Page 28 of Snow, Ice, and Spice
“Why do we keep coming here?” I ask, taking a long pull from my water glass to erase the piss taste in my mouth.
“Because the drinks are cheap,” Dylan says.
I scoff. “You’re professional hockey players. You can afford to drink at a decent place.”
He shrugs. “We’ve been coming here since we were rookies. Force of habit.”
The rest of the guys nod along.
“The owner’s cool too,” Isaac says.
“You mean the old guy who looks like a deranged Santa that has never said more than two words to us even though we’ve all been coming here for the past handful of years?” Dylan asks.
“Yup,” Isaac says. “He leaves us alone instead of every other place we’ve hit up, where the staff bombards us with annoying comments about how we played.”
We all murmur in agreement. It’s always irritating when we try to go out and unwind and people come up to us offering their two cents on our skills as players.
Isaac elbows me and smirks. “Seriously, though. Still going buck wild?”
“Nope,” I say as I bat my empty glass between my hands.
The entire table starts to laugh until I frown at all of them.
“Oh. You’re serious?” Dylan says.
I tell them what my agent told me: how my only chance at getting picked up again is to clean up my image.
When I take in the hesitant stares of my teammates, I glare at them. “Wow. Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys.”
“No, hey, it’s not like that,” Dylan quickly says. “That’s a, uh, noble goal, man.”
I catch him frowning at everyone else at the table. They all clear their throats and offer jumbled encouragements.
“Good for you, man,” Isaac says.
“Yeah, uh, way to be,” Dylan adds.
I feel myself deflate at just how obvious it is that my former teammates don’t think I can act like a decent person.
“Wow. Thanks,” I mumble.
“We’re serious,” Isaac quickly says. They all start to offer encouraging comments, but I hold up a hand.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” I turn to Dylan. “How’s it feel to know you’re gonna be a dad of twins in a few months?”
“I’m scared shitless.” He downs another shot without even wincing.
“Aww come on, you’ll be okay. You’ve been a stepdad for three years now,” I say.
“Yeah, but that’s different. I met Annabelle when she was a toddler, not a newborn. And she is a literal angel. I’ve got twins on the way. They’re gonna annihilate me.”
He gazes ahead at nothing in particular with a thousand-yard stare.
Isaac claps him on the knee. “Don’t sweat it. Three kids are a piece of cake.”
Dylan glowers at him. “Fuck off. You of all people know damn well it’s not.”
Isaac laughs. “I mean, it kind of is. Okay yeah, it feels like fucking chaos at first, trying to keep three babies alive all at once. But you get used to it. If I can handle being a dad of twins, anyone can. Even you.”
