Page 121 of Bad Teammate
I smiled. That was the best news I’d heard in a long time. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she said. It was too dark to see her smile, but I could sure hear it in her voice. “Music is a gift. It brings people together.”
“I’m so glad to hear you say that. Are you going to be a professional?”
She twisted tufts of my chest hair with her fingers. “No.”
“Why not? Isn’t that your dream?”
“Wasmy dream,” she corrected me. “Not so much anymore. I know what being a pro takes. It consumes you. It doesn’t leave room for much else in life.”
“I guess I can relate to that.” I chuckled. “So you just want to play for fun?”
“Yeah.” She paused. “But I think I might like to teach, actually. Emma said she wants to enroll Mackenzie in lessons as soon as possible. I told her I might be interested.”
“Hey, that’s a great idea. You’d be a great teacher.”
“You think so?” she asked.
“I’d take lessons from you any day of the week,” I said, giving her ass a sudden smack.
She tutted. “I bet you would, pervert.”
“No, but I’m serious. I’d like to be your student.”
She laughed. “Really? You would?”
“I told you I bought the piano because I wanted to learn, didn’t I?”
“A pro hockey player during the day and a piano student at night. Aw, you’ll be so cute.”
She hopped on top of me and mashed her mouth against mine. “I love you so much, Derek. You’re my dream.”
“I love you more than anything, Katerina.” I wrapped my arms around her, holding her tightly against my body. “I’m never gonna let you go.”
Bonus Chapter
Derek
One month later.
Ready to get back to work, I headed down the hall to the locker room, planning on approaching this day like any other. But my plans were quickly dashed when I pushed the locker room door open and a rowdy cheer went up as twenty men roared,
“YEAAAAAH!”
My teammates were armed with long tubes—tubes they were aiming atme. One by one, the tubes wentpop, blowing a glittering blizzard of black and red confetti—Devils’ colors, of course—into the air. The confetti tumbled down to the carpet, and shouts of good will rained down on me from all over the room.
“Congratulations, Reavo!”
Smiling, I wiped the confetti off the shoulders of my suit. “Hey, thanks, boys. I appreciate it.”
Hath stepped forward with a mischievous grin. “Hey, Reavo.”
“What’s up, Hath?”
“Remember when we used to laugh at the veteran guys who got married because they converted overnight into these preachers for monogamy?”
I knew where he was going with this. “Idoremember those days, Hath.”
