Page 176 of Desperate Pucker
I look around at my teammates, grateful for the way they stood up for me.
“That meant a lot,” I say to them.
“We’re just speaking the truth, man,” Xander says.
“That’s messed up the team owner said that about you, dude,” Camden says.
Coach shakes his head. “I’m not so sure that’s what happened. Greg isn’t known to talk to random sports bloggers about his own personal opinions about the team. And Bobby said it was a source who told him, not Greg directly.”
The gears in my brain start grinding. I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m not just going to sit here when people are talking shit about me and Maddy.
I head out of the locker room, determined to get to the bottom of this.
Chapter 61
Maddy
Iknock on my dad’s closed office door.
“Come in.”
When I walk in, he’s sitting at his desk, frowning at his phone.
When he looks up, his brow lifts in surprise.
“Madeline. What are you doing here?”
I hold up my phone and walk over to his desk. “Did you say this about Ryker? That the only reason he’s on the team is because he’s in a relationship with me?”
He leans back like he’s been shoved. “What?”
I stand over his desk and play the clip of the podcast on my phone. Slowly, he stands up.
My heart thuds in my chest as I watch his face, tracking his expression.
His eyes widen as he listens to Bobby Baker claim that the only reason Ryker is playing for the Bashers is because he’s sleeping with me.
Even though I’ve already heard this, it still stings. For me and for Ryker. I hate that people think he’s not good enough to play. I hate that they think that someone could just sleep with me toplay for the team. And I hate that one of those people might be my dad.
I watch as his brow lifts. I watch the way his eyes widen. I watch the way his lips twist in disgust.
“Madeline, what is this?”
“Bobby Baker’s podcast. He just released an episode tonight insulting Ryker’s performance. He says that you told a source that the only reason he’s even on the team is because he’s sleeping with me.”
My dad’s fair complexion goes pale. “You really think I’d say that?”
My chest goes tight. So does my throat.
“I want to believe that you wouldn’t. But honestly? I don’t know.” My voice breaks at the end.
I take a breath to steady myself. Emotion swirls through me like a tornado. All the pain and distrust and anger I’ve been harboring for him my whole life is surfacing right now in this moment.
He swallows, like he’s about to be sick.
“You think I would say about one of my own children?” He sounds like someone knocked the wind out of him.
“Can you blame me? You don’t treat me like your other kids, Dad. You didn’t spend as much time with me. You don’t talk to me like you talk to Preston and Claire.” My throat aches with the urge to cry, but I push past it. “My whole life, I’ve felt like a task that you had to deal with. I don’t feel loved by you. I don’t feel like you want to be in my life the way that you’re in Preston and Claire’s lives. I feel like you threw money at me because you didn’t know how to be present for me as a father. But that’s all I ever wanted.”
