“Fuck that,” I muttered.
“What?” Adam asked. He hadn’t moved, didn’t seem to want to—no doubt because he was worried about Naomi’s reaction.
“I’m sorry,” I said. I glared at the pregnant woman. “I made a mistake. Cruz told me I was being stupid, and I was. I wanted to protect my wife…”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Adam said with a sigh. “But it’s clearly backfired and now the CATS are upset.”
Cormac strode off, following Keelie. He was the most likely of us to be able to soothe his woman—and hopefully the rest of them.
When he came back a few minutes later, his expression was grim. “Ida Jane’s coming to our place tonight, apparently. Keelie said don’t call her.”
I clenched my fists. “That doesn’t work for me.”
“Well, we’re about to leave for another game, and I don’t think you should try to talk to her right now. She’s not just angry; she’s really upset.”
“All the more reason—”
“Leave it, Maximum,” Adam said. He shook his head. “Those were a shock. She needs to process.”
“Don’t call me that,” I ground out.
Adam blinked, confused. “Maximum?”
“I hate that name. More so now.”
Dawning understanding grew on their expressions. “It’s related to that night?” Adam asked, gesturing toward me.
I’d been new in the league. A rookie who’d never had the freedoms America offered. My old teammates liked to let off steam with puck bunnies…lots of puck bunnies. The orgies were a well-known part of the team’s culture, and it was one of the reasons I’d been glad to get traded to an organization more focused on winning than partying.
My nickname, Maximum, the one I disliked so intensely came from the night of the photos—the night I had the maximum score.
I wasn’t proud of that night or my choices, knew Nadia would have hated my behavior. And now, by trying to be part of a community there, I’d hurt and sickened my wife now.
“I thought it was about maximum damage,” Cormac said, frowning.
“Clearly, that’s now happened,” Adam muttered.
Chapter20
Ida Jane
Ihuddled in Cormac’s living room, too numb to do anything more than stare blankly at the wall. Slippers had settled into my lap, purring loudly.
Nicole and her husband, Quintin, had dropped us off, stating they needed to get home to their kids. She’d insisted on sitting in the back seat of their huge SUV and hugged me the entire way to Cormac’s place. These women had absorbed me into their group and made me part of their family. Yet, in this moment, I felt so alone.
“You okay?” Naomi asked me for probably the fiftieth time. I just didn’t know how to answer her, and she would not believe me, anyway. I wasn’t okay. My heart, which Maxim bruised earlier with his comments about not wanting a family, was now smashed into little pieces because of his lies.
I closed my eyes and those images of him with other women flooded my mind. I opened my eyes, my belly twisted with disgust.
“For what it’s worth, I don’t think Maxim’s had an affair, you know, since you got married,” Naomi said. “We would have known.”
I nodded because I’d watched the Wildcatters players talk amongst themselves. They were close-knit, and they supported and protected their own. These guys accepted me as Maxim’s wife and many of the guys had thanked me for ensuring he got to play out the rest of the season. But that meant they might want to protect Maxim because they knew he needed me until his Green Card situation was formalized.
Slippers, clearly bored by us, leaped out of my lap and sauntered off toward a ball of yarn, which she batted between her paws.
“That woman wastryingto hurt you,” Keelie said.
“She did.”
