Page 31 of Branded (Breakers Hockey)

Twenty-Nine

Smitty

My thighs burned.

My wrist stung like hell from a slash I’d taken from an asshole during the game.

Always, always , they managed to hit me right between where the padding on my glove ended and where my elbow pad began.

More bruises.

Bruises that were piling up now that the season was fully underway.

We’d lost three in a row, which really fucking sucked, especially when we were on the road and hearing the cheers of the hometown crowds going wild as they rooted for their team.

Especially when Brandon’s words stuck in my head, mostly choosing to repeat themselves right after I’d fucked up a play or hadn’t protected Martin so our goalie had let in a goal, and always, always , right after a loss.

I’d stolen someone’s spot.

I was a fraud, a disappointment.

I didn’t deserve to be there.

I—

The bus pulled into the lobby of the hotel, and I saw that there were a few women gathered, having already waited however long for the bus to show and for their chance at banging a professional hockey player, even though the team had flown in after the game over in Boston, so that meant it was nearing three in the morning.

We would have a light skate in the afternoon, and then the game that evening, so there was plenty of time to nail that player.

And I knew that quite a few of the single guys would be partaking of the offerings.

I, in the meantime, would be making sure Raph made it safely to his room then would be going the fuck to sleep, and hoping that hearing Brandon’s voice would stop.

Maybe I’d text Kailey, see if she was awake.

She made the voice stop.

She—

The lights flashed on, and I grabbed my bag, slinging it over my shoulder as I waited for the guys to unload ahead of me.

Then I hopped down the stairs, ignored the cluster of women, snagging my and Raph’s keys from the intern whose job it currently was to check us in and distribute them. “Still next door,” she murmured, her gaze going from mine to where Raph was standing a few feet ahead of me.

“Thanks, Claire,” I said, finding a smile for the timid blond, who ducked her head.

Normally, I’d tug at the end of her ponytail, would see if I could snag a smile back, find a way to get her to breathe a bit easier (what could I say, I was a sucker for the quiet ones). But today, I just didn’t have it in me.

I left the thanks as it was, shoved myself next to Raph, and made sure my friend didn’t do something stupid, like pick up one of the puck bunnies in the lobby. Short dresses, lots of makeup, long blond ponytails.

Always the same.

Almost like fucking plastic Barbie dolls.

But then again, most of the guys liked that plastic doll type.

I just had a thing for curvy brunettes with gorgeous emerald eyes.

Jabbing the button thankfully brought the elevator quickly, the silver doors sliding open, but just as they were closing again, a hand caught the steel panel.

A big man with a square-shaped head and an ill-fitting black suit peered inside, his eyes catching mine. “Conner Smith,” he said. “I need you to come with me.”

Considering he looked and sounded like law enforcement, that got me more than a few sideways looks from the guys.

“Who’s asking?”

This was from Raph.

Two of the few words Raph had given this entire trip—after he’d let them all go during that first night of whiskey and raging and…hurt.

My friend was so fucking hurt that the pulsing radiation of it made my teeth ache anytime I was near Raph.

But he’d snapped out of it for me.

And fuck, after the voice in my head all night, that hung heavy on my heart.

“Mr. Henderson would like a word.”

Mr. Henderson.

Alec Henderson.

Kailey’s dad and the asshole who’d screamed at her in the hallway outside her apartment.

Considering my mood and the past few nights, the last fucking thing that I wanted to be doing at that moment was to speak with the prick who’d hurt his daughter, made her have to fight to do all the things she wanted because she was so fucking terrified of the bastard that she physically shut down.

But I did have a few things that I needed to set straight with the man.

And I wouldn’t put it past him to find his way to the team’s floor, to start banging on doors—which was so not the banging that most of the guys wanted to deal with.

So, I said, “I’ll drop off my stuff, meet him in the bar in ten minutes.”

That made Shitty Suit’s eyes narrow.

But I just shrugged my shoulders, added, “He wants to meet with me, he can wait.” A shrug. “Otherwise, he can schedule time with my assistant.”

A long pause.

Then the elevator alarm sounded, and Shitty Suit replied, “I’ll inform Mr. Henderson.”

The panels closed; the car rose. “Mr. Henderson?” Theo asked quietly.

“Kailey’s asshole of a father.”

The air in the elevator tightened. “What’d he do to her?” Marcel asked quietly, and the soft volume didn’t mean it was any less deadly.

“Shitty father. Emotionally abusive.” My teeth clinked together. “But nothing physical.”

“That’s just as bad,” Marcel said.

Yeah. It was.

But I didn’t have time to get into it with them.

I needed to drop off my shit, deal with Mr. Alec Fucking Henderson, and depending on how it went, I might have to wake Kailey up, warn her that her father was on the warpath.

“It’s Kailey’s story to tell,” I said. “But it’s not a great one, and having to deal with this bastard now, without warning, at this time of night, tells you enough about how considerate he was of his daughter over the years.”

My cell buzzed, and I started to pull it from my pocket, but then the elevator doors dinged and opened, and then I wanted to find my room, get the confrontation—and I had no qualms that the coming interaction with Alec was going to be anything but a confrontation—over with.

Plus, I needed to make sure Raph was in his room, wouldn’t be going out and doing something stupid.

Not that he had.

But I was half-convinced it was because I’d bribed Claire with a new Breakers jersey to put us next to each other.

I was a light sleeper.

I’d hear any shenanigans.

We walked down the hall, peeling off for our rooms until I was swiping my card, watching Raph go into his before I actually opened the door.

“I got him,” Theo murmured as Raph’s door shut. “You do what you need to do.”

“Thanks, man.”

Theo went inside.

I pushed open my door and?—

“Oof!”

A body collided with mine.