Page 27 of Power Move
“I made up for it, didn’t I?”
Remy pats him on the shoulder. “Yes, yes. You’re a very good captain.” He twists toward Morgan and Sage. “He took the whole team out to dinner that night.”
“Oh, well, that was really nice of him.” Sage leans his head on my shoulder and snakes his finger through my belt loop. “Sittingoutside sounds good. Do you want to grab a table while I, and some of the others, get drinks for everyone?”
“That works.” I walk with Jonas and Maxim, and we claim a long table at the back of the patio. The breeze feels nice, so does the sun on my skin, and listening to them banter always makes me smile.
Remy comes back first with Maxim and Jonas’s drinks. “Morgan and Quinn saw a pool table, so they’re having a quick game.”
“Quick.” Maxim snorts. “Yeah, right.”
Remy sips his beer. “I’m gonna watch and keep them on schedule so we don’t miss the movie.”
He heads off.
Taking in the view, I stretch my shoulders. “We’re not that far from the Wild Card spot. If we can get wins in the next few games?—”
Clank!Jonas’s glass hits the table. Some of the liquid sloshes over the sides, wetting his fingers. He swipes them on a napkin. “We should go somewhere else.”
“Why?” Baffled, I stare at him, readying to stand.
“We just should.” He nudges his elbow into Maxim’s side. At Maxim’s sharp glare, Jonas angles his head to the side and raises an eyebrow.
Maxim turns his head in that direction, then whips back so fast I’m afraid he’ll give himself whiplash. “Jonas is right.”
Curious, I turn.
Across the patio, my past has come into my present.
Chad Cullen, my former teammate, swaggers toward a table along the perimeter.
“Huh.” The burn of anger I expected to flare if I ever came face to face with him again isn’t there. I feel… nothing.
Sage comes back, a whiskey sour in one hand and a Guinness in the other. He sets them down, then sits next to me, dragging his chair close. “What are you all looking at?”
“Not what. Who.” Maxim touches my shoulder. “So, are we leaving?”
I shake my head and pick up my drink.
Sage’s hand settles at the center of my back. “What’s going on? Why would we be leaving? Did something happen?”
Using his glass, Jonas points to Chad. “Rhys used to be teammates with that guy.”
Brows pinching together, Sage frowns at Chad. “Chad Cullen? He was on Coachella Valley last season. We played them twice. He’s a dirty player.”
Jonas sneers. “Oh, we know.”
“I heard he’s a shit teammate too—” His gaze flies to mine, then Chad, then back to me. Eyes wide, he stares and I can practically see the wheels turning. “He’sthe ex-teammate, isn’t he? The one who…” he clamps his mouth shut and presses against my side, his hand rubbing circles on my back.
Maxim nods. “Yeah, that’s him.”
Sage strains closer, raising his face toward mine. “We can leave.”
Wrapped in his warmth and concern, I slip my arm around him. “I’m really okay. Not angry, not going to hit him or anything like that. I honestly don’t care about him one way or the other.”
“I think that’s healthy.” He kisses my cheek, then hugs me harder. “I have you.”
The fierceness in those three words and the support in his eyes bolsters me. Tenderness blooming in my chest, I bend down and capture his lips. “Thanks.”
