Heated Rivalry (Game Changers #2)(62)

“Good. I will be back by end of week,” he said stiffly.

“You should take more time.”

Ilya snorted. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Stop. I’m being serious.”

More silence.

“I’m so sorry, Ilya.” He didn’t know what else to say.

Ilya didn’t reply, but Shane could hear a sharp sniff, and then a tight, throaty noise.

“Ilya—”

“I will be back in a few days. I should go.”

“All right.”

“Goodbye, Hollander.”

“Wait,” Shane said, way too loudly.

Ilya waited.

“Just...call me, all right? If you need to talk. Or text me. Whatever. But... I’ll listen. I want to help, if I can.”

Ilya was silent for a moment. “You did. Thank you.”

He ended the call.

Shane leaned back against the wall and blew out a breath.

Two days later—Buffalo

Shane hadn’t really been expecting to hear from Ilya again. He was surprised when, after his game in Buffalo, he received a text.

Lily: Are you alone?
Shane stood up, mumbled a hasty reason for leaving to Hayden, and went out to the stairwell.

Shane: Yes.
Lily: Can I call you?
Shane: Yes.
His phone rang and Shane answered it immediately. The stairwell was silent and empty. He leaned against the wall of the landing below his floor.

“How are you doing?” he asked, not even bothering with hello.

“I feel like... I don’t know. Bad.”

“How’s your family treating you?”

Ilya gave a dark laugh. “Like I should not be here.”

“That’s ridiculous. He was your father.”

“Yes, well.” There was a pause and Shane waited. “I am paying for everything, so that makes me...of use.”

“How’s your—I mean, how’s his wife?”

“Upset. But not about my father. Everybody thinks so, but no. She is scared for herself.”

“Because there’s no money?”

“Yes. That.”

“What about you? Are you...upset?”

Ilya sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe about the wrong thing.”

“You wish things could have been different?” Shane guessed.

“I wish... I wanted him to... I don’t know.” He sighed again. “English is too hard today.”

“I’m sorry. I wish I spoke Russian.”

“You could probably learn it in a week,” Ilya grumbled. “Perfect. No accent.”

Shane laughed. “I don’t think so.” He was about to ask if Ilya had anyone there in Moscow that he could talk to, but it was pretty obvious that he didn’t. Why else would he be calling Shane?

“Where are you right now?” he asked instead.

“Walking. A park. I needed to get out.”

“Cold?”

“Fucking freezing.”

Shane was suddenly struck by a ridiculous idea. Or maybe it was a brilliant idea. He decided to share it before his brain had a chance to figure out which.

“Tell me everything you want to say,” he said. “In Russian. I won’t understand but...maybe it will help?”

There was a silence that was long enough for Shane to physically cringe at himself. He was about to take it back, when he heard Ilya quietly say, “Okay.”

The next several minutes were filled with Ilya’s voice, sounding more animated and flustered than Shane had ever heard him. He was used to Ilya saying more with a teasing smile or a calculating look than with actual words. But now it was like a dam had burst, and Shane sat himself on the stairs and let it wash over him.

Without the ability to translate any of it, Shane could just enjoy the sound of Ilya’s voice, which he barely recognized now. The words were so quick and confident, unrestricted by Ilya having to carefully piece together his sentences like when he spoke English. It felt intimate—like they were somehow sharing a bigger secret now than when they slept together.

And there was something undeniably sexy about hearing Ilya speak so fluidly in his mother tongue.

When he was finished, Ilya gave an embarrassed-sounding little laugh and said, “I am done.”

It was jarring to hear him switch suddenly back to English. Shane felt his head clear like he was waking from a dream.

“Feel better?” he asked.

“Yes. Thank you.”

Shane lowered his voice and said, “Maybe you could teach me Russian someday.”

“Only useful phrases,” Ilya said. Shane could practically hear his crooked smile. Then Ilya purred something in Russian.

“What does that mean?” Shane asked.

“Get on your knees.”

“Oh.” Shane quickly scanned the stairwell again to make sure he was still alone. He was already more aroused than he should be after listening to Ilya pour his heart out. “And what other useful phrases could you teach me?”

Ilya laughed. “I can think of many, Hollander.”

Shane shifted on the stairs. “I wish you were here now.”

Shane couldn’t believe he had actually allowed himself to say that out loud. They didn’t wish to be together. They reluctantly hooked up when they were in the same city because it was something to do.