Page 40 of Rock Pucking Bottom

I sniffed the air and was surprised that it was two semi-familiar scents. Not enough for me to know them by scent alone.

Begrudgingly, I threw on a t-shirt and made my way to the door. I didn't bother trying to tame my hair or wipe the sleep from my eyes. The knocking only got louder.

Good grief, who the hell was so bent on getting me out of bed at that ass crack of dawn? I was ready to give them a piece of my mind.

I pulled open the door. It was my team owner and his twin brother, and I immediately swallowed my curses. I stood up a little straighter.

Logan's dad was the first to say anything. "Good morning, Coop."

"Morning. What are you doing here?"

I ushered the two grown men into my place. Thankfully, I had a maid keeping it pretty clean. It was such a far cry from when Logan was last inside.

Logan's uncle said, "Well, he's here to welcome you to the Legacy, and I'm here on behalf of Petey's Original Hockey Equipment."

I squinted my eyes. Lucas hadn't been working with the hockey equipment in a hot minute. That was Logan's baby for the past two years. "Isn't that Logan's job?"

Emmy came into the living room and put a hand on my shoulder. Everything about her posture and I could practically hear her telling me,Easy there, killer. These are your bosses.

Although she never said that to me, it was almost enough of a thought that I might have suspected that we might have sealed the bond. But how or why? It’s not like we changed anything since the trip to Minneapolis.

Instead, she said, "Would you like anything to drink?"

I was grateful that she could play host. I was so shit at that when it wasn't a close friend. The twins said at the same time, "Coffee with cream and sugar."

Lucas looked at me and said, "It is, but he's in Hong Kong right now. He sent me to try to convince you to go exclusive with our line."

I bit my bottom lip and shook my head. Logan had wanted me to go exclusive for a while.

I loved the anti-cut stuff that they had, but their sticks were worse than dog shit. "I'm still willing to try out your gloves again, but I'll never go exclusive."

Aaron Peterson, my team owner and a hockey legend in his own right, chuckled and clapped his brother's shoulder. "Told you he wouldn't. It's the sticks."

I eyed the two brothers and realized that they probably had some sort of bet going on with trying to get me to go exclusive. Emmy came back in with a tray full of coffee, she passed mugs to the twins first. I picked up the one black coffee that was closest to me.

"You guys are awfully nice for doing that. But is that the only reason you're here?"

Aaron shook his head, which made me appreciate his honesty. "Also wanted to make sure your mind was really here. The last thing we need is for a repeat of what happened when you first came here, and I wanted to make sure we didn't need to do another intervention."

I hated they felt the need to even have this conversation with me. I could understand their concerns to a certain extent, but we already signed on the dotted line. They couldn't want to dump me already.

I needed to stop thinking about those horrible thoughts. They liked me enough to sign me on for three years with good pay and even a limited no movement clause. Our contract was solid.

This was about something else.

"I'm all here. You're my first choice for a reason."

My owner leaned forward and folded his elbows onto his knees. "I wanted to be the first to tell you. There's going to be an opening as assistant captain this year and there's talk of extending that opening to you."

What the hell?

That shouldn't be happening. I was training with our leadership team starting tomorrow and the last I knew, they were all going to be at the gym.

Then again, Spencer Levine had been dealing with a couple sports hernias. Maybe he was finally getting them fixed. He was trying to avoid the surgery, but maybe it was too much to ignore.

I took a sip of my coffee and Em put a hand on my leg, which kept me from saying anything stupid to the big wigs.

"I appreciate the warning. Who else is the running for the A?"

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