24. Declan
DECLAN
I show up to the arena, dressed for practice, ready to go early. I’m doing solo shooting drills and practicing with a hockey stick for the first time in years when the rest of the team shows up.
They come in as a group, talking and laughing, and pull up all at once when they see me there.
I send a puck flying into the net from several yards out, then prop the stick on the ice and look over.
Beckett is, of course, the first one to speak.
“Oh, this is gonna be fun.”
They spill out onto the ice, all of them greeting me as if I’m a teammate back from an injury or long hiatus. I am sincerely grinning by the time all of them have slapped me on the back.
Alex is the last one to stop. He places his hand on my shoulder. “I apologize in advance for what’s about to happen.”
I arch my brows. “What’s about to happen?”
He shakes his head. “There’s no way of knowing. But it will be stupid.”
I laugh. “I have seen every one of your games, you know.”
He looks surprised by this news. “Seriously?”
“They’re live-streamed.”
He nods. “Yeah. But you would still have to watch them on purpose.”
“And I do.”
He studies me for a moment, then gives me a grin. “Okay then. Maybe Beckett is right. Maybe this is going to be fun.”
I’m on the Revelers team since I’m filling in for Teddy, and we run through drills and then play back-and-forth with the players for the Otters on the other side for almost an hour.
Then everyone sheds their helmets and masks and turns toward the benches.
That’s when I notice Sutton has joined us.
She is dressed in leggings and a short jacket, her hair pulled back, skates on her feet. She glides out onto the ice. “Okay, so we’re really trying this?” She’s looking at her brother.
She’s also carrying a hobby horse.
“Fuck, yeah,” Beckett says, taking it from her. “I’m telling you this is going to be hilarious.”
Sutton doesn’t seem convinced. “Fine, why don’t you just do a quick skate with it?” She looks around the group. “Anyone want to play some defense?”
Everyone looks at Lawson, who immediately gets into position.
“They know they’re on the same team, right?” I ask Alex.
He sighs. “Only when there’s actually a game or scrimmage going on.”
“The other night at Perks and Rec, they seemed to be getting along.”
“They’re making an effort. Lawson doesn’t poke at him as much as he used to. But there’s still tension.”
“Any idea what it’s about?”
“Yeah, I think a few things. But mostly a pretty, sweet little blonde.” He inclines his head towards Sutton.
Interesting.
I watch as Beckett tries to skate from one end of the rink to the other with a hobby horse between his legs. Lawson doesn’t have to try that hard to defend him.
Handling the stick horse and his hockey stick and trying to get the puck around another excellent player proves to be too much.
“Well, if we’re doing it for fun, Lawson shouldn’t be playing defense like it’s the fucking championship finals,” Beckett grouses as they skate back over to the group.
Lawson crosses his arms. “If you think that was my best, you have not been paying attention.”
Beckett frowns at him and opens his mouth, but Sutton interjects before he can say anything.
“What about instead of the hobby horses, some of the players dress up as horses to go along with the knights?” she asks.
“We could also have a jester and…” She waves her hand.
“Whatever other characters there are in this fantasy world.”
“Dragons,” three of us say at once.
I grin at Quinn and Hudson.
Sutton smiles back. “Great. Dragons. The kids will love that.”
Beckett nods. “Yeah, that could work. I guess we don’t all have to be knights.”
“It’s a great idea,” Lawson says, frowning at Beckett. “It’s also what she suggested last week when we were talking about this.”
Beckett shakes his head. “No, she didn’t. We didn’t talk about horses last week.”
Lawson slides closer to him. “Yes, we fucking did. And Sutton came up with this idea. The one you think is great. You never fucking listen to her.”
Beckett scowls now. “I have been listening to her for twenty-five years. I know she’s brilliant. I don’t fucking need you to tell me that.”
“Obviously you do,” Lawson says, sliding closer again. “She always has creative, fun ideas. And with that huge head of yours, you would think your ears would work extra well.”
Beckett reaches up and shoves Lawson back. “I’m surprised you can hear anything she says as distracted as you always are staring at her ass.”
“Why are you so obsessed with me?” Lawson asks.
“I think you’re—”
Wes and Alex both step forward at the same moment, obviously prepared to break up what’s happening, but instinctively I raise my voice and say, “Enough.”
Everyone straightens, stops what they’re doing, and turns toward me.
“This is hockey practice,” I say. “You play for my wife’s league.
Scrimmage, dressed as knights, horses, and dragons or not, we are going to make this great.
” I look at Sutton. “That means you do whatever Sutton tells you to do.” I point at Beckett and Lawson.
“Without commentary.” I gesture for Sutton to go on. “It’s all yours.”
She gives me a pleased smile, then skates over to the bench where she digs in the big tote she set down and withdraws a clipboard.
She comes back to the group. “Nora is already working on getting costumes, stuffies—dragons, of course—and foam swords overnighted. The costumes are for you, the stuffies and swords are for the kids.” She glances at me.
“It’s going to be kind of expensive to get them last minute, but Nora said that Astrid said not to worry about it. ”
Of course, she did. I give Sutton a wink. That makes her smile grow. She turns back to the group.
“What are the costumes like?” Zeke Landry asks.
“They’re basically Halloween costumes.” Sutton sighs. “Very light and they’ll fit over your uniforms.”
Zeke nods.
“We figured out a way to wrap your hockey sticks to kind of make them look like jousting lances.”
She continues explaining other little details, and Alex reaches out and grabs the back of Lawson's uniform, then the collar of Beckett’s, and drags them a few feet away from the rest of the group. He motions with his head for me to join them.
“I thought things were better between the two of you,” he says, his voice low so as not to interrupt Sutton.
“I’ve been trying,” Lawson says. “But I’m not going to let him treat Sutton like shit.”
“She’s my sister,” Beckett hisses. “She’s the most important person to me. I don’t treat her like shit.”
“You ignore her and don’t listen to her. That’s shitty,” Lawson says.
“She would tell me if she thought I was treating her badly,” Beckett insists.
Lawson shakes his head. “I don’t think she would. She doesn’t stick up for herself. And that makes me fucking crazy. You need to know that.”
Beckett squares up with him. “You need to watch that shit. You know she has a thing for you.”
Lawson puts his hands up like he is surrendering. “I’ve already told you, nothing’s gonna happen with Sutton and me.”
“Fine, but when you do that shit, or you act like you’re coming to her rescue, that just makes her think you’re this amazing guy and makes her crush worse.”
“That’s not why I did it,” Lawson says. “But I’m also not gonna not stand up for her. So if you don’t want me being Sutton’s hero and making her crush worse, then you need to treat her better.”
Beckett starts to lean in, but Alex braces his hand on his chest. “Just listen, Beck. Think about what he’s saying. Just tell him that you’ll be more careful. It doesn’t hurt any of us to be called out once in a while and to give our words and behavior more thought.”
I look at my brother-in-law, impressed.
He notices. “Shut up.”
I chuckle. Then I focus on the two hockey players who are glaring at each other. “Caring about a great woman like Sutton seems like a pretty great thing to have in common,” I tell them. “Maybe you can just be grateful that she has another guy looking out for her.”
“As long as that guy never fucking touches her.” Beckett is staring at Lawson.
“Trust me, man,” Lawson says. “I have no intention of ever touching Sutton, for any reason.”
We all hear the little squeak and turn at once.
Sutton is standing behind her brother. And she clearly just heard what Lawson said.
“Fuck,” Lawson matters.
“Sutton—” Beckett starts. But then he stops and sighs. “No, go ahead and hate him. That’s great, actually.”
“I need you all over here so that we can practice the dance to “You’re the One That I Want.” She pauses. Her cheeks get red. Then she turns and skates off before anyone can say anything else.
“Well,” Alex says. “That was awkward as fuck.”
“The least we can do is go over and nail this routine,” Lawson says.
We practice that song, and two others, including the dance the team will have to do if two kids who are brought down in the second period manage to shoot two or more dragons—little plastic things attached to the pucks by some magic Sutton and Nora have come up with—into the goals.
They will, of course, accomplish this since the players will not be trying to stop them.
At the end of the session, the players file out, and I skate over to hold Sutton back.
“I was wondering if I could ask you for an individual session.”
Her eyes widen. “You just need a little extra practice?”
Actually, I picked up on the choreography pretty easily, if I do say so myself. I shake my head. “For the number Astrid and I are going to do.”
Now all of the tension that followed her since overhearing Beckett and Lawson’s exchange seems to melt away, and her smile is bright and genuine.
“She told me she doesn’t even know what song it is.”
“She knows it. She just doesn’t know I’ve chosen it.”
“Got it.” Then she asks, “Can you sing?”
I can, actually, but… “Does it matter?”
She grins. “No. No, it doesn’t.”