Page 46 of Breaking Point
“M&M’s?” I ask.
Kieran shrugs. “Yeah, it’s like his good luck charm. He eats a handful before every game and practice.”
My brows rise. “How do you even know that?”
“Puck bunnies talk.” A grin spreads across his face. “I was thinking for the Stanley Cup, we buy all the M&M’s in the surrounding area?—”
“Gentlemen! Are we going to fix this shit storm or eat candy?”
I shake my head, mentally making a note to talk to Kieran about the M&M’s later. “Sorry, but Kieran’s right. He’s dirty.”
She points an incredulous finger at me. “A dirty man that doesn’t get caught.”
I flop backwards on the couch. “Fuck my life.”
She snaps her fingers. “Don’t go digging a deeper hole of sadness. I have a plan.”
I throw my arms out to my sides, ignoring how Kieran walks away only to come back with a box of cereal. Always a box of cereal. “I’m all ears, Lucy.”
She ticks them off on her fingers as she goes. “Firstly, you’re getting sober.”
I dip my head. “I agree.”
No matter how terrified I am to face what my life will look like sober, what I’ll finally have to feel without the buzz of alcohol numbing everything and how petrified I am to be sober in a world without Drew in it, I know I have to do this.
It’s no longer a question of what could happen if I continue to drink—I’m watching my very life crumble before me. I thought I was okay with that before, but if I lose this team, I’ll truly have nothing, and there is nothing more terrifying than losing the things you love most in this world.
I don’t know who I am without hockey. It isn’t a job, it’s a part of me.
Kieran groans. “I’ll be sad to lose my drinking buddy but she’s right. You’re a mess when you’re drunk.”
“Thanks, Kieran.”
“Anytime.”
I roll my eyes as he pointedly ignores the sarcasm of my gratitude.
Lucy, as always, ignores us and continues on. “Secondly, I’ll schedule training sessions outside the team; you’ve gotten sloppy. We need to build up your confidence and stamina on the ice again, make the team remember why they pay you millions of dollars a year to hit a puck with a stick.”
“A bit more to it than that, love,” Kieran quips.
Lucy and I both ignore him as I nod. “I’ll also work with the private trainers, see which area I need to improve and focus on.”
“Pretty sure it’s all of them, buddy.”
Lucy rolls her eyes at Kieran before focusing back on me. “They only want Montgomery for his skills and clean record. When you’re on your A game you’re better than him.”
I wink. “Thanks, Lucy.”
If steam could blow out her ears, it would. “However,” she goes on, her eyes getting that hard glint warning me to not mess around, “he has what you don’t—the security of no scandals or puck bunnies.”
Kieran coughs into his fist. “He fucks them and signs NDAs.”
“Grayson can fuck whomever he wants if he also sends them NDAs.”
Groaning, I rub a palm down my face as a headache blooms. “I don’t want to get tangled up with any more puck bunnies.”
Not after what Bella had to deal with. Even the thought of bringing another puck bunny home for Bella to see the next morning makes my skin crawl.
