Page 48

There’s something about playing in your hometown that is extra special.

My family is in the stands and a few guys from college are even here to watch.

As much as I always dreamed I’d be out on the ice, coaching a team to victory is even sweeter.

We’re five minutes away from getting the win, but anything can happen.

We’re only up by one goal, so I expect Detroit to pull their goalie in the next few minutes.

Hunter makes his way down the bench to me.

“They’re absolutely killing us down low right now. I guarantee they run a play out of the corner when they pull the goalie. They ran it three different times in game tape I watched last night.” Leave it to Hunter to have trouble letting go of his video coach ways.

I’m not going to complain about him putting in extra work, though.

I give him a nod and look down at the players on the bench.

We’re going to need the right skaters out there at the end of the game if we want to hold onto this win.

I can feel her before I even see her.

Ellie moves in close to me, most likely ready to go over what players we want on the ice in the six-on-five situation.

She pulls out her notebook, ready to let me know what she thinks, but I put my hand on top of it to stop her.

She eyes me curiously.

“I have a feeling I already know who you want on the ice, but Hunter watched film all night on this situation. What do you say we give him the lead on this one?”

Ellie looks over my shoulder at Hunter and then back at me.

With a smile on her face, she nods and agrees.

Luckily there’s a stoppage in play with two minutes left on the clock.

Detroit calls a timeout to go over what they want to do with their goalie pulled, but we get to go over our plan too.

All three of us coaches stand at the middle of the bench and the guys huddle around, waiting for instructions.

Hunter looks to Ellie since she’s normally in charge in these special situations, but Ellie shakes her head.

“Nope. You’re up, Hunter. Pick who you want on the ice and go over what you saw in film on the whiteboard.” She reaches behind her and hands Hunter the board.

He looks at me in question.

I gesture to the board.

“You heard her. Show us what you got.”

Hunter looks almost jubilant at the opportunity.

Ellie and I look at each other and do our best not to laugh.

As excited as we are for our friend, we still have a game to win.

We listen in as Hunter chooses the players and goes over the play Detroit is likely to run in this situation.

The guys on the ice all nod their understanding, and once Hunter is done explaining he steps back up onto the bench beside us.

“How did I do?” he asks, looking between us both.

Ellie smacks him on the back.

“Couldn’t have done it any better myself. Nice work.” Then she makes her way back to her end of the bench.

Any other coach might be aggravated or frustrated by the fact that I handed over their job to someone else on a whim.

But not Ellie.

She will do whatever it takes to win a game, even if that includes letting someone else shine.

The trust we have in each other as coaches has never been clearer than it is at this moment.

Hunter was right.

Detroit tries to run the play he drew up twice during the six-on-five situation.

Our guys handle it perfectly, shutting it down each time.

The buzzer sounds and everyone on the bench jumps up in victory.

Hunter, Ellie, and I high five before making our way down the tunnel.

Someone from our media team stops me on the way to the locker room.

She requests Ellie and I appear for the press conference, considering this is our hometown and they’d love to field some questions about returning home.

I explain to her that we’ll only join if Hunter is involved, as he’s earned his moment too.

She agrees and gives me a five-minute warning.

We quickly do a postgame breakdown in the locker room and leave the guys to do the Bobcats Belt themselves.

Once we’re in the media room, I motion for Hunter to sit in the middle.

“You’re the hero tonight, Hunter. You take center stage.”

I’ve never seen it before in my life, but I think I see pink rise on his neck as he reluctantly agrees.

Is he being bashful right now?

I give his shoulder a squeeze before sitting in the chair next to him.

Ellie eyes me over his head and gives me a smirk.

She’s just as proud of Hunter as I am, and it’s clear when she fields a question about the six-on-five situation his way.

“Actually, that’s a question for Hunter tonight. He was the mastermind behind the defensive situation there.”

Hunter answers a few questions about how he prepared.

He explains how important video can be to a team, and how seeing situations in real time helps players understand things better.

Just as he’s about to wrap up the follow up questions, a reporter I don’t recognize stands from his chair.

Our media person announces this will be the last question of the evening as we all have a plane to catch.

The three of us wait patiently for the man to ask his question.

For some unknown reason, my gut flip flops, full of unease.

I have a feeling this guy is about to piss me off.

“Coach Montgomery, is there a reason you were unprepared and Coach Clearwater had to step in to do your job for you? Do you often make it a habit to let your team down like that?”

What an asshole.

Hunter seems just as angry, a scowl on his face.

He leans into his microphone but I put my hand over it to stop him.

“Don’t. She can handle it.”

I remember exactly what happened the last time a jackass reporter made a stupid comment to Ellie like this.

Ellie was handling herself just fine, but I tried to play hero and cut her off.

I won’t let Hunter make the same mistake.

Still clearly pissed on Ellie’s behalf, Hunter nods at me and then continues to shoot daggers in the reporter’s direction.

Ellie leans into her microphone, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.

I watch in awe as she handles herself with both poise and assertiveness.

“Well—I’m sorry, what did you say your name was again?” The reporter goes to answer her, but she continues before he can respond.

“It doesn’t really matter what your name is, I won’t remember it after tonight anyway. But to answer your question, I don’t see it as letting my team down at all. We, as a coaching staff, support each other in every situation, even if it isn’t under our job description. Hunter is absolutely brilliant. He spent the night going over film, although it’s not in his job description anymore, and noticed something we didn’t address in practice. I have enough respect and trust in him as a coach that I knew it would be best for the team if he took the lead on this one. And we won. So I’m pretty sure that what I did was the exact opposite of letting my team down.”

Snickers fill the media room as the other reporters shake their heads and laugh at the dumbfounded reporter who stands slack-jawed in the center of the room.

If there was a mic to drop, Ellie could totally do that right now.

Too bad it's attached to the table.

With pure class and respect, she leans into the microphone one more time. “Thank you for your time.” And then she’s standing and exiting the room like the badass she is.

Hunter and I follow her out of the media room. I hang back a step to allow Hunter to give her a hug and tell her how amazing she was. Someone calls his name and he rushes off, but not before giving her one more high five.

Ellie stands, chin held high, pride written all over her face. For a split second, I wish I didn’t have some big plan to tell her how I feel. I’d like to walk over to her, tell her exactly how proud I am of her and kiss that smile right off her face.

Unfortunately, I’m not looking to get my ass kicked by her tonight, so I choose to be a professional instead. I reach my hand out to shake hers. “That was excellent in there, Coach.” The nickname has her biting her lip, and I do my best to keep a straight face as she shakes my hand.

“Thanks, Lincoln. I appreciate you not trying to rescue me this time too.”

Her sarcasm has me throwing my head back to laugh. I’m about to respond when there’s a tap on my shoulder. I release Ellie’s hand and turn around to see someone from security.

“Sorry to interrupt you, Coach Scott. I have your family waiting for you in one of the conference rooms, but there’s a man at the side entrance claiming to be your father. What would you like me to do?”

My ears start ringing and everything around me starts to go black.

What the fuck did he just say?

I try to wrack my brain, wondering if the words that came out of his mouth are truly what I heard. Did he just say my father is here?

I feel a hand gently squeeze my shoulder and look back to see horror written all over Ellie’s face. I’m about to grab her hand and walk away when the security guard speaks again.

“Sir? Your father?”

I could run. I could pretend I don’t have a father. I could literally make up any excuse to not see that miserable excuse of a man. But for a reason unknown to me, those aren’t the words that come out of my mouth.

“Show me.”

My feet start absentmindedly following the security guard. I hear Ellie whisper shouting behind me, begging me not to do this. Her footsteps increase in speed and suddenly she’s beside me.

“Lincoln, you don’t have to do this. He’s not worth it.”

I hear what she’s saying, but I’m blinded with a rage that has been dormant for too long. It’s been festering, eating me from the inside out for almost two decades. The nightmares. The panic attacks. They were never Ellie’s fault. They were his. I have to face my demons or they will continue to haunt me. I have to do this.

Ellie grabs my hands and steps in front of me, blocking my path to the exit. “Lincoln.”

It’s one word, but it holds so much. I take her other hand in mine and meet her gaze. “Ellie, I have to do this. If I don’t do this, my past will control me forever. I need to see him. I need closure.”

It’s very obvious that Ellie doesn’t agree, but she also doesn’t fight me on it. I wouldn’t blame her if she did, but she knows me better than I know myself. She must understand how much I need this. She gives my hands a squeeze and then drops one, holding on tight to the other. Once she’s beside me again, I nod to the security guard and he opens the door.

Standing there outside, with a loose lopsided grin, is my dad. It’s clear to me that alcohol is still his number one priority. He’s put on so much weight I almost don’t recognize him. If I didn’t know he was standing out here, I probably wouldn’t have known it was him. His face is wrinkled, heavy bags hanging under his yellowed eyes. He looks twenty years older than he should.

He stumbles forward a step, and I can feel Ellie tense beside me. It’s obvious he’s under the influence of something right now. Why am I not surprised?

What does surprise me is that I don’t feel anything. No anger. No disgust. No regrets. I feel nothing.

I can’t move. I’m rooted to the spot. The door clicks shut behind us, but I still don’t do or say anything.

My dad throws his hands out to the side. “What, no hug for your old man?”

Ellie’s fingers tighten around my own and I look down to find her eyes on me. She’s not looking at my father, she’s looking at me, sorrow written all over her face. It’s the pity in her eyes that awakens me. The last thing I’ve ever wanted was her pity.

I turn my head to see my father take a step toward me. “What do you want, Neil?”

He takes another step closer so he’s about a foot away, and laughs in my face. The stench of alcohol seeps from his mouth, causing me to take a step back.

“I want the money you owe me. I wasted thousands of dollars on your hockey when you were a kid and you never paid me back.”

He takes another step closer and I see the anger in his eyes. It’s the same look he’d come home with, drunk and ready to rough up my mom. Or me. I don’t bother even responding to his ridiculous request for money. He’s out of his mind if he thinks I owe him a damn thing.

Neil gets in my face and that’s when I finally react. If I learned anything as a kid, it’s that my father is an angry drunk who feeds off of violence. I need to create some distance to keep him in check. I refuse to put Ellie in any type of danger tonight .

The thought of him getting physical has me turning to her. “Can you go inside for me, Ellie? This should only take a minute.”

Ellie hesitates for a second, not wanting to leave my side. She opens her mouth to respond but it’s Neil’s voice I hear.

“Don’t ignore me, boy!” In the blink of an eye, his hand is on Ellie and she’s shoved aside, falling hard against the arena wall.

Instinctively, I reach out for her, and crouch down to eye level to make sure she’s okay. “Ellie, baby, are you okay?”

She groans and reaches behind her head. Thankfully, her hand comes back clean, no blood to show. Once she nods and lets me know she’s okay, I’m on my feet and spinning around to face my father.

A wicked smile spreads across his face. I want more than anything to knock it right off his face, but that would make me just like him, wouldn’t it? I’m older now, bigger, and I’d have no problem showing him exactly what it’s like on the other end of such force. But the thought of being anything like him has me clenching my fists, fighting every urge inside of me to knock his ass to the ground.

“Baby? Oh, Link. Don’t tell me you’re sleeping with her. Ha! You are so pathetic. She always made you look like a fool on the ice, it’s only a matter of time before she makes you look like one again.”

My self-control is starting to waver. I take a step closer to him, towering over his pathetic frame. “Get the fuck out of here, Neil.”

An evil smile stretches across his face. It’s the same smile he wore when he’d beat my mom. I shake all thoughts of my mom out of my head, and clench my jaw so tight I think I hear it crack.

He shoves a finger into my chest. “I’m not leaving until you give me what I’m owed.”

Ellie’s footsteps sound behind me, but I hold my hand up to stop her from coming any closer. My dad is a loose cannon and I can’t risk her getting in his path again. I feel her stop just behind my shoulder.

“What you’re owed? The only thing I owe you is a black eye to match all the ones you gave me as a kid.”

He laughs and takes a step toward Ellie. My control finally snaps. I shove him as hard as I can which causes him to stumble backward until he falls on his ass. I take a step closer to him, ready to unleash all the hurt he’s caused me back onto him.

Ellie places her hand on my shoulder, causing me to halt. “Lincoln, let’s go. He’s not worth it.”

There’s so much more I want to say to him. So much more I want to do to him. He deserves to be left lying in a heap of his own blood like my mom was so many times. Like I was. But what good would that do? I can prove here and now that I’ll never be like him. That I’m better than him. I can choose to walk away.

So I do.

I wrap my arm around Ellie’s waist and we make our way back to the door. She leans her head against my arm and I pull her tighter against me. I knock loudly, waiting for the security guard to let us in, when he shouts one last thing our way.

“You might not owe me a dime, but you sure as hell owe your girlfriend’s daddy!”