Chapter Twenty-One

Dan’s neighbors didn’t seem inclined to let him sleep the next morning. He shuffled further under his duvet, scrubbing at his hair with a hand. He really needed a shower, needed to shed the Olympics from his body and mind, but the bed was warm, and he hadn’t had the opportunity to sleep in for days.

He stretched out, hand knocking into his phone, ignoring the urge to turn it on. It was a routine he took every morning but knowing what would be on there wasn’t worth thinking about until he’d had several cups of coffee.

The neighbors’ kids were screaming, and Dan made a face, rolling over and swinging his legs off the bed, rubbing his toes into the carpet. He’d have to get Bear from his sitter, needing company in the house. His cleaner had been in, and though Dan had never considered himself the kind of guy to need a cleaner He spent so much time away from home it was necessary.

The coffee maker would take its time to start up, so Dan swiped his phone from the bed and padded back out to the kitchen, leaning against the counter and booted up his phone. Better to get it over with, coffee or no coffee.

Predictably, Kayla, Max, and Ian had all sent questions about his choices, Kayla going on longer than was probably necessary, so they were easy to ignore. Rafael sent him a thumbs up, telling him he was skipping practice, and even Ian had sent, fuck it, I’m not going either.

The world really was going to shit.

Dan’s mother had also sent a shit ton of messages. Without reading them, he hit the call button.

“When I call you,” she said, after only one ring, “I expect you to pick up straight away.”

“I wasn’t being traded,” Dan said, picking at a loose thread on his sweatpants. “If I was, you wouldn’t be the only person calling me.”

Dan had double-checked, wanting to be sure that his mother was just exerting her influence and didn’t have any actual news to impart.

“Daniel,” she said, tone heavy with disapproval.

Dan hated the way she said his full name, especially with the way Bobby said it ringing in his ears. God, he really didn’t need to think about Bobby right now. “Mother. Did you have anything important to say or do you just wanna yell at me some more?”

“I don’t know where this attitude has come from,” Maryse said, with the air of someone who did, in fact, know where it had come from and was doing Dan a favor by not bringing it up. “But I want it to stop.”

“You’re fired.”

There was a heavy silence, and Dan had to clutch at the counter to keep upright. His knees felt wobbly. Fuck.

“If this is a joke, it’s not a very good one.” His mother’s tone was dangerous, low, but Dan wasn’t afraid of her. He was afraid of what he was doing, but he had spent too long letting fear keep her in his life.

Dan took a deep breath, swallowed, and thought of the many times Kayla and Ian had told him to ditch her. “I’m not joking, mom. You’re fired. I have a new agent lined up.”

“Daniel.”

“It’s Dan. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, I am grateful. But I need to live my own life now.”

“Is this because of that boy?” His mother spat.

“This happened long before that,” Dan said, too tired to get angry at her assumptions. “Bobby wasn’t part of the plan, probably won’t ever be, but I don’t want to pretend I’m happy when I’m not.”

It was more than he meant to tell her, didn’t want to give her any more information than was necessary.

“I’ll give you time to reconsider.” His mother sounded deceptively calm. “I’m sure you’ll return once you see sense. Hopefully a few days away from Calgary’s influences.”

Dan wanted to laugh. His mother had been the first to press on him the importance of going to the Olympics—of getting a medal—and now he had done both, gold at that, and he hadn’t heard any congratulations, had only heard comments and criticism about his choices.  

His mother hung up the phone, and Dan stared at the screen, deleting all her messages without reading them. He wouldn’t be crawling back to her, not now, and would need to draft a letter instead. She couldn’t ignore one of those.

Dan: Ian, who’s your agent?

Dan sent it to the family chat deliberately, aware that it would drive them all crazy to hear it through text, but Dan didn’t want to have the conversation more than once. Almost at once, he got four messages in quick succession.

Max: Fuck, did you ditch Mom????

Ian: I’ll send you his number.

Ian: WAIT DOES THIS MEAN WHAT I THINK IT MEANS

Kayla: Dan, I’m so proud of you!!!!!!!

Rubbing at his eyes, Dan grinned. Telling them he was serious, that he’d explain in person at some point, but he had things to do, he made himself a large mug of coffee. The Manhattan Hunters team would give him time to find a new agent, no deals needing to be worked out just yet. He couldn’t put his next plan into action without an agent—and hopefully, one who wouldn’t drop him the instant they knew what his plan was—and could get them to talk to the Hunters front office.

Hovering over Bobby’s name, Dan debated whether he should try and get through to Bobby again. Bobby had read the few messages he had sent but hadn’t replied to any of them. Dan didn’t blame him, winced when he thought back to that last day in the lobby, walking out to talk with his mom without saying anything, and not even fighting to explain himself.

He’d given up on Bobby before they’d even really started.

Dan: I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting to meet you at the Olympics. It wasn’t planned but I wouldn’t change it. I want to be the person you always saw in me.

It wasn’t everything that Dan wanted to say. Perhaps he would find the courage to write those words out, but to be the kind of person Bobby was hoping he would be, Dan had to be the kind of person he wanted to be.

The agent he needed to do that was out there somewhere, Dan just had to find him.