Roman (Cold Fury Hockey #7)(60)

As soon as I step into the hallway, my entire body locks tight when I hear Gray Brannon say from my right, “Got a minute to talk?”

I turn slowly to look at her. She’s leaning up against the painted cinder-block wall, dressed more casually then I normally see her, with a long silvery sweater that comes down past her baby bump with black jeans.

There’s nothing casual about her demeanor, as she’s got her arms crossed over her chest and her look is anything but happy to be having this conversation with me.

With a sigh, I walk over to her and let my gear bag slide to the floor, but not before grabbing my suit jacket. I slip it on, because we’re supposed to dress up for game day and somehow I think she might be expecting me to wear it.

“That was a dangerous move,” she says in a low voice that seems to be barely controlled with fury. “You could have seriously hurt Schultz, which could have earned you a suspension for the rest of the year. As it is, all we can do is hope like hell the league doesn’t review that hit.”

“It was after we went to a TV time-out,” I say nonchalantly, knowing damn well that will infuriate her. “I doubt they’ll see it.”

Gray’s cheeks flame red and her eyes narrow to tiny slits. She pushes off the wall and steps into me, and although Gray is a tall woman, she still has to look up. “Just because you’re dating my sister doesn’t mean you get any special privileges with me, Sykora.”

“Never would assume that,” I assure her.

“Then how about treating me with some respect as this team’s general manager,” she hisses at me. “We just had a conversation a little over three weeks ago about this very thing. If you think I won’t take action, you’re sorely mistaken.”

I let out a long exhale and breathe in deeply to try to calm down a bit. With as much humility as I can muster, I tell her, “I’m sorry I put this team in jeopardy today because of my actions. I know it could have cost us the game. But I am not sorry for what I did to Schultz. He deserved it.”

“How in the hell do you figure that?” she asks in exasperation. “No one deserves a surprise cross-check from the back.”

“He went after Lexi,” I say quietly as a few of the last players trickle out of the locker room and walk past us.

“Explain,” is all she says, crossing her arms back over her chest.

“He was trying to get me riled up on the ice, saying things about her,” I tell her. “But I didn’t rise to that. No problem ignoring him.”

“But?” she prompts.

“But I got a little on edge when he told me he bet her pussy tasted sweet,” I say bluntly, and Gray’s nose wrinkles in distaste. “But still, I ignored him. It was only after the TV time-out went into effect and he skated over to Lexi and made a gesture with his fingers and tongue that mimed he wanted to eat her pussy, well…I wasn’t going to let that pass. So I went after him. And would do it again in the same scenario.”

Gray’s face remains impassive for a moment as she considers what I told her, but then she puts the hammer down. “It doesn’t matter what he did. That was a stupid penalty to take and you’re at risk for a league suspension if they review this. Nothing warrants that, particularly when you were warned not all that long ago that I was not happy with the suspensions.”

Yes, she’s warned me before, but I’m not about acknowledge that, so I go back on the offensive. It’s where I operate best. “You know, every team has a bad boy. An enforcer. A rule breaker. Someone that gets ejected from games and takes suspensions to keep up the reputation that the team is tough. Nothing about what I’ve done so far has been detrimental to this team; you’re only speculating that it might be. So I have to wonder if your riding my ass has something to do with the fact I’m dating your sister.”

“You know it doesn’t, since we had this discussion before you met my sister,” she points out with a cocked eyebrow.

“Well, technically I had met your sister before we had our first discussion,” I throw back at her. “But that’s moot. Anything else you want to discuss?”

“Not at this time,” she says as she turns toward the family lounge. “We’ll just have to wait and see if the league does anything.”

I don’t respond as I pick up my gear bag and follow her, since I’m meeting Lexi there.

“And I’m fining you five thousand dollars for that hit,” she says as an afterthought but without turning to look at me.

“Figures,” I mutter under my breath.

“Did you say something?” she asks pleasantly as she turns left into the family lounge, still not looking at me.

“Nope,” I mutter again, entering right behind her.

Then there’s Lexi and I forget all about Gray and the ten thousand ways she seems to always piss me off.





Chapter 22


Lexi


I stand up from the couch the minute Gray walks into the family lounge, beaming a huge smile at her. This is a pleasant surprise and one I didn’t expect, as she knew I’d come to the game with Roman and would be in his seats. I just assumed she’d go home after, since we were getting together tomorrow night at The Grind.

Movement behind her catches my attention, and with smile still in place, I see Roman walking in, looking smoking hot in his suit. His eyes bore into mine as he stops just inside the doorway and leans a shoulder against the doorjamb, one hand holding the strap of his gear bag, which is resting on his shoulder, the other tucked casually into his pants pocket.