Page 87 of Unrivaled

Grady raised an eyebrow. “You eat here often?”

“Yeah, I mean, I kind of hate our kitchen here, so probably once a week.” He grinned.

“It’s more like twice a week,” the server corrected fondly. “But usually he brings the baby for me to coo at.”

“You’ll have to make do with Grady this time.”

“Why don’t you order for me,” Grady told him. “I’m not picky.”

Baller made puppy eyes at the server, who rolled hers. “I’ll bring the usual.”

“Thanks, Carla!” Then he turned back to Grady. “So, California. How’s it feel? Was the trade everything you wanted?”

Not really.But it would be embarrassing to admit that Grady had been part of the problem all along—or at least he hadn’t been part of the solution. “I like the team so far,” he said instead. “Everyone’s been nice. Dawg’s a bit… young.”

“He’s so earnest, though,” Baller said, propping his chin on his hand. “Hebelieves. It’s adorable. And the name is the icing on the cake. I mean, Howard Barclay. It’s like his parents were expecting a golden retriever.”

Grady smiled. “So you’ve met him.”

“Just to play against. Gabe used to put on his press conferences whenever I whined about being captain, so I could hear what an old man I sounded like.” His mouth twisted in obvious affection. “Asshole.”

“How do you like not being the man anymore?”

“Oh, it’s weird for sure, but the Fish are fun. Everyone knows I’m here as a rental, but they don’t treat me like it.” He eyed Grady cautiously. “I kind of thought you might be mad I ended up here instead of you.”

“No,” Grady said immediately. “Come on, it’s not like you orchestrated it.”

“True.”

The conversation stopped for a moment as Carla delivered two plates of appetizers—some kind of gyoza thing and veggie tempura. Curious, Grady pulled one of the dumplings onto an appetizer plate and bit into it, surprised to find it filled with Mexican spiced pork. Delicious. He made an appreciative noise.

“Right?” Baller said around a mouthful of tempura. “Anyway. What else is new with you? Did you figure out your enemy-with-benefits situation?”

Swallowing the gyoza—and his emotions—gave him an extra few seconds to figure out how to respond. But while the gyoza stayed down, the feelings refused. He thumbed the condensation on his beer glass. “Not really.”

“What do you mean, not really?” Baller pushed the plate to the side and leaned across the table, as though he could sustain himself on hockey player gossip. If anyone could do it, it would be him.

What had Baller said when Grady had asked, back in November?Unless you want to put a ring on it….Except Max didn’t want that. Grady had thought he did, but he’d been wrong. If Grady had taken Baller’s advice on the subject, he could’ve figured that out in November and been over this by now. “I mean maybe I should’ve asked for your advice after all.”

Maybe.

“Oh shit. So what happened?” He backtracked. “I mean, if you want to talk about it.”

Sadly it turned out Grady did want to talk about it, with somebody who wasn’t his sister.

So, hunched over increasingly enormous plates of delicious food, Grady spilled the whole story. He kept Max’s name out of it, but Baller wasn’t stupid. He’d guess, and they’d both let plausible deniability protect them.

“Well, fuck,” Baller said when Grady told him about Hedgie’s on-ice comment. He had to pick his way around it, because the words had been private when he’d said them to Max and now that they’d been thrown in his face, he didn’t know if he could repeat them. “You’re sure it was on purpose to fuck with you?”

Grady poked at the last of his sushi. He’d eaten way too much already and his appetite had fled. “It wouldn’t be the first time. I warned him.”

“That’s weird. Sucky, but weird.” He shook his head.

Now Grady was frowning at Baller instead of his spicy tuna. “Weird how?”

“I mean, Hedgie’s not really the type to get personal, you know?”

Grady felt the blood drain from his face.Hedgie.Fuck. He’d managed to keep Max’s name out of it, but he’d forgotten about Hedgie. “I don’t know what to tell you,” he said. “That’s what happened. And then I got traded in the middle of the game before I could even yell at him.”

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