Page 54 of The Secret Play

Chapter 21

Casey

The moment I stepped into the locker room the next morning, I knew it wasn’t going to be a normal day.

The atmosphere was different—heavy, charged, the kind of tension that prickled at the back of your neck. I felt like prey. Conversations stopped mid-sentence as I walked in, and I caught the briefest flicker of glances exchanged before heads turned away. It was like high school all over again, only this time, the rumors were about me, as if I was finally one of the popular kids.

Is this how they always felt? No wonder they were dicks to everyone else.

Rumors always traveled fast in locker rooms, but this one had taken on a life of its own, spreading like wildfire through the arena. I’d always heard that saying about the bigger they are, the harder they fall, and I was Coach. It doesn’t get much bigger than that. Whitney had done her best to contain it, but some fires couldn’t be extinguished with words alone.

I stopped Luke, who dodged my gaze as he tried to walk by. But once I stepped in front of him, he couldn’t avoid me. “Hey. What’s going on?”

“Uh, nothing, Coach.”

“Don’t give me that. Why is everyone?—”

“McConnell!”

I turned just in time to see Nico storming toward me, his jaw tight and his fists clenched. He knew everything. Somehow, he knew.

“Nico,” I started, holding up a hand. “Let’s?—”

Before I could finish, he slammed me into the lockers with enough force to rattle the metal. My breath hitched, and for a second, I was too stunned to respond. The pain in my shoulder didn’t register, but I knew it would soon. No one took a hit from Nico without feeling it for days after.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he spat, his face inches from mine.

“Nico, calm down?—”

“Don’t tell me to calm down,” he snapped. “You’ve been lying to me. Lying to all of us. We’re supposed to be a team, Coach! How the fuck do you justify lying to us?”

“I haven’t?—”

“Don’t lie to me,” he said, his voice cold. “I know about Gemma.”

The words hit like a punch to the gut, harder than the shove into the lockers. It wasn’t even the words themselves. It was the disappointment in them. I knew how Nico felt about me—it was the same as a lot of the guys felt about me. I was a father figure to them, whether I wanted the role or not. That was why I held myself to a higher standard than other coaches did. I had to be someone they looked up to.

And now, Nico thought I failed him in the worst way.

“She’s my sister!” Nico continued, his voice rising. “My baby sister! And you—what, you thought you could keep this a secret? That no one would figure it out?”

“Nico, it’s not like that,” I said quickly.

“Bullshit!” he shouted, shoving me again for good measure. The back of my head knocked against the cold metal. “You think I’m stupid? A redhead, a kid conceived the night of the masquerade, you asking me about the mask she wore—how long did you think it would take me to put it together?”

I didn’t know what to say. I’d been so careful, so sure that we could keep this quiet, but in hindsight, it was obvious. Of course, Nico had figured it out. He wasn’t just a teammate—he was family, and that connection made him sharper than I’d given him credit for. I deserved whatever he said or did to me. I just wished the rest of the team wasn’t here to see this. They didn’t need to see us fight.

Given he was Gemma’s brother, I didn’t want this fight to get any worse, either. Locker room fights were notoriously bad because every surface in a locker room is hard. Metal, wood, tile, none of that was good to the human body. That was why I always made the guys take their grievances out on the ice, if things got too heated in the locker room.

No chance of that happening now.

“You’re supposed to be better than this,” Nico said, his voice trembling with anger. “I looked up to you, Coach. We all do. But now you’re just—what, another guy who couldn’t keep it in his pants? Just another schmuck like every other asshole out there? Who are you anymore?”

I winced, the words cutting deeper than I wanted to admit. I’d started to wonder about that myself. Worse, the players watched us, hanging on his every word. Whatever this was, it would not help the team. I had to get him out of here.

“You’re too old for her,” Nico snarled bitterly. “She’s young, Coach. She’s got her whole life ahead of her, and you?—”

“Nico, stop.”

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