26. Chapter Twenty-Five
Letting the hot water wash over his sore shoulders, Kace takes his time in the shower after practice. Not only are his muscles sore after the added weight he benches and obscene number of pushups he does daily as a way to try and tire him out enough to sleep, he has no desire to head back out to the locker room where everyone looks at him weird.
It doesn”t make sense because things have settled down from the whole interview debacle. They”ve been on a winning streak, and the number of people screaming how much they hate Kace has gone down significantly.
When he walked in from practice, though, everyone gave him sideways glances and quickly hit their phones. Hushed whispers reminded him of high school when he slept with his first girlfriend, and she told everyone how big he was. It was all anyone could talk about for months, and the guys were being weird about checking out his junk and comparing it to what they had. But all of these guys have seen him naked already, so it can”t be anything about that.
Finally leaving the shower, he walks into the locker room to find it eerily quiet. Deciding it”s not worth his energy, he changes and grabs his bags to try and get a few hours of sleep before flying out to Texas in the morning for their string of away games.
”Kace,” Rudy says as Kace walks around the lockers.
”What?”
”Um, there”s some news everyone”s scared to tell you about.”
Shaking his head, he sniffles and shrugs. ”I”m tired, Rudy. I don”t want to play games. What is it?”
”It”s about Bri. Bri and her ex. Well, ex-ex.”
No way. There”s no way Bri would ever get back together with Easton Duffy. Not after what he put her through. No.
He grabs his phone and starts scrolling. Sure enough, one of his worst fears appears to be true. He sees pictures of Easton kissing Bri”s hand at a restaurant, and then they”re seen embracing as they leave. The worst, though, is the one where he walks into her apartment. They disappear inside, so there are no pictures of what may or may not have happened. And there”s no picture of him leaving, which means she very well could have found comfort in the man who started this whole mess in the first place.
His hands shake, and he shoves his phone in his pocket as a text comes through from his dad. He can”t talk to him right now, and he risks chucking the device across the room. How could Bri go back to the bastard who humiliated her by getting caught naked on a hotel roof with a woman already pregnant with another man”s child?
”Kace-”
”This is your fault,” Kace snaps at Rudy. ”She wouldn”t be available to see whoever the hell she wants if you hadn”t gone out there and opened your goddamned mouth. What you did was worse than what this bastard did, and now she”s probably back in his arms. Thanks. Thanks a lot.”
Rudy sighs and hangs his head. ”I know.”
”I just... never mind. Just forget it.”
”No, say what you have to say. I deserve it. And the team should hear it, too.”
”What you really deserve is actually getting your ass beaten, but that would be a selfish act. The rest of the team needs us to get to the Cup, and putting you in the hospital and putting myself behind bars hurts them more than any of that would make me feel better.”
Bruno steps up and places a hand on Kace”s shoulder. ”And we appreciate that, man. We really do.”
”But just so everyone”s aware, this is the last year I play for the Bootleggers. My contract”s up at the end of the season, and if no other team makes an offer, I”m done. I gotta keep reminding myself this might be my last chance to win the Cup, too.”
Rudy shakes his head. ”Kace, come on. Be reasonable.”
”I am being reasonable. You”re not in a body bag. That”s pretty fucking reasonable, don”t you think? You have two years left on your contract, and I want out as soon as possible.”
”That sounds rather reasonable, Kace,” Bruno agrees.
Coach hurries into the locker room. ”Don”t pack your bags just yet, boys.”
”What”s going on?” Rudy asks as everyone stands and walks towards the office.
If games are canceled, the world must be ending, so Kace doesn”t care that Rudy stands shoulder to shoulder with him. Hockey games don”t get canceled for anything short of natural disasters and death.
Coach turns on the TV in the corner of the office and flips to the news station.
”A series of F4 and F5 tornadoes are making their way through Texas, leaving destruction in their wake.”
“Galveston is one of the areas hit, and the damage seems isolated to the Twisters’ hockey stadium in a weird ironic twist of fate.”
“The areas with the most damage are the Enderlin, Carol, and Leonard area with seventeen reported fatalities.”
Kace stops Coach from turning off the TV when hears Enderlin. ”Bri”s from Enderlin,” he says and stays glued to the television.
“Those identified so far are:
David and Alice Willis, ages 64 and 58, from Carol
Henry Norton, age 38, from Leonard
Florence Perkins, age 92, from Carol
John and Amelia Sutton, ages 45, from Enderlin
Ethan Neal, age 35, from Enderlin
Mary Griffin, age 28, from Enderlin
Hank, Mary, and Poppy Zimmerman, ages 35, 34, and 10, from Enderlin
Jack Sanchez, age 22, from Leonard
Holly Wilkins, age 26, from Leonard
Thomas Hanks, age 61, from Enderlin
Eric and Paige Weaver, ages 82 and 81, from Carol
Connor Black, age 41, from Leonard.”
”Tom Hanks was in Texas?” Bruno asks. ”The actor?”
The picture of each person pops up, and Kace digs in his bag for his phone to call Bri. He holds it to his ear, his free hand shaking at his side, as he waits for her to answer. ”Come on, baby, pick up. Pick up.”
”What”s going on?”
Rudy shrugs. ”I”d be the last person to know,” he says.
The entire room watches him with intense looks, and Kace groans when he hears Bri”s voicemail.
”Bri, it”s me. I just saw the news about Mr. Hanks. Call me. I need to know you”re okay. Please,” he says and hangs up. Turning to the others, he points behind him at the screen. ”That Thomas Hanks is a choir teacher at Bri”s high school. The man she considers to be the only father-figure in her life, and one of the few people she trusts.”
”Shit,” Rudy says and looks around. ”Well, let”s go.”
Coach shakes his head. ”Where the fuck do you think we”re going, Marshall? Galveston has no stadium.”
”To Texas. We don”t have games for a while, right? And we”re obviously not playing at Galveston anytime soon, which means they”re going to be working overtime to rework the schedule. Everyone out there probably needs help with clean up and delivering essentials.”
Kace can”t stop his stomach from jumping. That”s probably what his dad texted him, and he itches to know if Bri”s okay. It”s killing him not to know.
”Yeah, we”ll consider this strength training as we help get rid of debris all around the area. I bet we could get a few teams, at least, to help out. If nothing else, they can show their support. And at the very least, Texas is home to two teams,” Bruno says.
Letting out a sigh, Coach looks around the room. ”It would be good press for us after everything that”s happened. But we also risk getting injured if we go out there. Tornadoes don”t show mercy.”
Kace and Rudy share a glance before saying, ”We know.”
”We”ll wear gloves, and we can fly down there with a plane full of bottled water and blankets. It”s not the first twister Kace and I have helped clean up after. And I”m willing to bet Brett and the rest of the Twisters need to get out some anger and frustration,” Rudy says.
”Rudy and I can also call in our old buddies who are still in the area to help us,” Kace says. ”But if it”s okay, I”d rather not announce that we”re going to help. The last thing any of the towns need is media crews there to cover NHL players offering their assistance before we even show up.”
Nodding in agreement, Rudy says, ”I agree. If we make a statement before we show up, it”ll look like we”re there for the press, not the towns affected.”
”Our press team won”t like that we aren”t announcing our presence, especially after the shitstorm you two created earlier this year,” Coach says.
”Tell them how good we”ll look when the press covers how we serve our fans” communities without any need for press coverage. We did it in spite of the bad press. It”ll probably make their job ridiculously easy for the rest of the season.”
Kace watches Rudy advocate to do this and to do it the right way. In the past, he”s been all about the media attention. It”s unnerving, but he”s not going to argue with him in front of everyone.
”Okay, can I get volunteers to go and pick up as many large packs of water bottles as you can get, as well as blankets?” Coach asks. ”We”ll bring them back here and load up the plane.”
A few of his teammates head towards the door, and he stares in awe at the level of commitment they have to help him do something. He knows Bri will be there, and he knows she”s hurting. He needs to do whatever he can to help her see he”s still here.
”If anyone doesn”t want to participate, I won”t force you,” Coach says. ”This isn”t mandatory.”
”We”re a team,” Bruno says. ”There may have been a few moments where that was forgotten recently, but the majority of us haven”t lost sight of it.”
”Okay, men, the rest of you, go home and get some sleep. We’re going to have a ton of work ahead of us.”
Everyone filters out, but Rudy stays back as though understanding Kace wants to talk to him. Kace has to know why he”s doing this. Why he volunteered before Kace had a chance to, and why he opts out of the spotlight. This isn”t his character, and he can”t help but feel like it”s a trap.
”What”s up?” Rudy asks. ”I can see you want to talk. Or punch me. Either way, I”m here.”
”What”s the deal?”
”Excuse me?”
Laughing, Kace shakes his head. ”I don”t get the personality change. No press coverage? You live for press coverage.”
”This isn”t about me. This isn”t about the team. This is us doing something for a community. And for you.”
”Me?”
Sitting on the bench, Rudy sighs and looks at the ground. ”I don”t know how to make this up to you, Kace. I think about everything I did, and I don”t even recognize that person. God, I was so fucking stupid. About all of it. You were my best friend, and I forgot that. And whether you consider me yours anymore, you”re still my best friend. Besides, this gives you a chance at seeing her.”
”I wish I could believe you.”
”One day, I hope you will. I really am sorry, Kace. I deserve every hateful thought you have towards me.”
”This doesn”t magically fix anything.”
Rudy nods and stands. ”I know, but I”m hoping maybe it”ll start rebuilding the bridge I burned. Even if it”s a sketchy, rickety bridge that only one car can pass on at a time.”
Kace wants to laugh, and he wants to forgive the man he used to trust with his life. But he just can”t. Not yet. Instead, he just nods and walks out with his bag over his arm as he tries to call Bri again.