Page 160 of Rebound
My legs seem to give out and I sit down with a thud, my body sagging with relief. I rub a hand over my face and through my hair. A flu, I can deal with. Someone places a hand on my shoulder and squeezes.
“Can I talk to her?” I ask.
“Hang on.” The call goes silent, and I think she’s put me on mute.
“If I throw up during this call, don’t take offense. I still want to be married.” Lavinia’s voice is gravelly and nasally. She sounds exhausted.
“I’m relieved to hear I don’t make you want to throw up,” I say.
“I’m surprised to hear it,” Drew says. “He makes me want to throw up every day I have to look at his face.”
“Last night you wanted to kiss me,” I say.
“Ugh, I don’t have the energy for this,” Lavinia says. “Which is something because I really want to hear how my brother tried to steal my husband.”
Drew sits down next to me and for the first time, I notice a smile on his face and the tightness around his eyes is gone. “You can have him. Pretty sure you’re the only one who can put up with him.”
“Well, the cats sweeten the deal.”
“Rest up, Blossom. I’ll see you soon,” I promise.
“Kiss the kitties for me.” It’s the last thing she says before the call disconnects. I use Drew’s phone to text Jules’s number to mine because I can’t go through this again. I bend down to unlace my skates, in a hurry to change and get out of here.
“At least you didn’t overreact,” Ford says, off-handedly. I sit up, grabbing my folded towel, and throw it at him. He’s not expecting it, and it hits him square in the face. Reese laughs and covers it with a cough when Ford glares at him.
“Now that’s a good goal,” Kai says blithely.
His remark seems to lighten the mood and suddenly, we’re all laughing at the absurdity of the last fifteen minutes. The tension breaks and my body feels lighter than it has since this morning. Huh. So, this is what they mean when they talk about having friends.
It’s not silly little text messages that don’t lead anywhere. It’s having a support system when you feel like nothing really makes sense, but these people do. My eyes meet Kai’s across the room, and he seems to realize what I’m thinking, giving me a small smile.
“One would think.” Our laughter stops abruptly, like someone pulled a plug and all eyes swing to Coach Cross, who’s entered the dressing room. “That given your poor performance at practice, you’d be reflecting on how to get better instead of laughing like this is a fucking joke.” His eyes move over us one by one.
Time for me to take one for the team. “It was my fault. I was distracted because of Lavinia.”
“Maddox, we’ve all been in relationships and needless to say, none of us have been distracted when doing our jobs.”
“Clearly no one remembers Jenny,” Kai says quietly.
Reese gasps and then groans, throwing his head back. “Oh my god, bro. Why would you say her name out loud? She can sense the disturbance in the Force.”
I’ve no idea who Jenny is and what her relationship is to Kai and Reese. Normally, I’ll want to find out because I’m sure it’s bound to be entertaining if it involves Reese. Right now, my only priority is getting out of here and going to Lavinia.
“It’s not that,” Drew is explaining to Coach. “Roman couldn’t get in touch with Lavinia and thought something horrible had happened. She’s sick, so she didn’t come back as originally planned.”
Coach sighs, running a hand over his light beard. “Fine. This is the only exception I’m going to make for the rest of the season and playoffs, if we ever get there again.”
I guess now isn’t the time to tell him I’ll probably miss practice tomorrow. Not a problem. I’ve always been a ‘ask for forgiveness’ rather than ‘ask for permission’ type of guy.
“Put some clothes on,” Coach commands, before pushing open the dressing room door. Sage enters, one hand covering her eyes and the other thrust out in front of her.
“Is everyone decent? I don’t want to accidentally get an eyeful of…stuff.” She’s wearing a dress as green as the plant she’s named after.
“Stuff?” Holden mouths.
“We’re all good, Sage,” Drew says. I notice everyone, except Reese, dons a t-shirt so Sage doesn’t get an eyeful of bare chest.
“Do you want me to cover up?” Reese asks cheekily.
