Page 12 of What if I Told You

Barrett lifts his goalie mask so he can wink at the both of us. “Nice try fuckers. Better luck next time.”

If there’s one thing I can say about Barrett, “The Bear”, Cunningham, he’s a true beast when he’s out on the ice. Best goalie in the league by a mile.

“Anyone see that article about the hotshot kid, Bodhi Roche?” Ledger asks as several of us step into the shower after practice.

“Read it last night,” I answer. “He’s got some great stats, that’s for sure.”

Griffin scoffs. “I hear he’s a little diva dick though.”

Oliver scowls. “Where did you hear that?”

“Social media,” Griffin explains. “Sports news won’t report that kind of shit but leave it to social media to hear what a few people who have played with him think.”

“Oh yeah!” Ledger nods. “Like that one guy. The dude who got hurt several years ago during his rookie year and can’t play anymore. What was his name?”

“Jeff Furbling,” I mumble.

“Yes!” Ledger points at me. “Jeff Furbling! I swear I saw a social media post where that guy was complaining about Bodhi’s stats. He rambles on and on about how much better he was than this kid.”

“Guess we’ll never know though, will we?” Griffin shrugs as he lathers shampoo between his hands. “Dumbass went and got himself injured before he could really make something of himself.”

Jeff is right though.

He was better.

In his day.

Before he got hurt.

Before I knocked him into the wall during a game that shattered his knee and fractured three vertebrae in his neck.

We were friends once, Jeff and me. Well, friendly rivals, anyway. Both graduated from the same high school and then attended rival colleges. We knew each other very well and it helped both of us when we faced off on the ice. I knew his strengths and weaknesses like the back of my hand. I knew his directional pivots were never fast but the guy had eagle eye vision when it came to shooting the puck from anywhere on the ice. Fuck, if I didn’t use that knowledge to my benefit anytime I could. He boasted his scoring stats all the time, but the fucker never pushed himself to be faster on his feet. I always equated him to the kicker on a football team. He was good for one thing only and that was shooting the puck, but he would never win a race skating down the ice. I knew I would always be able to kick his ass when the time came. We played against each other numerous times early on in our hockey days, but I’ll never forget that game in the first year of our pro hockey career.

The game that ended his before the end of the second period.

All because of me.

But none of these guys know I was the one who checked Jeff into the wall. It happened before I was traded to Anaheim and at the time neither of us was a big enough name for the story to take off. Lucky for me, I guess, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad for ending another player’s career. It was an accident nobody saw coming. I mean yeah, I wanted to check the son of a bitch and show him who was boss, but I didn’t plan for a pile up to occur just before bashed him back into the wall. That hit caused parts of his body to literally snap.

That wasn’t my plan at all, but it happened all the same.

He’s blamed me for it for years, I know.

He bashes me on social media every now and then, but I’ve learned to tune him out. He’s angry. I get it, but accidents happen. I felt bad then, but I’ve made my peace and moved on.

“Well, if Jeff Furbling is right about Bodhi Roche, it’ll be interesting to see where he ends up after the draft next year.”

Ledger laughs. “Let’s hope he goes to Chicago. Let the Red Tails deal with the prick,” right Oliver?”

“If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll check his tiny penis sized ego at the door if he ends up in Chicago,” Oliver says with a chuckle. “Landric might end up putting a fist through the kid’s face like he did to McClacken.”

I narrow my eyes. “Wasn’t Landric just protecting your sister when he attacked McClacken?”

“In that instance, yes, and I have no doubt the fucker deserved every punch Milo threw at him. Also, Milo didn’t know she was my sister at the time, so to him, he was just protecting his girl. Landric is a great guy. He was definitely worthy of marrying my sister after that night, though if you ask me, he was worthy of her the very first night he took her in, but that’s a whole other story. He keeps Charlee happy so I’m not complaining one bit. But he has no patience for egos when it comes to being on the ice. He’s a team player through and through.”

“Hey, speaking of girls,” Griffin mentions before turning off his water and grabbing a towel. “What’s the status on your non-girlfriend girl…friend? She coming for that interview?”

“Actually yeah.” I nod, finishing with my shower and also reaching for my towel. “Her stuff was delivered to my place two days ago and I’m picking her up from the airport this afternoon.”

---