Chapter 35
NASH
We’re in San Jose, and their home-crowd fans are going wild as they unleash a blistering assault on our net. I have no idea how Vaughn’s doing it, but he’s a damn super-human in the crease right now, blocking shot after shot, every one of which would fly past almost any other goalie I can think of.
I hate to say it, but at this point, forget winning. We’re scrambling, playing not to lose as San Jose are getting the better of every rebound, flawlessly passing and executing their game plan, keeping us from getting even a whiff of the puck in our possession.
But then we catch our first break in what feels like an eternity.
San Jose’s right winger fires off a shot that hits our crossbar to Vaughn’s left, and the puck ricochets like crazy, landing right in front of Adriano.
I pivot on my blades, racing up the ice to San Jose’s zone, taking advantage of how they were grouped too far forward at our net.
Adriano passes to me, and I put it into the net with a one-timer.
Groans and boos and shouted curses from the crowd fill the arena as my teammates rush me to celebrate. We’re a tiny pocket of elation in a sea of disappointment after snatching victory from the jaws of defeat with just twenty seconds left on the clock.
Hayden chest-bumps me with so much force he falls on his own ass on the ice, Adriano jumps on my back, and the other guys hit me with high-fives or slaps on my helmet.
We win the final puck drop and spend the last couple seconds playing keep-away. We walk out with our first away game win of the season.
Keeping up our undefeated streak feels pretty damn good. Really damn good, actually. But what feels even better? The congratulations text I read from Piper when I get back to my cubby.
Things have been … weird between us, since she walked in on me in the shower.
I’ve cursed myself a thousand times since for that comment I made when she was standing there, practically devouring my naked body with her eyes while I held my stiff cock in my hand.
I have no fucking clue what came over me. Something just roared to life inside me, taking over me like I was a man possessed, and I couldn’t keep my mouth closed.
Maybe I was hoping she’d nod yes, and then I would invite her to join me, pressing her against the glass shower panel, hooking her leg around my waist, and finally fucking the woman I married.
My dick pulses, so I chase that thought away. I don’t need to be walking around the locker room with my pants tented.
But I’m not able to keep Piper out of my thoughts for long, because Hayden leans next to me and asks, “So, how’s married life?”
I pause awkwardly for a bit, not sure how to answer because I don’t really know.
“It’s good,” I settle on.
Hayden puts his hand to his heart. “Wow, Nash, with such a poetic laudation of matrimonial bliss, I’ve never regretted being single more than I do right now,” he says sarcastically.
I flatten my lips at him. “What do you want me to say? It’s great. Amazing. Life-changing. All that stuff.”
“Wow, all that stuff,” now Adriano joins in. “I’m sure if your wife were here right now, she’d swoon at your silver tongue.”
“Come on, Nash,” Noah piles on, “give us the details. Is life after marriage all that different?”
How the hell did I become the rookies’ big brother all of a sudden? Of all the people out there to ask deep questions about the meaning of life, I’m probably the last one.
Well, maybe last behind Vaughn.
And last behind Cooper, too, at least on the subject of love and relationships, about which he’s an incurable cynic.
Shit. Among the six of us who’ve grown close, maybe I am the best one to ask about that stuff.
Now that’s concerning.
I take a deep breath, trying to come up with the kind of answer I would give if this marriage were real.
“Yeah, it’s different. Coming home feels …
better. It’s hard to explain. It’s like …
it’s like you’ve never actually come home before, compared to what it’s like when the person you’ve married is waiting for you.
And even when you travel, like we are now, it’s like you’re connected by some invisible thread, that vibrates with the strength of your bond, and you always feel it. ”
A funny feeling glazes around my heart. I’m trying to pull the wool over my teammates’ eyes by coming up with the kind of answer a married man should give … but what I just said didn’t feel like a lie.
What I just described sort of is what I’ve been feeling these last several weeks, even if only slightly. Which should concern me.
Because time’s been moving awfully fast since Piper moved into my house. I don’t know why that is, but I do know it means that this phony marriage is going to be over in what’ll feel like the blink of an eye. And if I start to develop an attachment, it won’t be good.
“Damn, bro,” Hayden says, nodding his head like he’s really taking in my words and thinking them over. “When you try, you actually do make this marriage shit sound pretty appealing.”
Noah lets out a dreamy sigh. “I can’t wait to be married.”
“One day, for sure,” Hayden nods to himself. “What about you, Adriano? Looking forward to putting your man-whore ways behind you sometime in the future?”
Adriano blows out a sharp breath of air, and it carries a bitter sound.
“My parents have a ranked list of women they want me to marry, all based on how the marriage will affect the family business.” A jaded look passes over his face.
“Maybe I’ll give in one of these days, when I can’t play hockey anymore. ”
“For real?” Cooper asks. “Your parents are that old-school?”
“They act like I’m literally killing them by being over here playing hockey instead of learning how to take over the business. Every time I visit, they throw a party and make sure I’m joined at the hip with a woman who’s related to the owners of a company my dad’s eyeing buying up or merging with.”
It’s well known that Adriano’s the heir to a major Greek shipping company. He caught a love of hockey when he was a kid, when his dad took him to America on a business trip and they ended up sitting front row at an NHL game.
His parents built him a custom hockey rink and hired top-notch trainers for him to hone his skills in a country where the game barely exists.
But from what he says, they ended up regretting it when it turned out hockey was a love instead of a phase, and he chose to pursue that instead of the family business.
He went to college in the US, played for their hockey team, and ended up making it into the pros.
Hayden makes a thoughtful clicking sound with his tongue. “Must suck to get divorced, though.”
“Dude!” Noah exclaims. “Don’t talk about the D-word in front of a newly married man. That’s, like, gotta be bad luck.”
Little do they know, Piper and I will be signing divorce papers in just a couple of months. A bad feeling weighs down my stomach.
“Just saying,” Hayden continues to muse. “Break-ups are bad enough, but a divorce? Sheesh. That’s gotta be rough.”
I fight back the frown tugging at the ends of my mouth.
“You’re still saying it,” Noah cringes. Every hockey player is at least a little superstitious, but Noah is more than most.
“Two years ago, Cole Fisher was in the running for MVP,” Vaughn says, joining the conversation in a rare display of sociability.
“Then he got a divorce over the off-season. Played like shit all last year. Hope he’s got his head back on straight this season, but the first couple games haven’t looked so good. ”
Hayden bounces his eyebrows. “That’s true.”
The battle against the frown gets a little tougher.
“I remember how shitty I played in sophomore year of college when I broke up with my first long-term girlfriend,” Adriano says. “Made me swear off real relationships for good, at least until I hang up my skates.”
Worry knots through me. Just thinking about ending this fake marriage with Piper and watching her leave our house for good is already making me feel like shit.
I mean, I just called it our house, for fuck’s sake. How much worse will it be after I’ve grown more used to living with her, months from now? After succumbing to the temptation to share my bed with her a couple more times?
This is by far the most important season of my career. Everything’s coming together on the ice, we’re off to an incredible start, and lifting the Stanley Cup feels so tantalizingly possible.
I can’t let the end of my fake marriage derail that.
I can’t let myself get more attached than I’ve already become.
I need to get serious about setting guardrails for myself with Piper. And holding myself accountable to them.
Which means locking the bathroom door every time I take a shower, and damn sure not making suggestive comments if my wife walks in on me fisting my cock to the thought of how she felt in my bed.
“Maybe you guys are starting to see why I always say this relationship stuff isn’t worth it,” Cooper adds.
Noah sighs in disappointment. “Nash has been playing like crazy since he got married. He’s living proof of the power of love, and you’re still a cynic?”
I tune out the rest of the conversation. My fake marriage isn’t proof of anything about love.
But now I’m worried that if I’m not careful, I could damn sure become living proof of the power of a breakup.