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He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Yeah, but I heard Phoebe’s whistle. I knew to watch out for him. Thanks for looking after me, kiddo.”
She looked up at him with devastated eyes. “Always. I may never work with the team again, but I’ll always watch out for you, Peter.”
Moving next to Ilya, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Wait, what?”
She snuffled into her sleeve. “I’m done, Ransom. If Coach won’t listen to me to protect you guys, I’m done.”
“Oh, Molls,” Phoebe sighed. “If they don’t have you, then they don’t have anyone watching out for them.”
She sniffed. “I can’t be part of an organization that doesn’t value its players or my opinion. I love you guys too much to watch him be so careless with you.”
I let go of Phoebe to pull Molly into my chest. “It’s been a difficult night. Sleep on it, okay?”
She raised her gaze to me, her lashes wet with tears. “Yeah, but I don’t think anything will feel different in the morning.” She sniffled. “Just glad Mom wasn’t here tonight. Now go. I’ll stay with Phoebe while you shower.”
We showered quickly, then chatted as we were dressing.
Ilya slammed his locker closed. “She’s done, man. I don’t think anyone but Coach could change her mind now and that doesn’t seem likely.”
Hank overheard us. “Who’s done?”
Ilya cringed. “Molls. She quit.”
The roar of the men over this news wasn’t surprising, but the punches to the lockers and overall aggression at the idea of Molly leaving was.
Milo stood in the middle of the group. “Guys, simmer down. It was a rough night. Give her some time.”
I dressed quickly and went out to meet Phoebe. “Ready?”
She instantly took my hand. “So ready. Ilya just left with Molly, but I swear I must have fielded twenty guys who are trying to talk her out of quitting the team. This is not going over well.”
I grunted and led her to the truck.
Phoebe sat in the middle of the bench seat, closer to me than usual. “What’ll they do?”
I lifted a shoulder. “Bring her gifts, food, apologize for something they didn’t do, but it won’t work.”
Phoebe raised her gaze to me. “Has to come from Mulaney, right? Why didn’t he listen to her?”
I took a deep breath and let it out. “Not sure, really.”
“This is bad, isn’t it?” she whispered.
I grunted. Yeah, it was.
We drove the rest of the way in silence with Phoebe clutching my arm. Once we got back home, I lifted her suitcase out of the bed of the truck despite her protests.
I scowled. “I have a cut above my eye, not a concussion. I can carry a damn suitcase, Raven.”
She stood in front of me with her hands on her hips. “So can I. Drop it!”
The fucking thing weighed a ton, so when she wouldn’t move, I gave up and dropped it. “Fine, you happy?” I took off for the door.
“Ecstatic!” she yelled to my back.
Not stopping to watch her lug the thing inside, I changed out of my jeans and into a pair of pajama pants. It was too damn hot for a shirt. Didn’t matter that it was December or we didn’t run the heat much at home. Felt like steam was rising off me.
Maybe it was from the way Phoebe clutched my arm in the truck, up against her breasts. Her low-cut sweater didn’t help either. I was holding myself back when I just wanted to corner her and kiss the hell out of her.
