“Fantastic! Why?” I put a towel over the cork and popped thebottle.
She grabbed the whiskey from the freezer and poured us each a shot. “Don’t you think I know you a little betterthanthat?”
I pursed my lips, getting lost in the amber nectar for a second. “I just want it to finally be my turn to have newslikethat.”
“You’re young! Enjoy the single life as long as you can. Trust me, you’re not missing much, and in due time you’ll find the right guy and start popping out littleJordans.”
I blushed a little thinking about Will. Throwing back the shot, I coughed a bit. “Yeah, you’reright.”
“Now, let’s get trashed and see how many times Janetignoresus.”
“I think tonight was the first time she actually spoke more than two words.” I put the flutes on a tray and followed Jennie back into thediningroom.
Chapter4
Crosby
My alarm clockstarted chirping much sooner than I would have wanted it to and I groaned as I stretched out my tight back. My hamstring was still tense from the game a few nights back, and it was mornings like this when I was reminded that I wasn’t a young rookie anymore. Even though I was barely thirty, I felt as if my expiration date was coming sooner than I’d have liked. I brushed off the notion, touching my toes for a few seconds. Hell, if Roberto Luongo could still be one of the best goalies in the league at thirty-eight, I was perfectly fine. Hobbling, I made my way into the bathroom to soak in a sweltering bath before I had to get topractice.
Most of the time I came off as a hard-ass jock who knew how to play hockey and that’s about it, but little did most people know, I loved nothing more than to relax in a bubble bath and read on my Kindle. As lame as it was, it was nice to escape reality from time to time and just get lost in anotherworld.
I grabbed my e-reader, scrolling through my endless library of new downloads and old favorites. Chuck Palahniuk had always been a go-to author for me ever since I first readFight Clubwhen I was in high school, and rereadingLullabyseemed to be the perfect start to my day. I swiftly dove in, hurriedly getting to one of my favoriteparts.
I read my favorite line out loud: “Maybe you don’t go to hell for the things you do. Maybe you go to hell for the things you don’t do. The things you don’t finish.” I let the words sink in and resonate for a bit; they were just so powerful. Regret was something I never wanted to have. Jordan swiftly popped into my head. Maybe it was time to finally do something about my long-termpining.
After eating a huge breakfast and stretching out my still aching muscles again, it was time to head to the barn for some ice time. I was one of the first to get into the locker room, which was typical. Brayden and Gavin were the only ones that usually beat me, and that was because they were freaks and would skate around before the rest of the team got there. Slowly, one by one, my teammates filed in, and before long the locker room was bustling with everyone getting ready to work theirassesoff.
“Did you hear?” Gavin came up next to me while I was getting my pads on forpractice.
I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to elaborate, because obviously Ihadn’t.
“We have a rookie taking over to fillHendricks’sspot.”
Right then a tall, broad, linebacker-looking guy followed Coach Hayes into thelockerroom.
Coach blew his whistle to get everyone’s attention. “Gents, I have an announcement. Hendricks is out for the rest of the season. He blew out his knee and is going to have to have surgery and extensive physical therapy. We’ve been told he should be fine for next season, but that does leave his slot open and we can’t have that. So, Otters, please welcome our newest teammate, JamisonPerry.”
We all took turns introducing ourselves to him as we made our way out totherink.
“Welcome to the team man.” I shook Jamison’s hand. Poor kid, he looked like he was about to puke. “You allright?”
He nodded feverishly. “Yeah, just trying to take itallin.”
After getting to the ice and skating for a few minutes, a whistle sounded. To our surprise, we were greeted by the jubilant presence of a phenomenal guest coach, SimonAbramson.
“My, my, my! Look at all of you!” Simon sang as he skated around us. “Missme,boys?”
I chuckled a little at how big of a show he was putting on for the dudes that had no earthly idea who he was or what he was doingthere.
Coach took a seat on the bench. “Most of you should remember Simon, but for those who do not, he’s a multi-Olympic gold medalist and is here to show you a thing or two about skating better. You guys are getting sloppy with your footwork so listen to him, men. He’s the bestthereis.”
“Thank you for such a warm introduction, Gideon.” Simon held his hands in the air. “Now, gentlemen, let’s get to work. Crosby take those silly pads off so you can actually move around this time. You’re not getting off that easy and I don’t want to see you clumsily try to lungeagain.”
I did as he asked and joined the rest of my teammates as we learned way more about twirls and lunges than we ever cared to know. I did have to hand it to Simon, he really knew how to get through our thick skulls, and by the end of the practice most of us were joking and having a great time making fools of ourselves while trying to pull off harder and harder spinmoves.
The new guy was having the hardest time out of all of us, which was not surprising at all. Coach was about to kill him after he ran into Harding for the second time in about five minutes. I watched in horror as Jamison tried his fucking hardest to snap out of his nerve-filled funk, but rookies always choked in the beginning—it was athing.
“Stampcrab!” Harding yelled from the other side oftheice.