Page 21 of Cheap Shot

“Hey. Thanks for calling,” Mac said when the call connected.

“Sure. What’s up?”

Mac sighed. “I’m afraid they’re not budging on term.”

Luke dragged a hand across his face. “Okay.”

“They’re willing to go up a little on the AAV, but term … nothing.”

Luke let out a heavy sigh. So they’d pay him a little more per year but wouldn’t give him longer. They’d been going around in fucking circles on these contract negotiations since last summer. His contract was up at the end of this season and Mac had been working his ass off to get a new one nailed down.

But Gavin—or the Harriers ownership group—Luke wasn’t entirely sure which, was holding firm. They wouldn’t agree to a two-year deal. The best they’d offer was one. And the problem was, if they couldn’t come to an agreement, he’d be traded somewhere.

“I don’t fucking want to go anywhere else,” Luke reminded him.

“I know how much you value staying in Boston to wrap up your career.”

Luke had spent the early years of his career bouncing from team to team. Since Boston had acquired him during their previous successful playoff push, he’d assumed it would be like anywhere else—a short stop before he was sent somewhere else.

But to his surprise, he’d stayed.

He’d done so well during the postseason the Harriers’ previous general manager had kept him on the next season. And even oncethatGM got fired and Gavin Racine was hired to fill his place, Gavin had told him that Luke had a place there in Boston.

A part of him wanted to believe that Gavin meant it.

Wanted to hope thatmaybehe’d actually retire here in Boston instead of spending the remainder of his career being sent all over the fucking continent. But his contract was up at the end of this season and they were making no headway.

None Luke and his agent were happy with, anyway.

And Luke didn’t mind taking a bit of a discount on what he got paid. He wasn’t stupid, heknewhis career was winding down. Over? No. But he’d reached the tail end of it.

And look, he wasn’t greedy. He hadn’t been rich growing up and he still didn’t get the guys in the league who enjoyed lavish lifestyles. It wasn’t him and it never would be. But he’d played a hard game over the years, and it was starting to take its toll. Heneededthat money to get through. To set him up for the rest of his life.

But the trade deadline was less than two months away and they didn’t seem to be making any progress.

Mac was talking now, so Luke tuned back in to hear him say, “I know you don’t want to leave Boston but if they don’t want you, there are plenty of teams who do.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said, clearing his throat. “But we’ll worry about that if it comes to it. For now, keep at it. Fucking remind Gavin that if he’s serious about making a hard push for the playoffs this season, the team fuckingneedsme.”

“I will,” Mac promised.

“Thanks, man.”

The Harriers won both games on their road trip and by the time they returned to Boston on Thursday night, they were in third place in their conference, top of their division.

It felt good. Despite the thoughts swirling in Luke’s head about the contract negotiations, he’d played well. Contributed to what the team needed. Even if his knee and elbow hurt like a fucking bitch, he felt good about that.

Like Coach Hoyt said, complacency would kill them if they got too cocky, but for now, they were doing pretty damn well.

Due to the road trip, their next home game was exactly a week after the one against Portland and it wasn’t until Luke got on the ice for warmups that he thought about the fact that he’d probably see Vintage Jersey Guy tonight.

Sebastian something.

Fuck. Hewasprobably here right now, wasn’t he?

During the trip, Luke had checked online a couple of times, just to reassure himself there weren’t any issues. Like Sebastian getting on social media and talking shit about him or something. But everything had been quiet.

Just the usual garbage about what a scumbag player he was.