“I’m still here.”
I closed my eyes. “Can you clear something up for me?”
Her tone was guarded. “What’s up?”
“This might sound crazy, but I’ve been thinking about high school a lot. And prom. Did you…do you remember saying something to Grace Knight back then?” God, I probably sounded like a fucking idiot. What thirty-year-old man would still be caught up on his high school prom?
Chloe was quiet for a long moment. “I shouldn’t have done that,” she finally said. “I knew how you felt about her. I guess I was jealous.”
My breath caught. “Youdidsay something to her.”
She sighed. “I told her we were dating and the whole prom thing was a misunderstanding.”
A flash of anger sparked in my belly. “You lied to her.”
She didn’t try to deny it. “You still like her, don’t you?”
I definitely didn’t want to have this conversation with her. When I didn’t respond, she went on, her voice wistful now. “You always did have a thing for her. I shouldn’t have gotten in the way.” Then she brightened. “But if I hadn’t, we probably wouldn’t have had Josie.” I bit back a snort. Did she want me to thank her?
“For what it’s worth, Liam, I think she still has feelings for you, too. She sure as shit didn’t look too happy to see me in her classroom the other day.”
No, I didn’t imagine she would have been. “Chlo, I have to get going. I’ll talk to you soon.”
I didn’t wait for her to respond before ending the call. I needed to get to practice. And then I needed to talk to Andrew Knight.
There were plenty of things I could blame for coming in between Grace and I over the years. Chloe’s interference, misunderstandings, her brother’s opinion, our careers. But the truth was, I could have done more to fight for her. And I was done sitting on the bench, just hoping things would turn out in my life. I was ready to do whatever it took to get the girl.
CHAPTER 30
Iwas surprised to see the number of news vans parked outside the arena. We didn’t usually draw this much attention—the local media seemed to have gotten over the novelty of an NHL team real quick, right around the time we started losing most of our games. The national hockey outlets had lost interest, too, except when they were using us as the butt of their jokes.
So I wasn’t sure why I had to fight my way through a throng of reporters on the way inside the building.
“Is it true there’s going to be a major announcement today?” a heavily made-up lady asked, shoving a microphone into my face.
“What have you heard from management?” a man shouted.
“Are you aware of the rumors that a trade might be imminent?”
“No comment,” I grumbled, my stomach sinking at the mere word trade.
No way they trade you,I tried to tell myself, but I knew full well that in this business, there were no guarantees.
Once I made it into the locker room, I saw that I wasn’t the only one who was confused. All of the guys were shuffling around, half dressed, muttering to each other.
“I can see the attitude in this room hasn’t improved during my day off,” I said to Jay.
“Yeah, surprisingly enough, the captain punching one of the players didn’t really help things,” he said. Shit. I had pretty much forgotten about that whole thing. I glanced around the room, looking for Ryan Cane, but didn’t see him. Something loosened in my chest. Maybehewas the one being traded.
A sudden hush fell over the room and I directed my attention to the door to see Andy entering with the GM and Skylar.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” Andrew said. “Sorry about all the press outside. We tried to keep this quiet until we could release a statement but that hasn’t stopped the gossip from spreading.”
Everyone in the room seemed to be holding their breath, waiting to see what the news would be. I was sure there were just as many guys in that locker room hoping to be traded as there were guys wishing like hell they could stay.
“We’ve decided to make some changes,” Andy said easily, like he was discussing something as unimportant as the sodas stocked in the player’s lounge. “First of all, Ryan Cane has been traded to Toronto for a second-round draft pick and Grant Hendricks, a rookie defenseman.”
I gaped at him, as did most of the team. A few guys were grumbling, not at all happy about this news. Andrew had told me trading Cane might take a while, that he was worth a lot and we needed to get as much as we could for him. I couldn’t help but think a second-round pick and a rookie D-man no one had ever heard of weren’t exactly what he’d had in mind.
