Page 6 of Scoring Position

“So, let’s say I believe that you’re just here to keep up with the summer training,” Yorkie said when Nico pulled the bottle away to breathe. “That doesn’t explain why you’re punishing yourself on the bike.” He lifted his eyebrow again. “Or maybe you’re trying to punish someone else?”

Nico looked down at his Gatorade to avoid Yorkie’s eyes.Punishing yourself.Just the words Nico had used for it, but he hadn’t expected anyone else to catch on.

Yorkie sighed and leaned back against a treadmill. “I heard you had a chat with Rees this morning.” Nico gulped more Gatorade. “Does this have something to do with Ryan Wright’s imminent arrival?”

Sometimes, like when he was trying to fill teammates’ helmets with shaving cream, it was easy to forget that Yorkie was a dad. Other times, it was hard not to remember that he’d had a kid and gotten married at nineteen. Yorkie had freaky dad powers.

“Why would you say that?” No way was Nico telling anyone anything they didn’t already know.

“Look, I’m not exactly into the idea of trading for guys based on whether or not you think they’ll be BFFs with your current roster.” Nico snorted. Rees made Ryan sound more like a support animal than a potential buddy. “But Doc’s pretty great.”

“You know him?” Nico blurted. Just because he didn’t want the guy anywhere near him didn’t mean he wasn’t curious.

“Yeah, we went to Shattuck together. Well, not quitetogether. We’ve been texting the past week. Guy’s pretty shook about the last-minute trade.”

Reasonable, considering he’d been in Montreal since he’d made it to the NHL. Not that Nico knew much about him beyond that.

Well, that, and also that Ryan was gay and already out when he graduated college and signed with the Voyageurs as a free agent. The year Nico was drafted, Ryan made a Twitter splash when he was photographed at a Pride parade with rainbows painted on his cheeks, a rainbow-flag cape, and a loose tank that read Let Me Be Perfectly Queer.

“He’s a good guy,” Yorkie went on. “Easy to get along with.”

Nico’s mouth twisted bitterly. “So I’ve been told.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s just looking to play hockey. Whatever plan management has concocted, Ryan wasn’t in on it.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that they—” Nico blew out a long breath. He wasn’t even sure how he wanted to finish that sentence.That they think I need minding? That they don’t think I can handle the pressure? That they probably wish they never drafted me?

Maybe hecouldn’thandle the pressure. But Nico couldn’t think like that, because… then what? What would his life even look like? He’d been groomed for this since he was a kid. They’d moved back to Germany when his dad retired from the NHL, but by the time he was sixteen, he was back in North America, staying with a billet family and playing in the OHL. Hockey was in his blood. He loved it.

It was just that Fuel management was trying really hard to get him to hate it. There was really no way to get past the fact that Rees had way overpaid to get him a gay babysitter who’d been credited by more than one teammate for “helping them through a tough mental time.”

Jesus, he hoped this wasn’t some kind of horrifying romcom setup gone wrong. Nico’s dick would shrivel up and fall off if he found out the GM traded a right-handed defenseman to get him laid. Nico also had a right hand. It operated fine. At least now that the bone had healed.

He had a feeling the flush was pretty obviously no longer from exertion, because Yorkie was giving him a sympathetic look. “Yeah,” he said. “I get it. It’s no fun to feel like the team problem child. Believe me, I’ve been there.” And then he got over it, got the girl, won the Calder, became a dad, and got his Cup ring just a couple years later. Kind of hard to equate their situations. “I managed because the guys on my team stepped up and talked me through it.”

That was nice for him, but accidentally knocking up your girlfriend and failing to live up to your promise as a first-overall draft pick didn’t seem like comparable problems to Nico. The truth was, he didn’t evenknowwhat his problem was. He played good hockey—great hockey, even.

Just not during actual NHL games.

Frustrated, he blew out a breath and broke Yorkie’s gaze. “Yeah,” he said. There didn’t seem to be anything else to say—in any language.

At least Yorkie hadn’t sent Misha after him. Small consolation not to be coddled by a giant defenseman who might or might not have an issue with Nico’s sexuality, but was willing to put up with him because at least he spoke Russian.

The captain waited around a few more seconds, but when it became clear Nico was finished with the conversation, he shrugged and got on his own bike. “If you change your mind,” he said.

Changed his mind aboutwhat? Wanting to get out of this excruciating conversation as quickly as possible? Unlikely. “Thanks,” Nico told him.

Then he made a strategic retreat to the showers.

As he stood under the pounding spray, he carefully avoided stupid English idioms likedrowning his sorrows. He was pretty sure that meant alcohol, not hot water. But he had to admit that this was probably his last chance. He’d underperformed for two years. If he didn’t step up this year, the Fuel would lowball him and he’d probably have no choice but to accept. No other team was going to offer-sheet him since they’d have to give up draft pics. If the Fuel didn’t offer, he might be able to sign elsewhere, but it would be humiliating not to get a qualifying offer. He was supposed to be this stupid team’s shining star, and he knew it.

More humiliating than having the team trade him a handler, though? A handler who was—and Nico felt guilty for thinking this, but it was true—not worth what they’d traded to get him? Like, he was sure Wright was a decent person. Nico had done some preliminary googling before he realized Ryan was supposed to be his… crutch. He was outspoken and kind and participated in all kinds of charitable causes. No one seemed to have anything negative to say about him outside of his mediocre on-ice skills.

Then John Rees had called Nico in for a meeting and told him all about the new guy they were bringing in and how they hoped they’d be friends and he’d be a great listener if Nico ever felt like talking to someone. After all, Wright had gone to college, so he hadlife experience—

Okay, no, he couldn’t do another round on the bike, no matter how his muscles were twitching with thwarted anger. Training camp started tomorrow; he needed to let that go. His inability to keep his shit together was what got him into this whole mess. He needed to prove he was past that.

Which would be a challenge, since he still wasn’t sure what was making him choke.

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