Page 77 of Rebound
Drew’s green eyes spark with anger and if he could, he’d kill me. Lavinia’s text said her family took the news well, but she failed to tell me Drew’s out for blood. I’m not blaming her for it. This is my idea, and I knew this journey to fit in wasn’t going to be easy.
I’ve been alone for a long, long time. So long it’s become a part of who I am, as natural to me as breathing. I’m not sure if our plan is going to be successful, and by the way Drew is looking at me, I may as well drop any hopes of being a Titan.
“You married Lavinia?” This question comes from Kai, who’s standing by his locker, frowning at me.
I wipe the trickle of blood from my mouth and nod. “In Vegas.”
“Does she know that?” Holden asks.
“Of course, she knows. She was there.” I roll my eyes.
“And you’re not getting it annulled?” Kai again.
“We decided against it.”
Drew makes a lunge for me again.
“What the hell is going on here?” Coach Cross barks, coming into the dressing room.
His eyes bounce from player to player but none of us says anything. His eyes narrow on me and the bruise I’m sure is decorating my mouth. “What happened?”
“Bumped into my locker.”
I’m not about to tattle on my teammate. There was a time when I wouldn’t have lied because I didn’t care enough to sit through a lecture, and I didn’t care if anyone was penalized.
Today, though, the last thing I want is for Drew to get into any kind of trouble for something incredibly legitimate. Like his anger. I don’t have any siblings, but I can imagine I’d be as angry if my sister married a guy I hate.
Coach’s brown eyes flit between Drew and me. Ford still has a hand on Drew’s shoulder, ready to grab him if necessary.
“Maddox, come with me,” Coach says. Shit. Lavinia’s not going to be happy about this.
I grab my car keys and gym bag. I start to leave, and then pause to look at Drew. His jaw is hard, arms crossed as he stares at me like…well, like I got drunk and married his sister.
I look at the guys and they don’t feel like my teammates. There’s an invisible line between them and me because they think I took advantage of Lavinia. That fucking pisses me off.
“Look, I get you want to kill me and if this was a shady back alley, I’d already be dead,” I say. “But you need to give Lavinia more credit, and you should damn well respect her choices and her decision a lot more.”
I haul my gym bag over my shoulder and go find Coach. I might suck at being a team player, but the one thing I’ve never done is disrespect the choices Lavinia’s made for herself. Fuck, I had to watch her be engaged to Josh of all people. I know she never saw it, but the guy’s a real asshole.
The way he disrespected other players, talked down to the rookies, fucking screamed at our coach? Nah, he was good at hiding all that assholishness under his golden boy image, and I don’t blame Lavinia for not seeing it. No one ever saw it unless they were looking for it.
Coach is waiting in the hall for me, and I come to a stop in front of him.
“If it makes you feel any better, I’m really trying,” I say.
He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “I was enjoying retirement. I don’t know what made me think I wanted to babysit a bunch of grown ass men.”
I scoff. “Please, there’s no way you were enjoying retirement. You once said the day you retire is the day your soul will shrivel up and die.”
He gives me a long, hard look. “That was before I had my daughters. They’re my soul and raising them is a greater joy than playing hockey. We’re going to grab a drink.”
He motions for me to follow him, and I do. Five years ago, Silas Cross was at the top of his game, until he announced his retirement after winning the Titans a Stanley Cup. His daughters are only nine and three years old, though, so I know he didn’t quit hockey for them.
“You okay to walk? There’s a bar up the street,” Coach says.
“Sure.” I put my things in my car, and we set off down the street. It’s surprisingly warm for an early November day but there’s a chill to the air. I shove my hands into the pocket of my hoodie and pull out my phone.
Roman
