All heads turned to stare at him.

He looked worse than shit. His face was bruised. He had a black eye. His clothes were torn. His lower lip was swollen. Not only did he appear to be hungover but he’d been fighting.

He leaned his elbows on the counter and put his head in his hands and groaned.

“Looking good, K. I hope the other guy looks worse than you.” I had to dig the knife in a little deeper because that’s what friends did. He didn’t care enough to shoot back a retort or even glare at me. He groaned again.

“Where’ve you been?” Steele crossed his arms over his chest and regarded Kaden much like a father sternly regarded his rebellious teenage son.

Kaden merely grunted. I poured him a cup of coffee and pushed it across the counter to him. He wrapped both hands around the mug as if it were his lifeline and sipped deeply.

We all watched and waited—for what, we weren’t sure.

“If you really must know, I’ve been in jail.”

I hadn’t expected that, nor, by the look on Steele’s face, had he. Only Geneva appeared unaffected by this news. Maybe with her biker background, being jailed wasn’t a shocking thing to hear.

Kaden blinked a few times, rubbed his one good eye, and blinked again. “What are you doing here, Geneva?”

“I’m dating Axel,” she answered simply, and my heart bumped in my chest, happy to be out in the public about our relationship or whatever it was.

Kaden grunted something unintelligible. Dragged his sorry ass to his feet and poured another cup of coffee. “I’m going to bed.”

“You aren’t going to tell us why you were in jail?”

“Fuck no.” Kaden half staggered, half limped down the hallway and into his room. “You can read about it online. The whole fucking mess,” he shouted at us as he slammed the door.

“That’s not good,” Geneva remarked with a grimace. Steele and I nodded our agreement.

“Do you think the team knows something?” Steele said.

“Hard to say.”

“We need him.” Steele was in full worry mode.

“I bet it was a bar fight. Isn’t the first time he’s been in one.”

“I wonder if Ziggy and Cave were in on it too?” Geneva asked.

“Shit, if they’re all suspended…” My head hurt at the possibility. The loss of those three players would signal a death sentence to our team’s playoff chances.

Geneva and Steele both nodded grimly.

“I should get going. I need to get to work.” Geneva moved toward the door. I sprang into action, following her out.

“Let me know if you hear anything.”

“I will.” She leaned up to kiss my mouth but didn’t linger. A second later, the elevator doors shut behind her.

I stared at those doors for a very long time. Her absence left me empty and alone yet hopeful for the future. I’d see her in a few hours at practice, and I was already looking forward to it.