Page 83 of Unrivaled

“Armstrong!”

At his coach’s voice, Grady glanced over.

“Trainer!” Coach barked. “Get yourself checked out.”

Fair enough—they’d want to make sure he hadn’t injured himself, disinfect his face again, and reglue the liquid stitches. As a bonus, Coop would have to stop looking at him like Grady might break at any second. “Yes, Coach.”

But even after the trainer and the team doctor had checked him out, they kept Grady in the trainer’s room. Did they know he was having a personal crisis? Had he somehow let on that he’d developed feelings for Max? Was he going to get chewed out for that? That might almost be better, if someone else yelled at him. Then at least he could stop being so hard on himself.

He felt sick, but he knew he hadn’t hit his head. This was a different kind of sickness, even if it was as disorienting as a concussion.

He’d trusted Max. He’d let Max in—he’d let down his guard and he’d…. Should he get tested? Had Grady put himself in physical danger, as well as emotional?

The third period had to have started by now. Why hadn’t the trainers released him? Grady clenched his hands into fists. He needed to get back on the ice. He needed to prove this mistake wouldn’t affect him. He—

The door opened to reveal not one of the trainers but Dan, their most junior coach. “Armstrong. Hey.”

Fucking finally. Grady pushed himself off the table. “Am I good to go?”

“Kind of.” Dan smiled softly. “Looks like you’re getting what you wanted.”

Grady blinked. So far nothing tonight had gone the way he wanted it to.

Then Dan said, “Hit the showers. You’re on the next flight to LA. You’ve been traded.”

Third Period

AFTER THEgame, Max sat in the locker room, waiting for his phone to buzz. There was no word from anyone on Grady or why he hadn’t returned to the ice after the second, and he was worried. Surely Grady hadn’t been hurt too badly after Hedgie basically fell on him. He’d gotten up and skated away under his own power.

Anything could happen in hockey. Max had heard enough horror stories—someone he knew in juniors had taken a fall like Grady’s while in the early stages of appendicitis. The pressure caused the organ to burst, and he’d spent a month in the hospital with sepsis. If Hedgie had landed wrong, he might’ve cracked one of Grady’s ribs, punctured a lung.

And no one on Grady’s team knew they were together—orwouldbe together, hopefully, if they ever managed to talk—so Max was in the dark with no one to give him an update.

He was in the middle of sending Grady a third text—the first had beenr u ok?followed byill kiss it better later—when a notification popped up.

Max was halfway through dismissing it when he realized it was a trade notification.Firebirds trade Armstrong to LA Condors.

His heart hit his knees. No wonder Grady hadn’t written back. He was probably on a plane by now, heading to the opposite coast. About as far from Max as he possibly could be and still play in the NHL.

Max’s stomach turned over. His palms felt clammy, and he wiped them on his suit pants.

Grady wasn’t going to come tonight, obviously. They wouldn’t get to have that talk. But would he still want to be with Max?

And why hadn’t Grady texted him to let him know he wasn’t going to make it?

A quiet voice in his head whispered that Grady had wanted this trade all along. Maybe Max had only been a distraction from his unhappiness with the Firebirds. Now that he’d been traded, he didn’t need Max anymore.

Max pushed those thoughts away. Grady wouldn’t do that to him. His nighttime confession by the pool had rung with truth. Even if it hadn’t, he’d asked—he’d trusted—Max to fuck him, skin to skin. Max knew Grady’s type. If Max had never done that before, Grady hadn’t either. So Grady had feelings for Max. He was surprised by the trade, which Max couldn’t blame him for. Midgame trades for players of Grady’s caliber didn’t happen every day or even every season. It was all very dramatic and only reinforced Max’s low opinion of the Firebirds’ management. They clearly didn’t give a fuck about their players.

Anyway, Grady was probably working through some conflicting feelings. Max could give him space for now.

But once he was on the opposite side of the country, how much more space could he need?

GRADY DIDnot have a restful flight.

He called Jess on his way to the airport. She’d already heard the news and cursed up a storm over how the Firebirds’ front office had handled it. But on the plus side, at least Grady had someone on hand to pack up some of his things and ship them to California, and to arrange for his houseplants to get watered.

Erika called as he checked in for his flight. “I’m sorry to do this to you.” She sounded like she meant it. “Talks only started an hour or so before the game. They were going to wait until it was over to make it official, but then Hedgewood fell on you and they worried that you’d get injured and it would fall through. I knew you wouldn’t want that.”

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