Chapter 22 The Family Room
Of course the first time Ali came to watch me skate in over a decade we were having a terrible game. It’s not like it would go unnoticed either—her dad was a fucking coach for years and Ali could probably be a scout with the amount of games she watched growing up.
After taking a beating into the boards, which did not help my sore shoulder, I finally got the puck out of the zone and shot it up to one of our new hotshot rookies on offense—Niko Belltani.
Only problem, the little shit tried to toe-drag the puck at the blue line and got hit with a dirty check by an Ontario defenseman.
Niko’s whole body did a somersault in the air before he came crashing down. I groaned because now I had a new job.
Without a second thought, I barreled into their defenseman, completely laying him out on the ice.
A second later, another Ontario player slammed into me with a punch to the face, which just doubled my anger. I swung wildly, until his knees hit the ice and the refs swarmed in to stop us. I was dragged off to the penalty box to the sound of the home crowd going crazy cheering.
I smirked as I sat on the small bench. My job was done. I won the fight and hopefully changed the momentum of the game back to us.
But it only took about thirty seconds for Ontario to score again.
Cursing under my breath, I threw my water bottle at the glass in front of me. What the fuck did I fight for if my team couldn’t even keep it together for thirty seconds?
Feeling my frustration mounting, my eyes went directly to her section of the stands.
Ali was sitting between Mer and Piper. Her hair was twisted into a braid that ended in a short ponytail, probably done by Mer, who always had her hair in french braids.
While Mer and Lucy wore Colt’s jersey, and Piper had on an old Kappers jersey, Ali was just in an oversized jean jacket and leggings.
Leaning forward, I dropped my head. I knew it was my fault. I mean, really, what did I expect? She told me we were just friends and that I shouldn’t expect anything more, but that never stopped her from wearing my jersey when we were young.
My next shift out, sweat poured down my face as I fought for the puck again. When I finally gained control and passed to my Ziggs, my D-partner, I high-tailed it off the ice, waving to the bench for someone to replace me because I was completely gassed.
After plopping on the bench, I heard a small, “Thanks, McQuaid.”
Turning, I spotted Niko a couple guys down from me.
“Toe-drag? Really?” I barked at him. If any of us would’ve pulled that move when we were younger, we would’ve had a first-class ticket back to our affiliate team. “Stop with the fancy shit and get to the net.”
Behind me, Coach gave a stern nod. “Well said, McQuaid.” He snapped his gum while walking to the other side of the bench.
Niko gave me a dark glance before hanging his head. “Dick,” he muttered.
“Wanna say that again?” I roared at him right as the buzzer went off to end the second period.
Zukes, another rookie, shoved Niko forward to stop him from saying anything back to me.
Pissed as all hell while walking back to our locker room, I snapped my stick over my knee.
Colt, who was giving knuckle punches to the guys before they entered the room, stopped me before I could enter. “You good?” he asked.
“No, I’m pissed,” I fumed, my chest heaving with anger.
Colt shrugged. “We’ve had worse starts. We’ll hit our stride.”
“We’re losing to Ontario,” I bit out dryly.
Colt laughed. “I don’t think it’s the game that’s got you rattled, is it?”
I opened my mouth to argue, but Coach cut me off.
“McQuaid!” he bellowed from inside the room. “How ‘bout you get your ass in here and say some words to the group.”
Fuck.
Colt smirked. “Yeah, let’s hear it, bud,” he said, while practically shoving me forward. “Channel all that frustration about Lil Al Pal not wearing your jersey.” He winked at me.
My jaw clamped shut. Mer must’ve told him. The girls all went to Mer’s house to get ready for the game today, so I sent my jersey to his house. She probably left the evidence right there on his dining room table.
Standing at the front of the room, I turned to take in my teammates.
“Get your shit together. We’re not focused at all.
And we need to stop pulling dumbass rookie moves.
” I glared at the new guys—Niko, Nilsson, and Zukes.
“Ontario? Really? We’re gonna lose to them?
I don’t think you guys are scared enough to get sent back down to—”
“Oookay.” Colt jumped to his skates and practically shoved me back toward my locker stall.
“Thanks for that, JP.” My teammates gave me uneasy looks before focusing their attention back on Colt.
“Now, we’re down, but we’re not out. We still have a period to turn this around.
Let’s give them a game to write about, eh? ”
While Coach and Colt detailed plays for the next period, I could barely focus. My mind wasn't on the game, it was on the blonde sitting in section 2A.
___________
Whatever Colt said to the group really rallied them up, because within the next period, we tied the game up 3-3. With five minutes left in the period, Zukes scored one to put us ahead, and then Niko scored to seal our win with only a minute left in the game.
As soon as Niko scored, he went down on one knee and showboated around the boards, making our home crowd go wild.
After the final buzzer, Colt and I hung back while the rest of the team filed off the ice. Kappy always had a superstition about being the last one to touch the ice, and even though he wasn’t on the team anymore, it was still a habit for Colt and I to wait around.
“That Niko kid remind you of someone?” Colt asked as we made our way through the tunnel.
“Yupp.” I squirted water in my mouth. “Gotta Kappy 2.0 on our hands, complete with the pretty boy hair and smartass mouth.” I sighed.
“And same missing tooth.” Colt laughed.
“Ha, yeah.” I always forgot Kappy got his front right tooth knocked out a few years ago.
Colt stopped suddenly in the hallway, making me turn back to him. “You were a little harsh on the rookies. Might wanna ease that over, eh?”
I shifted my weight. “You think I have to?”
“As your friend, no. You had a right to be annoyed with their mistakes.”
“Thank you,” I breathed out.
“But—”
“Fuck.” I dropped my head.
“As your captain, I think you went a little overboard. The only other time—” he cut himself off with a shake of his head. “Ah, never mind.” He adjusted his visor. “You just went overboard.”
“No, what were you going to say?” I pushed
He sighed and shifted his weight. “Look, you’re the calm one.
You’ve always been able to keep a lid on your emotions, I’d say a little too well sometimes.
” He gave me a knowing look. “But tonight, you let your emotions bleed out all over the place. I mean,” he shrugged, “I thought it was kind of funny until I was reminded of the last time you were like this…”
“The last time?”
“Hamilton.”
I reared back.
“Yupp, when you ended up with your jaw wired shut for six weeks, bud.” He immediately put his hands up in innocence. “Don’t shoot the messenger, Kappy’s the one who said it first.”
My eyebrows slammed down. “You guys were talking about me?”
“He texted between the second and third. Saw you snap your stick. He was just worried about you, that’s all.”
Great. If Kappy was worried then I really was fucked.
“Just get your head right,” Colt said, like it was so easy. His gloved hand landed on my shoulder. “I like seeing this fire in you. I love that Ali’s home, and I know you two have some things to work through, but you need to make sure you box that shit up before you suit up. Got it?”
“Yeah, I guess,” I muttered. I just wish I knew how to do that.
After showering and changing, I started for the family room, but Colt blocked the exit and gave me a firm nod toward the rookies.
Blowing out an annoyed breath, I turned on my heel.
Niko, Nilsson, and Zukes were joking around together in their corner, but as soon as I walked up, they all went silent.
I immediately felt like a dick—actually, worse: I felt like a bad dad.
The kind that enters the room and all the kids button up and scatter.
“Hey guys.” I nervously raked a hand over my hair. “I'm sorry I was so rough on you, I just wanted the win. Good work pulling up.”
They all blinked at me in silence for a minute, which rattled my nerves.
“That was hard for you, eh bud?” Zukes said, flattening his lips into a straight line as he assessed me.
Feeling taken aback, I shook my head. “What?”
Zukes’ face cracked into a bright grin. “Just kidding. See”—he looked at his buddies—“I told you he was a nice guy.”
“We got win, all good,” Nilsson said in his thick Swedish accent. He stood and gave me a handshake.
My eyes drifted to Niko. He took his time standing. He rolled his shoulders back as he sized me up. At 5’10, he was a few inches shorter than me. His eyes flashed with a mischievous glint. “Yeah, that’s all right, bud. I’m sure we’ll getcha back.” He gave me a wink while closing his locker.
I had no clue what that meant, but I didn’t care. My mind was consumed with the fact that Ali was waiting for me in the family room. “Yeah, okay, good. I’ll see ya,” I said before heading out.
________
In the family room, Kappy was already on the ground playing mini-sticks with Lucy and a couple other tiny tykes.
Lucy ran up to Colt and practically jumped into his arms. “Good goal, Dad. And you smashed that guy in the corner.”
He chuckled. “Glad you liked it, how’d Mom take it?”
Lucy winced. “You made her nervous. She was scratching her neck and stuff.”
“Oh boy,” Colt said, plopping her down on her feet. His eyes went directly to Mer, who was talking to Piper and Ali in the corner.
“Play with us!” Lucy said, tugging on my hand.
“Yeah! Play with us,” other little kids called out.