FALLING FOR THE ICE KING

Chapter 23

Damien's POV

We arrive at the airfield at nine a.m.—not too early compared to some of our flights during the season. Adam, Gunner, Callan, and I get out of the car just as Rex pulls up in his.

“s**t, it’s hot. Why is it so goddamn hot?” Callan curses, pulling on his tie.

“Moaning already, Cals?” Rex chirps as he unfolds his giant six-foot-two, two hundred twenty-pound body out from his ridiculously tiny car.

“Still driving around in a child’s car?”

“Now, now, Callan. This is no toy.”

He taps the roof and gently strokes the silver paint of his Audi R8 Spider.

As we exit the car park, Rex whispers in my ear, “I need to change my car, Cap. My goddamn back and knees can’t take it. I’m swapping with Chloe when we get home.”

I burst out laughing at his dramatics.

“Good morning,” the new flight attendant says, and we all bid her a polite greeting. Except Adam, who has slid his sunglasses down and is giving her a thorough once-over.

“It’s nice to meet you, Gisele. I’m Adam Holywood.”

Callan shakes him out of his trance and pushes him up the stairs.

“Come on, Wood.”

We chuckle as he cranes his neck to look back at her.

“f**k me, I wVivienne—”

Gunner slaps him on the back of the head as we make our way to the back of the aircraft and get settled for the flight. As soon as the plane takes off and the seat belt sign turns off, everybody stands and starts taking off their clothes.

We’re on here for a few hours and no one wants to sit in their suits. I have never seen anyone get changed as fast as Callan. I’m only now just getting into my sweats as he sits down, fiddling with the backrest and opening an app on the biggest tablet ever made. I chuckle and, when ready, sit down next to him.

Adam turns to face us half-undressed.

“I have had it with these motherfuckin’ snakes on this motherfuckin’ plane.”

I throw my head back and laugh.

“Dude, your choice in movies is s**t,” Callan says as Adam sAdrianers and goes back to what he was doing.

“So, I’ve got a question for you,” I say, turning around to make sure Adam isn’t listening and also perfectly shielding Gunner from my next sentence.

“Do you think I should say anything to Gunner, like green-light him or something?”

Callan lets out a long heavy sigh.

“Look man, I’m sorry they ever brought it up. I think that if Gunn wanted to talk about it, he would.”

I go to interject, but he holds his hand up.

“I get that you like him for her. If I had a sister, I’d choose him, too, but sometimes you gotta just let things take their course… You feel me?”

I nod.

“I do, but he’s moving at the speed of a glacier.”

Callan turns now to look at me.

“Listen, he got himself to the Show and is one of the best players in the league. You and I both know that it takes discipline, focus, and determination, yes?”

I nod again.

“And it also means that when he wants something bad enough, he goes for it, yeah? So, therefore, I figure that it’s not necessarily him moving slow, I think he’s waiting.”

“Waiting?” I ask. “For what?”

“The divorce to be finalized. Dude, if I had a woman, I’d want her to be mine and mine alone.”

And then I finally understood. That would make total sense.

“Okay, actually, that does make sense.”

“Good. So can I please start my movie?”

“If I can watch it with you,” I say, already getting my headphones out.

“Yeah man, plug in.”

And so I do. For the next hour, I’m immersed in a war movie until Callan hits pause.

“You know, you definitely do look like him,” he jokes, pointing at the screen.

“Shut the f**k up, Callan,” I growl.

People will not let this go. Callan grins and we continue to watch.

•••

We land in North Carolina and the team staff gives us our room allocations. Gunner and I are always together, Callan and Adam usually bunk up, and Rex is normally given a rookie.

He’s a needy fucker when it comes to our circle, but a damn good teammate, and he doesn’t ever go out like the rest of us, preferring to get an earlier night and speak with his wife. They’re trying for a baby, so he’s only focused on that and hockey.

We are given half an hour to put our stuff in our rooms, freshen up, and then we’re to meet back out at the bus for our team skate and workouts. My phone lights up and my brother Knox’s stupid face fills the screen.

“Jesus Christ, this s**t’s hard,” he says in greeting.

“Hello to you, too, brother.”

Knox currently has a spot on our farm team. They are the professional Wolves team in the American Hockey League. Players go there when they need more time to develop and after having been there for two seasons, he’s starting to feel despondent.

“Honestly, Case, I’m dying down here.”

Then I hear rustling and a muffled, “Thanks for last night, sweet cheeks, I’ll call ya.”

This makes me cringe and ask, “You didn’t even ask for her number, did you?”

But I already know the answer.

“Nope,” he says, popping the ‘p.’

“How the f**k do you do that?” I ask, shaking my head, grinning.

“I dunno, I’m just that good.”

He sighs.

“Coach is riding my ass so hard; it’s like nothing I do is good enough.”

Knox is an exceptional hockey player and I can’t wait for the day we get to play together, but he makes stupid mistakes out of anger or impatience.

“Knox, you just need to keep at it. I’ve seen your recent game tape, and I’m hearing good things. You can do this. Just stay focused, your time is coming.”

Our assistant coach has already spoken to me about this, always saying Knox is the one to watch and I wholeheartedly agree.

“Okay, thanks, man. I’m just so fuckin’ frustrated. I wVivienne be playing with you and be close to you all.”

“And we want you here, too. Head down, no bullshit, and f*****g watch yourself with the bunnies for Christ’s sake.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he chimes. “Double wrap it and watch my wallet. Got it. Have you spoken to a nerd? They’ve got Brown tonight, right?”

Jase is a genius both on and off the ice, hence the Nerd Adrianname. If he’s not training, playing, or studying game film, his nose is buried in a book or his fingers are flying across the keyboard of his laptop.

“Yeah. I called him last night and we spent time going over the Bears game and shit.”

“True. He worries too much. I’ll call him now. See you soon, okay? Give ’em hell tonight, Case. Love ya.”

“We will. Love you, too.”

We gather back in the hotel lobby and shoot the s**t for a minute or two, mainly about the Giants game last night.