“Shit,” I whispered. “These two…”
Matias and Reid got between Remi and Riff.
“What did I say?” Riff asked. “Isn’t a female dog called a bitch? Remi has a new dog. Right? Am I wrong here?”
“I’m going to get my hands around your neck one of these days,” Remi warned Riff. “And when I do, I’m not going to let go.”
“You’re all talk, big guy,” Riff said. “Just like before. Just like always.”
“Oh, fuck, Riff, let up for a second,” I called out.
“Go take it out on the ice,” Reid said.
Remi tore open the locker room door.
“That was fucked up,” Matias said to Riff.
“You keep pushing at him, he’s going to come after you,” Reid said.
“Good,” Riff said. “Maybe it’s time we hash our issues out.”
“If you two attempted that, you’d kill each other,” Abel said.
Then they all started to exit the locker room.
Abel stood up and looked down at me. “Ready to block some shots?”
“Always ready,” I said.
I was the last to leave the locker room.
And when I did, I caught myself looking around for Madison.
She wasn’t in the hallway.
She wasn’t on the ice.
I didn’t even spot her in the arena either.
I wondered if I had fucked up too far this time.
Snapping at her over taking my picture.
I just didn’t like that thing.
When it came to hockey and my job and what was expected of me as a professional athlete, I could separate my feelings.
The second I signed that massive contract, I took everything that came with it very seriously.
That meant if a fan saw me and wanted an autograph or a picture, I would do everything possible to make it happen. Especially if it was a kid. Without the kids, their parents and their support, there would be no team.
But for someone like Madison to just sneak up on me with her camera? Taking pictures of me and fans? I hated that. All it took was one wrong angle for me to look like a complete asshole. And that was the kind of stuff that could easily blow up on social media and cause drama.
It happened two seasons ago with Coach and Abel.
After a tough game, we were walking to the plane.
Abel was working on a new contract and things were going really bad for him. And for the team. There were rumors that Coach was going to jump ship on theApple Catsfor another team.