Chapter 4
FOUR
Ryan
“That was a hell of a first practice.” Danton claps the top of Brandon’s helmet with his fist as we step off the ice to head back to the locker room. We pass by Jules, who follows us to take pictures and video for the team’s social media.
I have to agree with him. Brandon has gotten good. He has a sniper’s wrist shot, and he pulls off his backhand effortlessly. It’s come a long way since I first showed it to him in his driveway. Which shouldn’t be surprising. He’s had a lot of time since then to perfect it.
All that said, he’s still going to have a tough transition into the league.
Sure, he’s fast and can whip from one end of the ice to the other, but he’s also small, standing at the most five nine.
I guess Ander took all the extra height.
And he still hasn’t bulked all the way out yet.
He’s going to need some serious weight training to prepare his body for the increased physicality he’s about to endure.
I’m sure Coach and the trainers have a plan for him, though.
It’s not something I need to worry about.
And yet, I am. I mean, I get it. This is hockey.
We all get banged around game to game. And there are advantages to his smaller stature.
It’ll make him slippery, fast, hard to catch.
But oof. When he does get caught, he runs a major risk of walking away with more than just a few bumps and bruises.
O’Shea and I are going to have to do our best to make sure when our line is out on the ice, we’re not leaving him isolated to catch a bad hit.
As I walk past him, I jostle him with my shoulder, then turn around to catch his gaze. He looks at me with apprehension, suspicious of what I might say. “You better be sure to keep your wits about you out there,” I say. “I don’t want to lose my new right wing on his first shift.”
“You’re not the only one,” Roysy says, as he catches up to us. He holds his hand up for Reinhold to slap. “It’s so good to be back with my boys on the third line.” He pauses and stares at Brandon then bumps his helmet against his. “I don’t want your job. It’s too much responsibility for me.”
Danton pushes him away. “Yeah, the only thing we can trust you to do is throw haymakers at the opposing team’s biggest rat.”
“Exactly!” Roysy says. He takes his gaze to Brandon again. “It’s important for everyone to know their place on the team.”
“What do you think your place on the team is going to be?” Jules asks Brandon before we reach the locker room entrance. Her question stops all of us in our tracks.
“I’m here to do whatever Coach asks of me,” Brandon says.
“So you’re a role player, then?” she pushes.
“Absolutely not!” Roysy says as he slings his arm around Brandon. “I’m a role player. Brandon is a specialist! Did you see him out there? Top notch stuff from this beauty.”
Brandon visibly blushes from Roysy’s praise.
Jules snaps his picture and beams. “This is going to look great on our wall.”
“You hear that, Baby?” Roysy says. “You’re going up on the wall.”
“Is it naive of me to hope she’s talking about an actual wall and not the team’s Instagram account?” Brandon asks.
“Yes.” We all laugh.
“Finally, they have another pretty face to post other than Ryan’s,” Ivanov says as he walks past.
“Hey!” I say in protest as Brandon’s cheeks burn an even deeper pink. “I’m not all they post.”
“Yeah, you are,” Clemmers says as he pushes past us. He swings the locker room door open, and we all follow him inside, leaving Jules on the other side with her camera.
“You should smile more,” I say to him. “You could maybe grab a dental endorsement.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice,” Clemmers says. “But at this point, why bother? I’ll get this grill fixed when I retire.”
“Which will be when?” Danton asks.
“Long after you, old man,” Clemmers says, then repeats as we all laugh, “Long after you.”
I take my gaze to Brandon, and I’m pleased to see he’s laughing along, already fitting in, even if he does look like he’s terrified of saying or laughing at the wrong thing.
“Alright, that’s enough making fun of the old man,” Danton says as he sits down with a groan on the bench in front of his stall. He pulls his jersey off, then begins to remove his elbow pads. He looks around the locker room. “We have other business at hand.”
“Such as?” I ask from across the room.
“Who’s taking Baby home with them?” Danton asks. “You all know the rules: No one on this team lives in a hotel.”
Fuck. I was counting on Danton being an automatic on this one.
When I pull my jersey off, I catch Brandon’s hopeful gaze as he makes his way to his stall beside Danton. I look away from him and begin removing the rest of my gear so I can hop in the showers.
Brandon
A pang of rejection shoots through me as I watch Ryan turn around. I don’t know why. He hasn’t actually said no. And to be fair, Danton’s question went out to everybody in the room. So I don’t even know why I’m taking it so personally.
Besides, when I spoke to the team coordinator on my way to St. Louis, he assured me they would have a hotel room for me for as long as I needed. But even with that knowledge, I stare across the room at Ryan with hope that he’ll turn around and offer for me to stay with him.
Sure, everyone here seems nice. But I already know Ryan and we lived together once before. It would make sense.
I watch him turn around and toss his practice jersey into the laundry bin in the center of the locker room. He avoids looking in my direction and takes his attention straight to Danton. “Why are you even asking?”
My heart rate picks up in excitement. Maybe I got disappointed too soon.
“We all know Vicky’s already got your spare room set up at your house, Cap,” Ryan continues without even looking at me.
“Yeah!” Clemmers says. “At this point you should just have a placard on the door that reads ROOKIE’S BEDROOM since we’ve all lived in it at one point or another.”
“Jesus, Cap,” Roysy says. “How long have you been here?”
“Fifteen years,” Danton says proudly.
“Baby was not even born yet,” Ivanov says as he walks past me to get to his stall.
“I’m not that young,” I exclaim, feeling crestfallen. No wonder Ryan didn’t ask me to stay with him if everyone on this team, including him, sees me as just a kid. My lips turn down.
“Watch out for Danton’s youngest,” Gauthier, who is in the stall next to me, says. “Danny has sticky fingers.”
“He’s four,” Danton says, laughing. “Everything about him is sticky.” He claps me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. You’ll feel right at home at my house.”
“Yeah,” Roysy agrees. “Plus Vicky makes the best chicken parm.”
Ryan finally turns to look at me. Smirking, he says, “She’s gonna help you bulk up real quick.”
“Like she did for you, pretty boy,” Clemmers says, flashing his toothless grin.
Ryan throws a wad of balled-up hockey tape at him. “You’re just jealous you can’t eat chicken parm anymore.”
Clemmers scoffs. “I can still eat it,” he says. “I’m only missing my front teeth.” He turns to look at me and points. “Promise me you’ll always wear your mouth guard.”
“You have my word,” I say, and laugh. For as downhearted as I am about Ryan right now, at least for as long as I’m here, the rest of my teammates are fun to be around.