Page 33 of The Shake Off

Pushing my ballcap up, I gave my head a good scratch. “This isn’t his fault, it’s mine.” I didn’t add,‘and Payton’s’like I had been doing, because I wasn’t altogether sure it was her fault – not after the way she’d yelled at me when I’d stormed over to her place. It had been loud enough that her words were still ringing in my ear.

“He thinks it’s his, too.”

I sighed. It was one thing for me to live under my own black cloud, it was quite another for anyone to join me. I knew my mood was affecting Parker, but I hadn’t accounted on it affecting the rest of the boys, or even the rest of the team. I needed a fix to this problem, and fast.

“I’ll tell him it’s not.”

“Good.” He thumbed over his shoulder. “Now, can we keep walking?”

I grinned. “Yeah.”

We pushed through the doors leading away from the batting cages and training facilities into the main building through the reception, where Pablo was manning the desk.

I nodded to him and smiled, the same as I had when I’d walked in with my head down while also giving him a wide berth. It was embarrassing to walk the hallways after my performance, and even more so when I saw the pity on everyone’s faces.

There was nothing worse than pity.

“Ace, come here.”

“Oh, Pabs, dude, I’m in a hurry.”

“No, you come here.” His finger hit the counter right in front of him, and the big signet ring he was wearing glinted in the light.

Parker raised his eyebrow, his head tipping to where Pablo was now standing with his arms crossed. “Go on.”

I stepped over to him. “Hey, Pabs.”

“Ace, you gotta hold your head up, man.” Before I could stop him, he slapped a meaty palm around the back of my neck, and his eyes bored into mine. “You’re a Lion. A New York Lion. You think you’re the first Lion to ever have a shitty game? You’re not. This club was built on shitty games, but you know what? Every single player before you held their head up when they walked through the door, so pull your finger out of your ass and pride yourself on the fact you’re a Lion, and we face adversity head-on and come through the other side. You understand?”

It took me second to break out of the shock from seeing this new side to the security guard I always considered like a cute grandpa-type figure, but now I wasn’t convinced he couldn’t be at home in an Upper West Side gang. Or the mafia. I also wondered if I was supposed to answer this question, seeing as he didn’t give me a chance to answer any of the other ones he’d asked, but this time he stayed silent.

“Um, yeah, Pablo, I understand.” I blinked and tried to ease away, but his grip tightened.

“Do you understand?”

“Yes. Jeez. Yes, I understand. I understand.”

I’d never found him intimidating before, but from the way he was grinning at me, I could safely say that was no longer true. More surprisingly though, while the delivery wasn’t the most reassuring, I did take comfort in his words. It was true; the Lions used to be the worst club in the league, and they’d never shied away from the humiliation.

And we’d certainly come through the other side now Penn Shepherd owned us.

“Good, now go and ice your shoulder,” he added, nodding to the monitors under the counter, “or we’ll be having more words.”

I always forgot there were security cameras in every inch of this building, and he’d probably been watching me all morning.

“Will do. I’m on the way now. Thanks for the talk, Pablo.”

I was turning back to Parker when Pablo called over my shoulder.

“Good morning, Mr. Shepherd, Mr. Reeves.”

I groaned quietly, my entire body tensing. If there was anyone I didn’t want to run into, it was Penn Shepherd. Coming in a close second would be Jupiter Reeves.

But luck was on sabbatical it seemed.

“Good morning, Pablo. How’s it going?”

“Not bad, Sir. Just having a chat with young Ace here.” He nodded to me.

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