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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

JACK

Y eah, violence would feel good right about now.

It takes me two strides to make it to the treatment room door and rip it from its hinges.

Another three strides before I’m parallel with the benches and I can throw my phone into my training bag.

And on the seventh stride? My fist connects with Tyler’s face.

He stumbles backward, blood pouring from his nose.

I hit him again, this time aiming for his jaw. The unmistakable crack of two teeth is the only noise in the deadly silent locker room.

I take one final stride, but Archer makes it to me first with Sawyer hot on his heels from the shower.

“You—you broke my fucking nose!” Tyler screams.

No regrets. Not fucking one.

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO HER?!” I’ve never felt this kind of rage—I’m uncontrollable, seething.

Archer’s grip around my waist tightens. “Breathe, Jack. For fuck’s sake, breathe.”

I genuinely think if anyone else had said it, I wouldn’t have listened. My anger would still be rising as the voice of reason washes over me.

But this is Archer—the guy who’s usually all jokes and playtime—now asking me to cool it.

I pause on trying to hit him again when Tyler spits blood in my face.

I smirk, raising the hem of my jersey and wiping at my cheek. “Like I said before, sloppy seconds never felt so good.”

He growls like some kind of fucking Doberman. “She read the messages then,” he says, blood streaming down his face and over his jersey.

“Fuck, Tyler. What have you done?” Sawyer comes to stand beside me.

“What I should’ve done months—no, years ago.” This time, he steps toward me, and Sawyer gets between us both. “You really think I didn’t know your game back then? How desperate you were to get under my skin? I told you this has never been about Kendra. It’s always been about me.”

None of that is true, but it shakes me to my core regardless. I couldn’t give a fuck what Tyler thinks. Except he’s poisoned an already-vulnerable and heartbroken Kendra against me.

She needs me now more than ever, and there’s nowhere else I want to be.

Panic overtakes me as I hold Tyler hostage with my glare. We’ve always had a rivalry, never been able to stand the sight of each other. Though this time, he knows he went too far. As I said to my dad, I’d burn anyone who hurt the girl I loved.

And I’m in love with her. It didn’t take the thought of losing her to conclude that. But it did take this moment right here to realize I can’t live without her.

I refuse to let my idiotic teenage behavior be twisted and used against me.

My molars are practically dust as I fight against Archer’s grip, ready to hit Tyler again. “You and I both know that text thread was clipped to make it look even worse. You know what my next message said—that she deserved better. She deserved to have a guy who’d show her what it was like to be worshipped. Even at nineteen, I could see that, and you knew I could make her happy. The truth in my words threatened you. Why didn’t you send the full thread, Tyler? Not man enough?”

“Fuck off!” he spits.

I’ve seen and heard enough.

When I turn away, Archer releases me, and I rip off my jersey and pads, throwing them down on the bench.

“Where are you going?” Sawyer asks, one brow raised with worry. “You can’t go after her. We’re in the middle of a series.”

I snatch up my bag. “I’d say, the second I hit him, I landed myself in hot water with the GM. Nothing—and I mean, nothing— is going to stop me from going to her. She didn’t make the national squad, her career is imploding, and now I’ve just broken her heart.”

He claps a hand on my shoulder and squeezes—his way of asking me to take a second. “My Papa always told me to fight battles I know I’ll win, and I can see my chances aren’t good with this one.”

My jaw tics, Sawyer’s absolutely right, he can’t stop me. “She’s going home to Ohio and that’s where I’ll be in a matter of hours,” I reply.

He reaches into my bag, fetching out my phone and handing it to me. “Send me Kendra’s number.”

I take it from him. “Why?”

“Just send me her number.”

Hitting forward on her contact, I tip my head over my shoulder and watch as Tyler attempts to stem the bleeding from his nose. “Where’s Jon?”

Sawyer runs a hand across his jawline. “Prepping a debrief a few rooms down.”

I nod and make for the door.

“Jack? ”

I turn toward Archer as he sidles up next to my captain. “Yeah?”

“Darcy knows Kendra’s home address in Ohio. When we were hanging out in Lloyd’s that night, I was there when she asked her for it. She wanted to send a Christmas card to her family. So, all I’m saying is, if you need to know where her parents live, then your sister can help you out.”

I don’t know where her family home is, though I’d have knocked on every door in the state until I found her. Despite the fucking turmoil I’m in, I manage an appreciative smile before I’m out the door and heading for Jon.

The empty player hallway only serves to feed my panic as I check each room and come up empty.

I’m going to lose her. I am losing her.

When I finally find Jon sitting at a long boardroom-style table, I take a breath and watch him through the door window, observing different clips of game footage.

He spins around as I push into the room, the smile on his face from rolling over Nashville completely gone, along with his coach persona.

He drops his pen to the table when he sees the pain in my eyes. “Jack, what the fuck has happened?”

My bag hits the floor with a thud as I collapse against the wall beside me. “It’s all fucked. Everything.”

He rounds the table in less than a second, his hands on my upper arms as his eyes search me from beneath the bill of his cap. “Talk to me. Does this have to do with Kendra? Because you just played the game of your life out there. The media wants to speak with you.” He tries to lift my spirits. “They’re calling you the next Jon Morgan.”

I remember the first time Jon showed up at a college practice session. I was in my freshman year and one bad drill away from calling it quits. My game wasn’t where it needed to be. I was miles behind. All I could do was skate fast and excel in agility tests .

It got to the point where most of the guys avoided talking to me since not only did I not fit in on the ice, but Tyler made sure I was as foreign as my nationality off it too.

Mum has said to me on multiple occasions that Jon changed her life, and I know he feels the exact same way about her. They were strangers to each other when they met but were instantly magnetized.

That’s how I feel about Kendra. How I’ve always felt about her. And that’s how I feel about the guy standing in front of me. He changed my life that day. All my teammates wanted pictures and autographs, and when he finished up being the true professional he’d always been, he quietly went about giving me the coaching he knew I needed.

He didn’t give up on me, and he taught me not to do the same when it came to my dreams. He showed me that I could be whoever I wanted, and he guided me both on and off the ice.

When my mum bought those season tickets for my eighteenth birthday, she thought that would be the best present I’d ever receive, and it was damn close to it. What she didn’t anticipate was the man she met as a result would eventually become the father figure I craved.

There was never any other name I’d play under, and there’s no other girl I want to pass it onto.

She’s endgame for me.

“I need to go to Kendra.”

His eyes drop to my red knuckles, and I brace for him to ream me out.

It doesn’t come, and I look him directly in the eyes.

“I fucked up in college, and Tyler has twisted it against me.”

Jon exhales slowly, not saying a word.

“I know. I know this is the NHL and I have responsibilities. But she just got bad news about the national squad, and now she thinks I’ve been using her as part of this fucking stupid rivalry with Bennett.” I push my hand harshly through my hair. “I need to go to her in Ohio. ”

I’ve been waiting for him to hit coach mode since I walked through the door.

He surprises me again when his face turns softer. “Is she the one, Jack?”

I don’t hesitate. If she weren’t, I wouldn’t feel like my organs were being doused in acid.

“Yeah. I need to show her that she can trust me and she’s my girl, and I can only do that face-to-face.”

He presses his lips together. “Say no more.”

“I hit Tyler,” I tell him. “Twice.”

His eyes drop to my knuckles again. “Off the record, I don’t fucking blame you. If anyone messed with Felicity, I would …” He trails off and regains his professional exterior. “Well, you know I hit Elliott. When you told me what he did the other night, I was all for going there again. Your mom thankfully distracted me away from that idea.”

Despite the shit show I find myself in right now, I roll my eyes. “Yeah, not helping with the nausea.”

He tips his chin over my shoulder. “Go. You’ve got two days before we play again. I’ll clean up this mess and smooth it over with the GM.” He drops his voice, a deadly expression on his face. “This goes no further.”

I nod once as he releases me, and I waste no time in grabbing my bag and getting ready to chase after Kendra.

“Bennett’s last chance was tonight. He’s been on a warning for a while. His training and game aren’t up to par, and his attitude fucking stinks. We’re shipping him to the farm team in Connecticut.”

I don’t say anything. Internally, I’m fucking buzzing. He deserves to be dropped.

“Who’s going to replace him?”

Jon pulls his cap off his head and leans toward me, placing it on mine. “You’ve got incredible playmaker abilities, and you’re one hundred percent future captain material. When you aren’t punching your teammates, that is. The day you signed with the team, you were being doubted left, right, and center. Now every single guy, bar one, can see the value you bring to each game and practice. Including the GM. If I can convince him you won’t make a habit of getting into it with your teammates, then I have no doubt you’d be his first choice.”

My jaw pops open, and he points to the door behind him, picking up his pen and preparing to push on with work.

“Now go. Get your girl and tell her about the apartment.”