“Nah, you’re too much like me, aren’t you?” Xavier chimed in. “Silas, you got an omega at home you need to get to?”
I shook my head. “Nope. No one at home.” Not anymore. We had been working together for a little while now. The guys should know a little bit more about me. “I’m just a homebody. I like my bed.”
Actually, when I was home, I was sleeping on the couch, but they didn’t need to know that.
“Can’t blame you there. The last day of the season, I bring my omega with me, we turn it into a mini vacation. He hates all the traveling I do, but it pays the bills,” Geoff added. He was the most senior among us, in his early fifties, but he could skate circles around us.
“Indeed.”
“What else am I going to do? Quit my job and stay at home with the kids?” He laughed. I knew from overhearing him talk with others that his children were mostly grown now.
Staying at home with the kids, that sounded like a dream. A good one. But that wasn’t a dream an alpha was supposed to have. He was supposed to be the provider, the breadwinner. Not the homemaker. Not the one that chased toddlers and managed the household. Yet that was what I wanted, what I had always wanted.
It was the dream that I had briefly let myself fantasize about when I was with Elliot. I’d just never been brave enough to tell him.
I slipped off my skates and put them in my bag. I headed to the showers, rinsed off the sweat from the game, and dressed in my regular clothes. I was heading off home to my empty apartment.
There was no family waiting for me there, no one that I could call and tell about my day. I was alone.
Chapter 17
Elliot
I was tasked with getting to know the new guy. This was something that Evan would be way more equipped for, but I was venturing out of my comfort zone. Chuck Matthews had been on the team for a few weeks. He kept to himself and rarely said more than a few words. According to the rumor mill, his past teammates didn’t have many positive things to say about him. I had a feeling there was more to the story.
I could handle a lot, and I had done my best to step into the role of alternate captain in the past few weeks. I was showing up earlier, engaging with my team more often, and now I had a new test: understand our new teammate.
Chuck Matthews was our new defenseman. Late-season trades weren’t typical, but someone up in management made the call, and now we were down one defenseman from the fourth line, and up one that used to be first line for the Snakes. He fit into our second line just fine, but he wasn’t overly talkative with the team, and there were definitely some improvements we could make. Going into playoffs, we needed the team as strong as it could be.
Matthews had a reputation for being a bruiser on the ice, and a dick off the ice.
That wasn’t how we played. Coach and Evan wanted me to make sure Matthews knew we didn’t expect that of him, nor would they tolerate it. We were a team, and we needed to act like one.
Evan and I agreed, Matthews would fit in if he just put in the effort. His asshole persona was just that, an act, a persona he put on. There was more to him, I had a gut feeling.
“Drink?” I clapped Matthews on the back where he sat on the bench in the locker room. We had just finished our practice together, and from what I saw on the ice every time Matthews was on the line, he had the skills our team could use. As long as he could stay out of the fights.
“You draw the short straw?” Matthews asked. “You gotta take the newbie out for a drink and lay down the law?”
I shook my head. “Nothing like that.” Well, it was a little bit like that. “C’mon. We’re going for a drink.”
He got up without argument and slung his gear bag over his shoulder.
Matthews rode with me to the bar, and to my surprise, when we sat down at the local sports bar near the arena that was used to players showing up randomly, he ordered a virgin strawberry daiquiri.
I raised a brow as I looked at the hurricane glass filled with the icy, red liquid.
“I don’t drink during the season. But I like smoothies. They make this with real strawberries.”
I blinked at him. “That’s... a new one.” It actually sounded really good. Lately I’d been wanting extra hydration, like I could never get enough protein or water. I was tired, so tired, thanks to the rigorous schedule I kept in order to ensure we made it to the playoffs.
I flagged the bartender down and ordered one for myself. My mouth watered just thinking about the cool strawberry drink.
“So, um, how are you liking Port City so far?” I was shit at small talk, and being nervous wasn’t making it any better.
He fiddled with the napkin in front of him, tearing the corners and shredding the pieces until he had a little pile in front of him.
“It’s okay.” He took a sip of daiquiri.
