Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Cliff didn’t notice anything until he began his cool-down routine on the elliptical. At the halfway mark for the 2017 training camp, the air-conditioning had to work overtime to keep out the early September heat. Despite the slightly larger crowd than they usually had during the season, the gym managed to stay at a decent enough temperature for Cliff to enjoy a faint chill to his sweat as he wound down. The resistance level on his machine eased up with every few steps, enough for him to finally look up and around.

On the stationary bike next to Cliff, Rozy’s cool-down attention seemed focused on the collection of AHL call-ups on the weight-lifting benches and the rookies unsubtly racing each other on the row of treadmills. As such, Cliff turned his attention to the other half of the gym largely populated by the regular players. They should have been working out or finishing up their work-outs, making sure to hit a sustainable pace of pushing themselves without driving their bodies to exhaustion or strain before the season even started.

However, instead of setting a good example for all the potential future teammates, several of the Bears were instead huddled together around a trio of rowing machines and snickering over something on their phones…

…while repeatedly looking over their shoulders at Cliff.

After the third time, Cliff made sure to keep his gaze locked on the slacking group and caught Ryan Carmichael’s eye when he looked over. Carmy froze, then turned to Victor St. Simon and Harrison Connors to start furiously whispering. Cliff couldn’t make out what they were saying over the sounds of three dozen men working out in a heavily air-conditioned room, but he could see and hear the excitement on their faces.

While Cliff wasn’t close enough to figure out what they were talking about, Brad Hammersmith was. The veteran forward rarely bothered to pay attention to the rookie and sophomore players’ bullshit, which made the grimace on his face as he listened to them all the more concerning.

The synchronized nod from Carmy, Simon, and Connors set off alarm bells in Cliff’s head even before the trio got up from their rowing machines to start weaving around the equipment in Cliff’s direction. When Hammy looked over, it was not with an exasperation that would normally assure Cliff he could safely ignore whatever stupidity the kids came to him with; instead, Hammy looked almost sympathetic as he slowly rolled his rowing to a halt.

Fuck.

“Marly!” Connors called as he approached first, phone already held out with something Cliff guessed was about to ruin his day. The fact that Simon was holding up his own phone, clearly recording them, sure didn’t help. “You’ve got to see this!”

“What’s ‘this’, exactly?” Cliff demanded, taking the last few steps on his elliptical before the pedals rotated to a halt.

“Shane Hollander’s girlfriend!”

On the stationary bike next door, Rozy’s feet slipped off the pedals as his head snapped up to the approaching trio.

Frowning at his captain to his side and the younger idiots in front of him, Cliff asked, “What, is he back with Rose Landry or something?”

“No, man!” Connors grinned. “Some chick named Lily.”

“‘Some girl named Lily’?” Rozy asked as he pressed down on the emergency stop on his bike.

“Yeah, and get this — a bunch of texts between her and Shane Hollander just got leaked through the Voyageurs’ team chat!”

Rozy stared in bewilderment at the kids while Cliff’s eyebrows rose.

“Okay, and…?” He gestured to Rozy, who was scrambling for his phone. “So why do you want me to see them? Judging shitting sexts is Rozy’s department.”

“It’s not shitty sexts,” Carmy piped up from his usual spot next to and just behind Simon.

“Though there’s some sexting in here, too,” Connors chipped in gleefully as he practically shoved his phone into Cliff’s face. “But it’s more…well, just read. You’ll see.”

Looking warily between Connors’ phone being presented to him, Simon’s phone recording him, and Carmy crossing his arms and fidgeting behind them all, Cliff sighed and accepted the phone. The kids tended to have decent instincts for what would be a hit online; maybe the comms department would lay off about Cliff’s hands-off approach to social media if he just let someone else get his face on the Internet for him.

Reading aloud for the benefit of Simon’s video, Cliff started going through the texts. “Boiziau — I assumed J. J. Boiziau? Yeah? Alright. Boiziau: ‘You won’t believe this. I was at Capitaine’s place in Montreal to help him pack up for his summer in Ottawa. I was trying to ask him about Rose but he kept dodging the question…’”

^Boiziau
You won’t believe this.

I was at Capitaine’s place in Montreal to help him pack up for his summer in Ottawa. I was trying to ask him about Rose but he kept dodging the question.

He was in the middle of cleaning out the fridge when his mom texted him and he asked me to reply back for him.

At first I thought that since he said he was still in touch with Rose, I would see what they were talking about and try to help him get her back, but I found him texting ANOTHER girl instead and…tabarnak you need to see this:

[See 16 attachments]

“Jesus, how many screenshots did Boiziau take?” Cliff demanded.

“As many as he could in like two minutes or whatever,” Connors dismissed with a wave of his hand.

Rozy leaned over to squint at the screen, and Cliff turned the phone so Rozy could see better. Instead of looking delighted at the prospect of seeing leaked sexts or embarrassing texts from his sworn rival, Rozy appeared as uneasy as Cliff felt. “These are from…three months ago?”

“The Voyageurs were talking about it three months ago,” Connors explained, sounding exasperated that they weren’t getting to whatever he deemed to actually be interesting about all this. “But I guess one of them took screenshots a month or two later to show his WAG and then she later sent them to a friend who then put it online? I don’t fucking know, man, that’s not the funny part.”

“Oh, there’s a funny part?” Rozy demanded, sounding oddly irritable.

“Yeah, man, if you keep going!”

Rozy got off the bike like Cliff expected, but instead of coming in closer to read over Cliff’s shoulder, he pulled away while typing into his phone with a level of visible frustration Cliff hadn’t seen since early last year. Rozy texted coaches and staff with bored professionalism, he texted hook-ups and teammates with amusement, and he texted Montreal Jane with affection that he denied despite the grin on his face when Cliff called him out on it. Frustration was a pretty rare sight, and one Cliff hadn’t seen since a few weeks before Rozy’s dad died. Fuck, was that shitty family still bothering him? Cliff might have to keep an eye on that.

Later, though — right now, he had to get through whatever fuckery the kids were pulling.

Lily
Sorry, I had to mute all notifications on my phone for a while.

My brother realized I was serious about cutting him off and started calling me from other phone numbers.

You
^{11:19 PM}
Oh shit. Are you okay?

Lily
I’m fine. They are just phone calls.

You
What if he escalates? Starts trying to show up in person?

What kind of security do you have on your house?

Lily
😂

Don’t worry. He is coward and will not come here.

You
Excuse me for being concerned that the guy who assaulted you at your father’s fucking funeral might try to do it again.

Lily
He TRIED to assault me

He failed. I fought back.

You
How the fuck is that supposed to be better?

Lily
It’s fine. Russian families are just built different. Stop worrying.

You
Bullshit

And you know what? I don’t even care if it is normal over there.

The only time I’ve seen you cry was just from thinking about your father and your brother.

I’ve never heard you that scared before.

Lily
And my father is dead now and my brother is a coward on the other side of the world, so you never will hear it again.

You
I hope you’re right. But I’m still considering flying out to Russia to pay your brother a visit anyway.

Lily
You would get lost just trying to get out of airport.

You
Guess you better step up your Russian lessons then.

🙂

Lily
😂 Nyet. 😘

“Wait, what the fuck?” Cliff looked up at Simon and Connors in alarm; he would have turned his glare on the third asshole, too, but at least Carmy had the decency to look uncomfortable. “How the fuck is this supposed to be funny?”

“I mean, that part isn’t, it’s just there.” Connors made a cycling motion with his hand, beckoning Cliff to keep going. “Ignore that, keep going.”

“Hollander’s girlfriend might be in actual danger and you want me to just ‘ignore that’?” Cliff asked incredulously.

“I doubt it matters,” Rozy offered, looking at Cliff with a confusing amount of incomprehension. Why was Rozy confused? Did he really hate Hollander so much that he assumed Cliff wouldn’t care about some WAG’s safety? Cliff always thought the rivalry was exaggerated for PR and ticket sales, but maybe not.

“And why wouldn’t it matter?” Cliff challenged.

“Because these texts are all from several months ago.” Rozy rolled his eyes. “I doubt anyone is in danger any time soon.”

Sucking in his lips and clenching his jaw, Cliff nodded. “Yeah, that tracks.” Or at least he sure hoped it did.

Satisfied that Cliff had calmed down, Rozy turned back to whatever his frantic texting and e-mailing was about.

Lily
Looking forward to losing?

You
I don’t know, are you?

Lily
😂

You
Come over to my condo after the game?

Lily
Looking forward to consoling you for your loss

You
Fuck you.

Lily
Later 😘

You
How was your flight?

Lily
SOMEONE STOLE MY BAG!!!

Never mind, found it, idiot moved it while I was in bathroom

You
Glad to hear it. But you’re always welcome to use my stuff, too.

I have some Voyageurs sweatpants that would look great on you

Lily
🤮

You
🤣

Lily
🖕

“Hollander’s girlfriend is a Bears fan?” Cliff asked. He could see how that might be a little funny, but he didn’t get why the kids were snickering so much…or why they brought the texts to him, specifically. Rozy was the team captain, surely whatever stupid video they were hoping to get would be better with the captain reacting to all this than the alternate captain?

“Yeah, man!” St. Simon grinned behind his recording phone. “Pike calls her ‘Boston Lily,’ so that’s probably why.”

Rozy scoffed, still slowly edging away while he texted furiously on his own phone.

“So what?” Rozy demanded. “Our city’s girls have good taste. How is that news?”

The three kids made matching noises of indignation while Connors jabbed his finger towards his own phone in Cliff’s hand. With a resigned sigh, Cliff kept reading.

Lily
oh god

I could fucking hear something cracking

please tell me you’re okay

fuck solnyshko please be okay

пожалуйста будь в порядке

^{Mar 10 at 12:38AM}

no one even knows to tell me anything and none of the news is saying anything and I don’t know what’s going on please be okay you have to be okay

^{1:19 AM}
не бросай меня, ты не можешь так меня бросить.

^{2:06 AM}
even if you walk away again that’s better than this

^{3:27 AM}
as soon as you get your phone back and see these messages please call me text me send a pigeon I don’t care

^{4:03 AM}
please be okay

Cliff couldn’t keep reading.

“How…how is this supposed to be funny?!” He demanded, squeezing the phone tight as he glared up at the kids. “That— I— that hit was a fucking accident and I could’ve hurt him for good!”

“Maybe we should have skipped to the funny parts…” Carmy mumbled.

In front of Carmy, Connors and St. Simon grimaced. “Sorry, man. Look, Hollzy’s alright, and that’s not the important part—”

“How is this not important?” Cliff slammed his free hand down on the dashboard of the elliptical. “This poor woman was terrified. I already felt bad enough about the hit, you don’t need to—”

“Just keep going!” St. Simon said. “He’s fine, she’s fine, the funny part is coming up!”

Scowling, Cliff instead turned to Rozy. “There’s some— well, I think it’s Russian? Same alphabet.” Forcing his fingers to loosen up on Connors’ phone, he held it out to Rozy. “Is it Russian?”

Rozy looked up from his own phone with wariness. He barely glanced down and didn’t even seem to look at the texts before he nodded, his own jaw tight as his own phone started vibrating like crazy with responses from whoever he was texting.

“Can you translate?” Cliff asked.

Taking a bracing breath, Rozy leaned forward to skim the texts.

“First line just says ‘please be okay.’” Rozy’s voice sounded oddly dull, clearly rattled about Hollzy’s girlfriend’s reaction to the hit as Cliff was. Cliff hadn’t been able to go to the hospital, but Rozy had gone on his behalf and passed on his apologies, had seen the effects of Cliff’s hit up close and in person right when the bruising would have been at its worst. Rozy had promised that Hollander didn’t hold it against Cliff, but had he been lying? “The second line says…” He grimaced. “‘Don't leave me—you can't just leave me like this.’”

Cliff hissed. “Fuck, that’s…” Shaking his head, he glared right at St. Simon’s camera. “Seriously, what the fuck?”

“Just keep going!” Connors demanded. “It gets better, we swear!”

Rozy outright cringed at that, while Cliff debated just shoving the phone back at them and bailing out of this entire…whatever it was.

But while the kids were stupid at times — stupid enough to make Cliff and Rozy look like they’d been geniuses in their own rookie years — these kids weren’t cruel. They wouldn’t have started this entire spontaneous reaction video just to make fun of a girl scared for her boyfriend’s safety.

At the very least, they’d actually told Cliff about this immediately. Even if Cliff did stop their recording right now, if these texts were really public then Cliff would probably have to release some kind of statement anyway. Better to know ahead of time than to get blindsided whenever his manager called him about this.

“It better be,” Cliff warned, and resumed reading the texts aloud.

You
I got my phone back!!!

Lily
I thought you’re not supposed to be looking at screens

You
Bt I wanna talk to you :(

I know we just saw each other but I miss you already

I wanna pet you so bad right now

I miss your voice

I miss your fingers

I miss your hair

I miss your you

Lily
I see they still have you on good drugs

You
Yeah and I feel FINE so everyone can stop worrying

Lily
no 😘

You
I really was looking forward to seeing you after the game

I’m as sad at missing that

As I am sad at missing the playoffs.

Lily
so am I

fuck Marlow

You
Aww, he’s not your favorite anymore?

Lily
LEAST favorite now 😤

You
I mean at least he feels bad. I believe him when he says he didn’t mean to hurt me.

Lily
so do I

I just don’t care

he still DID hurt you

he should watch where he’s going

You
😂

So you’re not going to get custom Bears lingerie with a 7 on it, then?

Lily
no

I’ll get one for every other number on the team though 😘

You
That’s an awful lot of money to spend on kindling.

Lily
I thought that was bad for environment. Burning clothing and fabric.

You
I will shred them.

Lily
With your bare hands? 🥺🥵👐

You
With a blender.

Lily
It’s not like that could make your stupid smoothies any WORSE 🤮🤮🤮

You
My smoothies aren’t that bad.

Lily
Yes they are

You
My mom’s yelling at me to get off the screens. Call me later?

Lily
Da. I have stupid meetings but I am free in two hours.

You
Looking forward to it

Cliff froze before he swiped over to the next set of screenshots, blinking down at the screen.

“I…” He looked up at the kids, stunned. “I was her favorite?”

This must be the funny part that the kids were looking forward to, because all three burst out laughing with vigorous nodding. “Shane Hollander isn’t just dating a Bears fan, he’s dating a Cliff Marleau fan!”

St. Simon looked red in the face with the effort of holding his phone steady through his laughter while the other two guys just bent over entirely.

Cliff, meanwhile, just felt sick. He looked over to Rozy, who matched with a bewildered grimace of his own.

“Fuck…” He scrubbed a hand down his face, palm and cheeks tacky with dried sweat. “This…okay, look, I get why you guys think this is funny, but it really sucks for me. You get that, right? Why I might not actually think it’s funny that I disappointed my own fan?”

The cheer faded off of Carmy’s face as Cliff talked, while Connors just shook his head.

“You’re barely halfway through, Marly, and they’re both fine, now. You seriously don’t think it’s funny that Rozy’s enemy number one is dating a fan of yours?”

“Why am I involved in this?” Rozy demanded, looking back down at his phone.

“Rozy, don’t you think it’s funny?” St. Simon tried. “This is just so much free chirping material, straight from the Voyageurs’ group chat!”

Pursing his lips, Rozy just waved a free hand back towards Cliff.

“You said it was going to get better,” Cliff accused Connors. “This is not better, this is making me feel worse!”

Connors reached over to pat Cliff’s shoulder consolingly. Cliff couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be mocking or not.

“Marly, seriously, she’s mad about it but this was all months ago, she’s not scared anymore.”

Eying the number of screenshots remaining, Cliff said, “Still mad?”

“Yeah…” With a wince, Carmy uncrossed his arms to fidget with his neck towel. “Uh, she might not be a fan of yours anymore…?”

“Maybe she’ll be one of our fans, next!” St. Simon tried. “What do you say, Lily? Want some custom Bears lingerie with ‘21’ on it?”

Rozy palmed his face in exasperation while Cliff sighed. “Do I really have to keep reading this?”

“YES!” the three kids all shouted, startling half the gym out of their various cool-down routines. A rookie fell off his treadmill entirely, and Rozy shook his head despondently at the sight while nodding at Connors’ phone in Cliff’s hand. “You might as well get it over with, now.”

At least someone felt as bad about this as Cliff did.

You
Preliminary prognosis is good!

Except I’m currently looking at at least another 10 weeks in the sling, maybe 12.

Lily
that’s three months :(

You
Yeah it sucks. My parents are hovering and it’s nice…but also so hard to just get a moment to breathe you know?

Lily
I was so scared when you went down on the ice, they must have been terrified.

You
I know. That’s what I keep telling myself.

I just really have to tell myself that a LOT sometimes.

Lily
they love you.

You
Doesn’t make it less frustrating when they get like this.

Lily
let them take care of you. Especially since I can’t.

You
I’ll try.

It’s just hard when they won’t leave me alone

Lily
maybe get alone time but with regular check-ins? They leave you alone for a day as long as you text every other hour or something.

you get easy routine and they know you’re okay or w to check if youhen’re not okay.

You
That’s a good idea. I’ll try that.

Spasibo!

Lily
😘 pazhalujsta

You
I can’t believe I’ve got another two months in this stupid sling. I already hate it.

I think this will be the longest I’ve gone without skating since I hit puberty.

Lily
poor baby

focus on getting back into shape so you can hit ice running

or if that’s too far away, just focus on staying safe and recovering for me 😉

You
That feels a little more doable.

Concussion is gone, and last of black eye and cracked nose are healed over.

I’m off the strong painkillers from the hospital, just acetaminophen now.

I’m a little more sore now, but my head is a lot clearer so I’m not gonna try to refill the pain med prescription.

Lily
I wish I could take the pain away

just scoop it all out and throw it into sea

pick out every…drop? Piece?…of pain myself

You
Thank you.

And I don’t know what to call it either.

Technically, pain isn’t a physical thing you can hold, it’s a signal in the brain.

It’s all in our heads, biologically speaking.

The brain just interprets those signals as pain, but pain itself is not a physical object that can be measured in drops or anything.

So sadly nothing for you to pick out and throw away.

Lily
then I’ll suck your brains out through your dick 😤

no brain no pain

You
😂 yeah that might work

You
Wish I could see you now.

Lily
We will see each other in the summer

but I wish I was with you, too

would have to get creative right now but I can think of a few things to still have fun

You
I mean with the sling, I’m already halfway tied up anyway.

Lily
😈

You
😂

Just find something new to tie me up with this time.

Lily
you weren’t so upset the last time

in fact you were begging me to fuck you harder

You
Yeah, until I realized you used MY TIE.

I liked that tie :(

Lily
didn’t you get it fixed at dry cleaners?

You
Yeah, but now I can’t wear it to events anymore.

Lily
why? Did we ruin it after all?

You
Worse, I can’t put it on without getting hard.

Lily
😘

what’s your favorite belt? I’ll ruin that next 😈

You
🖕

Lily
🤣🤣🤣

okay okay will find something new to tie you up with

maybe Marly’s guts

You
Ew

That sounds slippery.

And seriously, how are you madder at him than I am? I’m the one that was injured!

Lily
and I’m the one who had to watch you collapse on the ice and couldn’t do anything about it

stupid fucking Pike got to punch him in the face :(

You
Wait are you mad at Hayden for punching Marleau?

Lily
He should have hit harder!

I am not surprised 15th worst metro can’t throw a punch

You
He nearly got a game suspension as it was, leave him alone.

Lily
no 😘

Cliff couldn’t help the slight — and slightly hysterical — chuckle, even if he was basically reading threats towards himself.

“Okay, I take it these are the terrible sexts that Rozy would normally be judging?” Cliff asked. He turned to Rozy to get something funny, but to his surprise Rozy waved him off, stepping away entirely to read something on his phone with a truly concerning concentration. Was everything alright with his family? Was Montreal Jane okay?

Cliff desperately wanted to ask, but not on camera for a video that St. Simon was almost definitely going to post online. He shelved his questions for later and instead turned to the camera.

“Well, Lily, if we ever get to meet, I’ll give you a freebie.” He waved his free hand in the direction of his face. “Sounds like you’ve earned it. Even if you’re understandably feeling a little sour on me, right now, I hope you remain a Bears fan.”

“Oh, she definitely is!” Carmy offered with a grin, hands tugging on both ends of his neck towel.

“Apparently, Hollander is a bit of a freak in the sheets.” St. Simon actually stepped closer, as if the zoom function on his camera was not enough to capture Cliff’s reactions for posterity. “And so’s Lily.”

“What does that have to do with her being a Bears fan?” Cliff could not possibly be getting out of touch with the youth already, could he? These kids weren’t even a decade younger than him!

Rather than answer, Connors just pointedly looked down at his phone again.

You
How are your ribs?

Lily
Killing me. How's your head?

You
Better.

Lily
Good.

You
Are you bummed?

Lily
About the cup?

You
Yeah.

Lily
What do you think.

You
My mom thinks the Admirals are going to win.

Lily
No way. Scott Hunter is 100 000 years old.

You
He's not that old.

Lily
And he's almost as boring as you.

You
At least you have a type.

Lily
😂

Lily
What is he doing?

You
I don't know...?

Lily
[IMAGE: Over a dozen cardstock-wrapped blister packs strewn across the seat of a black leather couch. The packs have white sides with black text reading, "LUCY NICOTINE GUM -- Gomme de Nicotine." The tagline under reads, "For smoking cessation / Pour la cessation du tabagisme." The edges of the packages are in a variety of colors, with a small matching rectangle on the front face showing a flavor. The flavors are Mint, Mango, Berry Citrus, Wintergreen, Pomegranate, and Cinnamon. In the upper right corner of every package is a square reading, "4mg."

Ready for the cottage.

You
Glad you got it. :)

Try them all out to see which flavors you like. We’ll find one you’ll enjoy and actually keep using.

And if that doesn’t work, we’ll try patches or find some other options.

Lily
Not those things you put on gums under teeth. I tried those and hated it.

You
Duly noted, no pouches. Do you have a routine that usually precedes smoking?

I’ve been reading about quitting. When people have it built into their routine, it helps to find substitutes or alternatives to replace the other physical motions that smoking used.

Things like finding something to occupy your hands with, or doing other things with your mouth. It’s why a lot of former smokers suck on lollipops or chew a lot of gum all the time.

Lily
I know something else you can put in my mouth 😏

You
jfc

You need to be kept on a leash.

Lily
YES PLEASE 😍

You
Wait no

That wasn’t an encouragement 😂

Lily
Does that mean you DONT want to see me in a leash? 😏

You
I’ll see if the Voyageurs’ gift shop sells any. 😇

Lily
🤢

If they do, I’m sure the Bears will too. I’ll buy one for you.

You
😂🖕

But seriously, I want to help you quit for good.

Lily
🙄 I’m not dead yet.

You
And I would like to keep it that way. Preferably forever, or as close as I can get.

You
Check your e-mail. I sent you a copy of the recurring grocery order. Let me know if I missed anything or if you want me to add anything.

Lily
Thank you. You don’t have to do all this extra work.

You
It’s not extra work. Wouldn’t want you to go hungry, especially not when we’re working up an appetite. 😁

Lily
😈

You
I don’t want to miss anything.

Lily
We can just get it later.

And we’re both millionaires, we can just order in. 🙄

In the very very unlikely event you forget something I will just order McDonalds on DoorDash.

You
McDonalds???

Lily
Even Russia has McDonalds, don’t pretend Canada doesn’t.

You
I can do better than fucking MCDONALDS. 🤢

You know what, fuck this, I’m adding all the ingredients for burgers to the grocery order. I have a grill.

Lily
Do you have a deep well of apathy and disdain to deep-fry french fries in?

You
🤦

Lily
it’s not the same without fries salted by sweat of overworked teenagers and middle-aged divorcées who will call up the next customer over your corpse if you drop dead in their order line.

You
wtf

you know what, never mind, I don’t want to know

JJ’s about to come here to help me pack up. Text me if there’s anything you want me to add, or I’ll call after he leaves.

Lily
okay

^Unread

Lily
Please add cottage cheese, porridge, and more berries.

“At least she’s still a Bears fan,” Cliff muttered, shaking his head as he reached what looked to be the last of the screenshots. “I didn’t turn her off the Bears completely.”

Who even was this woman? Presumably, she’d come to Bears games before; had any of them met her? Had Cliff met her?

His gut burned at this strange contrast of knowing so much about this mystery woman without really knowing who she was or even what she looked like.

And given how much of her personal shit had apparently been blasted for the world to see, Lily and Hollander were probably not rushing to announce her identity any time soon.

St. Simon seemed happy with whatever he had. The phone had stopped recording, and he was gleefully typing up caption ideas on his phone. To Cliff’s other side, Rozy seemed to be typing just as frantically, but definitely not happily. Hopefully, this leak of texts from Lily wouldn’t distract Roz from anything important going on with Jane or his family.

“Where did these texts even come from?” Cliff asked, finally stepping off his stupid elliptical to plant his feet firmly on the floor. “They might just be fake.” God, please, let them be fake.

“They’re from the Voyageurs’ chat!” Connors crowed. “Boiziau shared them with the team to try to help Hollander.”

“Help him with what?” Cliff asked. “He’s got a girlfriend, and it sounds like they spent the summer together.”

Carmy grimaced. “Yeah, but…a lot of them are not happy with their captain ‘sleeping with the enemy.’”

“Sleeping with the enemy?” Cliff quoted incredulously. “Seriously? What do they think this is, Game of Thrones?”

“Yeah, and the winner gets a throne made of hockey sticks instead of melted swords,” St. Simon offered distractedly.

Rozy’s texting slowed down. Cliff had honestly expected him to leave by now, to run off and deal with whatever emergency plagued Jane or his family. Instead, Rozy leaned in and asked, “You said leaks are from Voyageurs’ chat. If they are not happy with their captain getting laid, what are they saying?”

St. Simon’s thumbs froze while Connors and Carmy shared an anxious look.

“That’s…not as funny?” Connors finally offered.

To Cliff’s surprise, now Rozy seemed finally interested in all these leaked texts about Hollander. “I did not ask what they are not saying. I asked what they are saying.”

Since he was still holding Connors’ phone, Cliff tapped the screen to get the back icon visible and tried that. The collection of screenshots was from some TMZ ‘article’ which conveniently separated their collection of leaked texts into separate albums, one for Hollander’s texts with Lily and another for the Voyageurs’ team chat leaks.

Holding out the phone to Rozy, Cliff merely answered, “This.”