Breakaway

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWOTravis

Travis Anderson unpacked his bag, put all his clothes away, and silently prayed this would be an extended stay in Pittsburgh. He’d arrived only about two hours ago, but with every minute that passed, he wondered what it would be like to hear the words, “Get a place.”

Every minor league player longed for those words, because that’s what management would say when they offered the player a permanent position on the team and wanted them to stay in the city long term. Granted, he had only been here a few hours, but it didn’t hurt to set high goals.

“Can you believe we’re here?” Ben Fischer said, as he flopped down on the bed on the other side of the room.

“I know.” Travis looked around the hotel room. It wasn’t anything special, just your average hotel room. But his heart was still racing like a kid on a sugar high. When he looked out the window, he could see the practice facility across the road.

Travis and Ben had been called up to the Renegades from the minor league Falcons. Patrick Dubois had suffered a lower body injury, and they were the lucky ones chosen to see what they could do in the big leagues.

Travis was twenty-four, and he’d been playing hockey since he could walk. This had been his dream—and the dream of every guy he’d ever skated with.

A knock on the door was followed by Noah announcing himself.

Noah Rodgers had been recently traded from Nashville, and all three of them were put up in the hotel by the team. Travis was rooming with Ben, which was fine with him, because they were friends. Noah had a private room, since he’d already played in the league.

“You nervous?”

“Nah, just excited.” The three of them were the new guys in town, and not being alone helped squash his nerves.

His cell phone buzzed. The number that crossed the screen was all too familiar. No longer saved in his phone contacts, there was no name attached, but he knew who was calling. It was his ex-girlfriend, Mariah. He hadn’t spoken to her since he’d broken things off. He didn’t know why she was calling, but he had no interest in talking to her, and let it go to voicemail.

He and his ex were so wrong for one another. Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen it until the coach had started to talk to him about getting a shot in Pittsburgh. She was ready to put down roots. They had only been dating a few months, and already she’d started talking about engagement rings and looking for a house.

Besides not being ready to commit, he had no plans to settle down and be saddled with a mortgage yet. He had his whole career ahead of him, and that could take him anywhere, to any state. He was ready to explore any opportunity that came his way, but his ex had been ready to set up house with no plans of ever leaving.

He was a hockey player, and he needed someone who understood his wants and needs and who had a similar passion for life. This wasn’t an easy gig, and sometimes players jumped from city to city, and they had to be able to adapt.

“Hey, Earth to Travis,” Ben teased. “Did you hear me? Harrison just invited us and Noah to dinner at his wife’s place. You in?”

Travis slid his phone back into his pocket and put that call out of his mind. He nodded eagerly. “I’m in.”

Travis ate his meal as he listened intently to the guys tell stories about the games and of playing for the Renegades. He did his best to take in every second of this experience. Fitting in with the big guys on the team was a great start. He’d followed Sam Morris’s career, as well as his injuries, since he was drafted. And Harrison Dash was the guy Travis always wanted to be.

Sitting here at a table with both guys was like a dream.

But it hadn’t been easy to get here. He had worked hard, busted his a*s to be the best on the Falcons, the player that everyone noticed, and the one all the media wrote features on. He always had a line of ladies in tow, because all the bunnies wanted to get with the popular player. But his mind wasn’t on the bunnies, not like some of his teammates who just wanted to party and get laid. Travis’s focus was on the game. And being called up to the Renegades was all he’d ever wanted. He deserved this shot, and he had no intention of screwing it up.

“Everything okay here?” Talia Dash asked, as she checked on their table. “Can I get anyone anything?”

Travis knew the history of the Renegades. Talia was married to Harrison Dash, and a popular restaurateur in Pittsburgh. She was also the sister of the Renegades captain, Tyler Kidd.

“Hey guys, sorry I’m late.” Tyler joined the table, as if on cue.

“Ty, I’ll have your meal brought out right away,” Talia said to him with a wink.

“How are you guys enjoying the Sin Bin food?” Tyler asked Travis, Ben, and Noah.

“Delicious.” Ben nodded as he took another bite.

“Best meal I’ve had in a long time,” Noah said.

“I second that,” Travis added, trying to keep his cool and not turn into a fan-boy at the fact that Tyler Kidd, the best hockey player in the league just sat down to dinner with them.

Tyler Kidd nodded with a smile. “Yeah, my sister is good at what she does. And her chef is amazing. I’ve never had a single thing here that I didn’t enjoy.”

“Here you are, Tyler. Careful, the plate is hot.” A young woman sat the plate down in front of Tyler.

“Thank you, Jordan,” Tyler said.

“Woah, who is that?” Noah asked. He had stopped eating, and instead, he was staring at something, his mouth gaping open.

“Who is who?”

“That babe who brought Tyler his food. Talk about legs-for-days, damn.” Noah gawked at the young woman as she strutted away. “Whoever she is, she’d look awesome on my arm.”

“Noah, you’re drooling.”

“Am not,” Noah refuted, and wiped his face with his napkin. But his stare followed the young lady who’d brought out Tyler’s plate.

“You guys good? Can I get you anything?” Harrison asked.

Travis shook his head. The full plate of steak, potatoes, and asparagus in front of him was all he needed. “I could die happy after eating this meal.”

“I guess that’s a compliment?” Tyler asked, sarcastically.

Travis nodded, now with a mouth full of food.

“It means he likes it,” Sam Morris added. “My niece says weird things like that, too. You get used to it.”

“Speaking of your niece, how are things going?” Tyler asked. “Is she adjusting to Pittsburgh okay? She’s been through so much, and on top of it all, moving to a new city.”

“Yeah, she’s doing okay. She’s so strong. Looking for a job. She’s resourceful; I think she will do great here,” Sam answered with a smile.

“You’re like a proud papa, Surfer-Boy!” Harrison teased. “It’ll be good practice for when Willow is older.”

Travis listened to Sam and Harrison converse, but did his best not to stare. He didn’t want to appear creepy. It was just surreal to be sitting here at a table with Sam Morris, Harrison Dash, and Tyler Kidd. And that was something he needed to snap out of real quick.

“You guys ready to impress us tomorrow at practice?” Tyler asked.

“Always,” Ben said.

“We’ll be there bright and early!”

“Good.” Tyler nodded. “But first, how does dessert sound?”

Back at the hotel and in for the evening, Travis checked his social media, as he did from time to time. He sighed, annoyed as he scrolled through the large number of photos that he was tagged in. Some tagged by teammates, others tagged by random puck bunnies. He was well aware that whenever he put himself in a situation where puck bunnies and alcohol were involved, that this would be the outcome. He decided to untag himself from a few less desirable photos that managed to portray him in a bad light.

He shook his head with a groan. “I was on my first beer here, the only drink I had that night. Too bad all those empty bottles on the table in front of me tell a different story. An untrue story.” Those empty bottles had been from his teammates and the girls.

Untagging himself from another photo, he grumbled, “I swear these girls pick the absolute worse time to snap a photo. I look like I’m a man-w***e with all those girls hanging off me.”

“What are you mumbling about over there?” Ben asked from across the hotel room. “Are you looking at i********: posts again?”

Travis nodded. “Aren’t I always?”

“I don’t know why you bother. Who cares what people post about you? Social media is filled with lies and half-truths. You should just ignore it. I do,” Ben said nonchalantly.

His friend was right, but having untruths plastered all over social media didn’t sit well with him. Travis clicked from one photo to the next, untagging himself. If there was a way to hide the posts from others seeing them, he did that, too.

“You’re wasting your time, bro,” Ben said.

His buddy was probably right. Almost as quickly as he could clear the interweb of this slander, new posts would pop up.

He hated how the photos made him look. Hockey came before partying, and he’d only had two serious relationships in his life, Mariah being the most recent. He liked having a steady girl, but he’d broken up with Mariah, because she was more interested in being the wife of a professional hockey player and excited about where that put her on the society ladder than just being with him for the man that he was. That was not the type of girl for him.

And to this day Mariah was still grabbing onto any hockey player that would have her, especially the guys that she thought would be a household name someday. She was even in some of the photos he kept deleting his name from, always some Falcon player’s arm candy.

His wrist ached from the repetitive motion of deleting his name from photo after photo.

Travis looked at Ben, who was watching television. Maybe his friend was right. Was this a waste of his time? But it didn’t sit well in his gut that he was being seen as a drunk, a partier, and a player to anyone that searched his name. He wasn’t raised that way, and he hoped his Grams would never see these posts. He didn’t think she did social media, and that she stuck to text messages and facetime, but anyone in her circle could mention it to her or show her the photos.

Shaking his head, he pulled up another post. This one was on a local blog with a “nice” little story about the Falcons players being rowdy at a neighborhood bar, running up an enormous tab, and some guys being so drunk they had to be escorted out. And his mug was front and center in the photo, even though he’d only had one drink that night. Not only that, but he’d ended up driving his buddies home, due to them being too intoxicated to get behind the wheel. But the article didn’t mention any of that. The articles never did.

“I’m telling you, Travis, stop letting those things get to you. Someday you’ll have a PR person, and it will be their job to get those things off the internet. You’re young, just have some fun while you still can, and don’t worry so much. You don’t want to get frown lines on that pretty face,” Ben teased.

Frown lines were the least of his worries. He wasn’t the guy in these photos, and it would never feel okay that people thought he was.

Travis’s phone buzzed. A photo of his grandmother graced the screen. He smiled at her photo. She was back home in Minnesota, and he didn’t get to see her nearly enough.

“Hey, Grams,” Travis greeted her cheerfully.

“Hello dear. I just wanted to let you know that I did get your text telling me you’d arrived in Pittsburgh safe and sound. I just didn’t want to intrude right away. No one wants their grandmother bothering them while they’re trying to get to know their new teammates.”

“Oh, please. You know I always have time for you.” His grandmother was the only parent he’d ever known. “How are you doing?”

“Honey, I’m good. Tonight is church choir practice, so I only have a few minutes to talk.”

“I’m sure God will forgive you for being a few minutes late due to talking to your favorite grandson.”

She chuckled. “Yes, I suppose He will.”

“Grams, have you been behaving yourself?” Travis teased. His Grams was a wild one who loved life. She was always on the go.

“You know me, staying out of trouble is no fun! You on the other hand, are you being good? The Tom foolery is reserved for us old folks. It keeps us young!”

“Grams, you aren’t old,” he commented.

“Oh sweet boy, you flatter me. I taught you well!”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “I’m good, Grams. Practice starts tomorrow.”

“Be sure to let me know when your first game is, and I’ll put it on in the rec room. We’ll all be cheering for you!”

“I’m sure I won’t play that much, Grams.”

“You’ll play. I can feel it.”

He would never argue with her. For one thing, she was his grandmother, and for another, she was almost always right. Who was he to argue if she thought he was going to get playing time?

“Okay, now I really do have to run. And I’m sure you have a big night planned with the guys.”

“Or early to bed to prepare for tomorrow.” He could practically hear her grinning with pride through the phone.

“That’s my boy!”

“Always, Grams. I’ll let you get to choir practice now.”

He smiled to himself as he hung up the phone. When he wasn’t around his teammates, Travis was a pretty grounded guy and he enjoyed the simple things in life. One of those things being the comforts of home, like talking to his grandmother.

“Was that your Grams?” Ben asked eagerly.

“Yep,” Travis replied. Ben was one of the few teammates who didn’t think that it was uncool that he talked to his grandmother often. But she was the only mom he’d ever known, and she was the only family that he had.

“Any idea if she’ll be sending more chocolate chip cookies soon?”

Travis shook his head. “I’ll ask. Plus, she knows they’re your favorite.”

His phone buzzed with a message.

GRAMS: BY THE WAY, TELL BEN I’LL SEND COOKIES AS SOON AS YOU’RE BOTH BACK IN WILKES BARRE.

“See.” Travis showed the message to Ben. “She always thinks about you!” He chuckled at her use of all caps.

“Grams is the best!” Ben beamed.

Travis had been buddies with Ben long before they both joined the Falcons. He was the only one Travis could be himself with.

Looking around the room, he still couldn’t believe he was here, in Pittsburgh. He had dreamed about this, and worked hard for it. No way was he going to mess this up.