I freeze, wrenching back. “What?”
“Your cell phone,” he repeats, holding out his palm.
“For what?”
“I want to make sure you’re not slipping into any DMs.”
“I’m not giving you my phone.”
He arches one dark brow.
“I’m not,” I say again, crossing my arms over my chest. Though young and fit, Malcolm’s a few inches short of six feet and probably a buck fifty. No match against my six-foot-two and two-hundred-pound stature.
“Shall we return to the office? Do you want me to go tell Mr. Fitzgerald you’re already being uncooperative?”
“What is this? Grade school? You gonna tattle on me?”
“I’m being paid to make sure you stay out of trouble. I’m not being paid to be your friend. Now, I’d like your phone. I am not going to change any passwords or shut anything off.”
“Then why do you need it?” I ask, reluctantly handing it over.
“I’ll be monitoring your account.”
“This is some Big-Brother shit right here,” I grumble, looking over his shoulder as he follows through with his promise.
“Yes, well, when you can demonstrate you don’t need it anymore, you’ll be free to do whatever you want again. Also, while we’re chatting, I’ve already put you on the list of players who will be volunteering with the Skate Away kids, and I have you scheduled to be part of the Speak Out campaign.”
“What’s that?” I already know that Skate Away is the Iron’s community outreach, raising funds for and directly working with inner-city kids who want to learn how to skate. A couple times a year, these kids come to games, and there is always a skate around, where some of the team’s players do a meet-and-greet. But I have no idea what this other campaign is.
“A nonprofit in the greater Philadelphia area working to shed light on sexual violence. They wanted some local stars to be the faces of the campaign, and I thought, who better than you?”
Who better than me?
For a moment, I think he’s somehow stumbled into my memory. Found the worst parts of me, but as he ticks his head to the side, impatiently waiting on my answer, I know he hasn’t. He’s only doing his job—coincidentally holding a mirror up for me to view the darkness.
Ignoring all that, I slap on a smile. “Whatever you say, boss.”
I accept my cell phone and offer him a salute. He’s not amused. “You’ll be hearing from me in a few days.”
“Can’t wait.”
“I can,” he mumbles and pivots on his heel. For a moment, Iwatch him walk away, head held high like he didn’t just put me in the corner.
“See you, bestie!”
He doesn’t acknowledge me, and I lose my good humor the instant he’s out of sight. I try to stay optimistic, not take anything too seriously, but this feels like overkill. Hockey is about winning and money, and I hate to be thenot all menguy, but fuck. It’s not me.
I treat all my hookups with respect, and Ialwaysmake sure I have consent. Hell, they’re the onesaskingme to fuck them.
So management is pointing the finger at the wrong guy. My actions are getting picked apart, while there are so many other players who are doing legitimately bad shit. Beating up people in the world, assaulting and abusing women, saying horrific things. Yet I make one—okay, a few—mistakes, and I’m raked over the coals.
And I’m still steaming by the time I glide onto the ice to warm up with my teammates. We have another week of preseason training, and we’re still working out the kinks and lines. It’s a time when players can still be cut or traded, and from the way I feel eyes on me from the owners’ box, I know I’m on the chopping block. Reassurance from my new babysitter or not.
Sheffy glides over to where I’m double-checking my skates. “What’s up? What happened?”
Alex Sheffield has been my friend since I was sixteen. His family was my billet when I played in Calgary in the WHL. I’m closer to Pam, Sheffy’s mom, than my own, and since my dad died when I was twelve, it was Dane who gave me the sex talk. Although at that point, I’d already had all the education I needed. I spent some of my best years with the Sheffields, and if anybody knows me, it’s Sheffy.
“They want to trade me,” I say behind my glove, pretending like I’m fixing it, but really using it to provide us some cover.
