Tomboy (The Hartigans #3)(21)
He was reaching for the door before Stuckey even pulled to a stop in front of his house. “I can find my way next time.”
“Man, relax. You are the most tense motherfucker I know,” Stuckey said, shaking his head. “Some of the guys are getting together at Petrov’s place tonight to feast before game day. I can swing back by and get you.”
A pity invite? Not that he was arguing that he needed a sincere one, but he’d learned a little too well that people’s motives were never just because.
“Nah.” Zach opened the door, got out, and opened up the back passenger door to grab his practice bag. “I’m good.”
“It’s really not a big deal,” Stuckey said. “Petrov is a more the merrier kind of guy.”
Zach grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “I’m not much of a joiner.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Stuckey gave him an epic eye roll. “We’re not all assholes, you know. I don’t know what someone said or did, but if you haven’t noticed it’s kinda hard to work together as a line when one person acts like they’re an island on the ice.”
That analogy gave his brain logic cramps. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Then, with one final thank-you, he shut the door and walked into his house. His very empty house.
After the rowdiness of the Hartigans’ home yesterday and the bro-tactic camaraderie of the locker room today, the silence of his own house was deafening. It was almost enough for him to text Stuckey back and tell him he’d changed his mind—almost.
Instead, he tossed his bag into his bedroom and then went into the kitchen and started a pot of water for spaghetti. He was scrounging through the cupboards looking for a box of pasta that he swore was in there somewhere when his phone buzzed on the island.
Zach Ate More Tainted Muffins: Do you really not have any social media accounts that aren’t run by a lackey?
He wasn’t smiling. His mouth was having some kind of muscle twitch problem.
Zach: What makes u think it’s a lackey?
Zach Ate More Tainted Muffins: Do you really think Reese’s Pieces are better than Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups?
That was just idiotic. The team nutritionist would kill him if he actually ate as many peanut butter cups dipped in chocolate as he wanted, but he still managed to sneak in enough to have to do an extra few laps around the rink.
Zach: Who is dumb enough 2 think that?
Zach Ate More Tainted Muffins: Apparently? You.
He opened up Instagram and spotted the post Fallon was talking about right away. It was a picture of someone, presumably him, holding a bag of Reese’s Pieces and declaring them his post-workout guilty pleasure. Yeah. He was going to have to sit Kyle down and have a little chat about this.
Zach: Tks for the heads-up.
Zach Ate More Tainted Muffins: NP
He stared at his phone for a while, while the boiling water let off little pop-pop sounds in the pot on the stove. What are you waiting for, Blackburn? She said what she wanted and isn’t texting back. That’s not usually how it worked. Usually there was something flirty, some hinted-at promise of something more. Sure, it always came with an ulterior motive, but it always came. Not, however, when it came to Fallon. And that’s how, instead of turning back to the stove, he started thumb typing.
Zach: Are you actually off work and stalking me now?
It took about a minute, but the three dots in the bubble finally showed up on his screen.
Zach Ate More Tainted Muffins: Yeah right. Totally. Short shift this morning and tomorrow.
His lungs squeezed tighter. She had to work tomorrow?
Zach: But you’ll still be at the game?
Zach Ate More Tainted Muffins: Unless there’s a sixty-car pileup (I wish I was joking), I’ll be there.
Zach: Lots riding on this.
Zach Ate More Tainted Muffins: I gave my word.
As if that said it all.
He absently scratched his chest. If the Ice Knights traded him, that would officially be the beginning of the end of his career. Kyle hadn’t exactly put it that way, but Zach knew the score. He had the next few games to show he could play like he used to, or they were going to send him off to another team—or down to minors. And if that happened? He’d be lucky to ever pay off the millions in debt his parents had racked up in his name or manage to keep the lid on what his parents had done. When he had to file for bankruptcy, everyone would find out. Then the worst would happen—it would make the news. Everyone would look at him and realize what a fool he’d been. They’d know he was just another athlete who’d trusted the wrong people and wasted his money because he was too dumb to know better. That was why he’d never called the cops on his parents and why he’d paid them what little he had left to go away forever. Keeping his dignity by making sure this stayed secret meant everything to him. He couldn’t let that happen.
By the time another message from Fallon came through, his heart was ramming against his ribs, his pulse was pounding in his ears, and the hand squeezing his lungs had tightened its grip. He had to blink a couple of times to clear his vision enough to read her words on the screen.
Zach Ate More Tainted Muffins: Have you ever heard Baby Shark?
Zach: ?
He just stared at his screen, his breathing slowly returning to normal as he tried to figure out where the hell she was going with this. They were playing the Thunder tomorrow. They didn’t have the Sharks on the schedule until their western road trip later in the month.