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“B-but—” I stutter, but he cuts me off before I can get my question out.
“By his father,” he explains. “We were…fuck.” He drags his hand down his face, shaking his head at the memory. “We were fooling around in the trainers’ room after hours and, well, for some fucking reason, he decided to throw the door open and walk in. Caught us red-handed.”
“Fuck. What was he doing there?”
“I can only assume he was there for no other reason than to catch us. He never made a habit of spending time anywhere but up in the front office.”
“He knew?”
Cooper shrugs. “I think so. Not sure when he figured it out. But that day he caught us? That was the end.”
“It came out two days later that I’d been traded, and, well, I guess the rest is history.”
“Shit. Have you seen him since?”
“Nope.”
“Spoken to him?”
He shakes his head.
“Fucking hell. That’s brutal.”
He shrugs one shoulder. “It is what it is. A reminder that I can’t have that kind of life.”
“That’s bullshit, and you know it. Everyone deserves—”
My words die the second his eyes land on mine.
“My life is hockey, Garrett. That’s my focus. There is no other option for me.”
“But—”
“There is no but. I let my judgment slip with Leo. But it won’t happen again. I can’t put my career at risk like that.”
My chest aches at the conviction in his tone.
If I had any delusions about what this could be, then he’s successfully just eradicated them.
“I have two little boys who look up to me like I’m the best person in the world. I refuse to do anything to disappoint them.”
“Cooper—”
“Don’t. Please,” he begs, his eyes turning back to mine, silently pleading with me to leave it there.
“I—”
This time, it’s the doorbell that cuts through my words.
“I’ll go and get that,” Cooper says before pushing from the couch and walking out of the room, his shoulders slumped.
The second he’s disappeared, I let my head fall back as thoughts race through my mind.
Crazy things like…
Did Cooper love him?
Does he miss him?
