Page 54 of Blindside Love

“I know, son. Your heart has been done a lot longer than your mind has. I’ve just been waiting for you to catch up. Had you started to play shitty, I would’ve had the talk with you already, but instead, you channeled everything into the way you’ve been playing and are out there looking like a guy ten years younger than you.”

“You’ve… known?” I ask incredulously, unable to fully wrap my head around his admission.

I haven’t really told anyone that I’ve been thinking about retiring, so how does he know? I mean, Rex knows, and I’m sure the rest of the guys have started to figure it out. Then Ellie and my mom, but she wouldn’t tell Liam, no, she’d make me do it just like she is with my father. Okay, yeah, I guess I have told a couple of people, but none of them explain how Liam already had it figured out.

“Trevor, I’ve known you for thirteen years. I’ve watched you turn into the incredible man you are today—both on and off the ice. That also means I’ve got you pretty damn well figured out. I can tell when you’re loving life, happy all the time, versus now when it seems like you’re going through the motions, just going through life in cruise control.”

“Why the hell didn’t you say something sooner?” I grumble, annoyed with myself for how long I’ve been worrying over this for no good reason.

“It wasn’t my place to influence your decisions. If you decided to be done, it needed to come from you. All I’m here for is to support you and help you achieve your dreams. I think we’ve done pretty damn good so far.”

“Yeah, well it would’ve stopped me from stressing out.”

“Trevor, you’re a smart man, but you sure can be dumb sometimes,” Liam says, causing me to nearly spit out the bourbon I just drank. “Don’t look at me all puffy-chested, it’s true. You know damn well it doesn’t matter to me whether you play or not. Sure, it’ll suck to lose a client like you, but you’re more than that. You’re like family, so regardless of if you’re on the ice, you’re stuck with me. Honestly, I’m more baffled by the fact that you were nervous to talk to me about this in the first place.”

“You sound like my mom,” I say.

“Good, so you’ve told them. I was worried I was going to have to keep it from your father when I saw him next. We were planning to meet up when they got home, grab some brunch and hopefully, play some golf if the weather permits. Those eighteen holes only go quickly if we pass the time with our usual gossip.”

“Well, about that. I haven’t told my dad, just my mom knows. I guess I’ve been avoiding telling him as well.”

“Trevor, don’t be ridiculous. Your father lives and breathes to support you. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, he’ll support you. Sure, he loves that you play hockey since he did too, but that’s just a small part of you. That man doesn’t care if you want to be the next social media star, a plumber, or become a doctor. He’ll cheer you on, but you have to talk to him.”

I stare at him, knowing damn well he’s right. After Liam’s reaction—or lack thereof, it makes me realize that I somehow have gotten it into my head that I would be letting them down, upsetting them by wanting to do something different, even if I still don’t know what that looks like yet.

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, son. You’ve been looking at this all wrong, stressing yourself out for nothing. Didn’t your momma teach you that communication is the heart of all relationships, whether that’s family, business, or even a new romantic relationship. Communicate.”

Dropping my face in my hands, I run my fingers through my hair, pulling just a bit. I feel dumb.

“I guess I am a little dumb.” I shrug.

“We all are every now and then; it’s a part of life. Don’t wait too long, though, son. You don’t want your father hearing it from someone else. He’d hate to be blindsided like that.”

Blindsided. That’s the best way to describe how I’ve been feeling these last few months. Blindsided by hockey, blindsided with life, and sure as hell blindsided by Ellie.

“My parents are on a cruise right now. My mom has been wanting a vacation; this was the only time he could take two weeks in a row off. They’ll be back soon, though. I promise I’ll talk to him.”

“Good. Now tell me about this girl your dad’s told me so much about, and don’t sugarcoat anything; I want the truth. But do it quickly, you’ve got an early flight in the morning to Seattle, and I’ll be damned if I go home to Cindy late; she’ll have my ass if I miss dessert.”

Away games have sucked all year, but even more now when all I can think about is Ellie. Fuck, I was up half the night with my cock in my hand, images of her on a nonstop loop in my mind. It took everything I had in me not to pick up my phone and call her because dammit, I don’t want to freak her out.

When I left her house the other day, we left as friends. We weren’t going to let anything get weird between us just because we fucked. Even if we both liked it. The worst part was that we both agreed it shouldn’t happen again, even if it was fantastic for everyone involved.

I spent all night thinking about her tight little cunt, the way it stretched around my cock, fitting like a glove. Everything was so intense between us that night. We spent all night learning each other’s bodies until the sun came up.

I lost count of how many times she screamed my name because I was too lost in her orbit, too overwhelmed by everything about her that I was just leading by feel, and goddamn, it felt incredible.

But now, it’s our second intermission, and we are down two goals against Seattle. They’re a new team, but they’ve come out dominating once they fixed some of the kinks. Tonight, they’ve done a damn good job of keeping the puck away from me; I’ve only been able to make two shots the entire night.

Coach let us have it and told us that we need to figure our shit out, especially since most of us have been playing together for at least five years.

“We’ve gotta get Trev the puck more than just twice this next go,” Miles says as we all sit, catching our breath for a minute before we head back out on the ice for the third period.

“I haven’t been much help tonight,” I add honestly, hating that I’m not having a great night out there.

“It’s not on you man; we haven’t been able to get you the puck. Those fuckers are doing a damn good job of making sure you’re always double covered,” Harris grumbles, the rest of them grunting in agreement.

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