Page 39 of Scoring Lessons

THANKS FOR THE VOTE OF CONFIDENCE, ASSHOLE.

My head bobbed to the pop music filtering through my headphones as I stretched into a child’s pose after doing a light workout.

When I lifted my head, I found Anderson staring at me with crossed arms and a serious expression.

The music automatically stopped when I took my headphones off. “What’s up?”

“What’s up? That’s all you have to say to me after practically avoiding me for a week—which, by the way, is very impressive considering we play for the same fucking team.”

I sat cross legged on the black yoga mat with a huffed laugh. “I’ve been busy.”

“Busy with that?”

“Life.” More like wallowing, if I were being honest with myself.

You’d think that being two months into the season, I’d get over the fact that I wasn’t playing on the first line anymore. But…nope. I was running through the motions and staying away from my friends. It was the safest thing I could do for the sake of everyone.

He rubbed his temple with a sigh. “If it makes you feel any better, I hate playing with Sullivan. He’s a dick.”

His comment pulled a smirk out of me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He settled me with a withering glare. “Please don’t insult me by pretending you’re not sulking.”

“Fine,” I relented with a nod. “I’ll admit it does make me feel a bit better.”

Ever since training camp, we could barely stand each other. Between his snotty attitude and the way he looked at Olivia like she was a piece of meat? Yeah, that asshole had been on my shit list ever since.

“Have you talked to Coach?” he asked.

“What’s there to talk about? It’s obvious I’m being traded.”

Anderson frowned, like the thought was ridiculous. “Impossible. You’re one of us. He knows that.”

I grabbed and rolled the yoga mat then placed it where it belonged. “I’m not a star like Sullivan. He’s younger, too. I mean, I don’t blame them. This is part of the business. I’m not the player I used to be.”

He grabbed my bottle of water and handed it to me. I took a hefty sip, hoping to erase the rock that was lodged in my throat. It barely helped.

“Says the guy who scored two goals yesterday.”

“Those were lucky shots. Detroit is not the team it used to be.” After losing some of their best defensive players to Vancouver, they were struggling to survive.

He leveled me with a look that screamed, You’re pathetic. “I don’t like this new self-deprecating guy. You need to let loose and go out with us. You didn’t even make an appearance at Tim’s yesterday. What happened to tradition? You’re the most superstitious guy I know.”

If only my best friend knew this wasn’t a new thing. It was only becoming harder to hide how, on most days, it took everything in me to get out of bed. Most times, I had to force myself to take a shower or even brush my teeth.

I mustered a casual grin as I grabbed a towel and rubbed it on the back of my neck. “You’re right, man. I’ll get my head out of my ass. We’ll go out tonight.” I forced the words out the best I could. The last thing I wanted to do was be out and about. But I couldn’t exactly tell anyone how I’d been feeling either.

He patted me on the shoulder as we stepped out of the gym. “Thank God, you’re back.”

Just like that, the mask was back on.

We decided to go to the club after the girls insisted they wanted to go dancing.

The place was stuffed with bodies, even in the VIP section, and I was annoyed and already over this dreadful night. As it obviously turned out, clubs weren’t as fun when I was sober.

Parker and Anderson tried to get me to drink, but every time they placed a shot of tequila in my hand, I would go to the bathroom and throw it in the sink as I stared at my pathetic reflection in the mirror. The dark circles around my eyes were more pronounced, my cheeks a bit more hollow from struggling to keep up with my usual meals.

Everything I did was forced. The jokes. My laugh. The way I kept a smile etched on the corner of my mouth. I’d gotten used to wearing this armor of mine, but right now, I wanted to crawl out of my skin and get away from this place.