Page 64

Clark

T he alarm beeped, and I rolled over to shut it off, then popped up out of bed. Snowball gave me the stink eye, watching me from the other pillow.

“Sorry, I have to get to the game,” I told her as I went out into the kitchen and made a protein smoothie, then shook myself awake from my pre-game nap with my usual stretches. Today was our home opener.

Coach Atkins had gotten us pumped and ready this morning at our team meeting and morning skate, finalizing the roster. While Anders, JP, and a few others had gone out for sushi, I’d taken a nap, so I could be in top form for tonight.

Fuck. Austin Blake was Bronson Deloitte. We were playing that jerkface and his whole asshole family tonight. Number 16 would pay for what he did to Gwen.

Finishing my smoothie, I made sure Snowball had lots of food and water. I got out a new toy for her from the bag of widdle treats Gwen had gotten and put in the cupboard, then hopped in the shower. After, I put in my contacts, making sure I had my glasses for later. Then I dressed in a pinstripe suit and the cute tie Gwen had given me this morning.

Grabbing a cupcake from the box on the counter, I took a bite, letting the chocolaty goodness explode over my tongue. Cupcakes were just muffins with frosting. It also made me remember the blowjob she’d given me in the kitchen last night.

Fuuuuck.

I might have had her good last night. Okay, I was making love to her every night to help keep the nightmares away.

As I left our apartment, I glanced at Tenzin’s door. Given Gwen wanted to ride on the back of my motorcycle after the game, it wasn’t like we’d carpool. Our social media guy had texted me to let him know when I was on my way. He wanted to get a shot of me pulling into the garage on my motorcycle for our channel. So I texted him and Gwen.

When I pulled into the garage, he was ready and waiting and got a nice shot of me pulling into a space, and taking off my helmet.

“That was great,” he told me.

I grabbed my helmet–and Gwen’s.

Fans were already gathered at the arena as I headed to the player’s area. I got waves and cheers as I made my way to the players’ area and one of the social media interns was there, catching everything for our channel.

“It’s your first home game of the season. How do you feel?” she asked me, holding up her phone.

I smiled, imagining slamming Austin into the boards. “We’re going to crush this.”

As always, I was one of the last to leave the ice during pre-game warm-ups in the arena, given I liked to take my time. Like I’d taken my time doing my off-ice warm-ups, wrapping my stick after our pre-game meeting, and eating dinner with the team.

On game day I didn’t want to rush, I might miss something.

Since this was the home opener, Castle, being a rookie, had been forced out without her helmet, to do her rookie lap at warmup. It was tradition, even though we’d made her do it last season when she’d been brought up when someone was out with an injury. I’d done it, and one day Gwen would do it, too.

The Gears had made Bronson and another player do it, as well. They were warming up on the other side of the ice, several of them skating around and being showoffs.

While some players were serious and locked-in during warmups, Dean and Grif were being goofy with each other, smacking each other on the ass with their sticks. My heart squeezed a little. I wanted Tenzin to chase me around the rink after I’d play-smacked his ass with my stick.

Carlos was trying to put pucks down people’s pants. Silas stacked pucks carefully–which Carlos would knock over on his way off the ice. He always had to be last going in.

I grabbed a puck, because sometimes the kids asked for them. Gwen wasn’t here yet. She had practice tonight and would rush over from campus. I took a quick survey of the signs and saw a kid with candy bars taped to hers, asking to trade candy for a puck. While she didn’t have chocolate buttons, she had Gwen’s other favorite.

Skating over, I held up the puck. Her eyes lit up and I chose a candy bar. She tossed it over the glass and I caught it. I threw her the puck. “Thanks.”

As I skated off, a body in a grey and maroon jersey slammed into me. He knocked me to the ground. For a moment all I saw were skates. Custom maroon skates with gray stitching. I sucked in a breath.

No. It couldn’t be. He’d been wearing black skates in the videos I’d watched.

Did he actually have the balls? I peeled myself off the ice, and standing there was number 16, helmet on.

He did. Anger swirled inside me. How dare he?

“How do you like my sloppy seconds, Wonder Boy?” he sneered, ramming me with his body, trying to knock me down again. “But then, she always did want your dick.”

“You abusive asshole.” I stood firm, then pushed him back. I was a little bigger. “Do you know what you put her through?”

“You know nothing, you hick,” he snapped, shoving me.

“Try me, Toilette.” I pushed him again. Hard.

One of his brothers pulled him away as Jonas did the same to me.

“You’ll pay for what you did to her, you monster,” I growled.

Jonas was pushing me toward the tunnel. “Off the ice, Clark.”

We stumbled into the locker room. Most of the players had stripped down a bit. Music was playing, getting everyone pumped for our home opener.

I wasn’t pumped. I was fuming. How dare he?

“Here, you dropped this.” Carlos handed me the candy bar.

Coach Atkins stormed over to me. “What was that? Fighting during warm-ups? I know this is the Gears, but really? I don’t care what he said to you.”

Something in me snapped. “He’s wearing the skates. That dickhead had the audacity to wear the skates he put her in the fucking hospital with, the ones she worked overtime to buy him. He also called her sloppy seconds . How dare he? That fucking asshole.”

“You said he’d pay.” Jonas looked confused. “That’s their new nepo baby, right? Toilette or something? Who’d he put in the hospital?”

“Gwen. He’s Gwen’s ex. The one that disappeared before the police could go after him for hurting her. The one that broke up with her when he didn’t get a PHL contract on his own, so he had to leave and go work for his dad. Well, that dad is fucking Coach Deloitte, and the reason no one’s ever heard of Bronson Deloitte is that for years he went by Austin Blake,” I spat, so angry I could barely talk. “She sacrificed so much for him. Fucking knotwaffle. What sort of psycho wears the skates he put her in the hospital with?”

“Knotwaffle?” Coach blinked.

“That’s a Gwen word,” Jonas replied. “Yeah, that’s a dick move.”

Dimitri’s head popped up from the book he’d been reading. “Are you saying her ex is Bronson Deloitte?”

“Yeah. She found out yesterday. As in, she has proof.” I felt like I needed to add that.

“You were right.” Carlos punched his locker, his scent going spicy with anger. “Shit.”

“That’s why Ty kept saying that Bronson Deloitte’s style looked familiar. They played together for years,” Dean added.

Nia scowled, shaking her head. “Asshole.”

“Yesterday? Well, that explains a lot,” Coach Kirov said softly. “I still don’t understand the birthday thing.”

“What do you mean, Ladybug’s ex put her in the hospital? ” Pauley looked startled. “I thought they just broke up.”

“She was bleeding in my arms. Carlos and Dimitri were at the hospital with us.” Suddenly, I was back to that awful night. I was in the shower and missed her call. When she hadn’t answered, I’d rushed to the rink, only to find her lying on the ice, bloody.

The day I died a little. Until her love revived me.

Nakey frowned. The forward had a sister her age. “Wait, that guy she was going to marry, hurt her with the skates she bought for him? I remember her picking up all those extra shifts at Tito’s to get the skates.”

“Dude, what? Austin’s not a Deloitte. He’s not an asshole like that,” Mitchy replied with a roll of his eyes.

“Shut up, Mitchy.” Castle threw a towel at him.

Dimitri gave everyone the short version.

“Breathe,” Tenzin said softly, standing close to me.

I took a deep breath, getting wisps of him along with a whole lot of locker room. “I’m going to fuck him up.”

“The scar on her head. He did that.” JP stood. He didn’t look good.

“She’s not on duty tonight, is she?” Jonas asked me.

“Ty’s on duty. She’s coming to the game. If she was on duty, she’d be a fucking professional though.” I poured one of my hydrogels in my mouth and put the candy bar away.

Jonas nodded. “And whack him with her stick like she did Windy.”

“Ooh, I’m going to be sick again.” JP ran off to the bathroom.

“I told you not to eat that,” Anders called after him. He looked at me. “I’m going to beat Austin’s ass. No one messes with ours.”

“Do what you all need to do. Don’t get badly injured. I don’t want to see any multi-game suspensions. We need to win, understood?” Coach Atkins barked.

“Yes, Coach. That’s a rousing speech.” A woman wearing a vintage black and silver Knights Jersey with a 0 on it, a man whose vintage jersey said 7, and a person wearing slacks with a nice turtleneck sweater, came into the locker room.

While no one was naked this close to the game, a few people looked startled. Okay, Nakey was nearly naked. But he enjoyed being naked, which was why he was called Nakey.

The woman laughed. “Believe me, between playing and coaching, I’ve seen it all. My current team is a bunch of nudies. Also, my father was the equipment manager for this team back in the day.”

Gray streaked her black, wavy hair. The others were the same age. The man in the jersey also had dark wavy hair and a similar olive complexion, the other had near white hair.

“Mia. Gio. Vail. Welcome.” Coach Atkins grinned. “Mia, if I’d known all it took was inviting you to drop the puck, to get you to one of my games, I would’ve done so long ago.”

Usually someone famous or a former player came and did a ceremonial puck drop for the first home game of the season for each team.

Mia chuckled. “I’m so sorry we didn’t pick a closer team to coach.”

“This is Maria Barilla-Russo, former Knights goalie and Giovanni Russo, former Knights defenseman. Both of them coach for the Venice team in Italy. This is their mate, Vail Russo,” Coach Atkins told everyone. “Maria and Gio will be honored later this season. We go way back.”

Maria Barilla? As in Gwen’s favorite player?

Dean stood there, mouth gaping.

JP rejoined us from the bathroom and sucked in a breath, staring. “Merde.”

One of the guys with her chuckled. “You have a fan club.”

“Thank you,” JP finally said, looking star-struck. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for hockey.”

“Absolutely,” Dean added, expression full of awe. “If you hadn’t laid the groundwork, omegas never would have had a chance in the PHL.”

“It’s always nice to meet fellow goalies.” Maria smiled and looked up at them. “My, what big boys you are. Goalies are giants now.”

A couple of defenders were talking to Gio.

“Thank you for defending me after I was outed,” Dean added in earnest. “You telling them I had a place on the ice meant everything. Same when you defended my mate.”

“What happened to you was shitty. You’re a great player. All I did was remind them of that. Same with Grif,” she assured him.

“Are you staying for the game? You’re my girlfriend’s favorite. Your card is on our wall, right between my two most important comics. She’d love to meet you. She’s a goalie for her university,” I blurted. We’d gotten frames for some of her cards.

“Does Gwen know you’re calling her your girlfriend?” Anders smacked me on the ass.

Nia laughed. “He signed her up for a MASO pass, so I hope so.”

“Gwen’s one of our EBUGs.” Constantine joined them. “Solid goalie who’s going places. I’m pretty sure she made the noodle necklace hanging from your picture at the training center.”

Vail chuckled, arm around Mia. “I love how you’ve become the patron saint of EBUGs. Do they sacrifice a lasagna like the ones in Boston? Oh, there are the ones who make boats of spaghetti, set them on fire, and float them down the river.”

“It involves homemade sauce and wine, I think?” I blinked. “Um, I don’t get to know goalie secrets.”

“It does,” Dean replied. “Sauce, wine, and noodle necklaces.”

“You’re Vail Russo, the skating coach,” Tenzin breathed, standing next to me.

“Yes.” Vail nodded.

Where did I know that name?

Tenzin turned to me. “Gwen’s figure skating coach. The one she trained with, so she could play hockey with his mates, the retired PHL players.”

I sucked in a breath. Oh! “The ones that lived next to her nonna.”

Oh shit. That was before she was Gwen. Did they even know her new name? She might not have had contact with them in years. That must have hurt so much.

“That makes so much sense, why she plays the way she does,” Dean breathed.

Maria put her hand to her heart. “I haven’t seen her in a while, but she holds a very special place in our family.”

Okay, they knew. Whew.

“I’m sure you know all the good stories.” I wanted to hear about tiny Gwen and all the animals she found. Did she bring them to the rink?

“You have no idea.” Maria laughed. “She’s why we have four cats and a turtle.”

“Double D, JP, you two will be doing the ceremonial puck drop, as will the Gears’ goalies.” Coach eyed JP. “If you’re well enough?”

JP nodded. “I’ll try.” He gave Maria a look. “Not contagious. Just tried some sushi I shouldn’t have.”

I checked my phone and took a swig of vitamin water. Gwen had texted that practice went long, and she was running late. Hopefully, she wouldn’t miss puck drop. She’d want to see this.

Dean had everyone kiss his stuffed rabbit. Grif had won it for him before a game back when they were in high school. It had become lucky. Everyone kissed the rabbit. Not just because he was the goalie, but because his superstition allowed for it to be washed.

Unlike Pauley’s socks, which were only washed when we lost, to wash away the bad luck. Grif was getting people to pet Lucky. I didn’t really understand the whole imaginary cat thing, but it made people happy, so why not?

“When did Gwen find out who Austin was?” Tenzin growled, cornering me. His jersey was still off, so were his pads, and he wasn’t wearing any sort of undershirt.

“Yesterday.” I tightened my skates, trying not to look at all that bare Yeti chest on display, and his tattoos. How did they taste?

He frowned. “She didn’t tell me.”

“Why would she?” All my frustration exploded out of me. “She’s so afraid of bothering you, that she couldn’t bring herself to text you yesterday, when she was having a massively shitty day. You didn’t even come to family skate. I get it, you’re busy, but all she wanted was to hold your hand and skate around. Gwen was so sad that even the Maimers dressed in inflatable costumes didn’t cheer her up. She misses you. I miss you,” I yelled at him, well aware people were listening in as all my frustration poured out.

Tenzin recoiled like he’d been slapped. “I’ve been right here the whole time. I text you both every day. Yes, I haven’t been able to take her on dates, but things have been hectic. I’m right there across the hall.”

“Are you really that dense? You might as well be across the ocean for how emotionally unavailable you’ve been. We’re trying to be respectful of your need for space, but it’s hurting her.” Hurting us. Glaring, I checked the tape on my stick.

Hurt wafted off Tenzin. He still stood there half-naked. Unmoving.

“She thinks it’s her,” I hissed, voice low. “That given everything she shared with you, you’re taking so long because you’re deciding if you want to be with someone like her.”

“What? No.” His look grew horrified. “That’s not it at all. There’s a lot to put in order with the season starting. Partially why it’s taking so long is that I’ve been tracking down experts, so that I could care for her properly. I want to be with both of you. She thinks that? No wonder she’s withdrawn so much. I figured it was the stress of class, work, and practice. Fuck.”

The look on his face tore at me. But he had hurt her. She’d been near tears when he hadn’t shown up at family skate yesterday.

“Experts?” I frowned. All Gwen needed was love, cuddles, and understanding.

Okay, and tacos.

“Yes. There’s some big family things happening that I need to wrap my head around pretty quickly, which has taken priority. I’m so sorry you both feel this way. It was never my intention. She didn’t text me about her bad day, because she didn’t want to bother me?” He rubbed his forehead, scent anxious. “I… I didn’t go to family skate since I thought she had class, so I was meeting with my therapist.”

“Oh. Still, you need to talk to us and communicate. We thought it would be like it was before the wedding, and instead it’s been so much less. We miss you. Is it that hard to come over and watch a fucking movie?” I pushed, still feeling anger.

Not at him, more at Austin, but he was right there.

Tenzin flinched. “I didn’t realize that I wasn’t doing a good job of communicating. Because I made a point of talking to both of you.”

“You made her sad. Do you even still plan on going to the dinner with us? Gwen’s spent weeks getting her dress altered and finding shoes, and is all excited to go with us.” My arms crossed over my chest.

His look went bewildered. “Of course I am. I even got a new tux, since I can’t find mine.”

“Bucket, put some clothes on,” Coach shouted. “Lover’s spat can wait.”

“Sorry, Coach.” Tenzin turned back to me. “We’ll talk after the game. I never meant to hurt anyone.” He threw on his pads and jersey, and it looked like he took a moment to send a text.

Just because he never meant to hurt us didn’t negate the fact that he had. I understood that family things may have derailed everything, but couldn’t he have talked to us?

Taking a deep breath, I touched the tiny Captain Everything plushie keychain I kept in my bag.

“Hey, pet Lucky, you’ll feel better.” Grif offered me a handful of air.

I pretended to pet the non-existent cat. “Thanks.”

Yeah, that didn’t help. But I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“It’s game time,” Coach yelled. “Let’s kick some Gear ass.”

Now that… that would help.

“Ladybug’s watching. Let’s show her we give a shit,” Nia added.

“Keep your head in the game,” Jonas told me as we left the locker room. “If that’s her ex, I’m sure he and his brothers are going to come for us. Work it out with Bucket later.”

“Thanks.” I nodded. Them come for us? No, I was going to come for them.

“We’ll get them good and make Mariquita proud,” Carlos told me as he slung an arm around my shoulder.

“He’s 16?” Tenzin said as we entered the tunnel, that would take us to the arena.

I nodded. “She’s here, so feel free to harass Austin and show her you care.”

“Okay. I can’t believe he wore the skates. Ugh. I’m sure it was on purpose. I’ll slam him good for her. Maybe twice. Possibly break his nose.” Tenzin punched one gloved hand with another.

The venom in his voice made me smile. He did care about her.

That was a hockey I Love You if there ever was one.

I think I’d send her one, too.