Page 25 of Brace and Chase

When Laney blows the whistle, neither one of us has scored, and my legs feel like we’ve been at this for fucking hours.

Actually, it has to be at least one hour, because when I stop and look over, I see most of our teammates standing next to him near the boards, watching the show.

There’s complete silence in the rink—something that’s unnatural and feels wrong—but then the idiots clap and cheer. I can’t help the chuckle that escapes me and shake my head at the ridiculousness of it all.

Nikolay skates in front of me to leave but not beforegiving me a nasty look, brow furrowed, hate clear in his eyes.

I release a breath and roll my own eyes, already tired of it all. This time, it’s me who ignores him when we get back to the locker room and change for a training session in the gym.

We already did the equivalent of a workout and a half, but since we’re the oldest guys on the team—maybe in the league, I should check that—it won’t hurt us to go the extra mile.

End Of December

I shiftfrom foot to foot on the doorstep of Jules’s home. I can hear the party going on inside, but can’t decide if I should knock or not.

I felt pretty included by the team a week ago when we played up in Toronto the day before Christmas Eve. We won that one—the only game from that series, but we decided to ignore that in the spirit of celebrating the holidays.

After that, we had that night—what was left of it at least—Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day free, but we had to be back in Vegas on Boxing Day early enough to make it to practice at ten in the morning.

I of course spent the holidays in Crushville, since it was less than an hour’s flight to Chicago. Finn and Beau both picked me up since they wanted to, and it’s better tolet them do things together than to hear them bicker about it.

Those two are the most typical twins of all time. They annoy each other like no one else can, but if you mess with one of them, then you’re going to have hell to pay from both of them.

It was nice being able to spend Christmas at home, though Beau had to work all of Christmas Eve—he had his usual twenty-four-hour shift with the Fire Station—but I did manage to spend some good hours with him on Christmas Day when we went to Lala’s house for lunch and dinner.

And then my uncle Enzo drove me to the airport. He talked me through the process of building my house, which should be ready by May, and it was just all around awesome.

Getting back to Vegas, it hit me how much I want the season to be over. I mean, I know I’ll feel different if we do end up making it to the playoffs—something that’s not a given at the moment thanks to how not in sync the team is still—but for now I just wish I’d stayed fucking retired.

Okay, that’s not true.

At least not completely. I do want to keep playing hockey. Even when I’m retired for real I don’t think I’ll be able to go two days without skating, but knowing that the team isn’t doing as great this season because ofme—even if it is indirectly—fucking burns.

It’s a tough pill to swallow, and I’m constantly askingmyself if it would be better if I simply tell Gab I’m leaving and take my losses.

But she trusted me to help the team, and I do want to do that.

I don’t particularly want to help Nikolay, though, but telling him he’s old and he should retire seems like the only thing I can do to help Gab at the moment.

A child’s delighted scream from inside the house brings me back to the present. I shake my head, then shake out my arms and legs as well for good measure.

I’m nervous. Of course I’m fucking nervous. This is the first time I’m going to hang out with the team outside our responsibilities for the Pirates and I want to make a good impression.

I’m still surprised Picard invited me to this event if I’m honest, but I’m not regretting saying yes, so without delaying it any longer, I just twist the knob and peek my head into pandemonium.

There are kidseverywhere—running around, laughing, jumping, and running to the door at the back of the big room in the entrance.

I step in, already smiling when Picard appears right in front of me... and his husband is with him.

I’ve seen Sterling around a fair amount, so I should be more used to being face to face with the legendary rock star, but I’m not. I swallow my inner fanboy, though, and shake their hands.

“Thanks so much for having me,” I tell them, justawkward enough for me to feel the need to move it all along. “Looks like a great party.” I avoid their gazes.

“Yes, it’s been going great,” Sterling says, with a laugh in his voice.

“What can we get you to drink?” Jules asks with a kind smile.

“Oh, would you happen to have some wine?” I don’t know why I ask, but I regret it immediately. I’m about to take it back... somehow, when Sterling’s face lights up.

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