Chapter 22
Take it to the Grave
Radar
“Huh, Lance, your sister's kinda cute,” Ilya joked. “Lucky for her, she doesn't look a thing like you.”
Everyone busted up into a great big belly laugh. Ha ha ha ha.
Everyone but me. I'd played a lousy game and I didn't feel like I deserved to bask in the good vibes of our victory.
Lance rolled his eyes. “Oh, ha ha. By the way. If any of you guys think you're hot shit and try to flirt with my sister tonight? I'll personally ask the GM to trade your ass to the coldest fucking city in the league. What's that, Winnipeg? Winnipeg, boys. That's where you're heading if you even look at my sister the wrong way.”
I didn't laugh at that joke, either, for obvious reasons.
Lance strutted by and patted my shoulder. “Tough game, Radar, but you'll bounce back.”
“Yeah.”
It killed me to think that Ella had been somewhere in that crowd, watching me suck all over the ice. She probably enjoyed it, too, after what I put her through.
We did our media interviews, hit the showers, and then dressed for team dinner.
“I don't feel like going,” I muttered. “I'm feeling all fucked up. You guys go without me.”
Everyone booed and hissed.
“It's a team dinner, Radar,” Shea began. “If you go home, then someone else has a reason to cut out early, too. And then suddenly everyone else on this team has some other place they'd rather be. Then it's not much of a team dinner anymore, is it?”
I sighed. “Yeah … I'm just really not feeling well.”
“Order a pepper vodka, then,” Ilya yelled. “That's what we do in Russia when we're not feeling well. Oh, and go to the sauna!”
“Pepper vod—” I made a horrified face. “You know what, I'll be fine. Where are we going, anyway?”
“I was thinking MacAllister's,” Lance shouted from across the room.
“Shouldn't we take her some place she hasn't—…” I swallowed the rest of the incriminating sentence down before I shot myself in the foot.
“Some place she hasn't what?” Lance asked.
“I meant, shouldn't we take her some place fancier?” I muttered.
“Nice try.” He wagged his finger at me. “I know exactly what you're trying to do, Radar.”
Gulp. “You do?”
“Yeah. You heard me say I'm buying dinner for the team, so now MacAllister's isn't nice enough. Lemme guess, you want to go to the most expensive steak house in Boston, right? You're just trying to drive the bill up as high as possible, you fucker!”
I let out a breath of relief. Whew. “Ha, yeah, you caught me …”
“I knew it, bud. I should make you pay for dinner, since you owe me that five grand!”
Once everyone was dressed and ready to go, the entire team headed over to the club room where we picked up Ella.
I stayed away from her, since I knew that was what she probably wanted. It kinda hurt to see her joking around with the others.
We went outside, where a fleet of cabs was waiting for us. Lance grabbed the first car, opened the door for Ella, and shouted, “who wants to ride with me and Ella? Radar? Ilya?”
I jumped into an empty cab before he could spot me. Shea climbed in after me and shut the door.
***
“So what's up with you?” Shea grumbled at me.
“Huh?”
“You. You're acting fucking weird. So, what's up?”
“Nothin'.”
“Bullshit. I've seen you play with the flu. I've seen you play a game after a night you didn't get any sleep. I've seen you play so hungover, I could smell the alcohol pouring out of your sweat. But tonight? That's the worst game I've ever seen you play.” He paused. “You might manage to fool Lance and the others, but you're not fooling me. So what is it? What happened that's got you all fucked up?”
“I, uh.” My throat grew chalky. I couldn't speak if I wanted to.
“You know, I saw the way you and Lance's little sister looked at each other back there in the dressing room.”
I played dumb. “Huh?”
“I also heard you almost slip-up. Something about 'Ella's already been to MacAllister's'.”
Shit. How'd he hear that?
Shea stared me down. “I'm going to ask you something serious, Radar, and I want you to answer truthfully. Don't bother trying to lie, because I'll see it in your eyes.”
I nervously swallowed as I waited for his question.
“Did you do something with Lance's little sister?”
I couldn't lie to Shea. I broke eye contact and turned to stare out the window instead, swearing under my breath, “fuck.”
“Holy shit,” Shea muttered. “Holy shit, Radar. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“You can't tell him,” I said, or pleaded, desperately.
“No shit! But I got a funny feeling he's going to find out anyway—because you fucked his sister! And once she tells him what you did, this team is fucking done. Either Lance will ask to be traded, or he'll make sure you're traded. Either way, the core of this team is gutted. All because you couldn't keep your dick in your pants. Damn, man. I've been telling you to stop sleeping around and get your shit together for two years now—”
I shook my head. “Shea, it's not like that—”
“Oh, I know. You just had to fuck her. Had to add those sweet, sweet, teammate's-little-sister panties to your collection. They're so hot and rare, and you gotta collect 'em all, right? Couldn't stop and think for a second what a bad idea it is to fuck your teammate's little sister, could you?” Shea's nostrils flared. “You didn't just fuck her, you fucked all of us this time, Radar.”
“Dude, Shea, I'm telling you, I didn't fuck her.”
“Oh, no? You just held her hand, then?”
“I mean, we fooled around, but …”
“Fooled around, meaning what?”
“We did stuff, but we didn't fuck. She wanted to, but I told her it'd be a bad idea.”
“Lance will be very relieved to hear that you were thinking of him when his sister had your dick in her mouth,” Shea huffed sarcastically.
“That didn't happen, either,” I mumbled.
“Honestly, Radar, I don't care what precise sexual acts you two did together. Look, do you think she's going to tell him or not?”
“I have no idea. I really don't know.”
“So is that why you played like garbage? Because you're afraid Lance is going to find out?”
I had to think it over. “No … I honestly don't think it's that.”
“Then what is it?”
“Well.” I paused. “Because she's mad at me. Yeah, we shouldn't have done anything last night, but I tried to do the right thing. And now she hates my guts because of it. I just feel awful. Plus I made her lie about it.”
Shea's jaw dropped. “Wait—are you telling me you actually like this girl?”
I had to stop and mull it over. Jesus, I do like her, don't I?
“Is it worse if I do?” I asked.
Shea smacked his forehead. “I don't even know. I guess it's less worse than if you just fucked her for the hell of it … but not by much. It's still a train-wreck of a situation. And don't think for a second that anything could happen between you two, alright? It's hopeless. Get that through your thick-ass skull.”
I groaned.
“Sorry, Radar, but you should've known better than to get involved with a teammate's sister.”
“I know. But what do I do now? How do I make things right?”
Shea shrugged. “You don't. You don't tell another soul, and you hope you can take this with you to the grave.”
I nodded somberly. “If I'm taking this to the grave, I have to get one last thing off my chest. It's the worst part.”
“Oh, God. Do I even want to know?” Shea asked.
“She's a virgin, Shea. That's why I didn't sleep with her. Not because of Lance.”
The captain didn't reply. He just turned away, stared out the window and shook his head every so often.
“God damn it, Radar.”
“How fucked am I?”
“Pretty well fucked.”
The cab pulled to a stop outside MacAllister's. I paid and we hopped out, joining the rest of our teammates outside the restaurant.