Page 59 of Pucker Up
Gideon shrugged. “I just don’t feel like I love this game anymore.”
My heart broke. It was common for players with brain injuries to feel this way. “How much did you love it before?”
He tilted his head and the room was silent while he pondered my question. “I fucking loved it. It was my life. I hate the snow, I hate the cold, and I hate my brother.”
I bit the eraser end of my pencil and nodded. “What you’re feeling is pretty common, and it sounds a little bit like burnout. I really think you should go to the team doctor and discuss the headaches, but for the rest of the stuff, do you think a trade to a sunny team might help?”
Again, he tilted his head. The man listened and was pensive. “Yes. I want to love the game again. I don’t know if that’s possible here with this team.”
“Promise me you will talk to Dr. Forsyth. There’s so much that can be done, and if the headaches are stress related, maybe a trade can be orchestrated.”
He sighed. “I shouldn’t have told you all of this.” As quickly as he’d dropped his armor, he built it back up.
“I’m glad you did. Sometimes, you need an objective outsider to listen.” I held his gaze.
He smiled and reached across the table to hold my hands. “Thank you for listening. If it wouldn’t be wildly appropriate, I’d ask you out to dinner to thank you for listening.”
“It would—”
“I’m not asking,” he interrupted. “I just said that I would. You seem like one of the few genuine people I’ve met since I moved here.”
The irony of his comment stabbed into my chest. I wasn’t genuine, I was keeping secrets. “Thank you, Gideon. It’s been a pleasure working with you.” His hands were bigger than Ace’s and had completely engulfed mine. I was trying not to blink; I didn’t want to invade his privacy more than I already had. This time, I didn’t have to blink. The vision came to me with my eyes open.
I must have been seeing things from Gideon’s point of view. I was walking through a very masculine apartment, with jerseys on the walls, and a projection screen TV with hockey flickering in the dark. A hand, the same one that was holding on to mine, reached in front of me and opened a door. A pretty blonde woman was sitting in a bed, naked, next to a sleeping Ace Bailey.
Gasping, I ripped my hand from Gideon’s. My heart thumped against my rib cage. There were rumors that Ace had slept with Gideon’s girlfriend, and I chalked them up as just that, rumors. But what had I just seen? It couldn’t be a rumor if Gideon had walked in on it.
“I’m not feeling very well.” I stood. The room tilted around me and then went black.
TWENTY-TWO
ACE
As soon asI was back in Toronto, I went for a long run. Sitting on the plane all morning had left my body feeling stiff. Our next game wasn’t until Saturday, and Coach had given us a couple of days off. I didn’t know what to do with myself.
After pounding the pavement with my shoes, I realized I needed to get out of the city. After my shower, I wrapped a towel around my waist and rushed to call Goldie. The phone rang and I was preparing to leave a message when a man’s voice answered. A voice I recognized. I took the phone from my ear and stared at the screen, wondering how the hell I’d called my brother.
“Hello?” the voice repeated.
“Is this Goldie’s phone?”
“It is. Do you have a session with her today or something?” Gideon’s voice was icy cold; he definitely knew it was me on the other end of the line.
“I have an appointment. I need to talk to her about it.”
There was some shuffling in the background. “Hold on.”
After some quiet murmuring that I couldn’t decipher, I heard Gideon ask Goldie if she was okay to talk on the phone. There was more shuffling, and I wondered what the hell was going on.Why was my brother answering Goldie’s phone, and why wasn’t she able to talk to me?
“H-h-h-hello.” Goldie’s voice was quiet. It sounded like she was in another country, not just up the street.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Everything is fine.” Then in the background she said it a little louder. “Everything is fine. Can I have some privacy please?”
The background noise disappeared. “Sorry about that, Ace.”
“What’s going on, Goldie?”
