Chapter 9
Reid
“You’re doing great work.” Barron Frink, team owner, reached out and shook my hand.
I returned the gesture. As far as team owners went, Barron was of the better variety.
He let the experts make the team decisions and mostly kept out of our way.
He trusted that we had the program’s best interest in mind.
“Thank you. It’s been fantastic. I couldn’t have asked for a better team or a better start to the season. There’s some growing happening within the team. The younger players are really starting to shine. There are some shifts we need to make, but all is going well.”
“That’s great to hear.”
Mario and I were sitting in the team owner’s office. It wasn’t a regular occurrence, so I knew that he had something he wanted to discuss with us. Perhaps he simply wanted to check in since I was new to the program.
Barron leaned back in his chair and folded his hands over his round stomach. “I’ll be retiring in a few years. My son, Shaw, plans on taking over. So let’s hope that can be a smooth transition as well.”
“That sounds great. You’ve earned it.” The man had bought the team after running several other successful businesses. Retirement would be well-earned. Barron had been an owner for nearly twenty years now.
“I’m not sure how I feel about retirement. I’ve never been good at staying idle, but Shaw’s been training for years. He’ll do a great job.”
“Good to hear it.” Technically, it didn’t really matter to me.
It wasn’t as if the team owner made much difference to me.
As long as we won games and did well, they wouldn’t bother us, and quite frankly, they didn’t have the hockey expertise to interfere with my job.
Though I knew some owners in the league tried to be more hands-on with the teams. Those were the organizations to avoid.
I gave him one last nod and stood up from my chair and exited his office after exchanging pleasantries.
We made casual plans to get a round of golf in sometime in the off season.
I had enough time to get down to the gym and go for a quick run before the team would arrive for the game.
I wasn’t the type that had a definite routine for game days.
I just did whatever felt right for the day.
My footsteps slowed when I heard Rowan’s voice coming from one of the conference rooms. I didn’t make the conscious effort to stop and listen, but here I was, standing at the door like a creeper.
“I’m just asking for a little time off. Two, maybe three days.” There was desperation in Rowan’s voice. The panic had me stopping in my tracks. Thankfully Mario had taken a different route. I didn’t need the inquisition.
“Absolutely not. You’re the only mascot we have. You know, I’d love to have a team of five of you, but it’s just not in the budget. I can’t help it,” the marketing manager, Harold, said.
“My heat—”
“Josh has a whole campaign planned, and he wants these videos shot in the next week. He’s been going on about it for weeks. Take more suppressants. Double up your dose.”
I bit back a snort. That most certainly wasn’t how it worked. The organization should know that they had to make accommodations for omegas within their organization when their heat struck. Suppressants only went so far. Sometimes those failed.
“I can’t. I can feel it coming on. There’s nothing I can do. This happens sometimes—”
“You’re going to get your goddamn costume on and you’re going to go out on that ice tonight and live it up. This is a home game. Everybody expects you there. The crowd comes to see you.”
“The crowd comes to see the game! Just do the show without me. I talked to Josh, we can use other footage. Please, I can’t—”
“No,” Harold said. “Now, go get dressed. We have people arriving to their suits and they expect you to be there for photos. Get into costume.”
They really weren’t going to allow Rowan to go on that ice if he truly was coming into his heat?
Exertion on the ice would bring it on faster.
I didn’t know a ton about omegas being in heat, my past relationships had kept that to themselves, and I’d never shared a heat with an omega before, but I knew that they were asking for trouble by allowing Rowan to work while his heat was this close.
I hadn’t realized the conversation was over until Rowan was walking out of the office and nearly ran into me. I steadied him with a hand on his shoulder. His eyes went wide.
Suppressants kept his scent from affecting me, but it didn’t stop me from leaning in and taking a deep breath.
All I found was the unique honey-and-jasmine scent that followed him around, but it was muted.
I forced myself back. What was the matter with me?
He didn’t need me or any other alpha sniffing around him during this time.
Not unless he had an alpha who could help him through it.
“Reid, I mean, Coach Garrison. I—” His eyes darted toward the office and then back to me, silently asking how much I had overheard. I grimaced.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
He nodded, rolling his shoulders back. “Of course. Yes, I’ll be just fine. Everything’s going to be fine.”
“If you need—”
He held up a hand. “There’s nothing I need.
I guess I’ll just get through tonight and figure out what my next steps are.
” We only had a game tonight, and then we had a few days off and then traveling.
What sort of events did they have him doing outside of the games?
I knew he was booked with promos and charity events throughout the season.
Surely those could be postponed. Or they could put someone else in the costume for a little bit.
Maybe I could talk with the manager or go back and speak with Barron. “I—”
“Good luck tonight, Coach,” Rowan said. He ducked his head and walked as fast as he could away from me, and though I had a suspicion we were going the same way, I stood where I was, letting Rowan take the space he needed.
I had been at organizations before that ran on a skeleton crew of mascots, but they usually had at least two people who could wear the costume and a handful of handlers to work with them. Was it truly just Rowan and the two handlers he had that I’d seen with him in the crowd? That was unacceptable.
Though, as a coach, I didn’t have any say into the marketing side of things.
Surely they could see that only one person in the mascot costume was inadequate.
I knew for a fact that the mascots did many different events on and off the ice.
Since coming to the Badgers and realizing that Rowan was the mascot, I may have spent extra time paying attention to the social media of the organization.
Benny the Badger was always somewhere promoting the team.
He had more of a packed schedule than the players.
Finally, my feet got moving again.
By the time I got to the gym and the locker room, Rowan was nowhere to be found. I could only hope that he was able to get through the night and he could take the time off he needed for the next couple of days.
I couldn’t get the thought of him in heat out of my mind. For the first time in my life, I truly wondered what it would be like to share a heat with an omega. But only if that omega was Rowan.