Chapter 13 Everett
EVERETT
The atmosphere in the dressing room is weird.
There’s a level of excitement buzzing through the air, but there is so much more than that. Anticipation, fear, nerves.
We’re about to play game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Game freaking seven.
This is the kind of shit we’ve all dreamed of since we were old enough to be out on our own skates.
But it’s also as high pressure as sports can be.
We’re exhausted. Our bodies on the brink of giving up.
Thank fuck for Parker, Corey, our newest trainer, Lennon, and the rest of the medical staff. Without them patching us back together after every game, we wouldn’t be here.
Hell, if I hadn’t been traded a few months ago, I wouldn’t be here.
Seattle’s season ended a few weeks ago with a dark cloud hanging over their heads.
They never had a chance at the playoffs this year.
Which is a shame. On paper, they should be up there with the best in the league.
Hell, they’ve got some of the best players.
Anderson Westly and Andrey Petrov are fucking phenomenal.
But even they couldn’t get the team to gel right this year.
There had been big management changes going into the season, along with some key players suffering from injuries that saw them miss a lot, if not all, the games.
It was always going to be an uphill battle, but I never expected it to be as hard as it was.
I was a part of it, though. I was failing right alongside everyone else. I should be spending my days analyzing what went wrong and feeling sorry for myself.
I shouldn’t be here with a shot at the cup.
It’s wrong. Or at least, I think it is.
Milo McKenna, aka Brit, should be here right now.
I shake my head. I’ve stolen his place, his moment.
Linc and Parker keep trying to convince me otherwise, but I’m really fucking struggling to see all this from their perspective.
If we win tonight…will it even feel like a victory?
Confusion continues to war within me as everyone sets about getting ready, each player locked in their own pregame ritual.
Some have headphones in, blasting music to get them in the zone.
Others wear ear defenders so they have silence.
Some are eating certain foods, drinking certain drinks, and sending final messages to their person.
Our tendy, who proposed to his girl earlier today, is grinning at his cell as if he’s just won the freaking lottery. Fucking sap.
All the while, I’m just sitting here, lost. It’s almost as if I’ve never played a game of hockey before in my life.
The weight of what we’re about to attempt is pressing down on me, but not in the way I thought it would.
It’s because I don’t deserve it.
Glancing around the room, I take a moment to watch everyone.
My teammates. My…friends. It might be early days with the Vipers, but I feel like I belong here. I feel like one of them.
It gives me hope for the future. For next season.
Even if we don’t get the W tonight, we’ve set ourselves up for next year. A year where I’m hopefully going to go all the way with them.
“Cover your dicks,” Killer suddenly shouts. “Woman in da house.”
My head jerks up to see which one has the balls to walk into our dressing room without any warning.
At first thought, I assume it’s my sister. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time she’s seen entirely too much of my teammates, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
A silent laugh bursts out of me when I actually find Hailee, our PR Director, and the biggest pain in my ass, standing in the doorway. As usual, her lips are pursed, and there’s a frown pinching her brows.
My eyes drop to her throat. She isn’t that irritated yet; it’s not pulsating. That’s her tell when she’s really on the edge of losing her shit. I’m not ashamed to say that I often challenge myself to see it.
Her eyes scan the room, but it might as well be empty, because it’s like she doesn’t see my teammates in all states of undress.
But then, she finds her target.
I barely resist the urge to roll my eyes.
What the fuck have I done now? I thought I’d been pretty well behaved recently.
Clearly, from the way she’s glaring at me, I’m wrong.
“Donnelly, I need a word,” she states, leaving zero room for argument.
I argue anyway.
“A bit fucking busy here, actually,” I quip, spreading my thighs wider and resting back in my stall.
“Yeah, I get that,” she states, crossing her arms under her tits. “But this is important,” she insists.
“More important than winning the cup?” I counter.
Hailee’s mouth opens, but she quickly closes it again before any words can come out.
Panic begins to knot up my stomach.
Hailee is never speechless. Ever. Especially when it comes to me.
Something is wrong. Really fucking wrong.
“Go, man,” Fletch, our captain, encourages, looking at me with concern in his eyes. “Sort your shit and then get back here.”
I nod once before pushing to my feet and walking out of the room half-dressed.
I glance at Linc a beat before I get to the door, but if he knows what’s going on, he doesn’t show it.
“What the fuck is more important than the cup?” I bark as I follow her a few feet down the hallway.
Her shoulders tighten.
I’d like to say I don’t enjoy getting under her skin, but that would be a lie. It’s one of the best forms of entertainment around here—aside from the bunnies, of course.
Finally, she spins around and glares up at me.
“Did you really want to do this here? I’d think somewhere a little more private would be a good idea.”
“Just tell me.” I sigh, bored with the dramatics already.
“Fine.” She huffs, her hands landing on her slim waist. “Congratulations, Donnelly. You’re going to be a father.”
Ice runs through my body as the world around me spins.
“I-I’m sorry,” I stutter. I must have misheard.
“Congratulations, Donnelly. You’re going to be a father,” she repeats word for word.
But it doesn’t fucking help.
“What the fuck? No, I’m not. I always wrap it and—”
“Did you want to come and tell that to the woman sitting in my office right now, claiming to be carrying your spawn?”
I blink at her, unable to believe this is really happening.
“No, I really fucking don’t,” I state, rubbing my sweaty palms on my thighs.
“Well, that’s just tough, because you don’t have a choice. Let’s go, Donnelly. Time to sort out another one of your fuckups.”
“W-what? I can’t follow you now. I’ve got a game to prepare for.”
She glances at her watch.
“You’ve got plenty of time.”
“What? You can’t be fucking serious.”
She holds my eyes. “Do I look like I’m joking?”
No. She really fucking doesn’t. She looks downright terrifying, if I’m being honest with myself.
If the news she just delivered didn’t already have my dick wanting to retract inside my body, then that look on her face really does.
“She’s lying, Hailee. I’ve never had unprotected sex. Ever. Never.”
“I know.”
I rear back, my eyes widening.
“What the fuck do you mean, ‘you know?’”
“She said the same thing. You wrapped it. She was on birth control.”
“Then she’s fucking lying.” My arms lift and my fingers sink into my hair, tugging until it starts to hurt. “She’s lying to try to get to me. What does she want? Money? Health insurance?”
Hailee shakes her head. “She doesn’t want anything.”
“Bullshit. That’s fucking bullshit. Every single woman I spend time with wants something from me. It’s never just orgasms.”
“Lovely,” Hailee mutters.
“It’s true. You know this as it well as I do. Why are you letting her pull the wool over your eyes? You’re better than this.”
Hailee takes a step closer, not giving a single fuck that I’m practically a foot and a half taller than her. She stands her ground just as well as any hockey player who squares up to me.
“I am damn good at my job, Donnelly. If I say this woman isn’t lying, then it would be in your interest to believe me.”
I scoff. “Do you know her or something?”
Her eyes narrow, but her lips remain pursed, not giving me an answer.
“You need to follow me. You’re wasting time.”
Before I have a chance to respond, she spins on her heels and takes off down the hallway toward the elevators.
“Fuck,” I grunt, rubbing the tight muscles at the base of my neck.
“Donnelly,” Hailee barks when she notices that I haven’t fallen in line. “The sooner you get this sorted, the sooner you can be back down here, ready to play.”
“Fuck’s sake,” I mutter as my feet begin to move.
As we silently ride the elevator side by side, I fully convince myself that this whole thing is bullshit.
Puck bunnies go to these kinds of extremes all the time. It’s always a risk when we live the lifestyles we do. It’s why I’ve never taken a woman bareback.
Hailee takes off the second the doors open, her heels clicking against the polished tiled floor of the front office, and I follow her like an obedient puppy.
I hate every single second of it. But I don’t dare defy her.
Hailee holds more power around here than I care to think about. If she wants me pulled from tonight’s game, I have no doubt she could in a heartbeat. But while I might not feel like I’m worthy of being out there and fighting for the cup, I fucking well want to be.
Every hockey player will tell you that they want to win the cup in game four.
But that’s bullshit. We all live for the pressure.
We all secretly love a game seven, when the stakes are higher than ever.
We live for nights like tonight. It’s what the years of grueling schedules and training are all about.
Despite it being late, Hailee’s assistant still sits at his desk.
He smiles as I follow his boss toward her office, but he doesn’t say anything. Honestly, I wouldn’t talk to Hailee if I didn’t have to, either.
As Hailee reaches for the door handle and pushes it open, I swear time seems to slow.
She walks inside before turning and gesturing for me to follow her.
My legs move, but without instruction from my brain.
It’s like an out-of-body experience. It’s like I’m watching myself move.
But the second I step into the doorway and look at the woman sitting in front of Hailee’s huge walnut desk, everything comes rushing back to me.
Of all the nameless, faceless women I’ve fucked over the years, of course it’s her.
The woman in my jersey behind the boards at our last game of the regular season.
The woman who turned me down.
The woman who spent longer than necessary pretending she didn’t want me.
The one woman who genuinely didn’t care who the fuck I was, how much money I earned, or what I did for a living.
So yeah…as I walk deeper into the room, my eyes locked on her bloodshot, swollen ones, I can understand why Hailee believes her.
I’m pretty sure the last thing this woman wants in the world is to be connected to me in any way.
Fuck.
This woman is growing my fucking baby.