Page 196 of The Blame Game

“I’m sure. Do you have any concrete plans for it yet?”

Dom told him about his desire to get a degree, and the plans he and Shea had for the summer. “I think they’ll help.”

“I’m sure they will,” August said. “And you can always reach out if you need to talk. I was depressed for a while after I was banned from refereeing at the NHL level and I—it took me a long time to figure out who I was outside of that. At first, I could focus on Nico’s recovery, but as he got better, I had to take a hard look at who I was and what I wanted from my life.”

“I would imagine.”

“So it’s not just lip service,” August said earnestly. “You can reach out any time you need it.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it. Zane Murphy and I have been talking too.”

“He’s a great guy.”

“He seems like it,” Dom agreed, then tilted his head in confusion. “Wait, how do you know him?”

“The Out in the NHL group chat,” August said.

Dom grimaced. “I’m going to have to join that, aren’t I?”

August shrugged. “It is a good way to stay in touch with the guys.”

“I was afraid of that.”

“Hey, I get it,” August said in a low voice. “This group is a lot. I was pretty overwhelmed when I started dating Nico. But there’s something special about the way they take care of each other.”

Dom looked around, watching Jonah laugh with Alexis as they played table tennis, Antoni bring Elena a bottle of water and a plate of food, Natasha effortlessly scooping the newborn from her arms to give her a break.

Charlie was deep in conversation about something with Birdie, Kayla, Skylar, and Jordan, while Dustin stood nearby talking to Erik and Julius while one of the Makarov kids hung from his arm.

This was so much more than a team.

“They’re a family,” Dom whispered.

August gave him a smile. “They’re your family. If you’ll let them be.”

Dom reached for his phone and navigated to the chat app, then hit Accept.

However this season ended, he didn’t want to lose touch with any of these guys. They’d made the effort for him. It was time he did the same for them.

Family, he thought, looking around, then nodded. Yes, that sounded right.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

The series against Buffalo passed in a blur. Dom felt like all he did was play hockey, eat and sleep.

Buffalo’s arena had shitty ice as usual, but they were well-matched teams and August had been right about their PK unit.

Gilly spent the first few games screaming at them for taking unnecessary penalties and it wasn’t until they hit game four, down 3-0, that something seemed to click for the Fisher Cats.

“Do you want a repeat of last season?” he roared before the game started. “Or do you want to fucking win?”

They won.

They won game four.

They won game five.

They won game six.

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