He pointed at the two of us. “You two are like a little dynamic duo out there now. Passing well, getting along, getting in the middle of Crosby’s fight together—what gives?”
Gavin rolled his eyes. “Dad, seriously? You want us to act like teammates then here we are doing that and you give us a hard time about it?”
Coach shook his head. “Just stop getting each other in trouble, all right?”
“We’ll try,” I said, still completely confused about how I should take this whole conversation.
Gavin and I walked over to our lockers, not saying another word to each other for the rest of the night. I checked my phone, thankfully finding messages from Myla and Karla.
Myla: What the fuck was that?
Myla: Seriously Brayden, you are a much better player than that.
Karla: What a game. Heading to bed. Early shift in the morning. Text me when you wake up.
I sent a quick goodnight text back to Karla before having it out with my sister. Her passion for my playing was cute and annoying all at the same time.
Me: Hey, can we just be happy that we won?
Myla: Don’t get me started. First, that net was wide open, and second, why would you rip a player’s helmet off for another player to punch? I mean, seriously?!
Me: The best part about all of this is I can picture how pissed you are right now.
I glanced over to see Gavin smiling down at his phone. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was talking to Myla, too. I wasn’t an idiot; I knew he had given her his number the night after the first game. I just hoped she would see that he was just as big of a womanizer as I used to be, so I wouldn’t have to step in and play the big brother card when it came to the captain of my team.
Chapter 12
Karla
Weeks wentby with Brayden and I texting and talking a lot, but it was not easy for us to work our schedules out. After a bunch of missed dates and changes in plans, we were sitting down for date number three and I just felt like something was off.
“Are we ok?” I finally blurted out.
Brayden’s eyes got wide as he chewed on his steak. “Yeah, of course we are. Why wouldn’t we be?” His face flooded with concern.
“You just seem a little distant tonight.” I played with the napkin in my lap. It was a bad habit, but I always fidgeted when I got nervous.
He sighed. “Myla is dating Gavin Hayes.” By the look of dread on Brayden’s face, I knew it was a huge deal for him, but I didn’t get it.
“And?” I shrugged. “Help me understand why this is so troubling for you.”
“He’s the biggest douchebag on the face of the planet.” Brayden threw his fork down.
“That was a cute tantrum,” I teased, and Brayden shot me a mean glance. “He’s the captain of your team and he has to be some sort of a good guy for Myla to want to be with him.”
“She snuck out of the house and tried to keep it from me,” he barked before chugging down the rest of his whiskey ginger.
“Ah! There it is.” I smiled over at him.
“What?” He furrowed his brow while waving his empty glass at the server to get another drink.
“You’re upset that Myla tried to hide it from you. I mean yeah, you might have picked a different guy for her, but the main thing is that for the first time ever, your little sister was sneaking around behind your back because she knew you’d act like this. Honestly, if he is as big of an ass as you claim he is, Myla will see it eventually and leave him—or he actually is a good guy who just has a bad reputation because of his past.”
Brayden sat in silence, mulling over my words. “I see what you did there.” He pointed his finger at me, smiling. “You turned that all around on me because of my reputation.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Sometimes you just have to have an outside perspective to see everything clearly.”
“I still don’t like it,” he whined as his new drink was delivered.
