Page 132 of In Your Wildest Dreams
Today I brought my Mini Mites to the Wildcat arena to skate and play around. The guys stopped by too. They might not be impressed by me, but when Jack stepped out onto the ice with me, the kids stared at him in awe.
A bunch of them are teamed up, trying to steal the puck from Leo, and the others are shooting at our goalie, Mikey, trying to get one past him.
I skate over to the bench where Jack is signing a bunch of merch I bought to give the kids.
“Thank you,” I say.
“Of course. This was fun.”
“Not for this. Well, not just for this. I meant for the article.” I haven’t had a chance to talk to him one-on-one since it came out.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He refuses to make eye contact with me.
There isn’t a player I know that’d willingly give a reporter locker room gossip. Not only could it hurt their career, but it can also turn teammates on you in a hurry. No one wants to look over their shoulder all day. What he did was risky.
“I don’t know how you got her to do it, but it means a lot.”
He snorts. “If you want to thank someone, thank Nick.” His gaze drifts to where the new guy is on the ice. He brought his son, who is just a year or so younger than the other kids.
“Galaxy? Why?”
“Penguins.”
“Hewas the unnamed source?”
Jack shrugs. “He’d heard rumors when he was there but brushed them off. He mentioned it to me after your fight in the locker room, and I might have let it slip over dinner with Meredith.”
“How’d you know she’d run it?”
“I didn’t.” His jaw hardens. “Not for sure anyway.”
I curse under my breath. He did exactly what he swore he wouldn’t do—he gave his reporter girlfriend a hot scoop. And she did what he feared, but in this case also wanted—she ran with it.
“We broke up,” he adds.
Yeah, I’ll bet. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Writing it was the right thing. It saved you, and Gabe got what he had coming. It all worked out for the best. I owe Meredith a lot for that.”
“Then why’d you break up with her?”
He tips his head to the seats where Bridget is sitting with Everly. “You were ready to give it all up for her. I can’t fathom that.” He laughs softly. “I put myself in your situation and I couldn’t say the same. Maybe that kind of relationship is out there for me too.”
I arch a brow. “Wow.”
“You’ve got a good one. Don’t fuck it up and make me regret all this. And don’t tell anyone about that last part. I’m sure the feeling will pass.”
I laugh. “I won’t.”
Nick skates by.
“You misjudged him. He’s a good guy,” Jack says as if reading my thoughts.
“I’ll talk to him.”
“Good. And invite him to your party.”
“My party?”
