I sat on the bench and sighed, leaning forward on my elbows and resting my head in my hands. It was bad enough that I could hear the interview; I didn’t want to see it too. The reporters started firing out questions about me right away.
“Coach, are you worried about how Murphy played tonight?”
“No,” he responded. “It is what it is. We’re all human. It’s his first bad game all season. Everyone is entitled to a couple.”
“Coach, coach!” another reporter shouted out. “This is a contract year for Murphy. Is that having an effect on his abilities?”
Collins exhaled loudly into the microphone. “It is a contract year. Is it having an effect on him? Who knows? I can’t answer that. I’m sure it’s stressful to know that your every move is being watched and weighed by the front office, but he’s tough. He can handle it.”
“Coach Collins, sources close to Murphy say that there are some personal relationship things that could be affecting the way he played tonight. Do you know anything about that?”
My head snapped up to the TV.
Fucking vultures.
I could feel every guy in the room staring at the back of my head.
“Listen. You know what? He doesn’t talk to me about things like that and he doesn’t owe it to me either. He’s here to do a job and he does it damn well. Did he have a rough night? Yes. Will he bounce back tomorrow? Yes. Do I think his personal life has anything to do with it? No. Even if it did, it’s none of my—or anyone else’s—business. That’s all for tonight.” He pushed the microphone away from his face and stood up from the table looking as pissed as I’d ever seen him. He lost his cool just as much as the next guy, but almost never on camera and certainly not during an interview.
Collins stormed through the locker room without making eye contact with anyone—especially me.
“That was rough.” Viper sat down next to me, sweat dripping from his temples. “You all right?”
“Fine.” I slammed my skates into my bag.
“You don’t look fine.”
“Okay, I’m not fine.”
“Anything you want to talk about?” he asked carefully.
I sat up and stared straight ahead. “I don’t want any advice,” I warned.
“Done. Lay it on me.”
“He’s back, her ex. For weeks apparently, but she didn’t tell me.” I sighed.
“Interesting.”
“That’s all? Interesting?” I gawked at him.
“You didn’t want my advice.” He shrugged. “So I’m listening.”
“If I were to ask for your advice, what would it be?”
“Easy. Kick his ass. She’s your woman; fight for her.”
“I did. I think I broke his jaw.”
His head whipped around to look at me as he clapped my shoulder, hard. “Nice! Attaboy! So why didn’t she tell you?”
“I don’t know. I’m assuming she didn’t want me to be mad?”
“Wait a second.” He stood and tossed his own skates in his bag. “What the fuck do you mean you don’t know why she lied? Didn’t you ask her?”
“I was mad. I left. Haven’t talked to her since.”
His mouth hung open as he pulled his brows in tight, frowning at me. “What are you? An idiot? What if there’s a perfectly good reason why she didn’t tell you? What if you, being the stubborn asshole that you are, are sitting here stewing about it while that douchebag is comforting her and mending her broken heart?”
“I told her I’d call her when we got back.”
“Moron, we’re on a road trip. How long do you think it would take for him to weasel his way back in? Hopefully not literally?”
“She wouldn’t do that. Not with him.” I shook my head, blowing him off.
“Why the hell not? You’re not talking to her. She’s heartbroken. She’s going to be looking for some sort of shoulder to lean on.”
I felt sick to my stomach.
Viper was right… and that’s not something I could say often.
I got back to the hotel room after my shitty game and checked my phone before I took a shower. I had four missed calls—three from my mom, which I wasn’t in the mood to return, and one from Shae.
I didn’t have to think twice about whether or not I was going to return my sister’s call, even though I was nervous as hell to do so. Had Mom and Dad talked to her yet? Did she know? If she didn’t, could I act normal, like nothing was wrong? I didn’t want to be the one to break her heart.
“Hey, kiddo.” I tried my best to sound cheerful when she answered the phone.
“Brody!” she blurted out when she answered. “What the hell is going on with Mom and Dad?”
I sighed. “They told you, huh?”
“Yeah. They called me this morning claiming they wanted me to find out from them, not you.”
“How nice of them,” I said sarcastically as I stretched out across the hotel bed.
“What happened with them? They won’t tell me anything.” Her voice was quiet, sad. She sounded how I felt.
“I don’t know. They didn’t say much to me either.” I rubbed my temples with my fingers. “I wasn’t there long, though. I kinda stormed out.”
“Mom told me. She’s most upset about that, of all things,” she said in disbelief.