Chapter Twenty-Six
MAVERICK
We lost the first game.
It was just one of those games where nothing went right and nothing felt exciting.
We all could have blamed traveling and distractions.
Abel distracted by not being home with his wife and newborn.
Remi not wanting to be away from his wife and new puppy.
Coach hating the distance between himself and Carrie.
As far as I went, I couldn’t stop thinking about the texts from Madison.
It felt like they came out of nowhere.
She just suddenly starts texting me, wanting me to go out and screw other women?
It made me wonder if someone said something to her about me. Or if she jumped on social media, tried searching my name and found something bad.
That was highly unlikely though.
I wasn’t like who Abel used to be.
I wasn’t like who Lay still was.
When it came time for me to enjoy personal attention, I always had a plan in place that never failed me.
Until I met Madison.
Or… until I met Grace.
After the game, Coach told us to get some sleep and we’d deal with everything in the morning.
He wanted us up early so we could meet, talk, skate and practice, to make damn sure we won the next game.
He made it very clear we weren’t going to just sit back and let this road trip become a waste of time.
There was passion and pain in his eyes. I respected that.
Back at the hotel, I sat on the edge of my bed, my phone in hand, wondering what to do about Madison.
She’s not out with some other guy, right?
I mean, I know we’re just sneaking around and screwing for fun right now…
Just the thought of Madison with or even near someone else really made me feel uneasy.
I had plenty of confidence in myself and my abilities between the sheets.
The one thing I couldn’t help was my job.
That I was the goalie for theApple Cats.That her father was the new GM for the team.
And whether I liked it or not, I still had the image of Alonso taking that wild slap shot and breaking that hockey stick like it was a toothpick just from Lay making one comment about Madison.