado. Keep talking shit about your captain and you’ll have a different logo on your chest real quick like.”
I was almost done lacing my skates back up. Coach Gizzard didn’t lose his shit often, but when he did, most of us knew not to even look at him the wrong way. Everyone was stressed about Wes. Today was not the day to push Coach, even a little.
Alvarado and I skated our laps, maintaining as much distance as possible. Every trip around the rink gave me time to think about Sariah and my parents. I switched back and forth between them, unable to find a solution for either. I was a hamster on a wheel.
“Rob” could ghost Sariah, but I’d need a new phone number for that to even work. It wasn’t the best option, but I couldn’t figure out a way to tell her that Nash and Rob were one and the same without making her think I was a manipulator and a liar.
Somehow, I had to end this charade. And while the truth would do the trick, it would also cost me any chance I had of dating her.
Why had I let this get so out of hand? I really liked her, and the truth—the real truth—was that Nash and Rob were both a part of me. The fact that she seemed to like down-to-earth, average Rob more than famous Nash said a lot about who she was.
And my parents? Hell. There was no clean way out of that mess, either. But like Sariah, my mom was in the dark, and it wasn’t fair. I wanted to be man enough to make things right with both of them without hurting them in the process.
But how?
After about an hour of skating laps, Coach came and gave us a stern warning, and I went back into the locker room, gassed and not in the mood to do anything but shower, again, and go home to chill with my dogs. When I stepped out of the shower, though, Drew had just finished lifting weights and was waiting for me.
“Hey, you want to get lunch?” he asked.
“Yeah, if it’s quick.”
“The quicker the better. I’m fucking starving.”
“Yeah, let’s do it.”
He lowered his brows and gave me a puzzled look. “Hey, what did Lars mean about Sariah in sales? Are you seeing her?”
I looked over both shoulders, making sure no one was within earshot. Then I explained the Rob/Nash situation to Drew. He was a longtime teammate and I trusted him. He was also a little older than most of the guys on the team, and good at giving advice.
“Shit, man,” he said after hearing the whole story. “You’re in a bind.”
“Tell me about it. I don’t know what to do.”
He seemed to be considering my situation as he put on deodorant. “You’ll have to come clean at some point, right?”
I nodded. “I want to. But her last boyfriend was dishonest, and—”
“Boyfriend?” His brows shot up in surprise. “You want a relationship with her?”
“Yeah,” I said, knowing that I meant it one hundred percent. “I really like her. She’s not about the superficial stuff, you know? Talking to her is like talking to a good friend who happens to be sexy as hell. She’s smart and funny.”
“Dude, that door over there is smarter than your usual women. I’m really glad to see you interested in a woman with some substance. I haven’t been around her much, but she seems great.”
“She is. I just have to figure out how to tell her I’m Rob.”
Drew laughed. “Man, only you would end up in a situation like this.”
“It’s not funny. I can’t sleep at night because I’m so worried about it.”
He clapped me on the shoulder. “We’ll talk it over some more at lunch.”
We finished dressing and headed for the locker room exit. I checked my phone on the way out and saw a new text from Sariah to Rob.