Chapter 4
Evan
Fire ripped through my shoulder as I stepped off the ice.
It wasn’t the same sharp pain that had been present at the end of last season after I’d been body-checked by Knox Evans during our last game against the Vancouver Dominators.
The only thing between my face and the boards was my shoulder.
I’d shaken the hit off, played out the last of the season, and mentioned nothing about the pain, figuring the summer off would have healed it.
“How’s the shoulder?” Alec asked.
I knew the guys had seen what happened, each one of them concerned, but I assured them I had been fine.
“Yeah, looks like you still have a little pain,” Carter McKnight, our captain, said coming up beside me.
“Nah, I’m good.”
“You could always see Bianca.” Logan Keller, our left wing, winked. “Give the coach something else to be pissed at you about.”
Bianca had just started with the team as our head athletic coach.
While beautiful, she was also Alan’s daughter, and he had drilled each one of us, stating that any player who placed a hand on her would have to answer for his actions.
While I might like to piss off the coach every single day, I also valued my life.
With sweat dripping from my head, I grabbed the towel that was passed to me, quickly wiping my face and the back of my neck, ignoring the constant ache that was starting.
“Nope, unnecessary. Probably just a little stiff from not using it that much this summer. I took a lot of downtime. I’m sure it will loosen up after a couple of massage treatments.”
I grabbed my water bottle, squirting a couple of mouthfuls into my mouth, and made my way down the tunnel to the dressing room, followed by the rest of the guys.
The pain had seemed to get worse as I pulled my gear off.
I definitely needed heat or ice or some combination of both, and the sooner I could get that on, the better I’d be.
I shoved the door to the locker room open and was just about to enter when I heard Coach Alan yell my name.
“Callahan, my office, now!”
“What’s that about?” Carter questioned, looking over at me.
I shrugged. “Damned if I know. He probably wants to give me another lecture about my temper”
“Would serve you right after the meeting the other night.” Cromwell chuckled.
I sighed, dropping my helmet in my cubby and removing my skates.
“Ah, in the doghouse again? I don’t know if we’d recognize a season if you weren’t in trouble for something.” Logan, also known as Kells, chuckled as he too sat down.
“What the hell else is new? If I’m not fucking up out there, I’m fucking up somewhere else. Can’t seem to break that cycle. Regardless, he can wait to yell at me until I shower.” I chuckled.
I’d stripped out of my gear and grabbed my towel, wrapping it around my waist, about to head to the shower when the door to the dressing room opened and Cooper, our assistant, walked in.
“Callahan, you were told to—”
“Yeah, go immediately,” I muttered. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to shower first.”
“I don’t mind, I’d prefer it actually, but Alan does, so get going,” he barked, leaving the dressing room without another word.
“Guess it’s important.” I chuckled as I threw a T-shirt over my head, careful of my shoulder. I slipped on my gray sweats, dropping the towel to the ground, and walked out the door, making my way down the hall to Alan’s office as I listened to the guys holler behind me in the locker room.
I hadn’t even knocked on the door and he was ushering me inside, closing the door behind me. Out of all the times I’d been called into his office, I couldn’t remember one where he’d closed the door before I’d even sat down.
“Sir?” I said, waiting for him to yell at me.
“Sit down, Evan. This won’t take long.”
I lowered myself into the chair, my mind racing through the possibilities of why I was here.
Pre-season had just started. There had been no controversies, unless someone had complained about something.
It was possible that someone had mentioned the stiffness in my shoulder, but I highly doubted that.
The only other reason I could think of was that there was a trade rumor I hadn’t heard of and he wanted to clear the air.
“Evan, I need a favor.”
I lifted my head and looked at Coach Alan as he took a seat behind his desk. He didn’t ask for favors. He gave orders, set expectations, and demanded excellence. A favor implied negotiation, and Coach, well, he didn’t negotiate.
“What do you need?” I asked.
Coach cleared his throat.
“As you know, Bianca is working with the team, and she has been staying with me until her condo is ready. This morning we got news that Bianca’s condo flooded.
She needs temporary housing for a bit,” Coach said, leaning back in his chair, not taking his eyes from mine.
“You have a spare room. She will stay with you.”
It took a minute for my brain to process what he’d just said.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Bianca Alan, the team’s head athletic trainer. She needs—”
“I heard what you said. I’m just trying to understand where or how this has become my responsibility.”
The coach didn’t move; his expression didn’t change. He sat there unwavering. “You have a two-bedroom condo and you live alone. The solution is obvious.”
“The solution is a hotel,” I said, getting up from the chair I was sitting in.
“There are many conferences in the city for the foreseeable future. Everything’s booked.”
“Extended stay then…”
“Not on her salary, and not for nine months.”
“Nine months?” I yelled, surprised at my outburst.
Coach sat there, his hands folded, resting on his desk, a small smile on his lips. “Callahan, I’m not asking for charity. This is a temporary housing arrangement for a staff member during an emergency. You have the space.”
My mind spun out of control at the entire thought of having someone in my space.
My condo was my sanctuary. The one place in my life that belonged to me entirely.
The only other people allowed were my teammates and only by invite.
There was no media access, no fans, no expectations, and no one watching my every move.
Just a controlled space where I could breathe.
Until now.
Coach wanted to put someone in it, and not just anyone. His daughter, the new trainer, someone who would watch my every move. She was also someone I had deliberately decided to keep a strictly professional relationship with because mixing personal and professional was a recipe for disaster.
“With respect, Coach, this seems like a bad idea.”
“Why is that?”
I thought for a moment without speaking. I had structured my entire life around maintaining control. I didn’t want someone else in my space.
“What do you think it will look like having your daughter move in with one of the star players? People will talk.”
“Let them. As I told her, you are both professional. You will keep to your space, and she will keep to hers. It will just be two adults sharing a space. It happens all the time.”
“It may, but not with the coach’s daughter and his star defenseman.”
Coach leaned forward. “Evan, I need to know my daughter has safe, appropriate housing. I need to know she isn’t commuting for ninety minutes each day, or burning through her savings in some overpriced extended-stay hotel.
I also need someone I can trust to provide that housing without making it complicated. ”
While his words should have felt like a compliment, they felt more like a trap.
“I, uh, value my privacy,” I said.
“As does Bianca, which is why this arrangement works.”
I could tell there wasn’t any room for argument as he reached for his tablet, turning the screen on, pulling up a document before looking at me.
“Ground rules. Separate bedrooms always, and I stress, always. I’d do my best to have you on separate schedules, but we both know that probably won’t work.
She will use the main bath, and you will maintain your space and bathroom off your bedroom.
As adults, you can accommodate the shared use of the condo’s common areas as needed.
She will hardly ever be home anyway. Training room hours are long, and not only is she committed to daily player care, she is also committed to off-ice player care programs. She will probably spend more time at the Lair than at your place.
Then, of course, there are the games that you’ll be away, on the road. ”
“When will she move in?” I asked.
“This weekend. Friday, she will bring her bags with her, and you will have to drive her to your place, of course. She picks up her car this weekend.”
I swallowed hard. I had three days. Three days to prepare myself.
“Fine,” I muttered, getting up.
“Callahan, I wouldn’t ask if there were another option. I also wouldn’t ask if I didn’t trust you could handle this.”
There was that word again. If there was one thing I knew about Coach Alan, it was that he didn’t give trust lightly, and when he did, it always came with expectations.
“Understood,” I said, nodding.
“Nine months. That’s all. Her new place will be ready by May, and then you will have your space back. Oh, and Callahan, I appreciate this.”
Every muscle in my body felt tight as I stood.
“Of course, Coach.”
I made my way to the door, my mind still racing. I’d just gone to open it when I heard my name, and I turned to look back at coach.
“Just so you know, she isn’t comfortable with this situation either. Make it easy on her, where you can.”
This wasn’t going to be awkward at all, I thought to myself. I left his office, walking through the facility back to the locker room on autopilot. The guys greeted me as I walked in, but I ignored them all, grabbing my towel and heading straight for the shower.
As I stood under the hot water, I remembered that the guest room would need fresh linens and new bedding, and I’d have to make space in the fridge and freezer for her to put her food.
Nine months of her living in my space. Nine months of awareness, nine months of pretending this didn’t bother me, and that having Bianca Alan in my house wouldn’t disrupt anything.
I walked into my apartment that evening after dinner with the boys, reaching for the bottle of anti-inflammatories, popping three as I made my way to the freezer where I pulled out my ice pack, shoving it onto my shoulder.
I could already feel the tension building in the center of my chest. This was going to be a disaster, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it.
Friday
I slid the key into the lock and opened the door, allowing Bianca to step inside first. My condo was on the twenty-fifth floor, and I’d spent thousands on having it professionally decorated before I’d moved in.
I flipped the light on before turning to grab her bags when I heard her gasp.
“What is it?” I questioned, dropping her bags just inside the door before shutting it and turning the lock.
“It’s dark in here.”
“Uh, it’s nighttime,” I said, mimicking her voice.
“I know that. I mean, it’s just…it’s like living in a cave,” she muttered, looking around with a look of disgust on her face. “Don’t you have windows?”
Of course, it was like a cave at night, which was how I liked it.
The blackout curtains that covered the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room had been the perfect addition for watching movies on the large-screen TV.
They also blocked out all the lights from the city for the nights I got home late or couldn’t sleep.
If I wanted them open to look out over the city, it was at the push of a button; otherwise; I had programmed them to close right at five.
I hung my keys up as she looked around, remembering what the coach had said about making it easy for her.
“It’s like no one lives here. There aren’t any photos, no art, nothing that gives this place any personal style. It looks more like someone is hiding here instead of living here. What was my father thinking?”
“Look, if this place isn’t to your liking, the door is right here,” I said, pounding my fist on the door we’d just come through. “You can leave whenever you’d like, and you can explain to your father why you left. Not going to bother me either way.”
Bianca turned around and glared at me.
“Trust me, this situation isn’t ideal for me either. If I had anywhere else to go, I’d go. But I don’t, so let’s establish some ground rules. I am not here as the coach’s daughter, and I’m not here as your roommate. I am here because I have nowhere else, and the second my condo is ready—”
“You’ll leave. Great. We finally agree on something, although from the sounds of things, your unit will not be ready for a while, so you best get comfortable and make the best of it.”
The fire, the heat behind her eyes as she stared at me, made the room feel like an inferno. Her eyes were intoxicating as hell, and it stirred something in me I wasn’t sure I wanted to feel.
“I’ll try,” she said, glancing around the dimly lit kitchen.
“The spare room is there, the first door on the right. You can have the main bathroom right across the hall. I’ll use the one off my bedroom.
Now, do your best to stay out of my space and I will stay out of yours.
We will share the common areas, obviously,” I said, realizing the roughness of my tone as I repeated her father’s rules.
The apartment felt small, the air thicker as we stood there looking at one another.
“Look, I’m exhausted. These first practices do that to me.
So, I’m going to bed. The bedding in your room is new and clean.
Make yourself at home and keep quiet. We will go over some house rules in the morning, and I will give you directions to the nearest grocery store so you can get your food.
In the meantime, if you are hungry, help yourself to something in the fridge, okay? Good night.”
It was the most I could offer right now. I didn’t wait for her to say anything. I left her standing in the kitchen, but I could feel her watching me as I made my way down to my room.