I blinked fast. “Mav…”
“That’s all there is to say,” he said.
“It’s not fair to you. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I made my decision.”
“I should tell everyone what really happened.”
“You’re not going to do that, Madison,” I said. “It won’t matter anyway. I won’t be around for much longer.”
“The trade rumors are true?”
“I demanded a trade.”
“Demanded… because of me…”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said. “Maybe it’s you. Maybe it’s me. It doesn’t matter. The only thing I can tell you, sweetie, is that you need to remember you can’t go back. I think everyone wishes they could.”
“Don’t leave, Mav,” I said. “Don’t leave the team. Don’t leave me. I’ll leave.”
“You won’t leave,” Maverick said.
“Mav…”
“I have to go, sweetie,” he said. “I would do it again too. Two hundred times for you. I don’t regret it. I’m not sorry for it. I’m not afraid to take what’s coming to me.”
Maverick ended the call.
I sucked in a breath and felt the tears desperate to flow.
What I needed right now?
I needed my friends.
“Coffee as a sign of peace?”I whispered as I looked across the corner table at Zoe and Eva.
“It’s a decent start,” Zoe said.
“I have coffee at home,” Eva said.
“I need to talk to you both. About what’s going on.”
“What?” Zoe asked. “That the guy you currently love beat the shit out of the ex who hurt you?”
“You mean the guy who loves you put his ass on the line to get back at someone you never had the chance to confront?” Eva asked.
“So you saw?”
“You don’t need to be a sports fan to know what’s going on,” Zoe said. “Everyone is talking about it.”
“I guess goalies don’t fight all that often,” Eva said. “And especially before the game begins.”
“Of course,” Zoe said, pointing to Eva, “for Eva and me, we know the truth.”
I nodded. “I know you both do. You’re my best friends.”
“You also told Maverick what happened,” Zoe said. “That’s why he did what he did.”