Page 1 of Brace and Chase

PROLOGUE

Nikolay Brotnik—Santa

Five Days Before The Season Starts

“Hello everyone,can I get your attention?”

The shout makes me look away from the sweet scene in front of me where Benny and Chris are being all in love, to watch our leader take the microphone and talk to us all. I was about to comment on how they should just go fuck each other somewhere else to make all my teammates laugh—my favorite activity—but listening to Gab is more important than my jokes.

Gab Darnell is a badass and I’d absolutely go to war for her, no questions asked. She saved this team when she bought it three years ago and she’s made us legends in the NHL. The least I can do for her is pay attention when she speaks.

“I just want to welcome you all to our start of the season celebration. We’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot to celebrate in the last few years, and I’m sure there’s only more of that in our future. I want you all to know how much you mean to me and to the organization, and I hope you have fun today, and enjoy our last days of peace before the madness begins again.” She chuckles and looks around. “I also have a quick announcement to make. Our GM, Barlow, Laney, and I are very proud to announce a trade who’s arriving later this week. Together, the three of us convinced Charlie Heart to give us one more year, and I know we can make history with him as a Pirate. Thank you all for coming.”

My good mood disappears and cold tendrils of hate start to cover my body as soon as I hear that name.

“Motherfucker!” I can’t stop the curses from coming out.

This can’t be happening.

Not after I was finally rid of him.

“Santa,” Jules says cautiously, but I just shake my head, not even looking at him.

“Charlie Heart, stupid fucking name,” I mutter darkly in perfectly spoken English.Fuck, now he’s making me lose my accent. I work hard every fucking day to keep my accent alive and Charlie Heart has to ruin that too.

I can tell I’m breathing way too hard and I can’t let my teammates look at me like this. I shake my head again and walk away.

Stupid Charlie Heart with his stupid fucking name.

He’s taken so many things from me over the years, and now he’s just trying to take one more. The only one I have left.

I won’t let him.

I stomp out of the rink without saying one more word to my teammates. If I do, then nothing good will come of it. There’s a reason I’ve only ever talked to one of them about Heart. I don’t want them to know me as anything other than their funny, silly, sometimes ridiculous teammate who always sees the bright side.

I don’t give a shit what the rest of the world thinks of me—I’ve made that abundantly clear—but this team...

This team is my family, and I don’t care if Heart wears a black sweater with a pirate on his chest, he’snot taking them from me. Not ever.

He was already retired for fuck’s sake. What the hell is he doing signing a contract to play for the Pirates?

What else could he possibly want from the NHL?

They’ve already given him every fucking award available. He even took the MVP from Jules one year. Granted, it was when Jules was only a twenty-year-old, but he was still better than ninety percent of hockey players back then.

What’s left?

Apart from a Stanley Cup of course... but he’d already fucking retired, he’d already told the world he was done with hockey. I huff because I hate how whiny my thoughts sound.

Maybe he’s as opposed to retiring as I am.

That stupid, reasonable, boring, emotionless voice in my head can go fuck itself. I’m not opposed to retiring—I have no reason to retire.

In fact, I have a plan—well, the start of a plan—for when I do retire.

It’s all in the works.

I’m in tip-top shape—no other man is in better shape at thirty-three. Well, my nose resembles a Z, and I can never go skiing again. According to my orthopedic surgeon I should also never play contact sports again, but what the hell does he know, anyway?

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