“What the hell, asshole?” she says, grabbing her ear. I stick my tongue out at her and hold out the food. “Ooooh, gimme!”
I laugh and hand over the tacos. She scrunches her nose at me. “You smell like the rink. Did you even shower before you came here?”
“Of course I showered. But I did just play a game there, Sloane.”
“Well,youdidn’t actually play the game,” she clarifies. I shove her with my elbow.
I flip through the papers on the table, messing them up to annoy her.
“Wanna talk about Monroe?”
I choke. “What?”
“Monroe Abrams?” She looks at me like I’m stupid. “The girl you broke your teammate’s nose for tonight?”
“Right,” I reply, scratching the back of my neck. “No.”
“She know you have a hard-on for her?”
Another choke. “I do not. And also please never sayhard-onto me ever again.”
“I’m just saying, Beck said you were pretty worked up about whatever Jax was saying about her. He refused to repeat it on principle.”
“She’s Coach’s daughter. And also—just—we should respect women.” I gesture vaguely, as if that somehow reinforces my point.
Sloane stares at me, unimpressed. “Uh-huh. Thank you, Rhodes McKnight, for your tireless service to all of womankind.”
I scowl. “I’m serious.”
“I know,” she smirks. “I’m just saying,Captain Feminism, it was a little bit of an extreme reaction for some girl you supposedly don’t care about at all.”
“If someone was talking about you the way Jax was talking about Monroe, I’d hope someone would break their nose too.” I mean it.
That actually shuts her up for a second. Then she hums. “Okay, big shot. Whatever you say.”
I lean over and mess up her bun before standing up. “Are you almost done here? I’ll drive you back to your dorm. I don’t like you walking back in the dark.”
“I’m fine.” She rolls her eyes. “But yeah, I’ll take the ride.”
We are almost to her building when she pokes me in the ribs, like she used to when we were kids.“You know, a girl might not be the worst thing for you, Rhodes.” Her voice is softer now. “You’re always taking care of everyone else. Who’s taking care of you?”
I don’t have an answer for her.
Chapter Seven
Monroe
The apartment is too quiet. I’d been anxious all day, and it didn’t go away as the hours went on, despite all of my best efforts.
Now it’s past ten and I am trying desperately to sleep. I try to read a book. I even attempt to mindlessly scroll on my phone—but articles about last night’s game keep popping up, the fight in the locker room, the speculation about Rhodes and his temper.
Looks like his agent wasn’t able to keep it completely under wraps. My name isn’t mentioned, but news outlets are already running wild with the story. Someone leaked a video from the locker room—so that will be fun for my dad and the Wolverine’s PR team to untangle—and it’s all over the place. The headlines are nasty. I wince internally. It feels like my fault he’s in hot water.
I flip my phone over, face-down on the couch, and stare at the ceiling.
Rhodes broke Jax’s nose. Defending me.
That shouldn’t matter.