Chapter 41
~Deacon~
The week flies by so fast, I have to double check my phone when my alarm goes off on Friday.
The date is right, though; training is over and it’s time for the first game of the preseason.
These exhibition games might not count for anything, but they’re an important step in testing out our new players and lines against real competition, and a good preseason can set a team up for a good start when the regular season begins in two weeks.
In short, I want to win tonight’s game, and not just because Daley’s going to be in the crowd.
The week has also been relatively quiet. At Monday’s practice, I spoke to the team like I told Daley I would, letting them all know that the woman in the photos with me was River’s mom and I’d appreciate nobody talking to the press about it.
“You have a minute to ask me any questions you want,” I offered when I finished my explanation. “But keep it respectful, alright? I’m not stepping in if River decides to kick your ass afterwards.”
I shot him an apologetic shrug that he acknowledged with a curt nod of his head. He didn’t look overly comfortable with the conversation, understandably, but he wasn’t hiding either.
Jake spoke up first. “It was the cookies, wasn’t it?”
Steve, sitting next to him, nudged him in the shoulder. “She said they were magic.”
“I bet that’s not all that’s magic,” someone on the other side of the room offered. Snickers and half-hidden smiles broke out around the circle.
“I said questions, not commentary,” I reminded them drily before addressing Jake. “We met at the draft back in June, so I already knew her when she stopped by with the cookies. Didn’t know she could bake, though. That was a nice surprise.”
“You guys serious?” Erik asked. Of everyone in the room, he’s my closest friend and the one who had the most right to be annoyed to be finding out about this at the same time as everyone else, but his tone held only curiosity.
“I guess as much as we can be at this point? It’s pretty new, and ideally, we wouldn’t have gone public just yet, but you guys know what it’s like.”
They all did, if not from their own personal experience then simply because they watched the circus that sprang up around me, Megan and Brady in the spring.
As if my words had conjured her, Jorn brought Megan up. “What does your ex think about this?”
I shrugged as casually as I could. “Don’t know. Haven’t talked to her.”
When I got home the day before, I called the security company and not only removed her from my account but closed the whole thing down and opened a new one to ensure she couldn’t access any of the footage anymore.
It still creeped me out that she’d been spying on me and I probably would have to confront her about it eventually, but she was so far down my list of priorities, especially with the season about to kick off, that it would have to wait.
“Is this going to get weird if you guys break up?” Vince asked, his eyes bouncing between me and River. Obviously, he didn’t want a repeat of the tension between me and Brady that had sucked most of the energy out of the locker room at the end of last season.
River spoke up before I could answer. “Long as he’s not a jackass about it, I don’t see why it would.”
Good answer. “What he said,” I agreed. “Anything else?”
Glances were exchanged around the room, letting me know there’d be plenty of talk when I was out of earshot, but no one else chimed in.
“Alright, let’s go out there and practice.”
No one talked to the press, and to both mine and Daley’s surprise, nothing about her identity came out over the next few days either.
I checked in with River once on Wednesday to make sure no one was giving him a hard time about it, and he assured me that while there had been a bit of teasing, nobody had crossed the line.
To me, no one said anything at all, other than Erik remarking once after a tough set of drills that I seemed to have more energy than ever.
He wasn’t wrong. Just thinking about Daley being in the stands on Friday pushed me to try a little bit harder all week long. I wanted her to be just as impressed with me at my job as I’d been watching her with those kids at the showcase.
I honestly can’t remember the last time I cared about impressing a woman on the ice, and it gives me an extra little undercurrent of excitement when Friday morning rolls around.
Daley and I have talked over video every night this week but it’s not the same as having her next to me.
With River’s friends staying at his place, Daley has agreed to come home with me tonight and I can’t fucking wait.
Although it’s been a few months since I last played a game, I slip back into the routine easily.
Morning work-out and breakfast at home, followed by a team practice at the rink at ten o’clock.
We run our drills and work on some 5-on-4 scenarios until Brice blows his whistle and calls us all to the middle of the ice.
“I know this one doesn’t count on the season scorecard, but I don’t want to see anyone giving less than their full effort tonight. You want to be a starter this season? You’ve got to earn it, every one of you. Show me what you can do and give the fans a good show. Win it for them. Let’s go Wolves.”
We all howl loudly in agreement, laughing with each other as we get off the ice, each of us pumped up more than ever.
“Deke, can we have a word?”
The local station’s sports reporter waits outside the locker room, and I follow him a little further down the hall where the cameraman waits.
After asking the usual questions about how the team is coming together this year and if I have any concerns, he throws out the question I’ve been waiting for.
“Anyone special coming to watch the game tonight?”
My lips start to curl into a smile before I catch them. “All of our fans are special, Ray.”
He laughs at my deflection. Ray’s one of the good ones and we understand each other. I know he has to ask and he knows I don’t have to answer. “Fair enough. Good luck tonight.”
I thank him and head into the locker room, stripping off my musty gear and dropping it into the laundry bins, ignoring the familiar stench of sweat-soaked equipment from thirty different men. Whatever the team that cleans our gear after each practice and game is paid, it’s not enough.
Some of the guys head out to lunch together but I plan on heading home to relax and take a nap.
The game won’t finish until ten thirty tonight, and by the time I finish up post-game interviews and get cleaned up, it’ll be closer to midnight by the time I get home.
I need to have enough energy for both the game and for what I intend to do with Daley afterwards.
Everything’s going to plan until I decide to take the long way out of the arena, stopping by the management office to say hi to some of the seasonal staff I haven’t seen in a few months, and I run into some of the opposing team’s players coming in for their practice.
One player in particular catches my attention, and my feet grind to a halt as Brady walks towards me. His hair is longer than it used to be, his nose still a little crooked from where he broke it two years ago blocking a shot. Overall, though, he’s the same arrogant asshole I remember.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
His smirk tries its best to intimidate me, but I see the anger behind it, lurking in the tightness around his lips. “Didn’t you hear? I got traded again. Two days ago.”
I hadn’t heard. Frankly, I don’t care. I just didn’t expect to see him today, and I’m a little surprised no one mentioned it to me. “That’s a shame. Too bad you’re going to lose your first game.”
His snort tries to be nonchalant, but his tone is nothing short of menacing as he steps closer to me. “Any team is better than playing with you. Watch your back out there, Belin.”
He brushes past me before I can respond, his shoulder knocking into me with more force than is necessary, as if that’s a preview of the physical game I can expect from him tonight.
A not-so-small part of me itches to tell him to put his money where his mouth is and take me right here, but that’d be the quickest way to a suspension for both of us.
We’ll have to settle this on the ice, though as far as I’m concerned, we have nothing left to settle. I’ve moved on, and the thought brings me a satisfying sense of peace as I get back to my routine, my thoughts focused much more on the night ahead than anything in my past.