Chapter 23: The Alliance

Raffi found us the next day.

I was in the equipment room, examining my backup stick for any issues, when the door opened. Cassian was right behind him and the look on Raffi’s face told me he had something extremely important to say. He pulled Cassian inside, closed the door and leaned against it.

“I am not here to ask questions.” He said, with a low and serious voice, he did not sound like the easygoing goalie who always cracked jokes. “I am here to tell you that I have got your backs, both of you.” He said, his eyes darting between us. “But you need to be really careful.”

I nodded my head. “We know, we are being careful.”

“You are not being careful enough.” His eyes darted between us again. “Because now, Sloane is getting suspicious. Just yesterday, she cornered me with the camera man, asking me questions about both of you, asking about the ‘chemistry’ you both share.” He exhaled as he shook his head. “She is really observant, she is going to notice.”

All the blood seemed to drain from Cassian’s face as he turned pale. “What do we do now?”

“You have to be more careful than you have been, keep your hands to yourselves in public and trust me to run interference.” Raffi gave us both reassuring pats on the shoulder. “Now, get out of here, you have a game to win tonight.”

He walked out, the door clicking shut behind him.

——-

The equipment room was silent.

Cassian stood in front of me, his face still pale with his hands shoved deep into his pocket. I watched him grit his teeth, I watched him swallow thickly, I watched him process all that Raffi told us.

If Sloane got so suspicious to the point of asking for information from our teammate, then she probably saw something she wasn’t supposed to.

Cassian exhaled shakily. “That was too close.”

“I agree.”

He moved close to me, his eyes were still wide with fear, but there was something else flickering in his eyes; something that seemed like determination.

“We’ll need to be more cautious.”

I nodded. “I also agree with that.”

He moved closer again, close enough for us to touch. But, he didn’t reach out to touch me, and neither did I.

“What if she already knows?” He asked quietly, staring at nothing.

“Then we will deal with it.”

He stared at me with surprise. “You make it sound so simple.”

I looked at the boy who had crashed into my walls and cracked it open; the boy who was scared of being found out but more scared of being alone and unloved.

“It’s not simple; nothing about this whole thing is simple. But whatever happens, we will face it together.”

He stared at me for a long moment, trying to figure out if I meant what I said. Then he smiled, the usual smile that he reserved for me alone.

“Together sounds nice.”

I wanted to kiss him right then, I wanted to pull him close to me, feel his body against mine and forget the existence of Sloane, her cameras, her intrusive questions and her sharp eyes that missed nothing. Raffi was right; we needed to be careful, we couldn’t afford to give Sloane anything she could use against us.

Cassian had the same thoughts because he stepped back, putting spaces between us.

“We should go, we have a game tonight.”

“Yeah.”

He moved towards the door, and I watched him go, watching his hand hover over the door handle.

He stopped and turned to face me.

His eyes met mine, he didn’t speak; he didn’t need to. We stood, ten feet apart from each other; not touching or speaking, but the weight of our unspoken words filled the space between us.

After a long moment, he opened the door and walked out.

I stood in the equipment room for a while, the air smelled like him and the silence pressed down on him, I closed my eyes and breathed it in, pretending he was still here with me.

I thought about what Raffi said, about Sloane figuring things out. She had built a successful career of uncovering stories people kept covered; and we were a story. The question was not whether she would find out, because deep down; we knew she would eventually find out, everyone would eventually find out.

But the real question was what we’d do when that happens.

I walked to the door and opened it.

The hallway was empty, I walked towards the locker room, passing the film room and the corridors that led to the executives office.

I saw him at the end of the hall.

He was resting his head against the wall near the locker room. He looked up when I approached, neither of us moved.

He pushed off the wall and walked towards me, stopping at a respectable distance.

He moved to hold and caress my hand for a short moment before pulling away.

“I’ll always be here.” He whispered.

I watched his walk back towards the locker room, watching as he straightened his shoulder, I watched him become Cassian the player, Cassian the teammate; Cassian, the person the world expected him to be.

When he got to the entrance of the locker room, he looked back, to make one last eye contact with me.

Then we went inside.

I inhaled and exhaled repeatedly in the hallway, forcing myself to go into Captain mode.

I walked into the locker room.

It was loud, filled with the noise of the guys dressing up, taping their sticks and talking about the game ahead.

Cassian was across the room, pulling on his jersey, he didn’t look at me; I took my eyes off him immediately.

As I turned to go to my stall; I felt his eyes on me and I gritted my teeth and clenched my hands as I forced myself to not look back at him.

We were going to be okay, we were going to get through this.

I grabbed my gear and got ready for the game.

And I tried to put my mind off what would happen when Sloane finally figured it out.