Page 76 of Call the Shots (For The Arena #1)

BEAR

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOY

Honestly, the broken nose was the worst of it. My fault. When Fridge and Nick were pulling us apart, Xavier kicked me in the face. The rest of the damage was minimal, and after I was handcuffed to the bed, the cops and nurses pretty much left me with the pain and my thoughts.

I felt a lot of things, but regret wasn’t one of them. Well, a little regret. I should’ve beat his ass sooner.

The door creaked open—Coach Sémajuste.

Ah. Shit.

In North Dakota, beating my teammates had been a locker room incident. A private episode with the team involved. This was way beyond that. I saw so many people with their phones out, they could’ve cobbled together a three-sixty view of the fight.

Sémajuste folded his arms over his chest. “Bear, I thought you were serious about hockey.”

“I am?”

“I thought the FHC Defenseman of the Year finalist and the winner of the Kennedy Reville Hat Trick award would’ve been. You were drafted to the Bulldogs and would’ve played for them if?—”

“Sir, there’s more to it?—”

“It’s an open secret about your pictures, Bear. I just thought you would’ve learned your lesson. Public fights have consequences.”

My stomach churned. “He’s been terrorizing my girlfriend all summer. What was I supposed to do? Nothing? ”

“By all means, kick him down in broad daylight.”

I flinched. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“No, you weren’t listening," Sémajuste corrected me with a pointed look. "Your teammates told you what to do and you chose to ignore them. You’re lucky they were there to stop you.”

It was quiet and I took steadying breaths, feeling like shit, and not just because of the splint keeping my nose together. “Yeah. I am lucky.”

“Because you’ll be charged with assault, I have every right to cut you from the team.”

Liquid ice poured through my veins. Cut from the team. Cut from hockey. Regret hit me full-force, I made a mistake. Not throwing down Xavier but doing it in front of an audience. Who was I without hockey and what did this actually do for June?

“I could cut you from the team,” he allowed. “Or…”

My eyes darted to his. “Or?”

“As long as you’re not booked on aggravated assault, you’ll be pulled from practice for the rest of the summer and the first three games of the season.

The program will require community service and anger management classes for six months, a public apology to your brother and your team, and you’ll have a curfew starting with the fall semester. ”

It was an ostracizing punishment, and it stung, but it was tame compared to getting cut. “I…don’t understand.”

“Do you know who's in the waiting room?”

“Uh, June?”

“Your entire team is begging me to let you off the hook. Denali swore to personally supervise your curfew and Elijah’s been promising me his future checks.”

“Seriously?”

“If they’re not out there already, they’re on their way, blowing up my phone.” He held up his cell, purposely turned off. “You have a lot more influence on the Gladiators than you suspect. Which is what I need.”

“What you need?”

“I’ve never been a head coach before.” He shifted forward. “I need you to take the punishment, without complaint.”

I watched him, surprised.

“This is if the charges aren’t aggravated assault. If they are, I can’t do anything for you.”

I tried to lean to the side, but the handcuffs stopped me and I shifted uncomfortably. “Can I…still be alternate captain?”

“Why?” he asked, studying me.

“Because I’m good at it. And…” I couldn’t lie to him, and I didn’t want to. Coach was clearly trying to save my ass. “Alternate captains get leeway with housing. I wouldn’t have to live at RV anymore.”

“Is this about June?"

“Yeah. It’s about June,” I admitted. “With me, it’s pretty much always about June.”

“You’ll be suspended from the role for the summer,” he said carefully, and my hope sank. “ But …you can earn the badge back with good behavior. And whatever contract you sign with housing is final. You can tell them you’re still an alternate captain. That’s me being generous, Bear.”

I breathed out a sigh of relief, wincing with how much it hurt. “Thank you, sir.”

“I need you behind me. Every step of the way.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I don’t want to hear Xavier’s name again. Do you understand?”

“Yes, thank you, sir?—”

The door opened again, and police officers followed through, their faces stormy. What was the verdict? My dad hadn’t even come in, I didn’t know what the next steps were.

One of them produced a key ring, shaking his head in disgust. “Must have a guardian angel, lucky son of a bitch.”

“What happened?” Sémajuste asked.

“Charges were dropped.”

Dropped? Just like that? How was that possible? I rubbed my wrists, confused. Why did Xavier drop the charges?

“Oh, you do have a guardian angel,” Sémajuste chuckled as I caught sight of the door frame.

June stood tiny among the police officers. My June. Her eyes were bloodshot, her blonde hair was in a messy bun, she was so goddamn beautiful. I swung off the bed while June maneuvered around the cops. As soon as she was close, I pulled her towards me.

“Hey, baby,” she whispered. “Let’s go home.”

The Gladiators went apeshit when they saw us in the waiting room and I had more arms thrown over me than I could handle with the bruises.

Elijah mussed up my hair. “That’s our fucking boy!”

We stopped at Gianna’s where Denali had a Gladiators hoodie to exchange for the bloody shirt, and someone put a paper crown with ‘ Professional Ass Kicker ’ on my head. It hurt too much to do anything but grin as my teammates flashed videos of the fight, digging into pizza.

“Holy shit.” Nick whistled. “Whose birthday is it?”

“Oh, fuck,” I muttered to June when the birthday song started behind me. A waitress placed the plate on the table, a slice of birthday cake and ice cream, complete with two candles I had to blow out like it was my actual birthday.

“What part of quiet—?” Denali demanded and swiveled to Elijah. “You asshole?—”

Elijah grinned, singing Happy Birthday the loudest.

I stopped the guys trying to dig into dessert and slid the plate to June. Her eyes sparkled and she took a bite of cake, cheek pressed against my arm.

“It’s bullshit that you won’t be captain anymore,” Pickles said.

“Are you joking?” I said, genuinely dumbfounded. “Coach could’ve scratched me off the roster and you think I’m not grateful? I know this is hard for you but use your brain for a second, Pickles. I’m still allowed to play hockey. ”

“You’re out for some of the games,” Sully pointed out.

“So you guys better not fuck up.” I shrugged. “I’ll be in the seats and boo you myself.”

“Wow.” Fridge exhaled. “I didn’t think it was possible but…did you learn something from this?”

“Shut up, Fridge.”

Something touched my hand under the table, June. Her fingers intertwined with mine, the first time she moved to hold my hand. I stayed still while the guys talked, waiting for her to let go, but she squeezed my hand.

“Happy birthday,” June whispered, her voice soft and teasing.

I rubbed my thumb across the back of her hand and she didn’t draw away from me. She kept holding my hand. That was worth the broken nose and the bruises. That was worth all of it.

The team had plans to keep drinking but June wanted us to leave, and I gladly called it a night. Denali could make as many ‘parole officer’ jokes as he wanted, I didn’t care. My heart was in my throat because she was holding my hand on our walk to Roman Villa.

I never thought about holding hands before. Not like this. It was a reminder that we were going somewhere together, that she wanted me to stay close.

“Bear?” she said softly. “You didn’t have to…I never wanted you to think you had to choose.”

“It was the easiest choice.” I shrugged, flinching from the pain from my ribs. “I choose you, baby.”

We came to Roman Villa’s street and I glanced down to see June’s eyes on me, sparkling sea glass in the streetlights. A heartbreaking smile crossed her lips. “I love you.”

I love you.

June said ‘ I love you ’ to me. Her words were a gunshot to my head and suddenly I didn’t care how much my body ached. I felt lighter than air. Accepting the possibility that this was real—that June loved me, left me lightheaded.

“You can baby-trap me,” flew out, the words jumbled together.

June’s eyes shot wide. “What?”

“You can lie to me and say you’re pregnant and I’ll get you pregnant—we can tell everybody it’s that point-five percent chance with birth control—I can pretend to be mad if you want me to?—”

“Oh my god—” She pulled her hand away, a flush creeping up her neck. “I— what? ”

“When I’m in the NHL, nobody will give a shit if I want to visit my girlfriend?—”

“Bear—”

“It’ll be so much easier to visit my baby mama?—”

“ Bear— ”

“Wife would be even better, we can get married, and?—”

“Take a deep breath with me,” she stopped me. “We’re both twenty-one, we’re not having kids.”

“Oh, I—alright.”

She searched my face for a moment and I could barely look at her. I wanted her to know how much she meant to me. I couldn’t figure out another way to say that.

June touched my cheek. “I think I know what’s going on. Bear, we don’t need to add something big like a baby to make this serious, okay?”

“Okay,” I echoed.

“This is serious to me,” she whispered. “Loving you and being loved by you is more than enough.”

“Oh,” I said, my voice thick.

I didn’t know feeling exposed could feel so good.

June read me like a textbook, highlighting, underlining, and sticky noting things about me that I was too embarrassed to show.

Things I wasn’t sure were there in the first place.

Gently, she pulled me down for a hug and I wrapped my arms around her, ignoring how much my body recoiled from the touch, still sore.

Fuck the pain. It was the best hug I could remember.