“I didn’t think you wanted to stay,” Parker says, stepping up to me.
“I don’t. I’m not.” I’ve already explained to Dad that I’ve got an early start in the morning and that I’ll skip the after-game drinks so he’s not expecting to see me.
“Oh, come on. Just have one. I know Rett wants to catch up.”
“I can’t,” I argue. I don’t know if Kodie is going to be there. Dad mentioned that he’d asked Kodie to spend more time with the team off the ice, which explains his presence after the last few games. I can’t risk seeing him. My heart can’t take it.
“Okay,” she says, her hand squeezing mine in support.
“You should still go, though.”
“Without you? Not a chance. Come on.” She hooks her arm through mine, and together we walk toward the exit.
It feels wrong not to go up and commiserate with the team and their friends and family. But it’s not a place I can be tonight. The more space I put between me and Kodie right now, the better.
“One of my clients told me about this dessert restaurant with the most incredible cheesecake. We should go check it out.”
“As long as there aren’t any hockey players there, I’m in.”
30
KODIE
Everything about tonight has been a disaster. Long before I even arrived at the arena, things were spinning out of my control.
Sutton accidentally dropped a carton of OJ on the kitchen floor. It went fucking everywhere, and I’m ashamed to say I lost my shit.
I was already running late, and the last thing I needed was to get on my hands and knees and clean that shit up.
I felt like a piece of shit the second I snapped at her, but I couldn’t hold it in.
I’ve been trying to put a brave face on it, but the truth is, I’ve been drowning since the moment I sent Casey away.
The guilt of doing that on top of what I was already dealing with has been too much.
She deserves to be treated so much better than that.
She deserves so much better than me.
That’s exactly why Coach warns every player off her. He knows what assholes we can be, and he wants us as far away from her as possible. It’s understandable. I’d want the same for Sutton. Although, something tells me that I’m not going to stand a chance. Hockey is just as much her life as it is mine. I just have to hope that the only playing she’ll do with them will be on the ice while proving to them that she’s better than they are.
Anger from tonight’s game burns through my veins. My muscles are tense, and my fists clench and unclench as I think about how good it would have felt to throw one into that asshole’s face.
I don’t know what I did to piss him off, but he was gunning for me from the moment he hit the ice.
I’m not a fighter. I never have been. But every now and then, even I can admit that it’s the only way to shatter the tension.
I slam my palms into the dressing room door, and it swings back and crashes into the wall.
The atmosphere in here is tense, the weight of the loss hanging over every single member of the team.
There is only one person who seems to be in high spirits, and the second he speaks, my eyes shoot to him.
“Tell me she didn’t look hot as fuck, wearing my number,” Marilyn announces, a cocky fucking grin on his lips.
My teeth grind, instantly knowing who he’s talking about.
There is only one reason why Casey was wearing the rookie’s fucking number tonight.
