Page 46 of The Draft
Cade’s wide, grinning face was looking at me like he knew something I didn’t. “Gosh, D. I’ve never seen you like this. Is this because of Reporter Girl?”
“Sure,” I quipped as I dropped to pick up my phone, staring at the blank screen.
“You better watch yourself. You’ve had one night with her, and she’s already got your balls in a vise. Your hair’s a mess, you aren’t dressed for practice, and you’re staring at your phone like a zombie. I get it, she’s probably great in the sack and you don’t exactly get around much, but is she worth screwing up your pretty much guaranteed contract with Atlanta for?” I pressed my lips shut, and Cade’s eyes widened. “Oh, she is. Well, unless she’s sleeping with the rest of us, she’s definitely not worth the extra drills we’ll have to do for your tardiness, so get your ass in gear and let’s go.”
He gestured to my lack of pads, and I rolled my eyes.
“I’m not late. It only takes me thirty seconds to get my padding on, and then I’m done.”
“Thirty seconds? I don’t have much to worry about then. Sounds like Reporter Girl might be disappointed soon, anyway.”
I pushed past him and mumbled, “Trust me, she wasn’t disappointed.” Dumping my phone in my locker, I pulled out my padding and started to put it on.
Cade dropped next to me and shunted my shoulder. “I was just joking. In all seriousness, I’m happy for you, man. I’ve never seen you this happy and disgruntled at the same time. It must mean she’s something special.”
I gulped, because how the hell was I supposed to keep this secret from him for the rest of my life? How could I look my best friend in the eye and not hear ‘traitor’ in the back of my head every single time he smiled at me? What the hell was I supposed to do when Madison and Cade were in the same vicinity?
Cade leaned in. “Word on the street is something big is happening on the ice today. Any ideas on what it is?”
“Nope.”
“Figured. You’re too drunk on pussy to be concentrating on the fact that the entire locker room has been talking about something while you’ve been glued to your phone.”
“They have?” Sure enough, when I glanced at the rest of the team, they were all in huddles, whispering as they strolled out to the rink. Just as they were leaving, Scotty looked over his shoulder and gave me an uneasy glare.
“Hey, Hendricks. What’s going on?” I called out.
“New guy,” Erik responded for Scotty.
“New guy?” With furrowed brows, Cade looked at me with confusion. We were only a few weeks into the season, so it made no sense that new transfers were already being recruited.
“I guess we should go and find out.” I turned to my locker, pulled out my skates, and started to lace them up. Cade waited, and we made our way to the rink together. Since no one was moving, I pushed my way to the boards and stood next to Scotty, surprised to see a player already on the ice in all black, skating lengths.
With a stick in one hand, he was handling the puck with ease, and as much as I hated to admit it, he was good. Really good. How he was able to transfer here without it becoming headline news was beyond me because he must have been a starter for another D1 team.
Even after scoring from halfway across the rink, he didn’t let the fact he had an audience break his concentration. He was focused and took another puck, ran it up to the other goal, and scored from an almost impossible angle. The guy had accuracy, that was for sure.
Erik let out a low whistle as he looked at Alex with concern. His face was a little paler than usual, which could have been because he was cold on the ice, but I doubted it. He was used to the temperature. No, I assumed Erik looked like he wanted to vomit because the guy was good, and with skills like that, I could only assume he was an attacker, so there was a very real possibility that Erik could get replaced.
When the new guy finally decided to stop showing off, he made his way over to us and let his blades slide across the ice as he came to a stop in front of the door.
His eyes looked familiar, and it was only after he pulled his helmet offthat I recognized his off-center nose.
The oneIbroke.
Henry Newman.
One by one, the team entered the rink, giving the new guy a high-five and a bro hug. Oh, how easy it was for them to accept him, but no one knew what he was really like.
A lying cheater.
Standing shoulder to shoulder, it was just Cade and me left on the side, and we glanced at each other knowingly. Neither one of us wanted to get on that ice with him, but we knew we’d have to.
“I’m Henry.” He had this forced, fake smile on his face as he waved his gloved hand to the rest of the players he hadn’t said hello to yet. “And I’m looking forward to being on the team.”
He sounded almost nice, but I knew his game. I was pretty sure that was how he convinced Madison that he wasn’t a cheating asshole in high school.
I blew out an annoyed breath because I thought we had gotten rid of this guy. We’d made sure that the rest of the team gave him a hard time in high school after we left, so why would he come here? The college that he knew we attended.