Through the Five-Hole (Vancouver Dominators #5)

Chapter One

Colton - Three Days Later After Arrest

I could hear the murmur of voices through the window. My head was pounding as I sat up and glanced through the small bedroom window. The entire team sat in the backyard, talking among themselves, surely about what had happened earlier this week.

I kicked the blankets off me and stood up, stretched, and then looked around for my shorts and T-shirt.

Surely, they were in here somewhere, I thought to myself, moving a box that had Knox’s name on it to see if they had fallen behind.

When I didn’t find them there, I turned to check the other side of the bedroom and saw a piece of paper on top of the dresser.

I washed the clothes you were wearing. They were filthy, stunk even, figured you’d like something clean. You can find them hanging in the laundry room. ~ Lorelai

Knox had picked me up from the police station late last night and insisted on bringing me here to stay with him and Lorelai.

I’d have preferred if he’d just taken me home, that way I could mentally kick myself in peace, but he’d said Lorelai insisted.

It wasn’t every day one of us spent a couple of nights in jail, and according to Knox, she was worried about me.

I made my way down the hall, stopping at the laundry room door to find my T-shirt and shorts neatly folded on the dryer.

Grabbing them, I quickly dressed before making my way to the backyard.

I glanced out the door to see the guys all huddled together, but the moment they heard the squeak from the door, they broke apart and looked my way.

I made my way over to the only empty chair off to the side and sat down.

“Don’t let my being here ruin whatever it is you were saying,” I muttered, reaching down and grabbing one beer from the cooler that was beside the chair.

I’d just cracked it open when the cold can was ripped from my hand, and I looked up to see Lorelai standing in front of me.

“What do you think you are doing?” I questioned.

She didn’t back down from me; instead, she stood there, meeting my eyes.

“Colton, I’m sorry, but I will not allow you to ruin your career. The other night was…well…it was enough.”

“It was a minor hiccup.” I shrugged. “Now please, I’d like that drink.”

“A minor hiccup? You got arrested!”

Every one of these guys knew not to put me in a corner and could probably tell from the look on my face she was doing exactly that.

Not that I’d ever hurt her; hell, she was the entire reason I was in this mess.

The media would have destroyed her and Knox, and there was no way I was going to allow one of my best friends to lose the best thing that ever happened to him because of some smug, lying reporter. They’d do anything for a story.

Instead of saying anything or fighting with her, I reached down into the cooler, grabbed another can, cracked it open, and took a swig.

“Colton, does this look like a minor hiccup to you?” Knox said, coming over, dropping a newspaper on my lap and taking the beer from my hand.

I went to grab the beer back but missed, then took notice of the headline on the front of the sports page: Vancouver Dominator’s Bad Boy at it Again, Colton Fox has been arrested, charges pending.

As I stared at the newspaper, my stomach turned.

While I’d been in my fair share of trouble, I’d never pushed it so far as to be arrested or charged with anything.

I looked up at Knox to have him shove his cell phone at me, showing me an article on one of the sports apps, stating that Lorelai and I were involved.

“He printed it anyway, that fucker. Fuck, Knox, you better not believe that shit? That right there is what I was trying to stop,” I said, looking up at him.

“No, of course I don’t believe it.”

“We are worried about you,” Aurora added.

“Yeah, man, we really are worried,” Brad, one of the younger members of the team, said.

“There isn’t anything to be worried about. This, like all the others, will blow over.”

“I don’t know. When I spoke to Larson and Thompkins, they were furious,” Dylan said, standing up from where he was sitting while holding Jackson.

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“You spoke to Larson and Thompkins?”

“Yeah, of course. So did Lorelai and Knox. We needed to get the teams’ lawyers involved. Pamela knows too. They needed to know what happened.”

“Fuck my life,” I muttered under my breath.

Since I’d spent the last couple of nights in jail and still hadn’t been home, I didn’t know if they had tried to call me. I could only imagine they had.

“Oh god,” I heard Lucas gasp.

“What?” Knox questioned, turning around.

“I just got a text from Ella.”

Ella was Lucas’s wife and worked in the Dominators Promotions department.

If that wasn’t bad enough, she was also Larson’s daughter.

Ella hadn’t been around because she’d been taking care of her grandmother, taking her back and forth to cancer treatment; she’d probably already heard about the situation.

“And?” Lorelai questioned.

“Ella just got an email from Larson. She says she doesn’t want to get involved, but we should check out the Ice Insiders app.”

“I’m not looking at that drivel,” Levi said, pulling his phone from his pocket.

“Neither am I,” Scarlett added, shifting Mia from one side of her lap to the other. “You guys know what kind of garbage they publish.”

“Check The Blue Line Bulletin,” Clay suggested.

“Yes, that will give you the most up-to-date information,” Dylan said, winking at Scarlett.

Scarlett had worked for the Ice Insiders, and it soon came to light how much they loved to ruin anyone, so I could only imagine what was being printed about me there.

“What does it say?” I questioned.

The entire team checked their phones, each one of them staring at the screen for a few seconds before looking over at me.

“Well, is someone going to enlighten me?”

“They’ve suspended you from the team.” Lorelai gasped. “Effective immediately. The article was published last night.”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone, quickly checking my email. What she was saying was true. Larson himself had emailed me with their decision; I’d just chosen to ignore it until I was in a better frame of mind.

“What about the playoffs?” Levi questioned. “We need him, Dylan.”

“I know I can always talk to Thompkins, ask him to talk to Larson to reconsider his decision until after the playoffs,” Dylan added.

“Dylan, don’t get involved. It looks like you’ll all have to do without me, boys.

The email from Larson states they will determine my fate at the beginning of next season.

Until then, I’m not to step foot in the arena aside from working out and for practice.

It doesn’t even say whether I can go to the games. ”

“That’s bullshit. I’ll talk with him,” Dylan said, handing Jackson to Aurora.

“No, I did this. I’ll take the heat. I’ll go in and talk with him, and if they decide to pitch me at the beginning of next season, they do.” I shrugged.

“No, Colton, I’ll talk with them,” Lorelai said.

I got up from the chair I was sitting in. “No, sweetheart, you won’t. I did this. I own up to it.”

“You were only protecting me.”

“Exactly, and I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. Now, if you guys will excuse me, I think I’m gonna head on home.”

Lorelai looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

“No worries, sweets, things always have a way of working out.” I leaned down and placed a kiss on her cheek, gave Knox a fist bump, and left the backyard while waving to the others.

As I made my way to the front of the house to where my truck was, I hoped I was right.

I hoped things would work out because, for the first time in my entire career, I was actually happy where I was.