Chapter 13
Dylan
Coach didn’t letup on practice today. Sweat poured from my head as I stepped off the ice. My legs were killing me, and I couldn’t wait to get into the hot tub.
“Fuck, that was killer,” Knox said, sitting down on the bench beside me breathing hard.
“Three more games, boys, three more…determines if we make the playoffs or not,” Coach said as he stepped off the ice. “Don’t fuck this up,” he muttered, walking past us.
“What’s gotten into him today?” Clay asked, sitting down and squirting water into his mouth. “We haven’t had a practice like that in ages.”
“No idea,” I muttered, squirting Gatorade into my mouth.
Coach returned and looked at us. “Oh, and when you guys are finished in the showers, meet me in the boardroom.”
He looked directly at me as he told us to meet him. I swallowed hard. I’d had several meetings already this morning about what had happened Friday night at the club. I was in the clear, I already knew that, but the look on the coach’s face made me worry another hammer was about to drop.
“Let’s go, boys,” I said, standing up.
The hot tub had never felt so good. I closed my eyes and sank into the water, listening to the guys banter back and forth. We didn’t play tonight. Instead, we were heading off to our next away game in only a few hours.
“I’m going to see Stacy for a massage and some stretching,” Knox said, climbing out of the hot tub.
“Don’t forget coach wants to see us.”
“He said to meet him after we’re finished here. Besides, if I don’t get this hamstring loosened, I’ll be useless on the ice tomorrow night.”
Knox had aggravated an old hamstring and hip injury three weeks ago and had been heading for treatment since. We couldn’t afford to lose him now. “Alright, we’ll meet you there,” I said, climbing out of the hot tub and heading to the showers.
Forty-five minutes later, we all sat in the boardroom waiting for the coach to begin. I laughed at something Clay said when I caught sight of Pamela, one of our PR reps. She walked in and handed something to the coach, and then whispered something in his ear. He nodded, made a note, and then looked over at me. I swallowed hard. Something was going on.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I was about to reach for it when he stood up, making his way over to the door, which he closed. All the signs were there. Someone was in shit, and I knew damn well it was me.
“Alright, guys, listen, seems we have a minor problem on our hands, which has brought some bad press to the team.”
Each of us looked at one another, wondering what could have caused that. Certainly, it couldn’t have been the brief outbreak that had happened at the bar. No one had seen anything. At least I didn’t think they had. My phone vibrated again in my pocket, so this time I pulled it out and looked at it.
There on my phone was the headline from Cam’s Sports Desk. It said it all. As I read the words, I felt sick and lightheaded.
“So you’ve seen it,” Coach said, looking directly at me.
The room was quiet as our eyes met.
“What is it?” Lucas questioned.
“Yeah, what is it?” Clay asked.
I swallowed hard and shoved my phone over toward them so they could see for themselves. The blood rushed from their faces, just like I’m sure it had done from mine.
“Pamela,” the coach said, stepping to the side while she came to the front of the table.
“Hey, guys. I want to discuss what happened Friday night. It seems Dylan had a run-in with his ex-girlfriend Carlie at a local club on Friday. The same ex that caused all the trouble last year. The situation was taken care of immediately. However, she has now gone to the press.”
The entire team turned and looked my way. I’d done everything I could for the better part of the year to keep myself out of the spotlight. I could only imagine what this news might do now. Hell, if she was malicious enough, it could end my contract with this team.
“Carlie is pregnant, and Dylan is about to be a happy father,” Pamela announced as she read the beginning part of the article.
I shook my head as each one of the team turned and looked my way. “Look, she is lying. You all know that. If she is pregnant, it’s not mine. You all know I’ve been single for months, until just recently. If it’s anyone’s, it’s Novak’s.”
Knox reached over and grabbed my phone from Clay’s hand and opened the article, reading silently.
“Nope, not what it says here.”
I glared at him, adrenaline coursing through my veins. I knew he was only doing it to get at me, maybe to break the tension, but I wasn’t in the mood for his shit.
“It says here that it is yours,” he said, tapping the screen on my phone.
“For fuck’s sakes, man, you are with me everywhere I fucking go. When was the last time I was with her?”
“Knock it off, man,” Clay growled at Knox. “Don’t get him going.”
Two guys on the team chuckled while a bunch of them started murmuring amongst themselves.
“Alright, that’s enough!” Coach yelled, regaining control of the room again.
“I’ll call my attorney and demand she provide a DNA test.” I raised my voice loud enough that everyone could hear me over their murmurs.
“We are already on it,” Pamela said, taking a moment to think. “Look, for the time being, no interviews—again. No one in this room is to say anything to anyone about this, anyone who’s asked is to comment with no comment. The team’s lawyers have already been contacted. They will make sure any videos that surface from Friday night are removed off social platforms, and they are working on a press release.”
I felt sick.
* * *
Clay,Lucas, Knox and I sat at a private table in the back of The Sushi Garden.
“There is also another problem at hand here, guys,” Knox said, shoving a soft-shell crab roll into his mouth.
“What’s that?” Clay asked.
I wanted this conversation to be over. Hell, I wanted this entire situation to be over. The worst thing I think I’d ever done was get involved with Carlie. She’d cost me enough over the last year, but it appeared she was back for more. She probably wouldn’t be content until I’d lost everything.
“We’re playing Novak’s team tomorrow night.”
That was all I needed to hear. I gripped my chopsticks hard enough that they should have broken.
“Whatever we do, we can’t let our boy near him.”
“Sort of impossible, don’t you think?” Knox said, looking over at Clay. “They’re both centers.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. If I made it through tomorrow night’s game without a fight, it would be a miracle, I thought to myself. If I knew Novak, he probably put Carlie up to this little stunt just to get under my skin. We’d always hated one another, and it wasn’t getting any better.
“It’s fine. I’ll be fine, guys.”
“Isn’t that what you said last time?” Knox asked.
“Yep, that was what he said,” Clay added.
“Last time was different. The wound was raw, and besides, he asked for it,” I said, getting my back up at the memory.
It happened right after I’d caught her with him. They were the second team we played that season. The wound was open and raw, and when we came face-to-face and he slurred those words at me, I saw nothing but red for the entire night.
“He may have, but that brief fight landed you in the sin bin for five minutes.”
“It landed him in it for seventeen,” I bit back.
“Look, why are we even rehashing this?” Clay asked, looking over at Knox and me.
“He’s right, guys. This isn’t the time,” Lucas agreed. “We need to make sure that doesn’t happen again. The playoffs are so close I can taste it. We can’t lose that. We have a good chance of winning this year.”
The way I was feeling, anything was possible at this point. I let out the breath I was holding and signalled for the bill.
* * *
I glanceddown at my phone just as the limo pulled into the arena. I’d left a message for Aurora before leaving my apartment, and she was just now getting back to me.
Aurora: Hey sorry. Just got back from school, not sure I’ve caught you in time or not.
I smiledas I read her message. After the shitty day I’d had, I’d never been so happy to hear from her.
Dylan: Still here. Just getting to the arena, heading out in about thirty.
Aurora: How long are you gone this time?
Dylan: Just two games, tomorrow and the next night. We’ll be flying in after the game that evening.
Aurora: Good, can’t wait to see you.
That message could only have meantthat she hadn’t seen the news. At least I’d hoped she hadn’t. I’m sure if she had, she’d have been inundating me with questions. This would give me the time I needed to tell her in my time without her jumping to conclusions. I planned to sit down with her the day I returned to let her know what was going on.
Dylan: See you then. I’ll message you after the game tomorrow.
Aurora: Why not tonight?
Dylan: We’ll be getting in late. I know you have to study.
Aurora: Yeah, but I can take a break.
Dylan: Okay, I’ll message you once we land.
Aurora: I’ll be looking forward to it.
I pocketedmy phone and climbed out of the limo and made my way to the changing room to grab my stuff.
* * *
“Sorry,school ran late today. I wanted to get back over to Vancouver to say good-bye before you left.”
I closed my eyes. I’d wished we could see one another before we left as well, but because things had gone crazy at the arena after practice, it was probably better this way.
“Is everything okay?” she questioned. “You don’t sound like yourself.”
“Yeah, I guess I’m just tired. Practice was brutal,” I lied.
I was worried about how Aurora may react when and if she saw the news. Things had just seemed to sort themselves out after the night at the club. I didn’t want this rumour to cause things to go sideways again.
“Maybe I should let you get some rest.”
“No, I’m good.”
“Can you hang on one minute. I have another call coming in. It could be Lorelai she’s out with some girls.”
“Sure thing.”
I lay there as the phone went silent, waiting for her to come back. I placed my free hand behind my head and turned the TV on. I was about twenty minutes into a movie when Aurora finally returned.
“Sorry about that.” She sniffled.
“What’s wrong?” I asked immediately. I could hear she was upset.
“It’s nothing…really.”
“Aurora, come on, talk to me.”
She went quiet, and then I heard her blow her nose. “Sorry, that was Greg.”
Who the hell was Greg and why was he calling my girl. “Sorry?”
“Greg, my ex.” She sniffled again.
Was she crying? I rolled over, giving her my undivided attention. “Aurora, what happened?”
“Nothing. It’s stupid. Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.”
“No way. You’re upset. What happened?”
“He’s just an asshole. When he broke things off with me, he gave me zero reason. He apparently heard from Lorelai’s ex, Hugo, that I’m dating again.”
“So, what did he want?” I questioned.
Aurora was quiet for a few minutes.
“I’m afraid to tell you because I don’t want you to think I’d ever—”
“Aurora, just tell me.”
“He called me up to see if we’d be able to work things out and get back together.”
“What was your answer?”
“No, of course.”
“Okay, so if you said no, then why are you crying? You’re obviously not going to tell me you’re leaving me for him, so there should be no need to shed tears.”
The line went quiet for a moment. Then she cleared her throat. “I don’t think I could ever leave you.”
I closed my eyes at her admission, wishing that I was with her at this moment. I wanted to see her face, to hold her close to me. This was the first time she’d really sort of told me how she was truly feeling about us, and I was miles and miles away from her.
“I wish I was with you right now.”
“Same here.” She sniffled.