Page 60 of Game Changer
Scott shook his head. “If I kiss you again I’ll never leave. You can stay as long as you want. I don’t know when I’ll be back. I might not be back before the game, honestly. This is a real fucking mess.”
“Okay. Don’t worry about me. Go take care of your team.”
“Thanks, yeah.” He stood and moved toward the door, then looked back at Kip. “Why do you have to be so goddamn tempting?” he asked, smiling sadly.
Kip grinned and pulled the blanket up over his head, concealing himself completely. He heard Scott laugh. Then the door opened and closed, and Scott was gone.
Chapter Eleven
There was a small mob of reporters standing outside the players’ entrance. Scott pushed past, ignoring them. When he got through the doors, he found Carter waiting.
“Coach is calling a team meeting,” Carter said. “The message just went out to everyone. But he wants to meet with the captains first.”
“Okay. Right. Where’s Huff?”
“In the coaches’ room already.”
Scott followed Carter into the small room that was normally reserved for coaches’ meetings. Greg Huff was sitting in one of the chairs.
“Hey, guys. How’s your day going?” Huff asked.
Scott folded his arms and leaned against a wall. “It’s kind of terrible now. Started out great, though.”
“Is that so?” Huff asked, with a bit of a leer. Scott flushed and looked at the floor.
“What’s going to happen, do you think?” Carter asked. “With Zullo?”
Huff turned his calculating gaze away from Scott. “Fuck knows, but it’s gonna leave a hole in our defense if he’s gone.”
“Trade deadline’s next week,” Scott said. “Great fucking timing, Frank.”
Coach Murdock entered then with the assistant coaches. He bent forward over the table, hands pressing down onto the wood, and glared at everyone.
“Zullo,” he said, “is being put on waivers. He is no longer a part of the New York Admirals. We will be bringing someone up from Hartford to fill the vacancy until we can find a more permanent solution.”
Scott’s eyebrows raised. “That bad, huh?”
“That bad,” Murdock confirmed. “We will be calling a press conference within the hour. I will be there; Zullo will not.”
“What about the game tonight?” Scott asked.
“We will have to shuffle the defense lines around a bit, but we will make do.”
Scott didn’t like the sound of that, but what choice did they have?
“The rest of the team will be here for a meeting in half an hour,” Murdock said. “You boys start talking like we’re doomed, and we’re doomed. Focus on the game tonight. This is no different from an injury. We’ll adapt.”
“No problem, Coach,” Carter said.
“Of course,” Scott said.
The three players left to wait in the dressing room for the rest of the team.
“Holy shit,” Carter said when they were away from the coaches, “was not expecting that.”
“Nope,” Huff agreed.
Scott was still mad at Zullo, but he felt like a weight had been lifted too. This was definitely going to be a long-run positive for the team.
