Page 29 of Broken As Puck

God, I wished I’d handled things differently. I wished I hadn’t hesitated at such a vital moment. If I hadn’t, we might be married now.

My phone rang and my heart slammed into my ribcage. I shut the ring box and slapped the phone to my ear, half convinced it was Chelsey, even though I knew that was ludicrous.

“This is Matt Matthews,” I said, waiting with my heart in my throat for the response.

“Mr. Matthews?”

It was a tinny female voice. Not Chelsey. My heart sank.

“Who is this?” I asked, pulling the phone back to check the Caller ID. It was an unknown number.

“This is Rebecca Jansen from the Chicago Sports News Online. How do you feel about the Chaos’s first preseason game?”

Fuck. It seemed she was determined to get something out of the team today. I gritted my teeth and reminded myself that I couldn’t hang up on her.

Being polite was harder than it seemed.

Chapter Ten

MATT

“First off, I know some of you are disheartened that we lost in Seattle yesterday, but we always knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game, and I think we put in a good showing. We had some excellent passing between the forwards, and the defensemen were coordinating well together.”

I nodded, leaning against my locker as Coach addressed the team. He was right. There was plenty we could improve on, but we hadn’t embarrassed ourselves in our game against Seattle. I couldn’t help but wonder what Rebecca Jansen might say in her inevitable article about it.

Coach Dunn turned to Davenport. “You can be especially proud of yourself. You may have let three goals in, but you blocked far more than that and that maneuver where you did the splits…” He shook his head. “Incredible.”

Davenport looked down and scratched his chin, obviously uncomfortable with the praise. He was a quiet guy: a little surly but well-intentioned. He didn’t thrive in the limelight.

Assistant Coach Willets stepped forward. “Those of you who were here last year know what’s about to come next.”

Beside me, Drew groaned.

Willets shot him a disapproving look. “We’re going to go around the room, and everyone will share one thing they did well and one thing they could improve on. Since McKinley so kindly volunteered, he can go first.”

Drew scowled but ducked his head a little sheepishly. “I tackled well,” he muttered. “But I should have kept a cooler head when that guy chirped Elliott.”

I hid a smile behind my hand. Drew wanted everyone to think he didn’t give a shit about anything, but whenever anyone targeted a person he was fond of, he came at them with his fists.

“Good,” Willets said encouragingly. “I’m glad you were able to recognize that yourself, and yes, your tackles were excellent. Young?”

We continued around the group until we’d all said our piece. I expected Coach to tell us to get ready to join him on the ice, but instead, he pulled his phone from his pocket and glanced down at it before speaking again.

“On Friday, animals from the Furry Hearts Shelter will be coming to the football field a couple of blocks over. We’ve assured them that some of our players will make an appearance so they can get photographs of you with the animals. They’re raising funds and awareness for the shelter and, hopefully, generating enough public interest to rehome some of the animals.”

Drew stuck up his hand and, without waiting for a response, said, “Is it a kill shelter?”

Coach Dunn referred to his phone. “No. It’s a no-kill shelter.”

Drew nodded as if satisfied.

“Are we allowed to adopt the animals?” Jesse asked, beaming from ear to ear.

Coach shrugged. “If you want to, but don’t forget that having a pet is a big commitment and those of you without roommates or significant others won’t have anyone to help you take care of them.”

I grimaced, reminded of exactly why I didn’t have the dog I’d always wanted. I was excited for the photo shoot, though. I’d love to spend time cuddling cute animals, and the fact that it was for a good cause only made it better.

Delacrue scoffed. “It’s such an obvious PR stunt. I mean, getting hockey players to cuddle kittens? Come on.”