Page 11 of Break

He shoves me into the wall and my head clinks against the plexiglass. I bare my teeth at him, getting away from him, skating away, watching Arizona get their first goal.

1-1.

Damn it, Nolan.

_____________

The buzzer sounds and I bask in the screams, shouts, and hollers. We barely won. 4-3. We rush through the halls to the locker room and I sigh as I get undressed and head straight to the showers. I need to call the girls to make sure they’re okay, I have no idea where they are and it’s giving me another migraine. Or maybe it’s just the same one that I’ve been ignoring.

Why can’t Marie just tell me where they are so that I know they’re safe?

Blake starts singing a few feet away and I snort. Our resident clown. He even has the red hair for it. Belting out some new pop song, swinging his ass around as he soaps up his hair.

After we’re all wrapped in towels and staring longingly at our clothes, we have another meeting. I sit down on the bench in front of my locker and barely hear Coach Williams drone on and on about what we need to do differently.

“Be back here at six tomorrow. We’re going to practice every day until I know we’re ready for our away games next week, you fuckers are slacking. Get out of here.”

We all nod and stand, pulling on our suits and fixing our hair before we head out for any interviews and seeing our families.

Well, their families.

Most of the guys are married, have kids, or have girlfriends. Or are waiting to run into a bunny on the way out to take out to the nearest hotel.

I apparently have a girlfriend now, but there’s no way Alex would ever step foot near a rink. I frown as I head out, nodding to fans and signing some tickets. I shake hands, and groaninternally when I’m stopped. I plaster a fake smile on my face and glance over to the camera.

“James Carter! What a game, two goals, most importantly, the winning goal for tonight. How does it feel?”

I chuckle and wink at Marissa before turning towards the camera. “Just doing my job. It feels great to be out on the ice, doing what I love.”

She nods and smiles widely at me, “Great. You have another four years of your contract here, are you loving Minnesota enough to stay for the rest of your career, or do you think you’d move on?”

I frown and shrug. “Haven’t thought of it. It feels like it’s been so much longer than that. The team, this rink… it’s family, home. Like you said, I still have another four years to figure it out.” I nod and step away and she waves me off to be in someone else’s face.

At least it’s only her back here tonight and not a million different news crews.

What the hell was that about, though? I signed a ten-year contract and still have four years left, not four months. Are there already talks about me leaving or being traded? I thought I was doing well, I need to pull up my stats when I get home.

I smile and nod to the WAG’s and ignore the puck bunnies as I head out to the parking lot.

I was still slightly hoping that Marie would show up. She’s never missed a home game until recently. Neither have the girls. This is the second one they’ve all missed and my… stomach hurts. It’s clenching with anxiety.

Have I been too attached to Marie? Have I been holding her back and now that I have a girlfriend she’s free? Maybe it’s all for the best and maybe it was time we spread our own wings. Right?

I step up into my truck and start the engine, staring down at my phone to find a few texts from the girls. Wishing me luck and complaining about the game. Well that’s a start at least.

I smile as I call Caroline and hope that she answers.

“Hey, great game! We were on the edge of our seats.”

I chuckle and lean back in my seat and get comfortable. “It was hectic. How’s your night?”

“Good. We’re about to go to bed… Marie’s house is awesome! The TV is basically as big as the wall.”

I snort and recall the emails from my credit card company. Yeah… You’re welcome, Marie. “I bet it felt like you were right on the ice, huh? What did you have for dinner?”

She huffs and I imagine she’s rolling her eyes. “Marie’s on a health kick. We had some weird vegetable pasta with alfredo sauce and a salad.” I smile, Marie loves to go through her stages. She’s always been a healthy eater though.

“Good. Can I talk to Lyss?”

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