Page 135 of Against The Rules

“Shit,” I say.

“What happened?” Jacob’s standing in the locker room entrance, his helmet under his arm.

“They fired her. For marrying me.”

“That’s bullshit. Is she okay?”

“I don’t know, man.” My eyes are wide, and I scrub a hand down my face, feeling wild. “I don’t know.”

“We have a game to play. You have to push it aside. You have to. You know the season’s almost over, but that doesn’t mean shit when it comes to your career. You’re healthy, you’ve been playing well, but you have to nail this today too.”

I’m half-listening to his pep-talk, rummaging through my locker. “Do you have any eyeblack? All I have are the stickers.”

“Like the old school stuff? Yeah.”

He walks over to his locker, pulling out a stick of the stuff. When he looks at my face, though, he stops.

“You already have eyeblack on.”

“It’s not for my face.”

He sighs. “What do you have in mind, little bro?”

I lift up my shirt and tell him what to write, and he does.

“Mom and Dad are going to shit a brick.”

“That would suck for them.”

“I mean it, Ty. You sure this is how you want to tell them?”

“I’m sure it’s how I want to tell everyone.”

He shakes his head, laughing a little. “It’s on brand.”

“Good. I’m depending on that. We love a little ruckus in this house.” With that, I grab his shoulders, feeling fired up. “LET’S WIN THIS THING!”

“FUCK YEAH!” he yells back.

CHAPTER 60

SAVANNAH

We order sushi. A shit ton of sushi. Way too much sushi for three people, way too much ginger-dressed salad, and way too much tempura and anything else you could think of.

It’s perfect.

“I’m kind of mad Zoltan didn’t come cook for me,” Presley says. “But this is a good runner up.”

“Zoltan is awesome,” I agree. “But sushi always wins.”

“Is Zoltan your boyfriend?” my mom asks, trying and failing to pick up a maki roll with her chopsticks before giving up and using her fingers.

“No, he’s Savannah’s personal chef. Private chef? I can’t remember the difference.”

“You have a chef?”

“No, I mean, yes. Tyler hired him for me.”

---