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“You can meet with me during the week to discuss anything else," Grace says. “Any questions?"
“Not right now. Thanks for calling though.”
"No problem."
I hang up and feel anger spiraling through me. Without thinking, I take off my skates and slide into my shoes, storming out and ignoring the calls of my friends behind me.
I walk, rather than drive, since Mia's bakery is just around the corner from the ice rink. The boys were even talking about going there after our game.
The bakery is relatively empty as I storm in. Mia is behind the counter, frowning down at an iPad. She glances up and her eyes instantly trail down my chest, heat flushing her face. Oh, that's right, I forgot to put on my shirt. I skate shirtless most of the time, because I naturally run hot, and it seems that Mia’s having a hard time looking away.
I draw satisfaction from that, at least, and ignore the desire that punches through me as she swallows.
Instead, I watch her and wait until she manages to drag her eyes back to mine.
“You’re not allowed in here,” she says. “Remember? I banned you last year after you pulled that little prank last time.”
I frown at her description of the event. That wasn't a prank. I came in after one of my games, with the guys, to have some dessert. Then a few die-hard puck bunnies stalked me here, flashed me their tits, and then ran off giggling. A few other people were in the bakery at the time, and they were outraged, of course. But I found the whole thing hilarious. There were no kids around, so I didn’t understand why anyone would get their panties in a wad.
Of course, Mia had no sense of humor about the whole thing and banned me from her bakery. I should talk to her about that actually, but right now, I'm not in the mood to reminisce.
“Did you really report me to the head of the district?"
“Yes,” she says unrepentantly. “I told you I would, didn’t I?”
"Yeah?” I lean over the counter, with my elbows on it. “Well, the district head just called me and now she's talking about shutting down the team entirely."
Surprise flashes across her expression but she sticks her chin up. “Well, that wasn’t my intention, but you should’ve known that could happen with what you were doing. You were blatantly cheating, or at the very least flouting the rules, even after I warned you what could happen."
"Cheating?" I say as the anger builds inside me. "How the fuck did I cheat?"
"You bought your team gear that wasn't on the approved list. They're far better than anything any other team can afford and give an unfair advantage so your team can win."
“I didn’t buy anyone something so they could win,” I say, exasperated. “I bought it so the other parents would let my child on the team."
“Ah, so nepotism makes it okay then?”
“Oh, get off your fucking high horse. It’s little league.”’
Her eyes flash too. “It’s not just little league. Some of those kids work their ass off the get where they are. What kind of lesson are we teaching them by allowing this kind of blatant disregard for the rules?"
“Jesus, I didn't do this as a whole conspiracy to win, damn it! I just want my kid to have friends.”
There’s a beat of silence and her eyes soften a little. “Oh. I didn’t know.”
“Yeah. And thanks to you, everyone on the team is going to hate his guts."
5
MIA
I try notto feel it, but the guilt slams into me anyway, at his statement.
Truthfully, I meant what I said, that I never meant for it to go this far, when I made the report. I hoped a warning would be enough to stop Luke from what he was doing, and then the kids could start competing on an even playing field again.
But I should’ve known that this was a possibility and should’ve considered the children on the other team before I did it.
God, is Luke's team really going to be shut down because of me?
