I through my hands up in bewilderment. “How could this possibly be my fault? Please explain, ol’ wise Yoda.”
He throws his spoon down and stands up, coming over to me. “You need to get your priorities in check. You love Selene? Great, then lose the crazy chick. You want to run off in the sunset with Selene? Then maybe you should focus on the woman claiming she’s knocked up and proving that she isn’t having your child. Don’t come at me like I’m the enemy, Brody. I’m the one person that can help you out of this mess.”
“How can you be the one person to help me?”
“How many times have you been hit in the head with a puck? What do you think I’ve been doing the last few days with Selene? Twiddling my thumbs?”
In all honesty, I have no clue what he has been doing. I assumed he followed her around. “Um,” is my only response.
Bradley shakes his head and rolls his eyes. “You are such a hockey player.”
“Hey,” I yell at him.
“That girl loves you, but she doesn’t want your damn drama-filled soap opera you’re calling ‘Your Life’. Clean up the mess with Jessica, then go back to Selene. She needs hardcore proof that the crazy chick isn’t going to screw up her relationship with you.” He slugs me hard in the shoulder as he walks away from me.
“When the fuck did you get so smart?” I ask.
“Well, apparently you got the brawn and I got the brains, idiot,” he shouts over his shoulder.
I close my eyes and try to figure out what my next move will be. First, I have to go to practice.
~
I have never wanted to leave a practice so badly. I don’t hardly talk to anyone as I run to my car and go to the one place that will help me get Selene back into my arms.
“Mr. Ross, you don’t have an appointment to see Mr. Madison,” the young secretary tells me as I blow past her to barge into his office.
“Now. This moment. I want to know if she is pregnant.” I pound on his desk, making him jump.
“Brody.” His face goes slightly white.
“Should I call security?” the girl asks, but I never take my eyes off of him.
“No, it’s fine. Leave us for a moment,” Mr. Madison instructs her to leave. He gets up from his desk, coming over to me. “Brody, calm down.”
“Not going to happen. This situation is ruining my life, and I want it fixed. Now,” I command him as if he’s a player on the ice.
He nods. “Sit down.”
Even though I don’t want to, I relent and sit. Mr. Madison walks back to his chair and shuffles the papers around until he finds what he was looking for. “I planned on calling you. I made sure that this was served to Jessica today.”
He hands me a paper, and I read through it quickly. It was requesting proof of the pregnancy, and it had to be from a doctor and with official lab work. She had forty-eight hours to comply.
“Have we received anything?” I ask, urgent to know.
“Not yet,” he says sadly. “She has a little while to get back to us.”
The hurt overtakes me. I want to go home and tell Selene. Instead, I nod and leave the office. The ride home is pure torture. I hate my life without Selene in it. I pull into my driveway and see Bradley and Allison on the porch. I watch them flirting for a minute, and it makes me miss Selene’s smile, and I laugh. I take a deep breath and face my world alone.
I walk past them, saying a quick “Hi,” not wanting to talk to them. Plus, I don’t want to interrupt them. Bradley deserves to have fun while he’s here, and Allison seems like a good fit. I grab a beer from the fridge and head for the back porch. I chug from the bottle quickly, staring at the sunshine illuminating around me. I need to get ready for the game tonight, but I don’t want to go into that rink, knowing Selene’s going to be there and cheering me on. Well, she might be cheering me on. More than likely, she won’t.
~
Possibly the worst game I’ve ever played. I was in the penalty box three times. I didn’t score because I wanted to fight everyone. Coach yelled at me a lot, as did Kris. It didn’t help that we lost at home, four to zero.
As soon as I hit the locker room, I rip off my jersey and equipment, not speaking to anyone. I shower and keep it on the hottest water setting that I can stand, hoping it’ll ease the pain of my muscles and my broken heart. After I dry off, I slip my suit on and leave the building. I check my phone, hoping Selene would have called or texted me, but she hasn’t, and the only one that did was Bradley.