Page 34 of Power Play
He’s been dating MacGregor’s sister since last winter. They’re disgusting together.
Logan cocks his head. “You seem oddly invested in my life today.”
“Nah. Just wondering when you’re going to join the ranks of the married men. The grass is greener, my friend.”
Mitchell laughs. “You fucked your wife yet?”
It’s my turn to scowl. “Fuck off.”
“You might be married on paper, but it’s not a real marriage,” he says.
“You ever been married?” Jenkins asks him.
“Nope. Came close, but we called it off.” He shrugs. “It’s for the best. She hooked up with my teammate, and I can’t be sure the timelines didn’t overlap. Last I heard, they have three or four kids and split up six months after he retired.”
“They split up? With little kids?” I can’t imagine that. Sure, it’s better to be alone than be miserable in a relationship, but I can’t imagine only being with my kid part-time. I already get so few moments with her as it is.
“She wanted to be a WAG. She didn’t care which guy she had to screw to get a ring.” Mitchell scowls. “Watch out for your girl. She might not want to be a WAG now, but they all want that lifestyle, and they’ll do anything to keep it.”
“Riley’s not like that.”
He grunts. “If you say so.”
“She’s not,” I say firmly.
“Hailey’s not interested in being a WAG, either,” Logan says.
“That’s because she’s family,” Jenkins says. “She’s basically been one all this time.”
He’s a few years younger than me, and in the year and a few months I’ve been with the team, he’s gone through four or five girlfriends. They’re all the same: tall, blond, super thin, and gorgeous. He clearly has a type, and I’m not about to judge him for it.
Blondes have never done it for me, which is funny, because Carter was blond. I found her social media profile the other day, and although I still don’t remember her, a part of me was settled by seeing her face.
She will always be the mother of my child. No matter my residual anger, she’s dead, and I can’t change that. As sorry as I am for her passing, if she hadn’t, I never would have known about Emmy.
Logan kicks me under the table. “You okay, man?”
I nod, turning my attention back to my plate. “I’m fine.”
The house is loud with the chaos of twenty-five hockey players, a dozen partners, and five babies.
Riley looks alarmed as Jenkins shows up on our doorstep with a case of beer in one hand and a giant shopping bag in the other.
“What is all this?” she asks.
“This is your baby-slash-wedding shower,” he cheers.
She glares at me. “When you said you invited a few people, I thought you meant, like, four. Maybe five. Not… this.”
“Relax. I’ve got it handled.” I set my arm around her shoulders and steer her into the living room. “Grab a drink, hang out. They want to get to know you.”
Spoiler alert: I do not have this handled. We’re only forty-five minutes into the party and I’m already crawling out of my skin. Generally, I’m energized being around people, but cramming everyone in my small house was not my best idea.
Luckily, I set up a few folding tables and chairs outside, and even though it’s cold as fuck, half the team congregates there. I throw Jenkins’s beer into a cooler. Sinclair, Clark, and Schwartz all had the same idea. We have an early game tomorrow, so we can’t go too crazy.
Inside, Emmy is being passed around like a hot potato, charming everyone who holds her. She’s loving the attention, clapping and babbling and showing off her gummy smile with two little teeth.
She’s been grumpy as fuck the last few nights, inconsolable, screaming her head off all night long, but as soon as the tooth poked through, she calmed down. I don’t like when my princess is upset, and I definitely don’t like not being able to soothe her. All she wanted was Riley, and it was a kick in the nuts that I wasn’t enough for her.
