Then I motioned him over to the hallway and into a conference room. He closed the door, and I wondered if I should be worried, but then reminded myself that this was Alex’s brother.
“Have you talked to Alex?” he asked as soon as he turned from the door. Confused, my brow furrowed and my head tipped.
“Not since last night. Why?”
He blew out a heavy breath. “He asked me to come talk to you.”
“Why? He could have called me himself,” I said, even more confused.
“He wasn’t sure if you’d be able to answer your phone.”
“Well, he was right, and I’d actually told him that might be the case when we spoke last night. Is he okay? No one said anything about any of the players getting hurt or being sick,” I said with worry lacing my words.
“He’s okay.” He grimaced and palmed his face.
“Then why aren’t you acting like he’s okay?”
“He asked me to tell you not to look at social media and the internet in general. He wanted me to come in person so you would understand how important it was.” He looked a mix of pissed and worried, with a muscle ticking in his jaw. It didn’t make a lot of sense, and his telling me not to do something only made me want to do it more. It also made me suspicious.
“Why?” I asked with narrowed eyes.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “I promised not to say anything. He wanted to talk to you about it when he got back, but he’s stuck in the middle of this week-long road trip. He said to tell you he’s calling you tonight and to please answer.”
Unease began to settle in my chest. “What. Happened?” I bit out. I crossed my arms in front of me defensively. The poor guy looked so torn, but I wasn’t in the mood to be empathetic to his indecision or misery.
“I’m sorry. I can’t say. Just know that he said nothing happened and there’s absolutely nothing to worry about,” he said firmly, as his eyes pleaded with me to drop the subject and let him leave. Don’t shoot the messenger and all that, I guess.
“Nothing happened?” Those words alone told me I wouldn’t like whatever had happened that made its way to social media. That would be the only reason he wanted me to stay off it.
The problem with all of this was that Alex and I were essentially fuck buddies. We weren’t in a relationship. Sure, he’d taken me on a sweet almost-date when he’d taught me to skate, but other than that, we were nothing to each other. Yet, the thought of him doing something that could be interpreted as something he shouldn’t have done, well, it hurt.
Badly.
“Please, Sydney. Just do as he asked, and he’ll explain it all. I fucking hate being stuck in the middle like this, but he’s my brother.” His body language screamed that he was ready to explode, but he was holding it together. It made me wonder if whatever Alex had done didn’t sit well with him either.
Knowing I wouldn’t get an answer from the somewhat growly man, I decided to let him off the hook. But I hadn’t made any promises to him yet.
“Fine,” I said, keeping my agreement vague.
Except the man wasn’t falling for it. “Do I have your promise to wait for him to explain? I know it’s a lot to ask, but I’m trying to help the guy out. Which you need to know says something.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask what he meant by that, but his expression told me not to ask. Rolling my eyes, I huffed. “Actually, I can’t promise that. My job requires me to post things for the foundation on our social media. Not to mention, what makes you think that whatever the hell it is will be something I’ll be willing to deal with now or after he explains?”
“Fair enough.”
I showed him out, but he stopped before he let the door close. The sunlight was nearly blinding me as I waited to see what he had to say. “For what it’s worth, I hope to see you around.”
Then he left.
Lost in thought, I stood there watching him walk out to the motorcycle parked out front.
It wasn’t until he was riding off that I realized I’d never argued the fact that Alex and I didn’t have an actual relationship. There shouldn’t be a reason for him to worry about anything.
Should there?
I’d had dinner, begged off to my