“If you need me foranything, send me a text and I’ll be right back. The station can survive without a player interview, and lord knows Liam will be happy.” Piper squeezes my shoulder one more time before pulling away. “You’re going to be okay.”
“I know.” I nod. “I will be.”
Lucy blows me a kiss and Piper gives me a sad smile. I watch them disappear out the door, and then I shatter into a million pieces.
FIFTY-THREE
HUDSON
I can’t findMadeline and Lucy anywhere, and it’s distracting me.
Every time I look up at their seats during a stop in play, they’re not there. They haven’t been there since before puck drop, and I’m starting to worry something happened.
I play like shit each time I’m on the ice. Coach calls me out for being slow, for lacking aggression, but I don’t care. When the horn sounds at the end of the first period, I’m heading toward the tunnel before any of my teammates.
I spot Piper leaning against the wall with Lucy by her side, and that’s when Iknowsomething is wrong. Madeline would never leave her daughter unless it was an emergency, and the same fear I had when Coach pulled me off the ice to tell me about my mom settles like a brick in my stomach.
“Where’s Madeline?” I ask, and Piper’s smile falls.
“There was, a-ah situation.”
“What kind of situation?” I look down at Lucy who seems unharmed, but that doesn’t bring me as much relief as I thought it would. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. No one is hurt,” she tells me, and I let out my first breath in what feels like hours. “Her ex… well. He’s here.”
I swear to all that is holy my vision turns red. I grip my stick so tightly I don’t know how it doesn’t break in two. Fury like I’ve never experienced before races up my spine, and I force myself to take a breath before I say something I might regret.
“What did he want?” I ignore my teammates passing us on their way to the locker room. I ignore the fans yelling my name, and I keep looking at Piper. “Is she with him right now?”
“God, no,” Piper says, and that makes me feel marginally better.
Hi, Hudson,Lucy signs, and I give her a smile.
Hi, Lucy.
I’m Piper’s assistant.
You’re doing such a good job, kid.
Lucy turns her attention away from me when Liam walks down the hall. One look at Piper has him marching over to us with all his gear. He holds out his arm and Lucy giggles, holding onto his blocker and letting him lead her toward the locker room.
“Where is Madeline?” I ask.
“She needed a minute alone, so I took her to the media room. I didn’t get the full story, but she was shocked to see him.” She waves at Riley and holds up her microphone. “Give her some space, Huddy. She’ll be okay.”
The last thing I want to do is give her space. I want track down the piece of shit who hurt her and teach him a lesson.
I know I have a job to do, but hockey is the last thing on my mind. ForyearsI’ve given everything I have to this team, and I hate that I have to pick between the sport I love and the woman I’m gone for.
“Hayes,” Coach barks out, and I jerk my neck up. “Enough socializing. Get your ass moving.”
“Yes, Coach,” I mumble.
Heaving a deep breath, I trudge to the locker room. When I make it inside, I throw my stick at my locker. I grip the wood sides of the cubby and rest my helmet against my nameplate, seething.
Maverick is at my side in an instant. “Dude. The fuck is going on? You’re playing like ass tonight.”
“Madeline’s ex is here,” I manage to get out.