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“I’m here to save your life, baby,” she told him tearfully, kissing him on the side of the head as he scanned the room.
Coach Russell, Coach Hastings, Osi, Rizz, Hughesy, Halloway, Nico Marody, who was the Islanders GM, TK’s father, and a man that Hayes didn’t recognize were all seated around the conference table.
“Please have a seat, gentlemen,” Coach Russell said gently, as Trevor tried again to guide his brother toward the table.
“Come on, baby. It’s OK,” April said, leading Hayes to the table and reaching out to grab Ryan’s hand with her free one.
Hayes turned to look at TK, who was still struggling against his brother. “Teek? Hey? It’s…time. Come on.”
“They’re gonna split us up,” TK whimpered, staring at Hayes. “Don’t let them split us up. I can’t be away from you, baby.”
Ryan rolled his eyes.
He’s not your fucking baby.
“Sit down, Travis,” Marody ordered sternly. “You’re out of options. This is your only chance to save what’s left of your career. I highly suggest you take this seriously.”
Trevor led his brother to the seat next to his father and he immediately slumped forward onto the table, sobbing into his arms. His father placed a hand on his back and rubbed gently. “It’s OK, son. You’re gonna be OK.”
Hayes, Ryan, and April sat down at the opposite side of the table from TK and his family. Hayes sat in between his mom and his boyfriend, holding each of their hands as he watched TK continuing to break down. “Teek?” he called to him from across the table, causing him to lift his head. “We’re gonna be OK. Alright?”
“Ty,” he whimpered, his own eyes begging Hayes’s for some reassurance, some clarity, some inkling as to how the hell they’d ended up here and some sort of guarantee that they’d make it out alive.
The man neither of them recognized stood up and spoke slowly. “Tyler? Travis? My name is Jeff Monroe and I’m an intervention counselor…”
“Nope. Uh uh,” TK grunted, pushing his chair back from the table and attempting to stand up. His brother and father both grabbed him simultaneously and kept him in place.
“Teek. Sit down,” Hayes said gently.
He sat.
“I’m with the NHLPA player assistance program. Your team reached out to me to organize this meeting today. If you look around this table, you’ll see a lot of people who love you like crazy but they feel like they’re losing you and they wanna fight to get you back. I’m here today to invite you both to join that fight. Are you willing to listen to what they have to say?”
Hayes nodded, his face slick with tears as his mom raised his hand to her face and kissed it.
TK looked to Hayes first for permission, then nodded as well.
“So, what we’re gonna do,” Jeff continued, “is hear from your friends and family members. They’ve written some things that they’d like to share with you and then we’ll go from there.”
There wasn’t a dry eye in the room as everyone began reading the intervention letters they’d prepared. Osi’s was particularly painful, as he couldn’t get through more than three words without bursting into tears. At one point, Ryan got up, went over to him, and wrapped him in his arms.
“You got this, Os. You got this.”
“I will not watch you die, Hayes,” Osi cried, as Ryan held him. “You were such a light, but that light? Is gone. I cannot see it anymore. Please take this help that’s being given to you. Please.”
April shared, followed by TK’s dad, and then it came time for Ryan.
He stood up straight, popped his shoulders back, and raked a hand through his hair before exhaling loudly. “I never expected to fall in love with the cocky little shit from the fourth floor who stole my girl right from under me. I never expected to fall in love with you, Tyler Hayes. But I did. And I fell hard.”
Game over.
Hayes dropped his head to the table, wrapping his arms around his face and attempting to completely shut everything out.
“Look at me. I’ve earned that,” Ryan told him sternly, prompting him to raise his eyes to meet Ryan’s. “Fuck all this. You and me? We’re gonna make it. We’re gonna last, we’re gonna defy all the odds, all the bullshit, all the bigots, all the haters, and we’re gonna make it. And someday, I’m gonna be your husband. But none of that is possible if you kill yourself.
“I cannot sit back quietly anymore and watch you kill yourself, Tyler. I enabled you and I ignored this for far too long, and for that, I’m truly sorry. I didn’t know what else to do. You were always…you were always so much stronger than me. I always looked to you. You were my rock, and I just…I guess I don’t know...how to be yours, to love you the way you deserve to be loved.”
Ryan paused, wiping his face, as April grabbed his forearm and squeezed it.
