AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I see Rowan up ahead, waiting for Mason. She’s wearing a Rovers jersey with Mason’s number on it, and a sympathetic look. He holds his hand up and gives her a weary wave.
“You were great. They’re a bunch of cheating a-holes,” she says loyally. He stops to enfold her in a hug.
Must be nice to have someone who always has your back.
I grimace as the crowd moves out of the way and I see Ruby is there, by her sister’s side, and her new boy toy is standing a few feet away, talking to a curvy brunette puck bunny who seems willing to switch sports. He’s nothing but bad news. He takes his good looks and his God-given talent for granted, and it’s made him arrogant. So handsome he’s pretty, with a permanent smirk stamped on his pouty mouth. Too much gel in his thick brown hair. I know guys like him. Some of my teammates are guys like him.
Does Ruby have any idea that her boyfriend is obviously a cheating sack of shit?
If I were with her, I wouldn’t let some groupie climb all over me while ignoring her.
Well, that’s the choice she made. Him. Over me. And not just on any day—on this day, when she knew how important it was to me.
A reporter slides in front of me as I walk, blocking my pathway. I grimace, not even bothering to try to force a smile. Rowan is the team’s publicist, and she wouldn’t be delighted, but I just don’t have it in me today.
“No comment,” I say sourly.
“Paxton Saul! I see your family came to watch you play today. This must be quite a disappointment, after the great year that your brothers had!”
Yep, it’s just getting better and better.
“You think?” I growl.
He continues, shoving his microphone right in my face. Hoping to provoke me to fight. “That girl over there, Ruby something or other? Wasn’t she your girlfriend? And now she’s here with some other guy, at your game? Football player, looks like. I don’t recognize him. Is he from a New York team? Looks like she’s switching sports.”
Screw this, screw my commercial endorsements, screw everything... I clench my fist.
Noah Walsh, our left defenseman, “trips” and slams into the reporter, knocking into him so hard that his glasses fall off. When you play hockey, you make a career out of accidentally on purpose knocking people on their ass.
“Oh, shit, sorry. My bad,” Noah says.
I flash him a grateful look and slide out of the way.
“Here, let me help you.” Noah bends down to pick up the glasses and then trips again and steps on them, crushing them.
“Damn it,” the reporter yells at him. “You did that on purpose.”
Noah shrugs. “Send me the bill.”
“Mason, you were awesome! Next year, dude, for sure,” Ruby calls out to her brother-in-law, and he grins at her, nods, and makes his way into the locker room.
She turns towards me with a huge smile and waves vigorously.
I snort in disgust and make a big show of walking past her.
Ruby trots alongside me, not picking up on the hint. “Paxton! Hey, Pax! That was a really good game. The ref needs a seeing eye dog. I can’t believe what he let those Blast-holes get away with.”
Blast-holes. She’s funny. She’s so pretty. She smells so good, that scent of her favorite lilac shampoo washing over me and filling my nostrils as I walk past. I take a deep involuntary breath, drawing her in.
I walk faster, leaving her behind. I just want to get this family dinner over with so I can go home and try to forget this entire day ever happened.
“Paxaroni and Cheese! Wait, where are you going?” Ruby calls out. Oh yeah, sure, use the cute nickname she made for me because I burned the dinner I tried to make for her one night. That was one of our in-jokes.
I can’t help but flash one quick glance back at her, keeping my face blank. She’s looking at me with hurt and confusion now.
Seriously? She thinks she should be able to ditch me for a football jock, bring him to the freaking Stanley Cup game, parade him around in front of me, and make me look like an absolute idiot in front of the entire world... and I should be fine with it?
I can’t even imagine the conversations I’m going to have with my various sponsors and my agent tomorrow.
