Page 56 of The Ex Puck Bunny
I was goingto ask Grady about why he was suspended, a question prompted because I’ve been trying to figure out why Coach Badaszek, who has zero social media presence, with scarcely a photo of him online outside of hockey events, wants Grady to build his platform.
The sleuthing I did to understand the suspension resulted in me feeling suspicious. Not of Grady specifically, but something doesn’t sit right. If I’m going to be involved, I want information.
Keenly aware that we’re alone in the living room, that I’m kind of sinking into him on the couch, of his manly scent and so much of him filling my senses, I’m afraid I’ve also fallen.
Fully. Completely.
Snapping my focus back onto the conversation, I tell him I’d like to know more about the circumstances surrounding the team trade and then add, “I’ll help you with social media if you tell me why you’re hardly on there. You ghosted. Why?”
“Are you asking about the suspension?”
“I’m genuinely curious but don’t want to be nosy if you don’t want to talk about it. Also, I am not among the locals who regularly chat with Mrs. Gormely. Just saying.”
He chuckles. “I’m not too worried about her. Though Sophia is definitely a long-necked neighbor always watering her plastic flowers when I come and go.”
“Don’t underestimate her. In high school, she wanted to take pointers from the Mean Girls movie and make it real life. Let’s just say that wasn’t sofetch.”
Grady’s eyebrows scrunch.
“I wasn’t a nice girl, but that was taking things too far.”
He lets out a long breath. “I know the type and unfortunately, not everyone leaves high school behind. Anyway, about the suspension. I didn’t do anything wrong, but it is my redemption arc.”
“I wouldn’t have cast you as the villain.”
He lets out a long sigh. “You have no idea.”
“You seem more like Superman than Batman.”
“Bane,” he mumbles.
“Derek wanted me to watch that one. It was a pass.”
Grady leans his head on the back of the couch as if preparing to confess and says, “I discovered that one of my teammates was using performance-enhancing drugs.”
“Like steroids?”
“Yeah, stuff like that. I talked to him about it. At first, it was cool. He said he’d stop. When he didn’t, I confided in my ex. She was supportive, or so it seemed, and came with me to have another chat with him.”
Confession: I am nosy because I did get a little dirt on his ex. “Alivia Alders?” She’s pretty in a stereotypical way—tall, thin, with smooth features, and long hair. Nothing wrong with that. I have some of those characteristics, but from what I gathered, her personality barely went skin deep.
He chuckles. “I see you’ve done your homework too. Lucan Ketsivalis was a great player, and I was genuinely concerned. If anyone else found out, he’d be off the team, but I also couldn’t live with myself knowing the Generals had an unfair advantage because of his choices.”
“That’s honorable of you.”
“Then he turned the tables. He went to the coach and said he suspected I was using performance-enhancing drugs. Of course, I had needles for my insulin which was his evidence.”
“But you also have a prescription.”
Grady shifts uncomfortably. “True, but, um?—”
I stifle my gasp. “You never told the NHL about having diabetes?”
Grady rubs his hand down his face as if this is a sticking point. “No. I didn’t.”
Connecting the diabolical dots, I say, “Lucan made the boy next door out to be a villain.”
“That’s one way to look at it. But I was also in the wrong. I managed not to have diabetes on my official record because I didn’t want special treatment or worse, not be able to play for some reason.”
