Chapter 10
Dean
“You want your usual beer, Dean?” Landon asks over his shoulder while opening the bar door and leading the way inside.
It’s normal for us to end up here, considering it’s right next door to the condo building that houses most of the team, myself included.
Plus, their food is some of the best on the strip.
Not that anyone would be able to tell from the outside.
I’m not even positive that the name of the bar is on the outside of the building, or that I could even tell you what it is.
The only thing that signals there’s even a bar is the colorful chalkboard sign that sits out front with a different message every couple of days.
On the weekends when it’s not raining, the owner, Nick, will prop the door open, and just let the music draw patrons in.
I’ve never run a business, so I can’t say anything else about his marketing, but whatever he’s doing somehow seems to work for him.
“Not yet. I’m just popping in for a minute before I head upstairs to take Cora out.”
“Go get her now. You know Nick said he’s cool with her being here,” Landon says and I laugh at the reminder.
While adopting Cora was something that I knew without a shadow of a doubt I needed to do, I had been nervous about the timing.
Getting a puppy during hockey season sounded crazy to everyone on the team.
The only reason it’s working out so beautifully is because, for starters, Cora is a literal perfect angel.
Training her has been super easy, which I was not expecting.
On top of that, it helps that I have so many people constantly offering to help me with her.
Arianna is usually the first one to jump in and snatch her up when we have away games.
Since she lives a few floors up, Lilly is always hot on Ari’s heels to watch Cora.
Which helps on long practice days, since she can pop down and take her out.
And that’s just two of the people who beg to help with Cora.
Stella and Harper have put in a request to watch her at some point, same with Ari and Landon’s parents.
It’s a little overwhelming, seeing how many people jump up to help, considering I’d gotten used to doing things on my own before all of them.
The thought both warms my chest and makes my stomach drop simultaneously.
I shove thoughts about my teenage years aside and focus on congratulating the guys who beat us here.
While we all talk about how the game went, commenting on some of the highs and a couple of the mistakes made, my eyes search the bar.
The pit in my stomach grows when I don’t find the one person I was most looking forward to seeing.
“Dude,” Evan, the backup goalie on my team, shouts in my face. “That last save you had in the last thirty seconds of the game was insane!”
“Thanks, man, just doing what I do best,” I tell him, patting his shoulder and moving to go around him, but he side-steps to keep himself in front of me.
“Hell yeah. Think you can work with me next practice? Some of those blocks you did actually blew my mind.”
I smile at him, agreeing to help. It takes all my effort to focus on the conversation and not walk away.
Evan’s a good goalie. With a couple more years working as backup, he could for sure be ready to be the main event.
He just needs to not lose focus so quickly.
But right now, the last thing I want to do is continue talking about hockey when all I can focus on is the fact that Arianna is not here.
I let Evan ramble on for another minute or two before finally excusing myself, promising that we’ll catch up Monday at practice.
While I check the bar one last time, I head to the booth that Dominik and Lilly are at and slide in across from them.
“Where’s Cora?” Lilly immediately asks.
“I’m gonna go get her in a minute. Ari bit my head off last time I went and got her by myself, so I was coming to see if she wanted to come up with me.” I laugh, looking around once more as if Ari will just appear.
“Oh,” Lilly says, sinking back into the booth with a frown. “Ari went home before the second period even started.”
My eyebrows scrunch together, and I straighten in my seat.
“What happened? Is she okay?”
Arianna has only left a game early twice in the entire time I’ve known her. Once when her friend Vivian got into a car accident and needed to be picked up. The other time was two seasons ago when Greyson got injured during a game and she went to sit at the hospital with Stella and Lilly.
My mind races to the last time I saw her and it was the best damn night of my life.
When I showed up at her door with the pizza, I was practically dead on my feet.
Then I saw her and got a second wind. We did stay up later than I normally do during hockey season, but she was just as energized as I was.
At least until that fourth orgasm. Then we both promptly passed out in her bed.
That was the best damn sleep I’ve had in a long time.
I was hoping she would come with me to get Cora so I could finally tell her that I want more than just a sneaky hookup.
However, now my mind races with every possible thing that could have gone wrong since I last saw her.
Lilly shrugs nonchalantly. “She left sick. Stella said she’s coming down with a cold or something.”
“Oh,” I say, deflating a little in my seat as Landon steps up to the table with a pitcher of beer.
“Where’s Ari?” he asks, setting his glass and the pitcher onto the table. I slide from my seat and motion for him to sit.
“Went home sick.”
“Damn. That sucks,” Landon says, dropping down to the bench before shrugging. “At least she didn’t try to tough it out and risk getting any of us sick.”
I mumble a half-assed agreement before letting everyone know I’m heading to get Cora.
During the short walk and ride up to my place, I stare at my phone, debating if I should say anything.
Every inch of my body hums with a need to know that she’s okay. Not just from a text. It’s taking everything in me not to grab my car keys and rush over there. To see for myself that it’s just a cold and then help make sure she gets the rest she needs.
I walk into the condo, beelining for where Cora is slowly waking up in her crate.
I swear, the crate is her favorite place to be.
She hasn’t been locked in it for two weeks now.
Meaning she could easily sleep on the couch or one of her multiple dog beds.
Yet every time I come home, sleeping like a log in the crate is exactly where I find her.
After a big, dramatic yawn and stretch, Cora rushes to me. Circling my legs, she sniffs every inch of me and soaks up all the pets before running to the front door, already knowing that I’ll take her out.
Once she’s secure in her harness and leashed up, and I’ve got my dog-walking fanny pack buckled around my waist, I hesitate at the door.
“You’re being an idiot,” I mutter to myself and pull out my phone.
My growing feelings for Arianna aside, she’s been a really close friend. I remind myself that it’s completely normal to check in on friends when they’re sick and pull open our text chat.
Me: Lilly said you weren’t feeling good. Say the word and I can be there with soup and puppy cuddles in less than an hour.
After hitting send, I shove my phone into the fanny pack.
It’s easy to distract myself for the next twenty minutes with taking Cora on a mini walk before circling back to the bar where the guys are all waiting.
However, once there, Lilly steals Cora away, showing her off to her friends Paige and Eva, who showed up while I stepped out.
With my hands now free, my puppy occupied, and my teammates all talking amongst themselves, I finally pull my phone out. My heart drops to my stomach and I cover my obvious disappointment by chugging some of my beer before jumping into the conversation with Dominik and Landon.
For the rest of the night, I continue to check my phone every five minutes, only to be met with silence. I remind myself she’s probably sleeping off whatever bug she has, but that doesn’t seem to stop the incessant worry that forms.
When I finally make it home, the three beers I had give me a courage boost and there’s no second-guessing myself as I send her another text…and then another.
Me: Hope you got some rest and feel better in the morning.
Me: Also, my offer doesn’t have an expiration date. Just say the word and I’ll be there.