Page 34 of Tropical Inferno

“Me too, but I’m going to make you happy, Maddie. I’ll call my lawyer and have him contact the Players’ Association so I can make an official statement about what really happened on the ice that night.”

“What’s going to happen between you and your teammates?” she asked softly. “How awful is it going to be?”

“Honestly? I don’t know.” He looked away. “It can’t get too ugly because Coach will put a stop to it, but you can bet we won’t be invited to many barbeques.”

She shrugged. “That’s okay. We have each other and we’ll have my family, which is pretty awesome.”

He smiled. “I’m looking forward to that part, but it’s going to be a long season.”

She bit her lip. “Would you rather not do this? I hate the idea of Cucumber getting away with it, but if it’s going to be that hard on you, then I want what’s best for you.”

“Nah. I’m not afraid of being an outcast. There will still be guys—like your brother-in-law and a few other guys around the league who’ll respect me for it. I’m more concerned about what our plan will be when the season, and my paychecks, are over.”

She frowned. “I can get a job in Ottawa.”

“I don’t think I can work in Canada if I’m cut from the team,” he said gently. “I’m American.”

“But we’re married now… that should take care of it, no?”

“It’s really too early to think about that. The good news is, we have options. I’m making over four million this year, so if we’re careful, we could put a good amount away since I don’t have any debt.”

“But I do,” she whispered. “About three thousand on a credit card and my car isn’t paid for.”

He chuckled. “Baby, I can pay off your credit card with what’s in my checking account right now. That’s nothing. Don’t even think about it. And we’ll keep making monthly payments on your car until we figure out what’s next.”

“Okay.”

“Depending on what happens with the team, we have a while before we have to make decisions. There’s still the off-chance that the team will keep me and get rid of Culkin… After what happened to Jamie, since he was on the team at the time of the attack, they really don’t want anything to do with homophobia. I might get signed again anyway.”

“And if not?”

“Then I might get picked up elsewhere. I could probably play in Sweden or Russia but—”

“Russia?!” She made a face. “Can that be a last resort?”

He laughed. “Definitely, but if I don’t get any bites, I can also tell my agent I’m willing to sign a one-year contract with anyone that’ll give me a chance for the league minimum. There’s a better than 50% chance someone will jump on that. Before this incident, I was worth nearly ten times that.”

“What’s the league minimum?” she asked.

“A respectable 575,000.”

Her mouth fell open. “Garrett!”

“What?”

“That’s a lot of money. I make forty. Thousand. Four-Zero. Like less than a tenth of that. That kind of money would be fantastic.”

He squeezed her hand. “But if none of those pan out, I can sell my place in L.A. for a lot more than I thought. At least 750,000. That would buy us a nice house almost anywhere else and leave enough for me to open a repair shop of my own. If business is slow, you might have to work for a year to keep us afloat but—”

She shook her head and pressed her lips to his. “Didn’t we just get married?”

“Yeah.”

“Could we not talk about work or money or any of that crap yet?”

“What do you want to talk about?” he asked, pulling her onto his lap.

“I was thinking about that romantic nonsense that goes on at night… You said it didn’t fly in the light of day, but I’m about to prove you wrong.”

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