Page 24 of Rock Pucking Bottom

I was so glad that I wasn't drinking anything just yet or else I would have sprayed him with it in my disbelief.

"No. Why the hell would you think that I was?"

"The past two days, you've reverted back to the moody beast, so I had to check in."

I shook my head. I couldn't argue that I wasn't moody and quiet. As the season was winding down, I was getting into my head about the future. Then add in the full moon effects, I purposefully kept a tight leash on my tongue so I didn't snap anyone's head off.

"Have you thought that I might be moody and quiet by default?"

Scuba chuckled and shook his head. "Quiet, yes. But moody? Nope. I've played with and against you long enough to know that even though you're not much of a talker, you were only a broody asshole when you were drinking. So what's going on?"

I'd never been so grateful for the server to return with the no-paloma for both of us. Her interruption allowed me to buy a couple minutes before I had to explain what was going through my mind. Especially when I had to filter so much for his benefit.

"I'm scared. I love Emmy, and she's got this amazing job now, so I can't just ask her to up and leave. I have no contract at the end of this series. I don't want to have to move too far away from her."

Scuba nodded and forced out a smile as he leaned over the table.

"Unfortunately, that's the nature of our business. However, you have one of the most influential people in your corner who can advocate for you to be re-signed."

I snorted.

Despite Logan Peterson being in my corner, I highly doubted that it would help me. There was no way he was going to ask his dad to re-sign me despite my improvement since Scuba's wedding.

Between the rumors coming out from the 32 Thoughts podcast and the fact I royally fucked up when I first came here, why would the Legacy give me another chance? If it was any other podcast, I would probably ignore the rumors, but it was Elliotte Friedman, and he seldom got the rumors wrong. Hell, he even got the exact dollar amount right most of the time. So when he said he thought I would end up signing with Detroit, it was a gut punch.

"Doubtful. Sure, Logan's a friend, but I fucked up."

Scuba chuckled again. "Yeah, but who is Mr. Playoff?"

I shrugged.

Yeah, my stats had blown up these playoffs, but I wasn't sure if it would be enough to save my butt with the ownership. Maybe I should reach out to Theo to figure out what the hell he was hearing about things and send a feeler to the Legacy for something more long term.

Chapter 21

Emmy

Eoghanhadasecret,and I hated he was keeping it from me. Didn't he realize secrets were like poison?

I decided it was time to go to his house and confront him about it.

He wasn't home when I got there. While it may not have been my best idea, I let myself into his place and made myself a cup of tea.

But he wouldn't have given me a key if it wasn't okay for me to drop in unannounced.

At least, that's what I kept telling myself, but as it got later and later, I thought I made a bad decision.

The jingle in the lock made me sit up nice and straight. He already saw my car in the driveway, so it would be too late to leave. Now I just needed to get him to open up.

As he came into the living room, the tension just rose. "It's really not a good time right now."

I came up to give him a hug, if only to ease up some of the tension that was coming off his body. "I only came to make sure you're doing okay. I've been worried about you as you got into your head more and more lately."

Eoghan sighed, but his body was damn tense. You could bounce a quarter off his muscles without a doubt.

He gritted his teeth. "I'm fine, but you got to leave right now."

I tried to understand where he was coming from, since I never thought I would see the day he would throw me out. Not after all the confessions to me.

---