I finish the game and we go to overtime, which remains scoreless. In the shootout I stop everything that comes my way—easily. Levi scores to give us the win. I am so happy I want to throw my equipment off and roar. But it’s just a regular midseason game, and I’d look like a fool.
Instead I settle for the team coming over to congratulate me one after the other.
Back in the locker room Dixie breezes in, holding the same papers she had earlier. The ones I made her drop all over the dark medical room’s floor. Her eyes sweep the room. “Levi, Brian and Elijah, you’re doing interviews tonight.”
“What about me, Baby Braddock?” She bristles at Eddie’s condescending comment. He doesn’t seem to notice. “I’m the game-winning goalie. No one wants to talk to me?”
“Eddie, don’t talk to her like that,” Levi says firmly.
“What? She’s Jude’s baby sister,” Eddie argues and shrugs. “He scored her a job the way you scored Eli one. Hockey is renowned for nepotism. It’s accepted. Nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“I’ve told you, that’s bullshit,” Jude mutters.
“So, Baby Braddock, add me to the interview list,” Eddie says to Dixie.
“No one wants to interview you, Rollins, because even when the backup doesn’t have to step in to save the game you tanked, you leer at the female reporters like they’re cheerleaders and you’re a creepy school janitor at a pep rally,” I tell him, pulling my jersey over my head. I run my hand through my hair because it’s fallen into my eyes. “And if you keep being a disrespectful little shit, Dixie’s never going to schedule you again.”
Eddie gives me a cold, hard sneer. “You’re mighty lippy for a kid who shakes when a skate gets too close to his precious face.”
“My name is still Ms. Wynn to you,” Dixie says, turning to face Eddie, towering in front of him with her hands on her hips. “If you call me anything else at any time I will not acknowledge you even if you’re been set on fire and you’re asking me for the glass of water in my hand. Do you understand, Rollins?”
“Listen, Dix—”
“Ms. Wynn,” she cuts him off again. “And four reporters requested that lippy kid, as you called him. Not because he stood on his head in that shootout, but because he’s a better interview than you. You’re really fucking boring.”
She storms out of the locker room.
“Fucking bullshit,” Eddie grumbles and storms around the corner toward the showers.
I pull off my pads, and as I reach for my hoodie to throw on before the reporters come in I notice Jude staring at me. “What?”
“You like sticking up for my sister,” he remarks.
“Yeah, well, someone has to do it. You didn’t.” Okay, I don’t need to be defensive or insulting. That’s not exactly playing it cool.
Jude smiles. “Oh, I will always defend and protect her. When she actually needs it.” He stands. “Remember that.”
I watch him grab a clean towel and scrub his face with it. I think he suspects I’ve got a thing for his sister, and that’s a problem. As we start to strip down and wait for the reporters Dixie is sending in, Levi asks him if Zoey came to the game.
He shakes his head as he pulls off his jersey. “She’s watching it on TV with my family at my parents’ place. My dad has a bit of a cold, so everyone stayed with him, including Zoey, who said she was too exhausted to come all the way to the arena anyway.”
“Too bad. Tessa was hoping you two would go grab dinner with us,” Levi says and turns to me. “You wanna join? You could invite that Julie girl you’re sort of involved with.”
“Ha. No, I can’t,” I blurt out without thinking. Levi’s eyebrows furrow and Jude stares at me, lifting his. I shrug. “I told you, it’s not really a thing, and I’m not subjecting any girl to meeting you if I don’t have to.”
Levi flips me the middle finger as Jude pulls his phone out of his suit jacket hanging in his locker and checks it. I’m about to turn away, but the fact that his face just completely drains of color right before my eyes stops me. Levi notices too. “Jude? What’s wrong?”
“Zoey’s at the hospital. She’s in labor.”
19
Dixie
I’m so angry I feel flushed when I walk out of the locker room. But I’m not just angry at Eddie for being an asshole. I’m angry at Elijah for jumping into it. I saw Jude’s reaction to that—the way his eyebrows lifted and his stare narrowed. It made him suspicious, and it might have made other people suspicious. That can’t happen. And neither can spontaneous makeout sessions in the medical room. If it’s all or nothing for us, then it has to be nothing right now. And since he won’t take that seriously, because he takes nothing seriously, then I have to.
I feel my phone buzz in my blazer pocket, so I pull it out and frown when I see it’s Winnie. Again. She’s called twice and Sadie called once in the last twenty minutes. I told them never to call me during games, and afternoon games are the busiest for me. I hit Decline and look up to see the reporters are coming down the hall toward me, so I plaster a smile on my face and greet them. “Hey, everyone. So you’ve got Brian Spaulding and both Cascos waiting for you in there. You’ve got ten minutes tonight.”
I start to lead them toward the locker room. Tom Stoll, a local newspaper reporter I’ve gotten to know pretty well, gives me a big friendly smile. “How are you doing?”
