“WHAT?!” I stand in complete disbelief as I glare at all of them. “You can’t be serious. We get tested weekly. Why on earth would you think I’m doing drugs?”
Alex takes the lead, as he seems to have done since this entire thing started.
“You’ve been different the last few weeks.”
“Different how?”
“You’re leaving practice early. You seem distracted when we’re at the rink teaching the kids. You’re never around the dorm to watch plays. It’s like you’ve suddenly turned into a completely different person.”
“Because I haven’t been around as much?” I ask with a raised brow.
“Yeah… we’re just used to you being our captain, and we miss it.”
They miss me? That’s why they think I’m doing drugs. Wow, these guys need something better to do with their Friday nights.
“I’m not doing drugs.”
“Told you,” Erik says, opening his arms wide and glancing around the room. “If he was doing drugs, his pupils would be shot, and he’d be twitching all the time.”
“Thank you.” I immediately regret thanking him, because he’ll gloat about this forever. “I’m not and havenevertaken drugs. My dad would kill me before he’d let that happen.”
There’s another beat of silence, as if they’re all still taking this in.
How long have they been talking about this?
“Exactly! This is just like the Cade situation. No drugs, just some super-secret underground bar activities…” he drawls out. “Although, it’s not a bar that Scotty’s addicted to. No. He’s got a different drug.” Erik says, then pauses. “And that’s all I’m going to say over fear of stepping over the boundary with my linemate.”
“The respectable thing would’ve been saying nothing at all,” I retort, making Erik step back.
“Hey, at least I wasn’t the one who made up this rumor about you. Face it, Hendricks, you’re a commodity, not only when you’re on TV, but in this locker room. People watch you whether you like it or not. I was an asshole as a freshman.”
The locker room mumbles in agreement, but Erik doesn’t stop glaring me down, and he moves forward, standing toe-to-toe with me.
“I did stupid things because I thought I was helping you. I stopped that, and even though I’m the only person in this room not trying to dissect every ounceof your existence, you’re still looking at me like I’m the worst possible human being on the planet.”
“Uh.”
I don’t even know what to say to that. Neither does the rest of the room.
“Now, can we please get on the ice before we force Scotty into giving us a confession over something he clearly wants none of us to know about?”
Erik grabs his stick and waltzes out of the locker room, grumbling incoherently under his breath.
“Well, that was a little dramatic,” I say to lighten the mood.
It doesn’t work, but on the bright side, the team does start to leave the locker room.
“Sorry,” Alex says, scratching the back of his head. “I didn’t mean to make it a thing. Coach McKibbon asked me to find out what was going on with you, and then when I started asking around, itturnedinto a thing. I shouldn’t have asked like that.”
“It’s okay. I get it.”
Ihavebeen distant, and it’s not just about carving out time to see Laura. It’s because if I hang around these idiots long enough, I’ll slip. I’ll say something I shouldn’t. Something she wouldn’t want shared, and if I do, I’ll lose the one thing I’ve managed to hold onto with her.
I want to help her.
Fuck, I want way more than that…and I think she does too, but she won’t admit it.
We’ve spent approximately twelve skating lessons together since the cock-blocking Zamboni, and there’s been no mention of the near-kiss.
