Page 6 of The Breaking Point

I shook my head. “Never mind. But you should know that Coach and his family were my foster family until I turned eighteen.”

Mac didn’t say anything for a long moment. I hated waiting for people’s responses to my pathetic childhood. More often than not, people would either say they were sorry and give me a pitying look, or they’d change the subject because they didn’t know what to say.

Mac, though, just squeezed my shoulder. “Sorry, man,” was his simple but sincere reply.

I shrugged. “It was a long time ago. But I grew up with Grace and her brother.” The thought of Ben made my throat close, and I had to clear the lump that formed there. “She’s just two years younger than me. Anyway, we used to be close.”

Until you wanted her for yourself,my brain reminded me.And you fucked everything up right afterward.

“How did I not know you lived with Coach?” Mac asked.

“I mean, it’s not something you just bring up in the locker room.” I made my voice sound higher. “‘Hey, guys, do you havea minute to talk about how my parents were assholes?’” I dashed a fake tear from my eye.

Mac, though, didn’t laugh. “That sounds tough. Is your mom still around?”

“Shockingly, yeah. She’s still drinking. Last I heard, she’d moved in with a guy named Weasel out in Bakersfield.”

“And your dad?”

I gestured at the bartender to pour me a third beer. “Prison for selling drugs and a little incident where he shot a police officer.” When Mac swore under his breath, I added, “The cop survived, at least. And this all happened when I was a baby. I never knew my dad. A blessing, really.”

“So did you know Grace was coming back to LA?” Mac asked.

My stomach knotted. Considering I was a pseudo family member, you’d think Coach would’ve told me. But no, he hadn’t said a fucking word. As far as I knew, he hadn’t intended to tell me at all. I had no idea how he thought I wouldn’t run into his daughter when she’d gotten an internship with the team.

“Nope,” I replied.

But even as I was pissed at Coach and confused about my reaction to Grace, I couldn’t stay mad. Not when I remembered all that the Dallases had done for me.

“They saved me,” I said quietly, staring off into space, remembering. “I’d been a fucking mess. I was angry. I pushed them all away because it was easier than believing that somebody might not abandon me for once.”

I let out a humorless laugh. “Did you know I was adopted? Before I was sent to live with the Dallases. But after a month, they changed their minds. Said I was too difficult.”

Mac looked incredulous. “What the fuck? You can do that?”

“Yep. They needed to ‘rehome’ me. Like a fucking dog.”

“Jesus. I’m so sorry.”

“So I was waiting for the Dallases to do the same thing. I pushed all their buttons. I broke their rules. I was an asshole, but they never gave up on me. And then Ben introduced me to hockey, and my life changed forever.”

“Ben?” Mac asked.

Shit. Why the fuck am I running my mouth like this?

I shook my head. “Never mind. Coach doesn’t want me hanging around his daughter, anyway.”

I’d always suspected Grace had a crush on me when we were younger. And then there’d been a time when that suspicion had turned into a certainty ...

“Can you blame Coach?” Mac was saying, forcing me to stop reminiscing about the past. “You have a reputation.”

I was offended even though I couldn’t disagree with Mac. “I’m not going to do anything to the coach’s daughter,” I protested.

“Dude, you’ll fuck any woman who you think is attractive. Pretty sure you have way more notches in your bedpost than even I do.”

“Nothing wrong with wanting to have fun.” But the alcohol flowing through my veins ended with me adding, “But I’m getting kind of bored of it all, to be honest. It’s too easy. Women just throw themselves at you. I miss the chase, you know?”

Mac nodded. “I get it.” He paused, then said, “Maybe you need a change of pace.”

---