Clipped by Love
Page 61

Sucking in a deep breath, she doesn’t say anything, and I call her name again. Finally, she says, “Yeah, fine. Just finishing up. Gotta shave my legs.”
I smile. She’s too damn proud. Letting the door shut, I meet Shane’s eyes and he shrugs. “Good excuse.”
“Yeah, for sure,” I agree before sitting down to take my gear off. When she comes out, she passes by without looking at me but acts like nothing is wrong. As she combs out her hair, she jokes with the guys, teasing Markus for puking and also giving him shit for having to make her bed and fold her clothes. Chummy, those two have become and I would be jealous, but I can see it in her eyes, she’s completely beating herself up on the inside.
Shaking my head, I head into the showers to clean up. When I come out, she’s gone. I was hoping to talk to her, maybe even see if she liked the gift and note, but obviously that will have to wait.
“Sinclair, when you’re dressed, come see me, please.”
Nodding my head, I say, “Sure, Coach.”
He nods and then disappears into his office as Markus says, “Dinner?”
I shrug. “Depends if I can move after moving into my captain suite,” I say with a grin.
“I get to share it with ya, right? Like Jude and you did?” Jace asks, and I nod.
“Yeah, bro.”
“And Baylor will have the other room?” Markus asks, and I look over at him as I pull my shirt down.
“That’s the plan. Why? You got a thing for her?”
He holds his hands up, his face breaking into a grin. “Whoa, Jay, simple question. I don’t want her upstairs with the other juniors.”
I nod then, looking away as I pull my shorts up. “I agree, and she won’t be.”
Eyeing me, Markus says, “If you like her so much, why don’t you do something about it instead of walking around and pissing all over her, marking her as yours, without her knowing?”
Scoffing, I roll my eyes as Jace starts to laugh. “Yeah, Jay.”
“Fuck both of you, and keep your mouths shut,” I say before sliding my shoes on. “Jace, be ready to go in a few.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he says as I head into Coach’s office. When I enter, he looks up and shuts his phone off before laying it on the table.
“You did great today, Sinclair.”
I grin as I fall into the seat in front of his desk. “Thank you.”
“I wanted to let you know that you had the position all along. Even if you had bowed out ninth today, it was yours.”
“Really?”
“Yup, it was yours Saturday night when you carried my daughter home after she puked on you.”
I grin as I nod. “I’d do it for anyone.”
“I know. That’s why the choice was easy.”
“Well, thank you,” I say. “That means a lot coming from you.”
“It’s easy to say. You lead this group with ease, you are a force to be reckoned with, and I’m proud to have you as my captain.”
I’m a little stunned by that. Sometimes I don’t think he likes me, and it pleases me to hear him say that. “Thank you, sir.”
“Now since you are the captain, you need to find a way to get along with Moore and keep your brother in line.”
“No problem at all.”
“You think so?”
“I know so,” I say confidently.
He grins. “Well, good. I tried to talk to my headstrong, bitter, sore-losing daughter, and she told me to get out of her face. Her words. So I did, but maybe you can talk to her.” I swallow loudly and he laughs. “Scared, eh?”
I laugh with him. “Nothing scares me, Coach.”
He holds my gaze as he nods. He is a very intimidating man, almost like my dad. But while my dad is very vicious, I don’t feel that way about Coach. He’s a stand-up guy who wants my team to win but also wants his daughter to succeed. I want the same thing.
“I’ll admit I’m scared of her, Sinclair. She’s bullheaded as hell.”
I nod. “I don’t disagree with you, sir, but I know how to handle her.”
Leaning on the desk, he grins at me. “I don’t even think she knows how to handle herself.”
Ain’t that the damn truth.
“But on with you. She’s on the rink.”
“Thank you, sir,” I say before standing and heading out of his office. Jace is waiting for me when I enter the locker room like I had asked him to. “Give me a few,” I say, and he makes a face.
“Why?”
“Need to take care of something.”
“Ugh!” he complains like the child he is. Then he says, “Fine, I’m gonna go with Markus to the coffee shop.”
“Okay,” I say before pushing through the door and heading to the rink. I find her sitting on the bench as the Zamboni runs along the ice. She has her legs pulled up into her chest, her arms hanging loosely around them as she watches the Zamboni go back and forth on the ice. I know she sees me, but she won’t even recognize that. I have no reason for why that bothers me. Maybe it’s my pride, I don’t know, but soon I’m closing the distance between us. I sit on the bench beside her, but she doesn’t move or say anything. Minutes pass and it’s almost like she’s a statue. But when I look at her, she swallows hard as I say, “Good job out there, Moore.”
Drawing a breath in through her nose, she lets her knees drop before running her hands down her legs. She’s wearing shorts and tee, her hair still wet from the shower, and I worry that she’ll get sick from sitting in the cold, but I doubt this is the first time she’s done this.
Or will be the last.
“Yeah, good job to you also.”
“Thank you.”
“Guess the real winner won, eh?”
“You outlasted forty-three dudes, Baylor. That’s nothing to turn your nose up at. You’re a winner just as much as I am.”
Looking at me, she glares as she shakes her head. “I had one goal and that was to beat you, and I didn’t. So I’m not a winner.”
“No, you didn’t beat me,” I say. And I understand her anger, I understand the way she feels. It’s the same thing I felt when Jude went into the draft. I was bitter and jealous, but still I knew my chance was coming, I knew that I’d get there. She’s acting like it’s over. “You are still amazing, Baylor. You are still going to go far.”