Page 39 of Heartless As Puck

I felt the corner of my mouth lift, betraying how pleased I was to be the first person asked. “My positive is that I feel more in sync with my line mates than I did last year. My thing to work on is getting the puck past the opposition’s defense and into the goal.”

Dunn nodded. “Taylor?”

Taylor offered up his two comments, and we worked our way around the room one person at a time. No one was overlooked. I couldn’t say the mood was good by the end of it, but the angry muttering and tension had certainly diminished.

Dunn and Willets left us to finish changing, with a request for Matt to join them in fielding any questions from the press since he’d been the acting captain. I couldn’t help but wonder whether the coaches had been impressed by him, and if another one of us would be tested in the role for the next game.

I finished undressing, showered, and donned clean clothes to leave. Jane was waiting outside, along with the other players’ partners. Taylor’s wife, Maribel, was beside Jane, with her son propped on her lap, chatting to her as if they’d always been friends. For all I knew, they could have been. I’d never paid much attention to whether Jane had friends among the players’ partners.

We waited until the press interviews had ended so Matt could join us, and then we headed to Rinkside, the bar and restaurant nearest to the stadium.

In previous seasons, a handful of us had made a habit of going there after home games to debrief, but it seemed that this year, everyone was determined to come along.

We were shown in by wide-eyed waitstaff who managed to find space for us along one wall, despite us having turned up at the last minute without a reservation. I felt a little bad for them, but they put their game faces on and got to it. I supposed that having the local NHL team stop by after their very first game was worth whatever extra trouble we caused.

We ordered food and drinks. The drinks came quickly and, unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the younger players—and a couple of older ones who should know better—to get rowdy.

Our game was replaying on a screen above the bar, and three of the rookies started a review of everyone’s mishaps and moments of brilliance, growing more and more outspoken with Jesse egging them on.

Beside me, Jane was no longer making conversation but instead watching everyone with those big dark eyes as she wrapped her hands around a pint of beer and drew circles in the condensation with her thumb.

I leaned closer to her. “How was it watching with the others?”

“Fine. I sat with Maribel and her little ones. She was grateful for the extra help with the kids. Luis is super cute. Very shy.”

I imagined she could relate to a shy kid better than most. “They weren’t… I mean, no one was rude to you because we’re together now? They did know, right?”

She nodded. “I think everyone has heard, but they were nice enough, same as always. None of the guys have given you any trouble, have they?”

“No.” It surprised me, actually. Nick, of course, had guessed that it was fake because of our conversation the other day, but as far as everyone else knew, it was real. I’d expected at least one of them to give me a hard time about taking advantage of an employee, but so far, they’d all been strangely accepting.

“Quiet down,” Mitch called to the rookies.

“Quit grumping, old man,” one of them teased, earning a scowl and a glare.

“Seriously, the last thing we need is for Coach Dunn to get word that we’re causing problems.”

Mitch had a good point. Unfortunately, at that moment, Jesse got knocked over on the screen and Drew went after the guy responsible.

Along the table, Drew sneered. “I should have hit him harder.”

Matt shoved his chair back. “You shouldn’t have hit him at all. What the hell were you thinking?”

Drew’s solid frame practically vibrated with rage. A bit of an overstated reaction. Someone really ought to get the guy into anger management classes.

“I was thinking that those assholes tried to take out one of the least shit people on this team and they needed to realize we weren’t going to stand for it.”

Across the table, Jesse made a heart shape with his hands. “Aww, Drew, do you care about me?”

Drew’s eyes narrowed. “I care about your ability to play.”

“You should care about your own ability to rein in your goddamn temper,” Matt snapped, his nostrils flaring as he sucked in a deep breath in a visible effort to calm himself.

“My temper is fine. I was taught to be the team’s battering ram, and I was just doing my job.”

Jane huddled closer to my side. The others must be making her uncomfortable. While I knew she had a spine of steel when needed, it was obvious that she generally didn’t like confrontation. She was here because of me, so I had a duty to fix the situation before it caused her any more distress.

Matt’s hands fisted. “It’s not your⁠—”