Page 19 of Game On

After sending that scathing email to the nanny service, they decided to no longer work with me. Not great because I was out of options for tomorrow’s game.

“V would do it, but she’s at that tattoo convention,” Blaise said. He finished his set and sat up on the bench, wiping the sweat from his brow.

I didn’t want to keep relying on Veronica. I had to find a long-term solution, but right now, I needed to find someone who could look after Liam while I was on the ice tomorrow. It had to be someone I trusted and someone he was comfortable with. That was the key problem.

Blaise had offered his dad, but we tried that once, and Liam was scared of him. Hal was this big blonde guy with a booming voice. His grandkids loved him, but to Liam, he was scary. My sister swore her husband never hit Liam, that she took the brunt of his anger, but I knew a scared little boy living in fear of a monster. I had been that little boy, and I never wanted my nephew to be afraid again.

Blaise and I switched places, so he could spot me while I did bench presses. After finishing my set, I dropped the barbell down on the rack with a loud clang. I cringed. That was louder than I intended.

Blaise peered down at me, his blue gaze clouded. “You okay, man?”

I sat up and ran a hand down my face. “Yeah. Sorry. Just stressed.”

“Work that out here, but I need you focused tomorrow.”

“I got it.”

“Let’s call it a day, okay?”

I nodded in agreement.

“Let’s go to my dad’s for lunch. All this weight training’s making me hungry.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think the nutritionist approves of pub food. Unless it’s game day.”

Blaise laughed. “Yeah, but that’s why my brother convinced my dad to add calories to the menu.”

“Okay, but only because I love the food there and because your dad always has the hockey channel on.”

“That’s why I go. And to annoy my brother.”

If there was one thing I learned about being buds with Blaise, it was that his large family was all up in each other’s business. One of his little brothers was the manager at the hockey bar his dad owned near the arena. It was a hangout for the team and, unfortunately, puck bunnies. Last night we went there after a victory, and there were a lot of bunnies eying me up. With my lack of a nanny, I didn’t have time for that.

Well…maybe on the road. Even then, it was a feat.

TJ kept trying to egg me on. Riley said he was trying to live vicariously through me since TJ had settled down. Even more so now that he had twins on the way. He and his girl were the most mismatched couple I’d ever met. Whereas TJ was loud and in your face, Max was quiet and reserved. But when TJ saw Max from across the room, it was like none of us even mattered. If I hadn’t seen it for myself, I wouldn’t have believed it.

Sometimes I wondered what that would be like. If I’d ever find a love like my teammates had. I thought I had been in love when I was younger. I dated the same girlfriend since middle school until I got drafted. When I got sent to our AHL affiliate in Reading, she went to college across the country with barely a goodbye. That had stung, but I made up for it by fucking my way through girls who heard I was a hockey player and wanted to say they banged an athlete.

All that shit changed when Rose died and left me to figure out how to raise her son. The entire course of my life had been turned upside down, shattering my worldview and leaving me to pick up the pieces. Not gonna lie, I hadn’t been happy about getting parenthood dropped on me, but I wanted a better life for Liam. I didn’t want him to go through what Rose and I did.

“Bro, are you okay?” Blaise asked.

When I turned to him, I realized he had parked his car on the street outside of the bar, and I hadn’t even registered getting into the car. I got so lost in my thoughts and doubts about raising my nephew, I barely said a word the whole ride.

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Not really.”

Blaise arched an eyebrow at me. “You wanna talk about it?”

I shook my head. “Nah. Let’s eat, then I can go get Liam.”

Blaise looked like he wanted to prod, but then he shook his head and got out of the car. I followed him inside the bar, where he didn’t even wait for the host to seat him. I gave the flustered girl an apologetic look and took the seat across from him.

“Get out of my section!” a familiar voice yelled from across the bar.

I grinned as Blaise’s younger brother Ayden walked over to us. Ayden had a shaved head and a permanent scowl. He and Blaise were night and day. If they didn’t have the same piercing ice-blue eyes, I wouldn’t have known they were related.

“Hey, Ayden,” I greeted.