Total pages in book: 11
Estimated words: 9744 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 49(@200wpm)___ 39(@250wpm)___ 32(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 9744 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 49(@200wpm)___ 39(@250wpm)___ 32(@300wpm)
When a tap comes to the window of my truck, I look over to see Aiden Brooks. He grins at me as I roll down my window. “Hey, man.”
I’m a little confused since no one is supposed to be here. Practice was over hours ago, but I smile anyway. “Hey, what’re you doing?”
“Bringing Shelli some lunch. You going in?”
Shit, I guess I have to. “Yeah,” I say, shutting off the truck and rolling up my window. I grab my bag that I brought to bring everything home in before I get out and lock the doors.
“Cleaning out your locker?” he asks as we head toward the back entrance of the arena.
“Yeah,” I say, a little gloomier than I intended. “I’ve been putting it off.”
“Understandable. We’re going to miss you on the ice.”
I nod. “Same.” I walk through the door he opens for me. “How’s Shelli doing? Baby should be here soon, right?”
He looks a bit nervous. “Yeah, next month. She’s great. Hungry all the time, but so am I.”
We share a laugh. “Yeah, toward the end is the worst. Baylor would get so hot sleeping next to me, she would kick me out of bed, but then come to the couch and sleep with me anyway. Pregnant women are insane.”
Aiden laughs. “I hear that.” He continues to walk with me toward the locker room, but I don’t have time to ask why, given that the offices are in a completely different direction, because he says, “I saw your brother had his new baby. Congratulations.”
“Thanks. She’s an adorable baby.”
“She is. Kind of makes me want a girl.”
I shake my head. “No way. They’re expensive. Boys are where it’s at.”
We share a laugh, and I look at him, confused, as he holds the door to the locker room open for me.
“I thought you had—” Before I can finish, though, I see the whole locker room is full of my team. My brothers. I feel as if I’ve been hit square in the chest when everyone starts clapping and hollering my name. My best friend for like forever, Markus Reeves, comes over and hands me a beer. I’m in total shock as I take it. Everyone is here. Including past Assassins players, like Shea Adler, Tate Odder, Erik Titov, and even Benji. My heart aches in my chest as I catch my breath.
“What is going on?”
Aiden grins at me. “It’s your send-off into retirement.”
Markus holds up his beer then. “To one of the greatest captains this team has ever been blessed to have. We love you, man. And know, every time we hit that ice, we’re hitting it in your honor.”
I’m choked by emotion as everyone says my name before taking long pulls of their drinks. I do the same, completely overwhelmed, but then Shea Adler comes toward me with a huge shadow box in hand. He turns it around as he says, “We had this made for you.”
Inside it are all my jerseys from my long career with the Assassins. Each is folded, displaying my name and number. All the special event jerseys and even the jersey I was wearing when I was injured. I can see the bloodstain. I hand my beer to Aiden and take the box from my captain. I meet Shea’s gaze, his eyes full of such compassion and wisdom.
“It’s a hard pill to swallow, that your career is over. But when you need the reminder, I want you to look at this, and instantly, you’ll be reminded of one hell of a legacy,” he says to me, mentally knocking me on my ass. “I knew I was leaving the team in good hands.”
I swallow hard as everyone claps once more. Still holding Shea’s gaze, I say, “Thank you. Honestly, some may say I am one of the great captains of this team, but I wouldn’t be who I am if it weren’t for you.”
Shea reaches out and hugs me, and I hug him back. Before River stepped into the role of my father, Shea was the man I looked up to most. For him to say those things to me doesn’t make losing my career easier, but it makes it sting a little less. For the rest of the afternoon, I eat and drink with my teammates. We laugh, we joke, and we razz one another.
It’s the send-off I didn’t know I needed.
One thing I didn’t expect was to see River here. It’s not until we’re leaving, when he’s helping me with all my stuff, that I finally have time to say, “Thanks for coming. It means a lot to me.”
My father-in-law nods as he helps me load the truck with my gear, the shadow box, and other crap I had stuffed into my locker. I was excited when I found Dawson’s old hockey stick from when he was little. “It just so happened I was signing my contract when I heard the party was going on.”