Page 18 of Hat Trick Heart

I hated leaving her like that but the coach called me and I knew that I had to go in. I left her a note and I hope she found it.

I hit the arena and groan when the security guy that I dislike is the one on staff today. He smirks at me. “Got yourself in a bit of trouble didn’t you, LaCourt? I always knew you’d manage to fuck things up for yourself.”

“I’m not done, asshole. And at least I’ve got good prospects. Unlike you.” He glares at me and then the GM comes around the corner before something else can happen.

“Hey, I told you to call me when he got here.”

Johnson stiffens. “He just got here. Sorry, sir.” I can see the words stick in his craw and the urge to needle him about it pricks at me but I don’t. Whatever’s going on here is his problem not mine. I’m not going to get involved in his childish games.

“What do you need, Robert? I was about to meet Coach.”

“We’re all meeting in my office upstairs.” He nods to the security guard and leads me away. “We’ve just got to go over a few things and then I think pretty soon we’ll have all your legal issues cleared up and you can come back to the team with a few stipulations.”

When I reach the office, I’m not surprised to see Coach and Vic sitting there already. But there’s another person there and she’s got a look to her that I don’t like.

Robert nods to me and indicates the seat across from his desk which is right next to the strange woman’s seat. I nod at her assessing gaze and then sit down.

Robert steeples his fingers and eyes me narrowly. “Now, we’ve managed to get things sorted out pretty well but there’s one stipulation that the other attorney is requiring that we thought you might have a problem with.”

“What’s that?” I ask, a lump building in my throat.

“They think that you need some anger therapy.”

I jerk upright and glare at all of them. “What the hell? And you agreed to that? I’ve never even gotten into a fight on the ice!”

Robert nods. “I know that. But it didn’t seem like that much of an ask since technically you could go to jail for assault. We’ve offered them a nice payout and season tickets but the last piece of the puzzle is this last ask.”

“How long are we talking about?” I ask, stunned. I’m not one of the hotheads on the team and I’ve never been one off the ice. It’s just that I couldn’t let that guy touch Sassy again.

“At least two months of weekly therapy. Only one day a week. We think that can work well into your training schedule even during the season so it all sounds good to us.”

“I still say this is bullshit,” I mutter under my breath.

“Maybe so. But it’s better than jail.”

“And if I don’t agree to this?”

“You go to trial and you don’t play this year. Maybe not ever again, depending on how things go at trial.”

“Great options,” I mutter.

“The guy was really pissed. And since he’s gonna be drinking through a straw for the foreseeable future, it didn’t seem like such a big ask.”

I hang my head. “Fine. Is that all?”

He nods at the sleek woman sitting across from him and near me. “This is Dr. Carter. She’s going to be taking care of this for us and she’ll be your therapist.”

I nod at her and sigh, rubbing the middle of my forehead. “Great. Sorry, I’m glad to meet you, Doc.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she smiles, her voice soft and controlled. “We’ll get to know each other in our sessions. I’m hoping that this helps you out and makes you a better, more controlled player.”

I shoot Robert a dirty glare. “Yeah. Sounds great. Is there anything else that I need to do? I’m sorry but I’ve got to get back home. There’s somebody I need to go meet.”

Coach sighs. “Take this seriously, LaCourt. If you start skipping your meetings you might find yourself suspended again for an even longer period of time.”

“I get it, Coach. I’ll do whatever good little boy things I’m supposed to do.”

He nods but his lips tighten and I want to tell him to fuck off. I’m not a troublemaker. But I don’t. I just stand and nod at the room in general.

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