Page 105 of Unrivaled

“I was thinking more along the lines of, you know, ‘I need space for a few days.’”

Max could handle that. And it seemed like Grady was willing to give it a try too. “A whole week does seem like kind of a stretch.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Grady promised.

Max wasn’t so sure, but he decided to believe anyway. There was no point borrowing trouble before he’d even played his first game in a Piranhas jersey. “It’s a plan.”

“Then there’s one more thing we should talk about.”

At Grady’s tone, Max narrowed his eyes. He sounded sheepish but also nervous, like this was the beginning of a different kind of confession.

Grady cleared his throat. “Uh, so yesterday in practice our beat reporter asked me about our rivalry….”

Max found himself grinning all over again as he remembered Grady’s smile. “Yeah, Baller showed me the video.”

With a groan, Grady turned his face into the pillow. “Of course he did.” He huffed out a breath. “Anyway, it’s kind of making the rounds online, so….”

“So?” What was he driving at?

When he spoke next, his words were muffled. “So it’s fueling a lot of wild speculation that I’m secretly madly in love with you.”

Oh. Max pursed his lips on a smile. “I mean, if it’s all over the internet, I think the secret’s out.”

Grady sighed and lifted his head again. “Just… this was supposed to be private. We agreed. And I fucked that up. So… I’m sorry again.”

What a doofus. “Oh yeah,” Max said. “I’m super upset that you’re so into me you can’t hide it in front of the media. How dare you.”

“You’re not mad?”

Max shrugged. It wasn’t Grady’s fault, and that video had made Max so stupidly happy that it seemed absurd to get upset. But it could make their professional lives interesting. “Not at you. If a reporter asks me what you’re like in bed, I’ll give them so much detail they’ll never be able to print any of it.”

Grady made a pained face. “Please don’t.”

“I’ll tell them about that bite mark you left on my—”

Grady clapped a hand over his mouth.

Max licked it.

“I should’ve seen that coming.” Grady wiped his hand on Max’s chest. “I figure PR’ll make the media check those questions, but my actual point was that my team knows now, so that’s weird.”

Well… yeah, Max could see how that might pose an issue. “Is it going to cause problems with the team if one of them lays a hit on me, you mean?”

“Or vice versa.”

As long as no one got injured, Max figured things would be fine, but players got injured all the time, accidentally or not. “There’s nothing we can do about that other than play and hope for the best. Like, I’m not going to intentionally hold a grudge, you know?”

“Me neither, but I’m grumpier than you.”

And more suspicious, Max didn’t add. “And then if, I don’t know”—we broke up—“we had a fight—”

“It could paint a target on our backs.” Grady half shrugged. “But that’s hockey. I’m used to that.”

“What did your team think?”

Grady rolled onto his back and admitted, “Mitch and Farouk think it’s hilarious and they’ve been blowing up my phone asking if I’ve seen you yet. Dawg hasn’t said anything, but that’s because he has a crush on me and it’s awkward now.” He turned to face Max with a horrified grimace. “Youcannottease him about that.”

“Not on the ice,” Max promised, gleefully filing away the tidbit. He was more likely to torment Grady with it, but hey. “Anyway. What I’m hearing is there’s actually no problem with your team and everything’s fine so you’re borrowing trouble.”

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