4. Fletch, The Son Of A Bitch
4
FLETCH, THE SON OF A BITCH
Hayden
“You got to be kidding, Fletch?”
“Hayden, you just stand up there, let them throw money at you, go for dinner, play nice, and then it’s all done.”
I stared dumbly at him.
“Hayden, it’s for kids with cancer, for the love of God!”
I sighed heavily. I couldn’t say no, but honestly, standing up on that stage being gawped at and then sold struck me as something we were meant to have gotten past by now. At least I’d already told Joyce, so that was one less thing to worry about.
“Not sure this’ll help,” I told Fletch, pointing at the black eye that was still throbbing on my face.
“It might actually make you more appealing,” Fletch beamed back. “Everyone likes a bad boy.”
Goddamnit. It’d be nice if just for one second someone saw me as something other than a raging bull. Then again, that was how I made my living. It’s how I protected us . And one day, it would eventually all be over .
I looked down at my red knuckles and thought about Sampson. What the heck was the point of fighting with one minute left of the season, anyway? I wouldn’t have minded so much, but things seemed to take longer to heal these days. Next thing I would start getting slow, then I’d start losing the fights, missing the bodychecks, and then it really would all be over. That didn’t annoy me so much, I was looking forward to it. Well, maybe that’s not entirely true. I had no idea what would come next, what life without hockey would look like, and a big part of me found that absolutely terrifying. It also reminded me with a shudder that I really had to solve this thing with Cara before then, before it could ruin me, ruin us .
Just then Solly came into the office, rambling and looking like he’d seen a ghost.
“Fletch, I can’t do it! Maria, she’s mad as hell, says it’s a deal-breaker if I let it happen. Please Fletch, you gotta…”
“Solly…,” Fletch began, shaking his head at the panic-filled left winger in front of him.
He was enjoying this, I thought. Then I realized I was too.
“…It’s contractual. My hands are tied. You just gotta go out there, make some money for charity, and have a nice dinner. That’s it.”
“You try telling Maria that! She’s furious Fletch. You should’ve heard her, throwing things at me, threatening to kick me out.”
For a second, Fletch smiled dryly, then it disappeared in a flash before Solly could notice it.
Fletch arranged all our promotional events, sponsorships, and everything on the commercial side, and he was a persuasive son of a bitch. Or, honestly, just a son of a bitch most of the time. I’d also noticed him talking to Maria whenever she came along to events with Solly, and I had a sense that there was something between them. No wonder he was enjoying this.
I could also see that Solly was overboard, swimming in deep waters with fins circling around him, panicking and looking for something, anything , to cling onto to save him. I swiftly made my exit before he tried to grab onto me as his lifeline. I might be the toughest guy on the ice, but even I couldn’t handle the fury of Maria Ricek when she got going.
“Later guys, I’m already late.”
“See you tonight,” Fletch called after me, “Oh, and dress nice, would ya!” he added as I swept through the doorway.
I turned the corner in the hallway and ran straight into Dan Janek.
“Hellmaster,” he said in a sinister tone, with an odd grin.
“Hell- raiser ,” I corrected him.
Dan had come into the team this season from some small village in Finland, and the guy spoke a type of English that was almost, but never quite, right. Some guys prayed before the game, instead Dan roared like he was in a black metal band. It was an interesting contrast. Hell of a goaltender too.
“If you’re going to see Fletch to try and get out of tonight, I’d forget it. Solly is in there doing his best right now and getting nowhere.”
“Ah, no. I want to be buyed up by some rich American lady, babies in the backroom.”
“Babies in the what now?”
And with that, Dan nodded in agreement and walked off with a wide grin, as if our conversation had come to a natural and pleasing conclusion.
All I wanted to do in the world was to go sit on a beach and sleep for the next six weeks. This season had felt like it had gone on forever and my body had taken an absolute battering. When you get a reputation like mine, everyone wants to take down the king, and it gets pretty exhausting dealing with that every game night.
The last thing I needed was to play nice over dinner with some rich man’s wife who wanted to get me into a hotel room so she could tell all her rich wife friends about it.
I’d just play it like always. If they wanted the Hellraiser , then that’s what they’d get, and there would be no apologies for it. Outside, I climbed into my truck and started the ignition, the stereo flashing into life and Total Eclipse of The Heart blasting out of the speakers… God, I loved this song! I took a quick look around for any prying eyes, before collapsing my head back against the seat and joining in loudly.
My hollering was stopped in its tracks as the music muted and changed into a ringtone. Annoyed, I looked at the caller's name on the truck’s dashboard and winced. Cara was not who I wanted to talk to right now. I really had to figure out what to do about her, but I had no idea what that would be yet. Instead of hanging up, I just let it dial out until the music came roaring back.