Chapter 34

34

Colver

I show up to the arena early.

There are fans already lined up at the gates, yelling.

I have about twenty minutes before I'm on the hook for some pregame interviews.

Normally I'd fight back against that kind of shit but I owe it to the guys. I need to take the heat of my suspension and get everyone to move forward.

I wave to the fans yelling my name.

Then I spot a little boy and girl standing next to each other.

I don't know how to judge the age of a kid but they can't be more than two years old. With whom I assume to be their mom and dad standing right behind them.

The mom reaches down and takes the little boy's hand and waves to me.

I grit my teeth.

I picture Abrielle months from now with a round belly.

Shit, my heart…

I toss my bag into the bed of my truck and walk over to the gate toward the family.

"Here he comes!" the mom says.

"Oh, wow, this is awesome," the dad says.

I give a nod.

I'm not good with this kind of small talk stuff.

"Who do we have here?" I ask as I crouch down.

"This is Laura and Lucca," the mom says.

"Hockey twins," the dad says.

Yeah, they're twins for sure.

"Lucca, say hello to Colver," the mom says.

The little guy points at me and smiles. " … ass!"

"Lucca," the mom gasps.

"Oh, man, I'm sorry about that," the dad says to me. "He knows you by your last name. Caspian . And he, uh, he's still learning how to talk…"

This little guy just called me an ass.

I grin and look up at the mom and dad. "No worries. I've been called much worse by hockey fans."

"Hi, Clover !" Laura says in the sweetest voice ever.

Her eyes are big and bright.

"Sorry again," the mom says.

"Don't be sorry," I say. "Cute kids you've got."

"Can you sign a puck for their room?"

I nod and the dad hands me a puck through the gate.

I sign it, hand it back, and then offer fist bumps to the twins.

Others have gathered around, looking for pictures and autographs.

I stay outside long enough that security and a team representative come looking for me because I'm late for my interviews.

Fuck that.

Security blocks me from the gate and I'm escorted into the arena after a quick stop at my truck to get my bag.

Once I'm in the arena, they take me to the locker room.

"He's back!" Dax calls out.

"Got you something for tonight," Turner says. "A gift from us."

He looks at Rhett and nods with a grin.

Rhett tosses me a pair of boxing gloves with a red bow on them.

"Welcome back, asshole," Ben says.

Faust lets out a laugh from his corner of the locker room as he sits with his giant goalie pads on.

"You part of this too?" I ask him.

"No," he says. "Jokes are fucking stupid. Just like what you did out on the ice. You're lucky you're not in jail. And you fucked the team over. Thanks for that."

"Faust, as happy as ever," Dax says.

I put my bag down and start to gear up.

That's when the doors open and in come a group of reporters.

Fuck.

The guys all take their chance to slip out of the locker room, leaving me high and dry.

Which I completely deserve.

"Let's get this shit over with," I call out.

That breaks the ice.

"How about I just talk for a minute, okay? I'll tell you everything. Things went too far with the fight. I took it too far. I'm not here to apologize and beg for any kind of forgiveness. I was offered a chance at it. I refused."

"You took a suspension over being with your team?"

"That's exactly what I did," I say. "And now I'm back."

"Are you… calmer?"

"Not a fucking chance in the world," I say.

That's my one f-bomb for the interview.

"Colver, moving on, I received a picture of you and a woman-"

"No personal stuff like that, guys," I say. "You know my rules."

"This is a big story. Possibly."

"You can't respect my privacy? My personal life has nothing to do with hockey."

"It does if someone will be giving birth in the future."

There's a loud gasp from everyone else.

My nostrils flare like they've never done before.

I jump toward the guy and he steps back.

He trips and falls to the floor.

I show my hands. "See that? I didn't touch this guy. He fell on his own."

I stare down at him. He swallows hard.

Some fucking punk looking to get a jump on a headline story.

You want to post about Abrielle being pregnant? Go for it. But come on, be real here, this is supposed to be about hockey.

"Interview is over," I call out. "You got your quotes. Nothing fun here now. And I would advise everyone to stay the fuck out of my personal life."

I offer my right hand to the guy that fell and I help him back up on his feet.

He's scared, blinking fast.

It's interesting though.

As I stand there, looking at him, thinking about throwing him across the room…

… I realize I can't do that.

There's more than just myself to think about now.

I have to think about Abrielle and our baby before I do anything crazy that could come back and hurt them…

A guy with the name of Pierre has been wanting to fight me all game.

From the second the puck dropped…

There's a TV timeout and I look up at the scoreboard.

We're up by two goals. Atlanta has already pulled their goalie.

Only forty-five seconds to go to end this game.

I'm not getting into a fight tonight…

Although I'm sure a lot of people expect it. I'm the exact kind of guy who would get suspended for fighting and come back and get into a fight right away.

The thing is, the game feels bigger now for some reason.

Not playing… shit, I missed it.

Yes, I missed the fighting too.

But this feeling.

Less than a minute left. We're up. The other team is scrambling. The fans are on our side.

We're back from the timeout and get set up on the ice.

Pierre is across from me.

"I'm going to beat you down to the ice," he says to me. "I won't stop either. Fuck it. You're a piece of shit, Colver."

The puck drops and I bolt toward Pierre.

I get him with a clean shoulder check and send him right down to his ass.

The fans love that.

Rhett and Ben take the puck down the ice.

Atlanta plays hard.

Ben takes a shot on the empty net but missed by an inch.

Atlanta has momentum.

Pierre comes after me. I see him but act like I don't.

I brace myself for the crosscheck and take it.

It feels like someone has dug into my back to rip out my lungs.

Doesn't matter though.

A whistle blows and Pierre is headed to the penalty box and that basically ends the game.

We win.

I end up with one assist and not much else.

But just to be present on the ice and in the game… it feels great.

I tell that to the reporters waiting for me.

They grill me about Pierre and why I didn't fight.

They think I'm a changed man now after the suspension.

I don't really care what anyone thinks right now. I just want to get the hell out of the arena.

Interviews are done.

I grab a shower.

Coach Patty has a meeting with us.

Then I hurry the hell out of there, to my truck, and leave.

Fans are waiting, yelling, and waving.

Best I can offer right now is a quick wave back.

I have a pregnant woman at home waiting for me.

I pick up a pizza on the way home, figuring Abrielle's cravings will be out of control like they always are this time of the night. Here I thought women craved things like pickles mixed with ice cream when they were pregnant. All Abrielle wants is pizza.

So that's what I bring her.

It's what I'll continue to bring her if that's what she wants during the entire pregnancy.

When I get back to the apartment, the lights are all on.

The TV is replaying the hockey game I just played.

I find Abrielle on the couch.

She's not curled up and tucked in under a blanket fast asleep.

She is sleeping.

Only she's sleeping sitting up, her head tilted to the right. Her laptop on her lap, hands resting on the keyboard.

I put the pizza box down and reach for her laptop.

The screen is activated. She doesn't have a password.

Not that I'm in the business of snooping, but I can't help but look at the browser that's open, staring right back at me.

She's looking at apartments.

Condos.

Houses even.

It makes perfect sense yet it catches me off guard.

It's not like I haven't been thinking the same thing myself.

The current arrangement we have works for right now but not forever.

Our baby needs a nursery.

I'm sure Abrielle is feeling that too. Wanting to start thinking about a nursery and shopping and prepping and all that.

Everything suddenly feels very heavy.

It's not just a semi-romantic gesture of getting pizza anymore.

It's time to go beyond that.

I take the laptop from Abrielle's hands.

She starts to wake up.

As soon as her eyes open and she looks at me, she smiles.

"Hey," she whispers. "I was watching the game. So boring it put me to sleep."

I feel the sudden rush of choice words touch my tongue.

Instead of speaking, I lower down and kiss Abrielle.

Then I pick her up.

And I take her to bed.