“Then you better skate fast.”
Bring it, brother.
“Fucking hell,” Rafe whistles as he lowers himself into the ice bath next to me after practice. “That’s cold.”
“No shit,” Wallen grumbles from Rafe’s left. “Swear to God, man. Sometimes I wonder how the hell you graduated from Boston U.”
“He fucked a lot of TAs,” I tell him and lay my head back, counting down the minutes until I can get out of here.
“Says the man fucking his agent,” Rafe mocks, and if I could reach him to strangle the dumb shit, I would.
“Don’t be a dick because you’re not as fast as me, asshole,” I bite out between clenched teeth.
“Duran?” Wallen asks, thinking Rafe’s talking about the agent I left when I signed with Liv’s agency. “You’re fucking Joe Duran?”
Yeah. My brother is a dead man.
I know we’re going to need to slowly roll our relationship out, but we haven’t talked about when or where or with fucking who, and I’m pretty damn sure Olivia won’t want it to start with my team.
Okay. Time to choose my words carefully.
“Nah, man. I switched agencies at the end of the summer.” Fuck the timer. I pull myself out of the tub and glare at Rafe.
“Come on, Cap,” Wallen jokes. “You got a girl hiding on the side?”
“Nah, man. I got a kid and a custody battle and a woman I don’t want discussed in the locker room because I respect her more than that.” Not a lie.
“Is she hot?” Wallen pushes, and I glare but nod.
“She’s a smoke show,” Rafe adds. “Way too good for his ugly ass.”
“She gonna be at the first preseason game, Cap?”
I look at Rafe, a silent warning passing between us. I can’t afford to fuck this up. Not now when Maggie’s custody could be hanging by a thread. “Not sure yet, Wallen.” I throw a towel at Rafe, letting him know I’m ready to get the hell out of here and head home. And if the dumb fuck doesn’t like it, he should have taken his own truck today. “Do me a favor and keep this to yourself, man. The custody shit I’m dealing with is tricky. I don’t need anything making it harder.”
“Miss Maggie May? Is her momma giving you shit?”
“Not for long,” I tell him before walking out.
“How long are you gonna stay pissed, man?”
I side-eye Rafe, who’s reclining in the passenger seat. “How long until we get home?”
“Come on. If I can’t give you shit, who can?”
“How about you not talk about my personal life as it crashes and burns around me?” I look at the screen in the Escalade and ignore another text from Monica. She’s freaking the fuck out because I won’t let her see Maggie before we go to court Friday .
“You not answering Monica?”
“Olivia said to let the lawyers deal with it, so I’m trusting her to know what she’s talking about. It’s not like we’ve spent the last year overly civil unless she actually showed up to see Maggie.So it’s not like I’m being any different than I’ve been most of Maggie’s life.”
“What else is Liv saying?” The fucking tone in his voice grates on my nerves.
“Seriously, did you just wake up and decide you were going to wreak fucking havoc today, man?” He’s been more like a puppy dog than a professional all day. “Did you get laid last night or something?”
“I’m not the one with a hot wife in my bed,” he counters, and my hands tighten on the wheel.
“Yeah well, my wife is on a plane to Seattle right now. Hopefully, she’ll be back in time for court Friday.”
