Page 49 of One Good Puck (Denver Bashers #5)

Gavin

“ C an you do post-game press tonight?” I ask Jason. “Alan wants me in his office.”

Jason nods. “Yeah, no problem.”

“Sorry to throw you to the media wolves on a night like tonight. I’m sure they’re going to be all over you.”

We ended up losing to Calgary by a point. And news about the hallway brawl spread quickly. It’s trending all over social media and sports news. A few fans happened to see it and posted videos about it immediately after it happened.

“It’s okay,” Jason says. “It’s part of the job.”

“I owe you one. How’s Ryker doing?”

“He messed up his knee in the fight,” Jason says. “He’s with Sophie right now getting it looked at.”

I let a heavy sigh. “Just great.” I tug my tie loose. “This is all my fault.”

I expect Jason to lay into me, like he did when he pulled me off of McCoy.

But he just shrugs. “Yeah, you lost your cool, but they all joined in. Hockey players love a good fight. You know that.”

He pats my shoulder.

“Thanks for that,” I say.

He walks off, and I head for Alan’s office. I knock on the closed door.

“Come in.”

When I walk in, Alan’s standing behind his desk, frowning at his phone screen.

He holds it up to me. “Your little temper tantrum is the top hockey news trending on social media and all the sports news outlets. Congrats.” Sarcasm drips from his biting tone.

“I know I messed up.”

“Messed up?” Alan tosses his phone on his desk and lets out a bitter laugh. “You didn’t mess up, Gavin. You royally fucked up.”

Frustration zooms through me, but I bite my tongue. He’s my boss, and he’s pissed off at the crap I pulled. I need to just stand here and let him chew me out.

“You know, I thought your demand to get rid of McCoy before the season started was ridiculous. But maybe it was a good thing because had he been playing on our team, you’d be kicking the shit out of each other every game,” he says in that same sarcastic tone.

He tugs off his tie, then tosses it on the back of his chair.

“I’m sorry. I lost my cool. It won’t happen again,” I say.

“You’re damn right it won’t happen again.

” He finally falls into his chair, then gestures for me to take the chair in front of his desk.

“Because McCoy won’t be around much longer.

He’s been suspended for the next two games because of his hit on Ryker.

And I just heard through the grapevine that Calgary is looking to get rid of him after that.

I guess they’re not a fan of his dirty playing. ”

I let out a slow, quiet breath. Good. I don’t want to see that fucker ever again.

Alan aims his hard frown at me. “And now Ryker’s injured because of your bullshit.”

That momentary relief fades, and I tense up again. “It’s unfortunate if he’s out for the next few games. We have a solid roster though. O’Connell can play in his place. Or Ivanov.”

Alan shakes his head. “I’d bet my left nut your prized veteran winger is going to need to be out longer than just a few games. He hurt his knee and his ankle in that fight—on his weak side. It’s looking like he’ll have to be on long-term injury reserve.”

Alan rolls out his shoulder, his tell-tale sign that he’s stressed as hell.

“I’ll have to meet with the team owner to talk about next steps regarding salary cap and who we might have to call up from our AHL team,” Alan says.

Dread curdles in the pit of my gut. One of the few things I know about Greg Macer is that he hates exceeding the salary cap, which will happen if we have to put Ryker on long-term injury reserve and call up one of our guys from the AHL to play while he’s out.

Guilt seeps in through the dread I’m feeling. Ryker’s probably crushed about this. And it’s my fault. I should have kept my cool. I shouldn’t have lost it on McCoy.

“I’m sorry,” I say again, even though I know that’s the least helpful thing I could say right now.

“I don’t give a shit that you’re sorry,” Alan says, glaring at me. “You’re on thin ice, Gavin. Yeah, you brought us the Cup last season, but that doesn’t mean shit if your behavior leads to fights that injure our players and cost us games. Understood? ”

“Yeah.” I stand up from the chair, then walk out of his office, feeling on edge and like I’m on the verge of screwing everything up.

When I arrive home and walk into the kitchen, Abby is standing at the stove, cooking a grilled cheese sandwich.

She glances up at me and offers a sad smile. “Hey,” she says softly.

“Hey.” I toss my suit jacket on the back of a chair and walk up to her. I wrap my arms around her, hugging her tight. She sinks into my embrace, and I breathe in the scent of her strawberry shampoo.

The comfort is instant. My muscles relax, and all the stress I’ve been holding on to for the past few hours melts away. That’s how it always is when I’m around Abby. Everything else falls away, and there’s just her.

“I’m sorry about the loss,” she says into my chest.

I nuzzle her hair and kiss her. “Me too.”

“I know I don’t know a lot about hockey, but those refs were terrible. They screwed you guys over.”

I smile at the conviction in her voice. “It happens sometimes.”

She leans back and looks up at me, then cups her hands over my cheeks. “I heard about the fight in the hallway outside of the locker room. What happened?”

I work up the nerve to tell her.

“McCoy made a disrespectful comment about you. I couldn’t let it slide.”

Her face falls. “That jerk. Gavin, I’m so sorry.”

“Hey.” I kiss her forehead. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about. ”

“Did you get in trouble?”

I tell her about how Ryker got injured in the brawl and my meeting with Alan.

“Alan’s ready to fire me over this,” I say.

Abby shakes her head. “He can’t. Gavin, it was one loss. One moment where you lost your cool. You’ve been a perfect coach otherwise. And yeah, that sucks that Ryker got hurt, but you didn’t force him to fight. He jumped in on his own.”

I open my mouth to speak, but she cuts me off.

“Gavin, you coached your team to a Stanley Cup championship last season,” Abby says. “And you have a great record so far this season. He can’t get rid of you over one bad night.”

I smile at how passionate she is when she speaks—at how much she’s defending me.

I shrug. “That’s the nature of professional hockey. You can perform at the top of your game for years, but all it takes is one screw-up to lose it all.”

Her eyes go glassy. “That’s not fair. You’re a good guy, Gavin. The best guy. You stand up for what’s right, no matter what. And the guys on the team love playing for you.”

I cup her cheek in my hand, heartened by how deeply she feels for me.

“Hockey isn’t fair sometimes. That’s all it really boils down to,” I say.

She kisses me, then hugs me tight.

“Enough about my mess. How’s Emma? Did she have fun at the winter carnival with her friends?”

A soft smile pulls at Abby’s lips. “Yeah. A blast. She had a tummy ache from all the cotton candy she ate, though. I had to give her ginger ale to settle her stomach before she went to bed.”

I chuckle. Abby’s gaze turns focused. “I told her about us being in a relationship.”

My nerves kick up. “What was her reaction?”

Abby’s eyes light up when she smiles. “She was so happy. She said, ‘I’m glad Gavin is your boyfriend, Mom. He’s really nice to you. And he smiles at you a lot. Can we get a puppy?’”

My head falls back as I laugh. “Damn. She didn’t waste any time.”

“I told her no, of course. Not right now.”

I kiss her again, joy and relief setting in my chest that Emma is happy that we’re in a relationship.

When we break apart, she hands me the grilled cheese on a plate. “You should eat after the day you had.”

I demolish the sandwich as Abby puts together a small charcuterie board for us to share. We stand at the kitchen island, talking and eating and stopping to kiss every so often.

That warm feeling inside of me burrows deeper. Yeah, my career is a mess right now. But I don’t even care. I have Abby in my life. I have her amazing kid in my life too.

I gaze at her and soak in this moment. The way her eyes light up when she laughs. How comfortably she moves in this space. How she leans her hip against the counter, like she’s done it a million times. Like she belongs here.

I want her here with me forever.

Emotion swoops through me, and my breath gets stuck in my lungs. For a moment, I’m overwhelmed by my feelings for her.

And that’s when it hits me. I’m in love with her.

I swallow hard, letting the wave of emotion swell through me.

When I lost Nicole, I never thought I’d fall in love again. And that was okay with me. I felt so lucky to have the time I had with her.

But then Abby came into my life, and I couldn’t help the feelings I felt…I couldn’t help how hard I fell for her.

She aims those sparkling hazel-green eyes at me and smiles. “You okay?”

I clear my throat. The urge to tell her that I love her hits me like a freight train. But I can’t. We only just decided to make our relationship official. I need to slow down. Saying that I love her now will probably overwhelm her. It might even scare her off. No way do I want to do that.

So I just cup her face in my hand and drop a gentle kiss to her lips and say, “I’m perfect.”

Because I am. And I don’t mind waiting just a little while longer before telling her exactly how I feel.