“Which team?” he asked casually. I told him the name and he nodded. “That’s a good one.”

I didn’t miss the fact that he’d done research on the teams or clubs, as they were called overseas. I sure as hell wasn’t going to bring it up.

“What about France? Germany?”

“I know she heard back from two teams in Germany, but she hasn’t said anything else about it, and France, I have no idea.” I wiggled my toes beneath the thin blanket I’d used to cover myself up in the freezing cold room. I suddenly remembered what I’d told Franz about Amber. I’d yet to tell Kulti the story and it made me feel guilty. Here he was after worrying about me and apparently spending the night, and he didn’t know the truth. “Rey?”

“Taco.”

“Remember when you heard Amber calling me a whore, and I didn’t want to tell you why?”

Kulti was still staring at the television when he answered. “I know why.”

Say what? My head throbbed in response to his statement. “You do?”

“Yes, something about that woman with the horse teeth throwing a tantrum because her husband is a liar. You left the team.” He glanced at me. “Now that we are on the topic I have to tell you how much of an idiot you were. That situation wasn’t your fault, and the coach should have let her go instead of you. You’re faster, you make better decisions, and your ball-handling is much better.” He sounded so nonchalant through his speech; I couldn’t wrap my head around everything he said. I was still hung up on the fact that he freaking knew.

“How did you find out?” It was supposed to be a secret, damn it.

He lifted a shoulder. “My manager knows everything.”

Yeah, my mouth opened in disbelief. “She heard about it?”

“She makes an effort to know everything before convincing me to do something. She did her research on the team, and I’m assuming she found out then. Don’t frown at me. Secrets don’t exist for her; I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew all the bad things every player on the team has ever done.”

My cheeks went hot, and I tried to rationalize what he was implying.

“You could have asked me. I would have told you,” I grumbled.

Refusing to look at me, he replied, “You were taking too long.”

Dear God. I was going to murder him. “That’s all you have to say?”

“Yes. I already said you were an idiot for not fighting them, but there is nothing I can do about it now. If someone ever did that to you now, I would feel differently about it. That will never happen again, understand?”

For some strange reason, his defense had me beaming. It didn’t matter anymore. It was in the past and… well, he didn’t think what I’d mistakenly been accused of was a big deal. Why should I? Maybe it was time to leave Amber and her idiot husband behind. Hopefully I’d have a fresh start.

I took a deep breath and took in his side profile, cute nose, perfectly proportionate chin and his beard stubble. “What about you? Made any decisions yet on what you’re going to do?”

He swung those light-colored eyes over to me. “No. I haven’t decided anything.”

I watched him out of the corner of my eye. “Have the Pipers asked you to re-sign?”

“Yes.” He glanced back over at me, smiling that baby grin. “Do you believe the term ‘fuck off’ would be an appropriate answer?”

I cracked a smile and reached over to squeeze his shin. “I think I like it.”

* * *

His phone was ringing again.

“If you don’t answer it, I’m going to,” I threatened him, not straying from keeping my eyes on the scenery outside.