Not A Chance (Heartstrings #2)

14. Theo

Crossing paths with Campbell, who wasn’t supposed to be done with his interview for another several minutes, had me jolting to a stop.

I’d planned to arrive ten minutes early for my turn, keen to give Indie a break from wrangling my teammate. Campbell seemed to thrive on making trouble. Growing up, Indie could get overwhelmed when she wasn’t in control of a situation. Dealing with Campbell’s unpredictable nature would be like inviting squirrels high on cocaine into your home.

As we walked from opposite directions along the empty hallway in the Tempests arena, the building quiet on a non-game day, Campbell appeared too pleased with himself. From our locker room and game travel interactions over the past month, I knew his expression meant he’d created chaos for someone.

Campbell held up his fist for a greeting once we were within arm’s length of each other. I tapped my knuckles against his in a distracted hello, more concerned with whatever mayhem he’d been causing .

“Hey. Headed to your interview, Yao?” He couldn’t keep the humor out of his tone.

“What did you do?” I growled, finding it impossible to keep my normal cool. I didn’t have it in me to fake social graces at the moment. The idea that he’d made Indie’s job harder than necessary pressed all my protective buttons.

“Moi? How could you think that?” He couldn’t even pretend to be offended. “Don’t worry, Yao. I was just having a little fun at the reporter’s expense, though it seemed like it was going to take him some time to figure out the joke. He’ll get there eventually, or Layne will set him straight.”

“You know she’s new at her job. Why’d you have to make it harder for her? Did you even think of that?” I asked, the tension in my shoulders building until they felt like they could snap.

To his credit, an expression of regret passed over Campbell’s face. Reaching up to rub the back of his neck, he looked down at the floor before meeting my eyes again, his natural charm having no effect on me. “Shit, Yao. Way to make a guy feel bad. It was just a joke. I didn’t mean any harm. Gotta make this media shit pass by somehow, eh? Haven’t they ever thought of asking a question that hasn’t been asked a thousand times before?”

“Yeah, I get it. Nobody enjoys the media, but it’s part of our contracts. So we need to just suck it up. What it doesn’t mean is being a pain in the ass to the people working on our behalf.” My tone left no room for argument.

“Okay, Dad , I get the point. No more scolding necessary.” He threw his hands up in surrender.

I had a feeling that was the best I was going to get out of Campbell. Like my brothers, he loved his reputation as a prankster, so I doubted my little lesson was going to stick .

I nodded and moved around him to keep walking.

“It’s a pretty nice ass, though. You can’t blame me,” he called out once he was a fair distance behind me.

“Campbell,” I warned, stopping suddenly, and turned back.

“Oh, did you think I was talking about Layne? I meant this right here.” He indicated his own backside, shit-eating grin intact.

Clearly, Campbell had my brothers’ Teflon-type personality, on the surface at least. Nothing stuck for long.

Shaking my head, I pushed thoughts of Campbell aside and increased my pace toward the conference room.

It was time to get my head on straight for this interview. Though I’d done enough interviews over the years, the ones coming off the ice after a loss being my least favorite, I still owed it to the organization to be diligent with my answers.

Words like “veteran” and “legacy” didn’t sit right with me. It wasn’t like I needed any other reminders about how my age and a professional NHL career would soon no longer belong in the same sentence.

I wasn’t sure what wisdom I had to offer future players of the game. Every season was a fresh start because nothing ever stayed the same: a new team dynamic had to be rebuilt, skills refined, and ambitions solidified.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t hear the raised voices until I reached the threshold of the conference room, my body reeling from suddenly halting my steps.

“Just what I said. Theo Yao’s personal life and family are off-limits. The same things you asked Andrews and Campbell are fine, but not the last section.”

Indie’s voice projected clearly out into the hall. Her words had me clenching my fists, the tension building in my shoulders again. My agent was always clear in my contracts that I didn’t talk about personal stuff. So what was this?

In my fourteen-year career, I hadn’t once discussed my mom’s death and the devastation that followed. The memories, good and bad, were locked up securely in a vault within my mind that I rarely accessed. It was simpler that way.

Losing her had created a fissure so deep in the foundation of our family that it became a bruise that never healed. And none of us talked about it with each other.

This moment had the effect of being kicked by a steel-toe boot in that bruise. And Indie was trying to shield me from that. When I could think clearly about it, I would probably feel grateful. But not now.

Caught off guard, my ears started buzzing as the reporter spouted something about his questions being justified until the sound of my pulse beating my ears was all I could hear. My breathing stuttered as I tried to drag in some air. It took until Indie spoke again to wade through the fog of the shock.

“Anything else goes on in the next forty-five minutes and I will personally bring you a legal shitstorm of such magnitude you’d do best to tender your resignation and file for bankruptcy upon leaving this room. And that’s before I mention it to the GM and owner.”

My heart clenched hearing her defending me so vehemently with her words.

Glancing at my watch, I still had ten minutes before I was due in that room. Thoughts of arriving early evaporated from my mind. My gaze scanned the surrounding doors for a place I could use to calm down.

About twenty feet down the hallway was a maintenance closet, the door propped open with a wheeled bucket and mop. Maybe not the most pleasant space to pull myself together, but it would have to do.

Leaving the ongoing debate between Indie and the reporter behind me, I pushed open the closet door and slipped past the cleaning equipment without messing it up. Hopefully, I could take a few minutes in here without the maintenance staff catching me.

The white-painted concrete walls blurred as I leaned against a shelf filled with bottles of chemicals.

It shouldn’t be hitting me this hard after so many years.

Closing my eyes, I forced air into my lungs. The tightness in my chest resisted the expansion of my lungs.

Get a grip, Yao. You don’t have time to lose your shit right now.

Maybe you should have spent more time listening to that therapist all those years ago instead of thinking you could handle it on your own.

Indie couldn’t see me like this. In fact, she couldn’t know that I overheard her talking to that reporter. The last thing I needed was Emery hearing that something was going on with me from her best friend.

You just keep tucking away more issues you won’t discuss with your family. Where does it end?

I allowed my hands to cover my face for a moment, wishing I didn’t have to face anyone right now, before raking my hands through my hair roughly.

A disheveled appearance would be the least of my worries if I couldn’t pull off this interview. With my knees being a ticking time bomb, I didn’t need the added pressure of management, or worse, my family, questioning my mental well-being.

“I’m just going to grab Theo from the locker room. He probably ran into one of the coaching staff on his way here.” Indie’s voice rang out in the hallway.

“Where are you, Theo?” she said under her breath.

I glanced at my watch. Shit, my interview was meant to start five minutes ago. So much for making a good impression on the reporter .

Hell, if I was already late, a few more minutes pulling myself together would be better than going in there still shaken.

The click of her shoes on the polished floor grew fainter as I hesitated by the door of the maintenance room. At least I would be able to avoid talking to Indie immediately after she’d defended my privacy.

With shock receding slightly, the implications of her words sunk in. The tension in my shoulders eased the more I imagined the reporter’s expression after Indie was finished ripping him a new one. If they hadn’t been talking about me, I’d have loved to watch her take him down a peg or twelve.

She would have been magnificent. I’d never known anyone else like her.

When was the last time someone took your side like that? She said she would personally go to bat for you, even after feeling years of hurt.

God, it was good to know someone was on my side. I was surrounded by people who saw me as a commodity they had paid for or a teammate who had the power to screw up their careers by not doing my job. Nobody was out here looking out for just Theo.

But Indie did just now. A small light flicked on in the dark part inside me. She was so much more than a beautiful, capable woman from my past. Warmth and loneliness threatened simultaneously.

Usually, I kept myself busy with extra conditioning and PT, so I didn’t notice the lack of real relationships in my life. But since coming to Toronto, the chasm between me and the people who were most important to me had grown beyond just the physical miles between us.

In Vancouver, I could placate my conscience by telling myself that I would visit my siblings soon. That I would solve the lack of connection with my dad since my mom had been the natural bridge between us .

That I had time. I’d been an idiot.

What did I have going for me other than less than a year on a contract that might not be renewed?

Well, there’s the woman with a heart the size of all the Great Lakes combined in this arena looking for you.

I’d given up a chance to know Indie, even as a friend, six years ago. When she ran from our kitchen that Christmas morning, I didn’t chase her. Didn’t try to explain that it wasn’t her but our age difference and the demands of my career that made any kind of connection between us impossible.

I hadn’t even allowed myself to think about it.

I couldn’t fix my relationship with my family or my knees immediately, but I could get to work on repairing what I broke six years ago. And hope Indie still wanted to know me.

Our age difference didn’t matter anymore. We could be friends, or more, if she was willing. There was so much about my life I couldn’t control right now, but I wanted her to see me again. The Theo she wanted all those years ago in my kitchen.

Sliding back out of the maintenance room, I strode across the hall to get this interview over with.

I had more important things to focus on. Mainly the woman who was likely cursing my name as she searched the arena.

I couldn’t wait.