Page 86 of Sleepless Nights and Hockey Fights

He huffs, but his wife just keeps on going. “So, tell us what’s going on. I bet we can help.”

And so I do. Over a plate of shared oysters, I tell them about Molly, Matthew, my family, therapy, and what I see for my future. By the time I leave, they’re late for their party, I feel like Coach and I came to an understanding that cements my position on the team, and I’m horny as shit from those fucking oysters.

Kaitlyn texts me on my way home from Coach’s house.

Kaitlyn: Where the hell are you? The boys are all going to this axe throwing place off the 19 for some team bonding. Please go and make sure Banks doesn’t cut off a hand. He can’t change a diaper with only one hand, Bobby.

Me: I’m on it. Although I’m pretty sure you can do lots of things with just one hand. Diapers included.

Kaitlyn: When you’ve changed a blowout diaper, you’ll know you need at least five hands to contain it.

I don’t want to know what a blowout diaper is, so I just give her message a thumbs up and head toward the axe throwing place that just opened in Clearwater.

The boys are already there, taking up three bays and causing a ruckus. I join them, getting hugs and back slaps and questions about my Christmas. Druggy gives me shit about my new snow boots that are entirely unnecessary in Florida, even in the winter, but are super stylish. Banks shoves a beer bottle in my hand. Cappy says I stink like the inside of a fish barrel. Honestly, I missed these fuckers. They’re everything I ever wanted in a team. We’re a family already, and now that I know I’m staying here for a few years, I can settle into being a part of it.

Turns out that throwing axes at a target is hard work. Most of mine bounce off the wall and fall to the floor instead of sinking the blade into the bullseye. By our fifth round, I take a break and crack open a fresh beer while sitting on one of the couches they provide in the back of each bay. Benny throws his arm around me.

“How come you aren’t at Molly’s tonight?”

I give him the stink eye. He knows damn well why I’m not with Molly. He and Kaitlyn gossip like a pack of middle school girls. “She dumped my ass, remember?”

The boys all suddenly lean in like they’ve been waiting for this subject to come up. Cappy is the first to lob out a question.

“We heard, but why? We thought things were going good?”

“Yeah, I thought you were going to ask her to move in with you,” Money pipes in.

“If you looked at another woman and hurt her, we will all kick your ass next practice,” Druggy growls.

I hold up my hands. “Easy, killer. I haven’t looked at any woman except my mama. Molly ended things because she doesn’t believe that I want her long term, even though I asked her and Matthew to move in with me. I’ve been doing a full court press for our entire relationship while she stomps on the brakes. Why would she think I’d suddenly not want her? I just...I don’t get it.” I stop talking and swig some beer instead.

“Dude, that sucks,” Cappy laments with me.

Druggy just frowns at me, but that’s nothing new. “Wait. She already has a house, yes?”

“Yeah. Why?” Half the time I don’t even know what Druggy is saying.

He spouts something off in Russian, then translates. “It is nice being a guest, but it is nicer at home.”

We all stare at him, trying to make sense of his Russian-isms. I don’t even try. I pat his knee. “Well, thanks for that, Druggy. I feel so much better.”

Benny holds up his hand. “Wait, wait, wait. It scares me a little, but I think I understand Druggy.” He turns to me. “You invited Molly to move in with you, but what kind of security does that actually give her? She’s not on the title. There’s no ring on her finger. You asked her to give up the home she’s made for herand Matthew to be a guest in your house. I would have turned your ass down too.”

I gape at him, horror pushing out all the heartbreak I’ve been feeling over the holiday. Is that what Molly thought? That I’d asked her to give up all her security and familiarity to play house with me?

“That’s not what I meant!”

“Doesn’t matter what you meant, that’s what she heard,” Dan-O shakes his head. “You’re a good guy, Roadie. One of the best on this team. We give you a lot of shit because we love you.Weknow you meant well, but maybe you didn’t address what she actually needs, you know?”

I listened to her fucking ex-husband, the guy who didn’t give her what she needed their entire marriage. For shit’s sake, I’m an idiot. I jump to my feet, slamming my beer down on the side table. “I fucked this up.”

“Most definitely,” Druggy drawls.

I dig in my pocket for my keys, glad I only had two beers over several hours and I’m good to drive home. “I gotta go.”

I barely get my goodbyes said before I’m racing out of the axe throwing place and back to Wolverine. Once inside, I pull up Coco’s number from the agency’s website. Say what you want about the woman, but she has more class in her pinky finger than I do in my entire designer closet.

And she knows Molly inside and out.

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