Page 47 of Buried Treasure
Chapter 16
Road trips were fun with the Detroit Pirates until about the fourth day. The fourth day was when things get bleak. Different hotels, different visitors locker rooms, different set of hostile fans. The breakfast buffets were usually the same, but that only made things worse.
This particular fourth day was having more of an effect on Andy than usual. It was the fourth day in a row that he hadn't heard from Sydney. He had spent so much time with Sydney worrying about her old boss or crying over a goldfish or sharing food made by Ryan's mom. There were also the more intimate moments with her, the ones that Andy would think about late at night with no way of relieving the tension with his assistant trainer sleeping in the other bed in their hotel room. Stupid hockey league and their stupid rules about players and staff needing to room together.
And stupid Andy. He left Sydney naked in her bed four days ago. She still hadn't called or texted him. She hadn't even tried to send him an email on the work account listed in his business card. Ugh, that stupid business card. To be fair, he wasn't totally thinking straight when he left it there. It was too early in the morning and that was the easiest way to leave his contact information with her. But now, he wondering if it was too formal or too clinical, especially when combined with the fact that he left her without saying goodbye. He thought he made himself clear to her that it wasn't just going to be a one-time thing for him, that he would want more of her — and not just sexually. He wanted more of everything from Sydney. He just couldn't really explain all that on a business card.
But Andy had other people besides Sydney to worry about now. He grabbed his iPad from the nightstand and ran through his list for the night. The team had a game tomorrow, and he needed to make sure his players were as ready as they could be.
"I'm going to do the checks," he told his assistant trainer.
Mark stopped digging for something in his suitcase and gave him a surprised look. "Are you sure?" he asked. "I thought it was my night to do the checklist."
Andy nodded. "Yeah, I'm just getting sick of being stuck in a hotel room."
"Just don't complain when you come back and I'm in my boxers watching sports highlights."
"As long as you can tuck yourself in, we're good," he replied.
Mark gave him a sarcastic smile and turned back to his bag. "Don't let Logan give you a hard time about his shoulder," he said. "He's fine to play but needs to ice it."
"Got it," Andy replied before heading out the door.
Luckily, the team didn't have too many injuries to deal with. Aside from Logan Moore's shoulder, there were some stitches here and there, their winger's strained groin, and Ryan, who's non-playing related injury was the worst on the list. Andy specifically reserved Ryan's check up for his last one of the night, which is how he found himself an hour later in Ryan's room, checking out the rookie's recovery.
"Hey, don't I know you?" Ryan said with a sarcastic smile when he answered the door.
"I think we've met before," Andy replied as he walked in and looked around the nondescript hotel room. "You have this place to yourself?"
"Yeah, that minor leaguer they called up to fill in for me still gets my room assignment, so it's just me," Ryan said.
Andy stared at him. "You kind of sound disappointed about that?"
"I guess." Ryan shrugged. "I thought being back on the road would make me feel better about being with the team, you know? But I'm only skating at practices and being in my own room doesn't feel like I'm really back with the team."
"I get that," he replied. "And you aren't the first player I've dealt with that has felt that way. But we'll get things back to normal soon, OK?"
Ryan nodded and gave Andy a thankful smile, then sat down on his bed. Andy took it as his cue to come in and do his usual check up with the rookie, clicking open a file on the iPad to bring up his notes on Ryan.
"Any pain tonight?" Andy asked.
"No."
"Does the skin look weird around the incision?"
"No," Ryan replied.
"You mentioned your frustration, but what about depression or extreme mood swings?"
"Does Alex extremely grossing me out count? Because other than that, I feel fine."
Andy starting typing some notes on the iPad without looking up at his rookie. "Do I dare ask what's going with Alex?" he said with a smirk.
"It's about Sydney."
Andy stopped typing and looked up at Ryan. "What about Sydney?"
"It's stupid."
