Page 64 of Game Misconduct

“Or that you set her up with some sort of smelly motorhead.”

He took a sip of his drink and shrugged.

“At first, I just questioned your judgment and the friends you keep, but then a thought struck me. I know you’re not that incompetent, and if you really wanted to, you could have found a great guy to set her up with. But you didn’t. On purpose.”

He looked everywhere but at me. “I don’t know what you mean.”

I stepped closer. “You sabotaged her.”

His brows shot up. “I did not!”

I grinned. “You did, and you did it for me.”

He tipped his chin. “Not everything is about you, Garrison.”

“Fine, you did it for us.”

He didn’t argue that time.

“So is he actually that terrible, or did you pay him to really push her over the edge?”

Finally, he cracked. He let out a laugh. “I told him not to shower. He tried to argue with me since he was coaching at the gym, then had a Harley he was working on for a buddy, but I told him to just go. It was his idea to go to that bar. He said it was the worst date place he could think of. It was a bit of a joint effort with the other guys at the gym to come up with watching your game, but it was sheer luck that they happened to be doing a feature on you that night.”

I rubbed my face. Part of me wanted to punch him, while the other wanted to give him a hug.

“That’s like evil genius status.” I felt bad complimenting him, but it had all worked out for my benefit.

“Ezra really got into the role. He called me, barely able to contain himself. He felt awful but also thought it was one of the funniest things he’d ever done. He said even if he wasn’t acting like a disgusting jerk, it was clear that her mind was somewhere else. Then she saw you on the screen, and it was like a switch flipped and she just left.”

I tried not to let that go to my head, but it made me feel pretty good.

“I’m sorry I got involved, but she came to me really confused and thought this was what she needed to sort out her feelings. I already knew how you felt about her, so I just twisted things a bit to make sure she got her head straight too.”

I let out a laugh. “You should have told me earlier. I wouldn’t have spent the past few days mad at you.”

He shrugged. “When I saw how you reacted in Florida, I knew it was real for you too, but when you questioned it. . . I panicked. I wanted to push you to admit to yourself how much you cared. That you didn’t want her to be with anyone else.”

“I didn’t know you were such a matchmaker.” I took a step back and went to pick up my bag near the door. “Let me know if I can ever return the favor.”

He paused mid-step before nodding. “Sure thing.”

“Let’s get going. I was hoping we’d get the day off, but maybe we’ll get lucky with a light practice.”

“I doubt it. Hartman took the second loss personally. He’s going to be after us until we make up those points.”

We only dropped to the third spot in our division, and we had time to recover before playoffs, but he was right. Hartman wasn’t captain because he took it easy. Each win and loss hit him harder than the rest of us. His determination to be the best kept the rest of us at the top of our game. You couldn’t help but respect him, and the last thing any of us wanted was to disappoint him.

He wanted another championship, and he was going to get us there even if it killed us.

“There’s no such thing as light practices for the Fury.” Mitch clapped me on the shoulder before locking the door behind us. “That’s what ice baths are for.”

I chuckled, then thought of Vivi. I bet if I introduced her to ice baths, they’d fall even further down the list. Not that it would help me move up. I had to figure out what her first two loves were in order to knock them down. I didn’t mind a challenge. All I wanted was to get to know her more and more. With enough time, I’d know everything she loved and hated. Her favorite memories and the ones that stung.

I wanted it all, but that was a part of the journey.

“Your smile’s freaking me out,” Mitch teased as we got into his car.

“I was thinking about Vivi.”