Page 10 of Playoff (Toronto Blaze #4)

I just play hockey

Alek

I stripped down quickly in the emptying locker room and headed to the showers.

As with the rest of the facility, they were nice.

Separate stalls, clean tiles, plenty of thick towels.

Also seemingly endless hot water, which I appreciated as the last guy on the team to get into the shower.

When I came back, Cooper, wearing dress pants and a coat that looked both warm and expensive, was waiting by my cubby.

I nodded at him. "Captain."

The corner of his mouth curved up. "I didn’t expect you to be so formal."

"Playing nice on the first day of school."

He laughed. "The team has a lunch spread, but I wondered if you'd like to go out. Since it's the first day of school."

I shrugged. "You're my ride, so sure." I threw the towel in the laundry bin and reached for my boxers. I'd worn my jeans and a favorite T-shirt with the LA logo on it.

Cooper frowned. "You need new clothes."

I agreed. "Starting with a coat."

"I can help you with that."

He could. Not only did the clothes he was wearing look good, but he had a reputation in the league for how he dressed—and how he worked on his teammates to up their style game.

"Sure." Any place he took me would have good quality. It wouldn’t be cheap, but I had money and was willing to spend it if I got value in return.

Once I was dressed, he led me back out to the parking lot. I shivered, the damp cold seeping through my jacket. I ran my hand over my head. Even though I didn’t have wet hair dripping down my neck, I wanted more than the hat on my head for protection.

He drove us to a hole-in-the-wall not far from the practice arena. No one looked at us as we walked in to place our orders at a worn counter on the side. The place was decorated, if you could call it that, in faded browns from decades ago.

"What's good?" I asked. The menu was a hodgepodge of North American, Asian and even some Indian dishes.

"Everything I've tried. Is there anything you don't like?"

"Lobster."

He raised a brow. "Lobster?"

"Yep. Anything else should be fine."

He turned back to the menu, placed who knew how long ago under the sheet of plastic covering the counter. "Want me to order for both of us?"

"Sure."

"Grab a table and I'll be right there."

The place was busy, but a couple in the corner were picking up their belongings so I dropped my ass in a chair as soon as they moved. Cooper sat down across from me shortly after.

“So,” I said.

“So?”

“Is this the usual ‘make the new guy welcome’ thing?”

Cooper’s brows shot up. “Straight to the point.”

I shrugged. “Life is short. I want to enjoy my food.”

He leaned back in his chair. “New guys are normally dragged out to an expensive restaurant after their first away game and told to cover the tab.”

"Original." Every team I'd joined had done that to me.

"Sometimes the classics are the best."

That could hurt a rookie’s bank balance, but I’d been making money for years. “I can handle it. You want to talk to me about my reputation?”

“I’d rather work that out for myself. But there are some things I prefer to discuss in private. Stories have started to pop up about your parents.”

Of course they had. I crossed my arms. I was so sick of having to defend myself. “You want me to tell you I had nothing to do with that?”

“Not my job. I just play hockey.”

Nice try. It wouldn’t have been on his discussion list if he didn’t have something going on. “Then what is it?”

“You’re going to get grilled about it by the press when the team introduces you tomorrow. I wanted to be sure you were ready for that. And…you’re not wearing that, are you?”

He was looking vaguely horrified at my LA shirt. It was tempting to play him, but… “I have non-branded clothing.”

“So was this a test for us?”

I shrugged. “You knocked us—I mean, LA—out of the playoffs last season. It’s going to take time to adjust.”

“Adjust your LA stuff fast.”

“I’ll play nice. According to the message that just came through, the team is sending swag with Blaze logos on it to the hotel. You have anything to do with that?”

He grinned. “Of course. Part of my job as captain.”

“Bullshit.”

“Maybe for other captains, but I have a thing for clothes.”

He was certainly different from Marty, who’d once gone a whole day, including a press conference, wearing a T-shirt inside out. “I’ve heard. So you want to make sure I dress up pretty and I’m ready for questions about my parents.”

“For starters.”

I settled into my chair. “I’ve been grilled about my parents since they fled the country ten years ago. Everyone has wanted to talk to me about them. Law enforcement, the press, private investigators, their victims.”

He watched with slightly narrowed eyes, looking for—sincerity, guilt, who the hell knew? But then a tiny man brought over our plates and we were both distracted.

The food was good. A mix of Indian and Hakka. And Cooper going unnoticed? That was unusual. Since I was likely to have a lot of eyes on me now that I was back in Canada, I made note of the address in case I wanted to return for good food and anonymity.

Once the top edges of our hunger were soothed, I asked, “So what else did you want to talk about?”

He swallowed a mouthful and nodded. “Management didn’t change many players after last season. And going that far with the group? We were tight. I know most of them. The guy who’s been the hardest to get to open up is JJ.”

“The guy glaring at me in the locker room.”

“Yeah. Do you two have history?”

I frowned, trying to remember anytime I’d played against him.

He’d been drafted by New York, played with them for a while, then been traded to Toronto.

We’d been in the league about the same amount of time, but never in a playoff series together, which was where grudges were really nurtured.

Nothing from our games together stood out. “I can’t remember any issues.”

“What about your parents?”

I stiffened. “I didn’t know anything about my parents’ business.

I’ve learned the names of some of their victims since, because they’ve come after me, but there were a lot and I don’t know them all.

Yeah, I think there was at least one Johnson family, but it’s a common name.

I have no idea if that Johnson was connected to JJ. He never said anything before.”

Cooper finished his meal and set his cutlery down carefully.

“I’m going to track him down after this.

We were out at the Top Shelf last night when the news of the trade came through, and he reacted badly.

More upset even than after the Cup loss, so there’s something there.

I hope he can play nice, but I’ll force a sit-down together if necessary. ”

I wiped my hands with my napkin. “I’ve got no problems with him, so whatever. I can’t undo what my parents did so there’s nothing I can do to help.”

He leaned back in his chair. “Was it bad?”

He had no idea. “It was a shit show. I still get a visit from law enforcement every time I return to Canada to ask if they’ve been in touch. I haven’t heard from them in more than a decade.”

His brows flew up. “You haven’t heard from them in ten years?”

I was so over this. “Don’t believe me?”

“I thought my family was fucked up.”

“Not sure it’s a contest, but I could probably win.”

His phone buzzed and he flipped it over to look at it. “Okay, one more thing. That was Fitch, getting back to me.” I pushed my plate away. Cooper ran his gaze over me, but he was considering how to express himself, rather than assess me now. “The team has you at a hotel, right?”

I nodded.

“Maybe you like it there, but in my experience, players do better if they have their own space.”

Did he have something to sell? “I’m a playoff rental. Contract done in June. I’m not buying.” But since the hotel was depressing as fuck for a long-term place to stay and not secure, I’d like to find a short-term rental.

“Fitch just moved into a condo.”

“He wants a roommate?” That was unexpected.

“He offered, if you wanted. He’s newly divorced, was rooming with Ducky. Might be easier for the new guys to buddy up."

There was more to it than that. “He’s a problem? Or am I?”

Cooper flashed his megawatt smile. “Neither. But you're both new, single, and I'm assuming you get along okay or he wouldn't have agreed."

So I was the problem. Cooper was handling me.

My first instinct was to say no, but I bit the word back.

I could find a short-term lease till I knew what was going on long-term, but those were depressing.

Generic furniture, empty-feeling rooms. Having someone around, just to fight off the loneliness, might be nice.

Otherwise I might be tempted to ask a hookup to hang around.

Maybe that was why the brunette from last night kept intruding in my thoughts.

The sex had been next-level, but I’d invited her to stay and eat, so obviously I wanted company.

“We can give it a try. I've had more than enough hotels in my life, and if it doesn't work, no harm, no foul.” As long as we left things open-ended, I could get my own space if I needed to.

How soon would he want me to move in? I wanted out of the hotel before I got more letters from victims of my parents.

"There's just one thing."

I narrowed my eyes, fingers rubbing the stubble on my jaw. Cooper had been leading up to something, and this was it.

"The place Fitch bought? It's in the same building as JJ and his sister."

"What?" This was a city of millions of people. Why were they living next door to each other?

He shrugged. "It's close to both arenas, and it's a nice place."

"You're not talking a duplex or semi-detached here, are you?"

"No. It's a fair-sized high-rise, and you wouldn't be on the same floor. If you do run into each other, forced proximity might be good. Because in the locker room, on the jet, on the ice? You can't ignore each other."

Locker room and jet, maybe. On the ice? Not if anyone wanted to win. "I've had teammates before who I didn't like or get along with. I can handle it if he doesn't like me."

His mouth firmed. “I’m committed to taking this team all the way. And that means you and JJ have to do better than handling each other. I’ll talk to him and find out what the issue is, but it’s going to be settled.”

“I have no beef with him.”

“Good. That’s all I can ask.”

Pretty sure he could have pushed for a lot more, but I let it go. Time to lighten up this conversation. "It's been a while since I've been on a team that believed they could do it."

Cooper leaned back, a dreamy look in his eyes. He was going to singlehandedly drag this team to the playoffs by their skate laces. "I hope you're ready to make it happen."

Damn it, now I was. He made me believe he could do it. This man was dangerous.