Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Elliot
“Great work, boys. Go hit the showers. Lunch will be ready for you in the lounge, then we’ll head to the airport,” Coach Harris tells us once we wrap up practice.
This morning’s skate and videotape session was optional, and it didn’t come as a surprise that not many of the guys showed up.
Blaine stayed at home. Most likely busy having all the sex with Alex before we leave on our seven-day roadie.
Jackson was missing, but he rarely attends these optional skates because he’s old and doesn’t need these light sessions, and Zach was also notably missing.
The only reason why I’m here is because Hunter’s on shift, and I didn’t want to sit at home alone, otherwise I’d be climbing all over him like a clingy sloth.
I’m not looking forward to leaving him for so long.
I know it’ll go by quickly because we’re only playing Vancouver, Seattle, Edmonton, then Calgary, but still.
It’s a long time to be away from someone when I want to spend every minute of every day with them.
Okay, that sounds a little obsessive. But I am kinda obsessed with Hunter.
Huh. Maybe I am more like Blaine than I thought, because it’s only been a week since we first kissed, and yet here I am, counting down the hours until I can see him again. And he’s exactly the same with Alex.
As I leave the ice, I get the urge to be mischievous. I skate up behind Peyton, and as he nears the door to the bench, I jab him between the legs with the toe of my stick. With a loud cry, he falls down onto the ice like a sack of potatoes, and I burst out laughing.
“Fuck,” he grunts, slowly pushing himself up and shoving a hand between his legs. I know he’s wearing a cup, so it’s not like I’ve caused him any damage. “Fuck’s sake, Olsen. What did I do to hurt you? Did I piss you off or something?”
“Nope.” I pop the P and grin. “It was funny, though.”
“No, it fucking wasn’t.” He grimaces, hobbling past the bench.
Snickering to myself, I follow him down the tunnel toward the locker room. “I’m sure your balls are fine.”
“They better be, or you’ll be paying for this.
” He throws a glare over his shoulder and I press my lips together, then let out another bark of laughter.
He’s trying to be menacing, but Peyton hasn’t got a mean bone in his body.
I give him a loving pat on the head with my blocker and disappear into the locker room.
I like pranking Peyton. It’s fun. I told him it’s all part of being captain until he pointed out that I didn’t pull these stunts on Ethan.
“Let’s be real. Ethan’s kinda like a grizzly bear. I wasn’t gonna risk it with him,” I’d told him. But Ethan was like my work dad. I wasn’t going to pull pranks on my work dad.
After I’m showered and dressed, I head down the corridor to the lounge. There are two long high-top tables, with four couches surrounding a large coffee table. Several TVs are located throughout the room, showing various sports news channels.
I fill my plate with a chicken breast, some kind of creamy pasta, and leafy salad, and drop down into one of the couches. Kicking my feet up onto the coffee table, I dig into my food and disassociate while staring at one of the walls with a TV.
“Someone’s here to wish you all good luck.”
I snap out of my mindless void stare-off and glance over my shoulder at the sound of Colleen’s voice.
The moment I spot our team dog, Boomer, I practically vault off the couch.
He’s a golden retriever, and we got him as a reward for winning the dreaded escape room challenge a few years ago.
He’s almost four now and has become like the team’s therapy dog over the years.
Seeing him is one of my favorite parts of the day because I get to have Boomer cuddles.
“My buddy!” I greet him in that voice people always use with dogs.
I drop to the floor, and he comes rushing over, his entire body wiggling in excitement.
He falls onto my lap, resting his body against my chest as he smothers me in kisses.
I wrap my arms around him and bury my face in his fluffy neck.
“You are the best dog,” I murmur. “And Ernie. You and Ernie are the best boys. I wish I could have you both together. We could go for walks in the park and make pupcakes and have the most epic snuggle sesh.”
Colleen snorts. “I can only imagine the chaos the three of you would cause.”
I raise my head to look up at her, tipping my chin triumphantly. “The best kind of chaos.”
She lifts her eyes skyward, a small smile playing on her red-painted lips. “Are you going to let the others see him?” She motions to Boomer. Some of the younger guys have been stroking him while he sits on my lap.
“Nope.” I dismiss her question with a shake of my head.
“He’s mine. I’m the favorite. If they want to see him, they’ll have to ask my permission.
” I take Boomer’s squishy face between my hands, and he looks at me with such a loving expression.
“Isn’t that right, buddy? I’m your bestie.
You don’t care about anyone else when I’m here. ”
He answers by licking my face, and I grin again. “See? I’m the only one that matters.”
I cuddle him closer to my chest. I’m telling him he’s the best boy and how much I’m going to miss him while I’m on the road when Colleen crouches down and quietly says, “How about I speak with Coach to see if you can take him home for longer than a day?”
My eyes widen. “Really? This better not be some kind of prank, Colleen. I am the pranker, not the prankee.”
“Not a prank,” she clarifies, stroking her palm over Boomer’s smooth head. “You two have a bond, that much is obvious. And I know it would mean a lot, so let me see what I can do.”
I give Colleen a wide grin before turning my attention back to Boomer.
“You hear that, buddy? You might be able to come home with me one day. Then you can meet my Hunter. He gives really good cuddles too. Oh my god! We could have the best cuddle puddle on the couch.” I smoosh his face again with my hands, and he lolls his tongue out happily. “It’ll be epic.”
The fans roar as the buzzer sounds in Edmonton a few days later, and I drop my head in defeat. No matter how far I stretched my arms or kicked out my legs, I couldn’t seem to stop the pucks from sailing past me into the net.
Tonight, there are no head taps for me, and the reality of that is like the weight of an elephant sitting on my chest. The team is disappointed in me. They probably blame me for our loss.
Blaine waits for me by the bench, looping his arm around my back as we make our way down the tunnel.
“Are you okay?” he asks quietly before we enter the locker room.
I’m not, but I’m not going to let anyone know that. So I give a shaky nod, grateful my mask is hiding most of my face.
Fuck. I want to cry. This is so dumb.
I hand my stick over to the equipment manager, Jordan, then head to my appointed cubby in the visitors’ locker room and start removing my pads in silence. The air is so thick in here it feels suffocating.
We were up 2-1 going into the third period, but then Edmonton came out flying. They had a strong comeback, and the final score was 2-6. I let in five goals in that period. Five. And one was an own goal after the puck bounced off Kendrick’s skate.
I’m going to be lucky if Coach Harris doesn’t trade me because I’ll bet he’s disappointed in me. But not as much as I’m disappointed in myself.
Fuck. I was terrible out there.
I’m unlacing my skates when Coach Harris walks in, his face hard and unamused.
“What the fuck happened tonight?” he says, tone dripping with frustration.
“Did you forget we’re the reigning Stanley Cup champions, or did you wake up and decide we’re back to day one of whatever mite league you played in?
” He paces the visitors’ locker room, jaw so tight I can see the muscle bunching in his cheek.
“The worst thing of all? You left your goalie out to dry. Yeah, he wasn’t perfect, but you fucking sucked, and that’s putting it nicely.
You missed every single rebound opportunity.
You didn’t listen to him. You didn’t listen to me when I said we need to play defensively.
A fucking wet sponge could’ve been more defensive than how you played tonight.
I was going to pull Olsen at one point. Teach you all a fucking lesson, but I thought, you know what?
He’s the only one out there who has any fucking drive tonight, and every.
Single. One of you let him down. You let yourselves down, and you let me down. ” He points to himself.
I stare at a spot on the floor, my eyes burning as Coach continues to address the room. The knot of shame in my throat thickens, threatening to choke me.
“You better think fast and buck your fucking ideas up against Calgary in forty-eight hours, or I swear to god, there’s going to be consequences. Tonight, you were not the team I know you are, and it was not good enough.”
He marches out of the room, and the room is so silent you could hear a pin drop. My heart is beating so wildly in my chest, my hands begin to tremble in my lap.
Blaine gives my knee a squeeze, but I can’t bear to look up.
I manage to head into the showers and get dressed without making eye contact with anyone.
Peyton disappears to do press, and then we all climb onto the bus and head back to the hotel for the night.
We fly to Calgary tomorrow morning, where we have a day off before our game.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up on the ice for a last-minute practice to address everything we—or should I say, I—did wrong.
It wasn’t just you, the logical part of my brain says. But I ignore it.