Page 149 of His Big Bad Stick

“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.