Page 89 of Over the Line

I shrugged, my pads squeaking with the movement. “Maybe if the reporters suddenly couldn’t get their stories done in time, the sites would have to loosen up their deadlines. I don’t see how their bullshit means we have to have reporters breathing down our necks while we’re trying to focus on games.” I narrowed my eyes. “Or is the club prepared for one of us to tell a camera that ‘maybe if I hadn’t been grilled about my personal life five minutes before warmups, I’d have played better.’”

Travis worked his jaw.

“You think we’re too media-trained for that,” I said. “But sooner or later, he’s going to fuck up someone’s concentration and cost us a game, and the truth is going to come out.”

He looked for all the world like he was genuinely surprised his hair wasn’t going to gray before my eyes. I couldn’t imagine the pressure he was under, and I had some sympathy, but my teammates and I were under a ton of pressure too.

“How about a compromise?” I asked. “All the reporters can still come in pre-game, but Jack Arlen is banned from the dressing room. Period.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because I am not explaining to the owner of the team why his own stepson is banned from the Phantoms’ locker room.”

I rolled my eyes. “Nepotism is alive and well, I see.”

He spread his arms. “What do you want me to do, Saints? Honestly, tell me, because I’ve tried everything I can think of.”

“I don’t know. I really don’t. But he’s going to start fucking us up on the ice, and it’s going to start costing us when we need the points.” I paused. “Look, I get it. I do.” Flailing a hand toward the room, I added, “But the way he was digging at Temo? I can’t just sit back and let him do that. Especially not right before a game.”

“Then you let me or another staff member deal with it.”

I raised my eyebrows. “And that was going to happen… when, exactly?”

He glared at me. “Just keep your cool, all right? I’ll keep an eye on him.”

I grunted and walked back into the locker room without another word.

Travis must’ve clocked that I was done with him, because he didn’t try to stop me. He was probably slinking away to do more damage control and tell Jack to cool it. One could hope, anyway; I usually liked Travis, but it irritated me how much leeway he gave Jack. Especially when Jack was a notorious provocateur. Travis had asked him a few times to keep the more incendiary questions until after a game, but before long, Jack was always back to his old ways.

And because Stepdaddy Warbucks owned us, Jack kept his press credentials and access to our locker room.

I needed to have a talk with the front office. At some point, his connection to our owner should stop taking precedence over his damage to the team. Shit like this could throw people off, and if even one teammate was a mess, it could pull the whole team apart.

Like if a player finds out the captain is screwing his dad?

I winced.

Okay, what Garrett and I were doing wasn’t that bad. Garrett was nervous about it, sure, and for obvious reasons. But this wasn’t like when Garrett had cheated on Chris’s mom or anything like that. He was a single guy. I was a single guy. Chris was a mature and reasonable man. He might not be thrilled about it once we told him, at least at first, but it probably wouldn’t be a crisis.

Not even if Jack Arlen tried to make it one.

I hoped, anyway.

With a shudder, I continued putting on my gear. I’d talk to the powers that be about Jack later. Right now, I had to get my head together to play hockey.

No way was I letting Jack throw me off my game tonight.

CHAPTER 21

GARRETT

“I’m starting to think the hockey gods are conspiring against us.” Liam winced as he eased himself down onto his couch. “Because this is bullshit.”

I carefully sat next to him, grimacing as I watched him get situated with an icepack against the side of his neck. “I think they’re conspiring against you specifically. Are you okay?”

“I’m good,” he said even as his features twisted with pain. He fidgeted a little, then exhaled slowly. “Okay. As long as I don’t move for the rest of the night…”