Page 12 of Charm on the Rocks
Chapter 6
Madison didn’t remember ever feelingthis happy before. No, scratch that. Happy wasn’t the right word. Light. Carefree. Yes, those worked much better. She felt light and carefree and, as a result, she felt happy. God, she probably looked like the biggest idiot ever, what with the silly smile that had been plastered to her face ever since she got out of social psychology. Oh, well. She would need that smile tonight when she was out on the ice. Another preseason game was scheduled, and right now, she was walking into Sea Side an hour before the game started for the usual pre-game meeting.
After she headed below, Madison suddenly noticed a commotion going on. Did the protesters manage to get to the locker rooms? There was no way. The smile slid off her face and her eyes searched the crowd furiously, looking for Amanda or at least someone she recognized. Something was wrong but she wasn’t sure what it was.
When she saw Alec, half-dressed for the game, she pushed through the crowd to reach him. “Hey,” she said, getting his attention by placing her hand on his forearm. When he locked eyes with her, momentarily distracted by the commotion, she asked, “What’s going on?”
There was no sparkle in those midnight blue eyes. In fact, they looked almost black. His padding wasn’t on, and as a result, Madison could clearly see the tension in Alec’s upper body. His chin was tucked down, his hands controlled and down by his sides. She had to reach out in order to touch him, to grab him. His lips were pressed in a thin line, curled down. There was no charming compliment coming from his lips, no smartass retort about her touching him. In fact, Madison had never seen him look so... furious before. She immediately released him, afraid to send him over the edge, something he looked close to teetering over.
“Sorry.” His voice was tight but gentle. Madison watched as he blinked once, twice, and then looked down at the arm Madison had so recently been holding on to. It appeared as though he had been in some kind of trance. He wrapped his long fingers around her wrist and led her down a vacant hallway. No one could see them, but they could certainly here the ruckus nearby.
“What was that?” he asked once he double-checked that they were alone.
At least he sounded more like him.
“Um,” Madison murmured under her breath. “What’s going on? I haven’t seen it so crowded down here.”
“Yeah, it’s the press,” he told her. “Coach wanted to call a quick press conference before the game in order to answer a few questions. But a few questions turned into more than a few questions and now instead of asking questions, they’re demanding answers. Not just from Coach, but from Stable – he’s our assistant coach – and even going after some of the players, too. I think three different journalists came up to me until they figured I wasn’t going to say anything. Coach is pissed and is calling security as we speak since a lot of these guys won’t leave.”
“I still don’t understand.” Madison was trying to be patient. Really, she was, but Alec had yet to answer just why the press was here in the first place. It was only a preseason game; the Gulls were lucky to get written up by the weekly, local Newport Beach paper. This was madness.
“It’s Brandon,” Alec said. “The police showed up at his house this morning for questioning.”
“They arrested him?” Madison was surprised. What possible evidence could the police have on Brandon Thorpe?
“No, just took him in for questioning,” Alec repeated. “But a couple of people from the media were hanging out in front of Brandon’s home and saw the cops come up. It wasn’t long before the story broke on the news, and everyone even associated with the team was swarmed with microphones in their faces wanting to know what we think about Brandon as a suspect and all that shit.”
He clenched his jaw. Madison hadn’t heard him swear before; interestingly enough, it sounded wrong, coming from his mouth.
“Coach wanted to cut the shit, you know? Basically tell everyone that, yeah, Brandon was brought in for questioning but he wasn’t arrested, and yes, he’d be missing tonight’s game but when he was released from custody, he’d start playing again. He wanted to convey that we all stood behind Brandon, everyone from the players, to Coach, even to Seraphina Hanson, the owner. But the media just got out of control.”
“Oh my God,” Madison said. No wonder Alec looked so tense; it was like he was carrying this load on his shoulders by himself. For whatever reason, Alec seemed to be taking this personally, as though it was Alec’s fault that Brandon was being questioned. Before she could stop herself, she asked, “Do you want to grab a drink after the game?”
Again, no flattery, no arrogant retort. In fact, Alec looked almost offended at the suggestion.
“I don’t drink during the season,” he snapped.
The harsh tone coming out of Alec’s lips caused Madison to jump. This was not the Alec she knew, even though she really didn’t know a lot about Alec Schumacher. And she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about this new Alec. He didn’t scare her, exactly, and it was interesting to see he wasn’t all about getting laid and playing hockey. But that didn’t mean she understood where all this angst was coming from, especially since it was so unexpected coming from Alec.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his face softening. He reached up to place his hand on the back of his neck, looking suddenly uncomfortable, as though even he didn’t know why he was upset. “I didn’t mean to snap. It’s just...” He looked away, unable to meet Madison’s eyes. “Look, Brandon’s not a very social guy. He doesn’t really hang out with us when we go out to do things. I couldn’t tell you his favorite sport outside of hockey, his favorite food, or if he’s dating anyone at the moment. But he’s still a Gull. He wears the same jersey as I do. He’s my teammate. And the way the fans have been booing him and the media’s been hounding him, it’s not right.”
Madison felt herself release a sigh through her nose. If she was being honest, she found Alec’s loyalty to his teammate admirable. It rounded out the edges to him, so to speak. But that still didn’t explain why Alec took this burden in the first place. He wasn’t directly involved in Ken’s murder and he wasn’t friends with Brandon, either. Madison felt that he might be stressing out about things beyond his control, something pointless. The guy couldn’t be responsible for everything even if he wanted to be.
“Do you... think that maybe...” Madison wasn’t sure if this was appropriate, if she should ask him this since he seemed so invested. But she was curious. And maybe talking about it might help him feel a little bit better. “Do you think Brandon did it?”
Alec looked at Madison, but instead of snapping at her, he dropped his arm back to his side. “No, I don’t.” She believed him, too. “Brandon’s probably one of the most offensive goalies in the league, but there’s no way he killed Ken. Everybody respected Ken. Everybody on the team, everybody who worked for him. The guy could be a hardass, but that was just one of the reasons why the entire league admired him. I mean, he started this team. He built this club from the ground up. He is the reason the Gulls exist in the first place. And he took that team and made it into what it is today.”
Madison felt herself smiling. “You seem to have a lot of passion for the sport,” she observed.
“I am,” he agreed with a curt nod of his head. If his hair hadn’t been gelled back in preparation for the game, she was certain the dirty blond locks would have fallen into his face and those midnight blue eyes. “You know, I think this is the first actual conversation you and I have had.”
And there it was, that charm smile, slithering out onto his face in order to replace his trademark sparkle back into his eyes. He returned to the Alec she was accustomed to, but Madison did notice that his shoulders were still tense. The burden was there. It would seem that there was more to Alec Schumacher than Madison initially believed.
“And,” he continued in a playful voice, “once the season is over, I would be happy to take you up on your offer for a drink. In fact, since I like you so much, I’ll even buy you dinner, too.”
“And he’s back,” Madison murmured under her breath, trying to mask an amused grin. “Such a gentleman.” She reached out to touch his forearm once again, her eyes pooling into his. For whatever reason, she wanted to make sure that he knew that what she was about to say was genuine. He didn’t tense when she touched him; he reacted as though it was natural that Madison would touch him. “Good luck tonight.”
He smiled – minus the arrogant sprinkles that usually emphasized it – and nodded again as Madison dropped her hand. “Thank you,” he said.