Page 15 of Playoff
He frowned. “And you still shaved?”
“Despite what people seem to think, I’m honest.”
“I’d heard things weren’t going well in LA, but shit, that’s bad. Was that typical, or did he have a beef with you in particular?”
This was not going to help my rep, but the news would spread after what happened in the LA locker room yesterday. “I hooked up with his sister.”
His eyebrows went up. “I understand why he was pissed.”
For some stupid reason, I felt like defending myself. “It happened a couple of months ago. We’d gone out, he hadn’t told me his sister was visiting, he left with some chick. And when someone came on to me, I didn’t say no.”
Silence. Why did I even try? I needed to forget everyone else, play my game, and keep my distance.
“You explained that to him?”
“Yep.”
“Hard to blame you if you didn’t know.”
Right? But not that hard for Weasel.
“The only sisters around that I know of now are Crash’s sister, who’s in high school?—”
“I don’t touch kids in school.”
“And JJ’s sister Jess, but she doesn’t hang out with the team much. Other than those two, you should be safe here.”
It wasn’t a ringing endorsement, but maybe he wasn’t going to hold it against me.
“You played with Fitch in LA, right?”
I nodded. “We overlapped for a year.”
“He’s a good guy.”
I nodded again. He was. We hadn’t been close—he’d hung out with the married guys, though I’d heard he was divorced now. Wasn’t sure what he’d say about me.
Cooper checked his rearview mirror before making a turn. “This team—it’s not like what it sounds like LA is. We aren’t going to hang you out to dry. We can be stupid, but we don’t do anything to risk the game.” He shot me a glance.
Right. My reputation. “Got it.”
He let the quiet settle for a moment to drive the point home, but then moved the conversation on. "Hotel okay?"
I shrugged. We spent almost half the season living in hotels. No one was excited about more time in one, no matter how nice it was. I wanted to move somewhere with more security, anyway, since I’d been tracked down by at least one of my parents’ victims.
"We could arrange for you to room with someone. While you get your feet, find out what you want on a more permanent basis. It'll help you settle in, learn the city."
"I grew up here."
"Oh, right."
He shrugged, glad to have signed off on his duty. I could try to be less of an asshole. "It's been a while though. Looks like there's been a lot of construction."
"They don't have enough cranes to keep up."
I nodded. We were quiet for a moment, but then the captain came out again.
He turned a corner, competent and familiar with the route. "This is a good team. We had some problems at the beginning of the year, but I think we've worked through that."
