Page 46 of Game Changer
Scott: No. It’s perfect.
Then,But feel free to try. :)
Kip had laughed and written,I don’t have a picture of you, you know...
No response had come for a minute, and then he’d received a photo from Scott. It was an image of a Gatorade ad Scott had done.
Kip: Fuck you.
Scott had ended the conversation with a winky face emoji and Kip had reluctantly gotten ready for work.
Kip was a complete space cadet during his shift, and of course, Maria noticed.
“What’s fuckingyouup today?” she asked at the end of the morning rush. “I mean, besides Scott Hunter, who you are obviously in love with.”
“No I’m not!” Not exactly a lie. Maybe.
“Sure,” Maria said.
“It’s just...” Kip decided to offer another secret to distract from the bigger secret. “I applied for another job. At the Museum of the City of New York.”
“Whoa!”
“Yeah, well. There is no way I’m gonna get it. But... I don’t know.”
She punched his arm. “Kip! Look at you, improving yourself!”
“I mean itwouldbe really great.Ifit happens.”
“This is exciting!”
“Maybe, yeah. Don’t tell anyone, okay?”
“Not a word,” she promised. “Are you sure you want to leave this glamorous job behind?”
“As long as I can keep the apron.”
At quitting time, Maria walked with Kip to the subway station. She was heading back to the East Village apartment she shared with three roommates. Kip mentioned that he was meeting Elena, and that she was going to help him with his tux for the Equinox Gala. He omitted a lot of details.
“I can’t believe you’re going to the Equinox Gala,” she said. “That is fucking nuts. What if Beyoncé is there?”
“Then she will have the honor of dancing with me.”
* * *
It was always a big deal when New York played Boston.
Boston had their own star center, a hotshot Russian named Ilya Rozanov. He was cocky, brash, flashy...everything Scott wasn’t. And the fanslovedhim.
He was also an incredibly skilled player, with an uncanny ability to always be in the right place at the right time.
Scott knew better than to let him get under his skin. Rozanov antagonized everyone in the league. He had gotten good at ignoring the yappy Russian, but sometimes Scott just wanted to hit him into next week.
Coming off the embarrassing loss in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Scott was fired up. Coach Murdock had run them through a brutal practice yesterday after they’d arrived in Boston. Their defense had been especially punished, which Zullo had taken as well as expected.
Zullo was a problem. Scott had played with guys who were assholes but still got the job done on the ice. Zullo was getting the job done less and less. Scott didn’t know how much longer he could put up with him. He was becoming a serious distraction, and not what they needed as the playoffs got closer.
Murdock knew how Scott felt about Zullo. The general manager knew how Scott felt. Scott tried not to let his teammates know because it was his job to keep the team together as a unit.
