Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
HENDRIX
Tonight is the night that we play the team of a man I’ve come to loathe more than anyone else on this planet.
Nick fucking Pelletier. The dumbest motherfucker I’ve had the displeasure of meeting. A dude who helped create the best human being I know and didn’t want anything to do with her. I’m just glad this is an away game, so Isla isn’t here to see any of this happen.
When I heard he was hired as this team’s head coach back over the summer, I knew that I’d be stuck coming face-to-face with him eventually. And seeing as he coached me a while back, I also assume he’s going to be dumb enough to talk to me too.
For his own good, I fucking hope not.
Coach Huff walks into the center of the locker room, clapping his hands together lightly.
“All right, fellas. You already know what we’re going to have to do tonight to come out of here still undefeated.
” He stops, looking at Coach Talmage. “Well, aside from getting your asses kicked by the women’s team.
” He laughs before his face grows serious again.
“This team is going to be tough, just like we talked about in practice this week. They’ve studied your game tapes.
They know your weaknesses and how to expose them.
” His gaze sweeps around to all of us. “But you also know theirs too. So, at the end of those sixty minutes, we’ll see who the stronger team is. Okay?”
When we all mutter, “Yes, Coach,” he nods.
“If it’s us, that’s great. We’ll go back home, work our asses off, and fight another monster next week.
And if it’s not … we’ll do the same.” He inhales before letting it out and lifting a foot onto the bench in front of him, leaning forward.
“But I’ll tell you, I think you are the better team.
But you have to show up and play like it, okay? ”
“Yes, Coach!” we all say in unison.
Holding a hand to his ear, he pretends like he didn’t hear us. “What was that?”
“Yes, Coach!” we yell louder, only for him to do the same thing.
So, now, when we call out those two words, we scream it so loud that I’m sure anyone in the hallway hears it, and finally, Coach is satisfied.
“All right. Let’s go get to work,” he drawls. “West, lead ’em out.”
Jameson grabs his stick and helmet before heading toward the exit, and I follow behind him.
“You good, Hunt? You’ve looked a little off all afternoon.”
“I’m good,” I utter, chewing the inside of my cheek. “Just hope Pelletier doesn’t talk to me.” I shrug. “Actually, I hope he doesn’t even look at me.”
Coach’s eyes narrow slightly when he overhears our conversation. “Why? Did you two leave on bad terms when you were on his team?”
I flash him a look, and instantly, his eyes widen.
“You know?”
“That he’s my girlfriend’s sperm donor?” I mumble. “Yeah, unfortunately, I do.”
Huff runs a hand over the top of his head. “Fuck …” he whispers. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
Leaning forward, he looks down at the ground. “Is this going to affect how you play tonight, kid?” He looks back at me, clearly concerned. “Because if it is, you need to tell me right now.”
“No,” I retort angrily. “If anything, it’ll make me play better because there’s no fucking way I’m letting that scumbag get a win over my team.”
His eyes shift between mine, examining me. “You’re sure?”
“Yes.” I nod. “No promises that I won’t punch him in the throat if he comes near me though, Coach.”
“You’re more like Cam Hardy than you know,” he mutters, slapping me on the back. “Come on, Hunt. Go ruin his day. Let’s win this thing.”
Anger has never stopped me from doing my job on the ice, but sometimes, I guess it does get in the way.
But that was when I was playing selfishly, as if I were the only person on the team.
I’m not doing that now. But once the game is over, if he even looks my way …
I won’t hold back from punching him for my girl.
But first, we have a game to win.
I stare up at the scoreboard, looking at the final score of two to three. I should be happy, but instead, I just feel like it isn’t enough. We won, but there’s a man twenty feet away from me who has made my girlfriend question if she’s worthy or not. And I hate that.
I can deal with people hurting me. I’ve dealt with it my entire life.
But when it’s someone I love as much as I love Isla who’s hurt, it just …
hits differently. It’s a type of pain that seeps into every muscle, every cell, every part of me.
It wakes up an animal that’s been asleep, an animal that has the ability to take over my body.
But I stand here, reminding myself that Cam Hardy is the greatest gift the world could have ever given her.
She isn’t lacking anything because that man stepped in when she needed him.
But still, when I look across the ice and through the plexiglass and I know that the man I’m staring at pushed her aside like she’s nothing … I can’t stop myself from growing angry. Because how the fuck could anyone do that? Not just to Isla, but to Addison.
“Hunt,” Coach Huff calls across the ice. “Head into the locker room.” His gaze hardens, like he knows what’s going through my head. “Now.”
Exhaling a long breath, I reluctantly head toward the exit, knowing it’s the right thing to do. When I step off the ice, Coach pats my back. He doesn’t say a word, but he doesn’t have to. He’s just proud that I’m choosing to walk away rather than to start something that really has no ending.
I’m almost inside the guest locker room when I hear his voice. And the sound of that alone is enough to have my entire body become tense and my veins come to life.
“Not even gonna say hi to your old coach, Hunt?” Nick’s voice is taunting. “That’s not very good sportsmanship.”
“You lost, Pelletier,” Huff breathes out. “Give it up.”
“I was talking to my former player,” Nick throws back. “Turn around, Hunt. Have some respect for your coach.”
Letting my stick fall against the wall, I spin around quickly, making it so that my chest is practically touching his. I glare down at him, seeing as he’s a few inches shorter.
“I’ve got nothing to say to you that you’d want to hear.” I grind my teeth together. “And you aren’t my coach.”
I can feel Coach Huff gripping the extra fabric on the back of my jersey.
“Let it go, Hunt,” he warns me. “Let. It. Go.”
My hands are clenched in tight balls, and my breathing is shallower than a fucking mud puddle on a hot summer day after a short rainstorm. But I know that I need to listen to my coach. This guy isn’t worth it. He never will be.
I take a step backward before I turn around, not saying another word. But just before I move farther away, he’s dumb enough to speak again.
“I really hope you aren’t being this way over personal reasons, kid,” he bites out bitterly. “I took you in. Gave you a team to play for when everyone said you were nothing but trouble.”
His words stop me in my tracks, but I just pray to fuck that he’s all done talking because if he adds in anything else, I’m not sure I’ll be able to be the bigger person and walk away.
“He’s not worth it, Hunt,” Coach whispers. “I promise, he isn’t.”
My eyes connect with Huff’s, and I know that he’s right. But when the motherfucker speaks again, there isn’t enough willpower in my entire body to stop me from what happens next.
“For real, Hunt? You realize I was going to ask you to come play for me here, right?” He laughs bitterly.
“Well, fuck that. Not if you’re going to treat me this way.
And all because I didn’t want to play house with your girlfriend and her mother.
” He pauses. “It’s not my fault that Addison was a slut and didn’t know how to take a fucking pill.
The kid wasn’t even supposed to be born. ”
That’s it. That’s all it takes, and I’m gone. I’m not seeing red; I’m seeing black. And within a second, my fist connects with his nose, and he’s blown backward, stumbling until his back smashes into a wall.
Grabbing his nose, he stares down at the blood on his hand. “You motherfucker,” he hisses. “You wait; you won’t play hockey ever again. I’ll make sure of—”
He doesn’t finish his sentence because, now, Coach has his hand gripped tightly around his throat, shoving him against the wall.
“I think you’re done talking, Pelletier,” Coach Huff growls, pushing harder against him.
Nick tries to get away from him, but there’s no point. Coach is too fucking angry, and I don’t think an elephant could budge the dude.
“Cam and Addy have been real nice to let you live your fucking life without consequences. But I promise, if you ever fuck with the kid behind me again or ever let Isla’s or Addison’s name leave your fucking lips, I will make sure you never coach again, Nick.
I have a lot more connections in the fucking hockey nation than you ever will.
” He shoves Nick harder against the wall. “Understand?”
Angry eyes stare at Coach, but it’s obvious that Nick can hardly breathe. So, eventually, he gives a weak nod, and Huff drops his hand down, letting his body fall to the floor. The only people around are Coach Talmage and a few players.
But when Coach looks around at all of them, narrowing his gaze and saying, “Don’t say a fucking word about this,” everyone seems to understand.
Once Nick slithers away like the snake that he is and everyone else has gone, it’s just me and Huff standing here, and instantly, I open my mouth to apologize.
“I’m sorry—” I say those two words before he stops me by putting a hand up.
“It’s okay, Hunt. She’s like a niece to me, and to be honest, if you hadn’t punched the motherfucker, I probably would have been madder.
” He pats my shoulder. “In my opinion, scum like Nick? They’ve got no place in the hockey world.
” He sighs. “Go take a shower. You fucking smell, and we’ve got a long-ass bus ride home. ”
I almost laugh, but it doesn’t quite make it out of my throat before I walk into the locker room. For once in my life, I didn’t get in trouble for violence. Because everyone knows Nick Pelletier had that punch coming.