Page 24 of These Wicked Games (Wicked Sins #1)

The ref leaves us alone, but we don’t have a moment before Coach and Rod make their way into the locker room.

Coach looks like a fucking tomato, his pale blue eyes unnerving as he glares at us, mouth pinched under that thick mustache.

He opens his mouth, snaps it shut, closes his eyes, then walks out of the room.

“Shit. Daddy’s gonna give us a spanking,” I hear Andre whisper. Does he take nothing seriously?!

Silence is short lived as Jessica comes into the locker room. “I could be naked.” Andre smiles up at her.

She jabs a finger in his direction. “I will remove your voice box through your ass,” she snaps. His mouth closes. “Oli,” she says softly, leveling her blue eyes on me. Her blonde hair swings like a whip. “What—and I mean this in the nicest way possible—the fucking fuck!”

“It’s not my fault.” Her brows rise. “It’s not! He pushed me first!”

“Are you serious right now?!” she snaps. “Are we in fucking preschool?”

“There could have been so many other people who got that shot and they sign this fucking dick? He nearly ruined my fucking career! He thinks this is all a fucking joke. And I don’t know if you were watching tonight, but he fucking sucks!

The GM let an ungrateful dick play on this team and we’re shocked that he’s not playing well? He’s ruining everything!”

“First of all, just because I don’t metaphorically suck the dicks of my favorite players doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate being here. Second, I have one of the highest save percentages in my old conference. I don’t suck; your team sucks!” he yells back.

I stand, knocking the bench back. “My team was doing just fucking fine until you came here. You’re a fucking disgrace to your father's legacy!” Andre springs out of his seat and I stand, shoving him back as he swings on me.

I sweep his leg and he stumbles, then I knock him down, climb on top of him, and go to swing.

I feel nothing but the way his face connects with my fist.

Andre knees me in the ribs. The breath knocks out of my lungs and he grabs me by my compression shirt, flipping me off him. My back smacks into the tile floor. “I didn’t do shit! You ruined your own fucking career!” he screams back, then punches. “I didn’t do shit to you!”

I grab at him, trying to knock him off me. “Suspensions! Both of you!” We both freeze, looking up at Coach who looks like all the blood has pooled into his face and he’s about ready to burst. Slowly Andre gets off me.

I struggle to my feet. “Coach, he—”

“Not a fucking word,” he bellows. “Two game suspension. Both of you!”

“Wait! That’s not fucking fair—”

“You fighting our goalie for the fucking world to see, bringing that shame on all of us, on the team, isn’t fucking fair. We’ve already lost two goalies, Oli! You don’t touch your goalie!” he screams. “Get out of the arena! Now!”

He stomps back out of the locker room. It has to be almost the end of the second period.

Jessica is quiet for a moment, and now with the adrenaline leaking out of my veins, I understand the gravity of what just happened.

We both could have gotten hurt. I could have hurt him, and then we’d be back to nothing with three goalies being injured.

No offense, Landon. Shit, I fucked up. I don’t even feel better.

I feel so much fucking worse. I chance a look at Andre who’s dabbing his split eyebrow. Blood trickles down his face.

Tears choke my throat. What the fuck is happening to me?

Jessica sits beside me on the bench. The sweat clinging to me doesn’t stop her from putting her arm around my back and giving me a little squeeze.

This is what I like about Jessica. It’s not the fact that she negotiated a hell of a contract for me, it’s this.

She knows I’m struggling. She doesn’t see a pro athlete, she sees me.

“You two have to figure something out. You’re both either going to injure yourselves or fuck up everything for the other guys.

I know your history. I get it. You two have to figure this out. ”

I look back at Andre who’s watching us. There it is again, that little twinge of grief I feel when I see him.

In the privacy of my own thoughts I can admit that I miss him almost as much as I hate him.

It doesn’t matter, though. I’ll never trust him again.

“He screwed me over, there’s nothing to figure out.

He betrayed me.” I dare to look at him and could almost delude myself into seeing the grief on his face too.

“Oli, you know I care about you, and I know this is hard for you. I’m going to tell you this, though.

As a friend. The only person who’s ruining your career right now is you.

” She lays a small hand on my shoulder. “I don’t really care how it happens, but you need to figure something out.

Stop making your teammates, fans, and yourself look bad.

I don’t care what either of you have to do.

Figure it out.” She gets up, not sparing Andre another glance.

“Jessica—” Andre starts, and she spins, shaking her head.

“Go back to the hotel, boys. With smiles on both your faces and fists at your sides if you can manage it.”