Page 45 of Breaking Away

“Son.” He crosses his arms.

“Coach.”

“I want to be honest with you. The GM was kicking around the idea of not renewing your contract?—”

A buzzing starts in my head and my breathing shallows. Without hockey, I have nothing. It’s all I’m great at and what I’ve sacrificed everything for. It’s also what my dad needs to keep going. Without it, he’ll turn back into a man who drinks too much and gets fired from every job he’s tried to hold down since his injury.

“—salary cap,” Forrester says.

I missed a few words.

“I don’t understand,” I grate out. A headache starts in the lower lobe of my head.

Is he telling me I’m getting traded after the season? If that happens, there’s no guarantee the next team will play me like the Wings do. Not if their medical team figures out how bad my knee can get. Also, fresh rookies get drafted every season, desperate to prove themselves. Moving to another team means different internal bullshit and favoritism clashing. Any of those things can kill a career.

My throat closes.

Coach Forrester leans forward. “The way Hughes and you were in sync at the end, that’s what I’ve been talking about. Working as a team. You need to keep playing like that, like an offensive defenseman when the timing is perfect to go all the way. Do that and we’ll be having a different, much better conversation at the end of your season, especially if you help bring the Cup home this year, son.”

“You want me to play harder…”

My knee flares, mocking me.

“Keep stepping it up,” confirms Forrester. “Now, go shower. I’m sure the rest of the team is waiting to celebrate with you.”

With that, he leaves.

In the dressing room, the shower almost scalds my skin before I plummet the temperature. Looking down at my scarred knee, I see it’s swollen. After taping it up, I head upstairs to the box. If I’m smart, I’ll say goodbye to Kavi Basra, go straight to the hotel, and keep my leg elevated. It needs to not move for the next twelve hours to recover. Especially if I have to play—step up—like Forrester is demanding I do.

No choice. You have to.

Inside the box, she’s hanging around the team. No, the team is hanging around her, joking around. I should be gratefulthey’re making her feel comfortable. But then Hughes taps her with his elbow.

He fucks a different woman every night.

I move fast. My body goes and wedges itself between them. “Go away.” The sneer I point at Hughes is thunderous.

Kavi glances up at me, eyes widening. “He’s not bothering me.”

“Trust me, it builds.”

Hughes is straight-faced, miming a knife going into his chest.

“Believe nothing he has to say,” I tell her.

That startles a smile out of her. “Actually, we were talking about you, so consider me warned.”

Hughes smirks. “Now he’s dying to know more. And I will not put Lokhov out of his misery and tell him what it was about.” His smirk widens. “But I’m also weak. Bribe-able.”

I consider him. “How much money to make you hate me?”

“Not enough in this world, bro.”

Kavi hums. “This friendship is weird.”

I say, “We’re not friends,” at the same time Hughes says, “That’s the best thing anyone has said to me all day.”

“If you must know,” Kavi says. “We were talking about that last-minute goal of yours. How unexpected it was.” Her cheeks flush a pretty tinge of pink.

---