Page 61 of The Grinder

And he found the girl he wanted to share this milestone with.

But the girl had turned him down.

Yeah, he knew it wasn’t that simple. She had a job, a demanding job. She couldn’t just take off at a moment’s notice and follow him wherever.

Except…

“Oh, and hey, I got a heads-up from Ian MacDonald that Duchene isn’t really hurt. Mac says Duchene and the coach got into it over something and that the team wants to trade him. I heard some of the stories about Duchene. Do you think it’s true?”

Hell, everyone had heard the stories about the Colonials’ third-line right winger. He partied hard, played a physical game, and led the team in penalty minutes. A loose cannon who’d been a scoring machine. But he was thirty-five now and didn’t score as much as he used to.

Riley had heard the talk that the team had considered not picking up his contract last year and he’d been a late addition on a one-year contract.

Sucked for Duchene, but it opened up a spot if they actually decided to get rid of the guy. Still, Riley knew he was a long shot for the position. More likely the club would go with CJ. He’d been a first-round draft pick and the kid improved every day. And even though Riley had better numbers this season, the Philly coach would probably go with the rookie if he kept one of them up.

And for a split second, Riley thought that would be okay.

Are you fucking crazy?

He must be. Because he was seriously thinking that if he got sent back to Reading, he’d be closer to Aly.

How fucked was that? He should be doing everything he could to grab a spot with the Colonials, not hope to be sent back to the Redtails.

“Riley?”

“Yeah, sorry. Got a lot on my mind. Do I think it’s true? Probably. Does it mean they’ll trade him? Hell if I know. They’ve got some money invested in him so they’ll wanna make that back, and with his record, I don’t know that anyone’ll want to take a chance on him.”

Same could’ve been said about Riley last year. But Coach Scott had taken a chance on him and he thought he’d proven himself this year.

“So how long do you think we’ll be up? I heard Vanderske’s injury won’t have him out long…and I’m bugging the shit out of you, aren’t I?”

Riley glanced over to see CJ shaking his head and grimacing.

“Sorry, man. I don’t know how to shut up sometimes. I’m—”

“CJ, you’re not bugging me. Everything’s good. Just got stuff on my mind.”

“Like the girl you’re seeing?”

Riley shot the kid another glance and now the little shit wore a smart-ass grin. “Why the fuck do you think that?”

“Everybody knows you didn’t go home last night and Justin said you can’t stop talking about her and—”

“All right, all right. Forget I asked. And…” he sighed. “Yeah. She’s part of it. But I’m not sure she’s as…invested as I am.”

“What do you mean?”

Damn, was he really going to do this? Spill his guts to this kid?

Well, he had no one else to talk to for the next two hours, did he?

“I mean I don’t think she likes me as much as I like her.”

CJ shrugged. “Did you ask her if she likes you?”

He laughed. The kid really was young.

“I’m pretty sure she likes me. I’m just not sure she likes me enough to keep me.”

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