“The crap you’re trying to pull. Jeez, De Ruiter, I thought you had more honor than that.”
It hurt to roll my eyes, but I needed some way to tell him he was acting like an idiot again. Of course, comprehending that depended on him having a functioning brain. He’d extended a nice gesture by coming to the hospital when no one else from the team—Coach Hardison included—had shown more concern than a few text messages.
“Look, I don’t see any other way to handle this,” I said. “Neither of us played the whole game. The bet didn’t account for that.”
“I think you’re full of it. You’re just too cheap to hand over the twenty.”
He was right. Not about the cheap part. I mean, he was right that I wouldn’t part with the twenty bucks easily. Doing that would validate him. That last thing I needed was for the cockiest guy on earth thinking he was right about anything.
“Look, I’m not a bad guy,” he said. “I won’t hassle you when you’re injured. Just so you know, I’m gonna come collecting the moment you’ve healed from that little bump on the head.”
“Great. Look, they’ve discharged me, so I’ve got to get out of here. They say I can’t drive home, so I was just about to order an Uber.”
He waved that off. “I’ll give you a lift.”
“Seriously?”
“Of course. No teammate of mine is going to take an Uber home from the hospital. You’re coming with me.”
I hesitated, worried he had some kind of sinister trick up his sleeve. I followed him out of the room, and we took the elevator to the main floor. So far, no evidence of funny business.
Kayden walked ahead of me, leaving me an opening to eye his backside. I totally felt embarrassed admitting that one, even to myself. Noticing his eyes and dimples was one thing. They were right in front of me. But his caboose? That seemed different. I found myself breathing heavier at the sight, though.
When we reached the parking lot, I followed him to his Toyota Camry. Nice wheels for a college student. I hopped in and snapped on my seatbelt. As we drove away, I asked, “Why did you come to the hospital?”
“You’re my teammate.”
“No, I mean the real reason.”
“That is the real reason, bro.”
That wasn’t true. Saying it a hundred times wouldn’t change that.
God, Kayden Preston could be such a pain in the ass.
8
KAYDEN
You can’t tell Erik anything. He’ll ask you a question and you can answer, but he won’t be satisfied with that. Not unless you give him the answer he likes.
And you can’t tell him to take it easy because he has a concussion and rest is important to heal any injury. Case in point, he showed up to practice a day later when he really should’ve stayed home. I first noticed him sitting on the bench while shooting a whole mess of loose pucks at an empty net. For the record, I scored with each one of them.
When I finished, I still saw him in the corner of my eye.Fuck, I thought. Life would be so much easier with him gone for at least a week or so. It wasn’t just that he thought he was the real team captain. By now, you know why I wanted him gone. Out of sight, out of mind, right?
He rose from his seat, eyes fixed on me. Looking away from him didn’t work. When he waved at me, I knew I couldn’t avoid him. I steeled myself before skating to the bench.
“What are you doing here?” “You can’t keep me away from the ice. I can’t play right now, but I at least want to be around the team.”
“Why are you really here?”
He paused, half-smiled, making me wait.
“When you think about it,” he said, “I should win the bet because I was the only one of us to score a goal, plus I really put my body on the line.”
“Jeez, De Ruiter, I didn’t put my body on the line at all.”
“Oh right, you fought that monster.”
