I showerand change and I’m about to head out when Almardon catches me in the hallway.
“You see him today?” he asks, voice low.
I don’t have to ask who. “Yeah.”
“He’s been talking to himself in the locker room. Like full conversations. And yesterday I caught him punching the wall in the bathroom.”
I exhale through my teeth. “Jesus.”
Zach rubs the back of his neck. “I tried talking to him last week. He told me to worry about my own five-hole and walked out.”
Silence stretches between us. The distant clang of someone dropping weights in the gym echoes down the corridor.
“I think we need to go to Roman,” he finally says. “Like, actually loop him in. Not just ‘Luca’s in a mood.’”
I nod slowly. The idea of benching our starter—or worse, forcing him into help he doesn’t want—feels like betrayal. But watching him unravel in real time feels worse.
“What if Roman says mandatory eval?” I ask.
“Then I gear up and we figure it out,” Zach says, simple, steady. “That’s the job. Doesn’t mean I like it.”
I picture Luca’s face when the team psychologist calls him in. The betrayal in his eyes. The way he’ll ice-baths his emotions until they’re brittle enough to snap.
“I’ll talk to Cap tomorrow after film,” I say. “Just me and him. No ambush.”
Zach nods, relief flickering across his face. “Thanks, man.”
He heads down the hall and I stand there for a moment, feeling the weight of it. Luca breaking down. Almardon ready to step up. The season about to kick into high gear and our starting goalie barely holding it together.
Dex appears, already changed. “You see Almardon? We’re hitting up that new sports bar tonight. Thought he could come out with us.”
“He’ll bail again,” Brody walks up. “Probably claim another early morning thing.”
“That’s the third time this month,” Dex complains. “What could he possibly be doing at 6 AM on a Saturday?”
“Probably going home to his secret family in Vancouver,” I joke.
Brody laughs. “The wife and three kids theory gets stronger every time he dodges us.”
“I’m telling you, he’s got a whole other life we don’t know about.”
My phone buzzes again.
JuJu
You still here?
Yeah. Just finished talking to Almardon.
JuJu
Everything okay?
Yeah. Just team stuff.
JuJu
Want to talk about it?
