Page 92 of Not A Chance

Nothing’s open at this hour except the newsstand. But I’m in business, so I’m sure they’ll feed me something before I get there.

Theo

You sure you don’t want me to hop on the next flight and follow you?

I couldn’t resist offering one more time to show how serious I was about being there for her.

Indie

No. I’m sure it will be fine. Just family stuff. Need I remind you you’re headed to New York tomorrow morning and you can’t just skip games? I’ll be back before you know it.

She was right. As much as I wanted to say “fuck it,” get on a plane,and deal with the consequences of going to see her anyway, I had a contract to abide by. Not to mention teammates to set an example for.

Theo

I already know it, baby. Counting the seconds. I love you. Text me when you get there. We can videocall.

Indie

I love you too.

I’d be lying if I denied that my heart didn’t beat a little harder in my chest every time she said (or typed) those words to me. It had become too much to hold them in any longer on Christmas morning. I never expected her to say them back, but goddamn, hearing her return my feelings had made me feel more alive than any other moment before it.

The proudest memory I had until Indie said she loved me was getting drafted to Vancouver. It had been bittersweet with losing Mom only months before. But I’d allowed myself to feel the happiness I knew Mom would have felt for me.

And now, Indie was slowly eclipsing all of my previous achievements simply by being by my side.

It had been three days without more than a few vague text messages assuring me that she was “fine” and not to worry about her.

Well, fuck,Iwasn’t fine, andIwas fucking worried about her and why she’d practically gone radio silent since flying into San Jose.

I’d checked my phone incessantly all through the road trip to New York. Now, the team had just arrived back at the practice arena after a humbling loss.

Coach had let us off the hook last night, knowing we all felt like shit about our playing, but he hadn’t held back once we all sat in the locker room in Toronto this afternoon. His disappointment hadn’t cooled since last night, telling us all to get our heads out of our asses before we faced New York tomorrow on home ice.

Not in the mood to deal with anyone, I’d dumped my gear and was the first one out the door when Coach dismissed us.

I was heading to the truck I’d rented for the winter months when a yell of “Yao!” had me pausing midstep. Whoever called my name was going to find out pretty quick that I wasn’t in a socializing mood.

“Shit. You can move when you want to, Yao. Where was that on the ice last night, eh?” Ryan Campbell’s infuriatingly ever-present grin greeted me when I turned around.

“I’m not in the mood, Campbell. What do you want?” I practically growled at my alternate captain. Not a good way to build camaraderie, but I needed to get home to take care of Giz and attempt to video call Indie for the third day in a row.

“Oh, okay.” Campbell put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Too soon. It’s all still fresh from last night. I get it.”

He didn’t get a damn thing, but since I wasn’t going to explain my personal life to anyone, least of all him, I let him think that I was upset about the team’s loss.

“Get to the point, Ryan,” I sighed, suddenly exhausted from the stress of the situation with Indie, the road trip, and getting my ass handed to me in goal last night. On top of all that, my knees were killing me. I should have gotten into an ice bath after the meeting, but I didn’t want to deal with any of the trainers asking questions.

I might do something fucking stupid like telling them how much I hurt.

“Well, shit, man. I feel bad for ribbing you. Did you have to go andpull out the first-name business? Now I know you’re really feeling it.” He took off his backward cap, smoothed his hair down, and then put it back on in an uncertain gesture. “Most of the team is headed to the bar to drink away some of our sorrows. We wanted you to join us.”

I looked over Campbell’s shoulder, seeing members of most of the lines huddled together, ready to head out.

“Thanks for the invite. But I’m going to head home. I need a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s game. I slept like shit in New York.”

I didn’t say it was because I’d spent every moment thinking about how Indie was faring with her family instead of getting my head and body in the zone for the game.

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