Page 104 of Behind the Bench

She nibbles at her bottom lip, causing my eyes to drop to her mouth. God, I haven’t kissed that mouth in over forty-eight hours and I amdesperatefor her touch. She takes a deep breath and the sound has my eyes moving back up to hers.

“Lincoln, I just don’t know what to do. I’ve worked too hard to watch this all blow up in my face. But I also can’t stand the thought of being away from you. I am at war with myself here.”

Ellie’s eyes are full of sorrow as she looks at me. It’s not lost on me that she has so much more to lose in this relationship going public. Her reputation that she’s fought tooth andnail to build is at risk. I can see the misery in her eyes, pleading for me to understand where she’s coming from.

Without thinking, I reach out and grab her hand, causing her to uncross her arms. “Let me go to war with you, Ellie. I’m in this with you. This isn’t just a casual thing anymore and I think deep down you know that. We’re better together, yeah? Well, let’s do this together then.”

I can see her mind working overtime, trying to come to a decision. Holding my breath, I hold her hand tight, praying she doesn’t run from this. From us.

A minute passes. Or maybe it’s only seconds. I don’t know, but she still hasn’t said anything. I’m afraid that can only mean bad news is headed my way. I won’t force her to do something she’s not comfortable with. Squeezing her hand one last time, I drop it before stuffing my hands in my pockets.

Giving her a nod, I accept defeat. “It’s okay, Ellie. I get it. Really, I do.”

Just as I turn to walk away, she grabs my arm and forces me to turn back to her.

I swear I hear her mumble “Fuck it.”

And then her lips are on mine.

Lincoln and I quickly announce our exit to Hunter and Sadie and practically sprint to my apartment. Then we spend the rest of the morning and early afternoon making up for lost time.

After a few cups of coffee and multiple orgasms, we finally agree to address the team head-on at practice. We’re going to be completely honest and upfront with the players. Although our personal lives should be nobody’s concern, the press and social media kind of make that impossible.

Lincoln heads to the rink before me, claiming he has a couple of things he needs to prepare for practice. I’ve just pulled into my parking spot when my phone rings through the speakers of my car. Sadie’s name pops up on my dash, and I tell myself I don’t have time for her meddling, but decide to hit the accept button anyway.

Her voice fills my car. “I know you’re probably at the rink, but this will only take a second.”

A second for Sadie could mean anything from two minutes to an hour. I make sure to let her know I will gladly hang up on her if she takes more than a minute.

“I promise, one minute tops. I just want to say something to you before you meet with the team.”

Anxiety pumps through my body and my heart rate increases at the mere mention of talking with the team. Drumming my fingers on the steering wheel, I say, “Well, go ahead. You’re down to fifty-one seconds.”

Sadie ignores the annoyance in my voice and presses on. “No matter how the team responds, you’ve done nothing wrong. You are an amazing hockey coach and none of this changes that. So keep your head high, gorgeous, there are people out there who would kill to see you fall.”

She quotes the tattoo I have inked on my ribcage, causing me to laugh out loud. The small laugh loosens my chest and eases a bit of the anxiety I felt before the call. I’ll forever be grateful I have the best friend in the world.

“Thanks, Sades. Love you.”

“Love you too. You got this.”

The call disconnects and I turn off the car. Giving myself one last pep talk, I take a deep breath, get out of my car, and make my way into the rink.

Here goes nothing.

The team takes the news way better than I could have ever expected. They had a few hours after the news hit before our meeting, so maybe their initial reactions weren’t as pleasant. But when Lincoln and I address the team, no one has a bad word to say.

I’m pretty sure a lot of that has to do with Niko. As a captain, he’s as good as it gets. Him knowing beforehand probably made it much easier to talk with the guys before we came in. I’ll have to ask him later how all of that went, even though I know he won’t say a word. What’s said in the lockerroom stays in the locker room. Especially when it comes to coaches. Doesn't mean I won’t try like hell to get it out of him.

There are a couple of questions, one in particular from our rookie, Jefferson, that I refuse to repeat. But overall, the entire team is supportive of us. Lucy from PR joins and warns the guys that reporters may be focused on us, rather than hockey, in the coming days. All of the guys nod, listening intently as she goes over some questions they may ask and she provides them with a few different things they could say in response.

Now that that’s over with, we can finally focus on hockey again.

I hope.

We spend most of the practice doing flow drills, getting the guys’ legs moving, before moving on to some standard three-on-two drills to get the team clicking again. We have a game tomorrow night, so we don’t want to push them too hard, but after not having a full practice together yesterday, we want them working in their offensive lines and defensive pairings a bit.

After we finish the drills, we end the practice with a little game. We move the nets up to the center ice circle and play a game of three-on-three. One person from each team stands in the center, while the other two players on the team stand outside the circle. Only the people in the middle can shoot to score. It’s a fun game I learned in college and the guys love when we play it.

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