Page 79 of Puck Drop
With a lot more aggressivity than intended, I turn around to face her.
“If I didn’t have anything at all, would you still want me?”
She looks stricken for a second. “I… What?”
I open my arms to encompass our surroundings. “If I didn’t have this house and some money in the bank, and I couldn’t help you while in your time of need, would you still need me?”
Understanding dawns in her eyes that fill with instant tears.
“Logan, I’ve wanted you from the moment I laid eyes on you. I pursued a relationship with you despite my better judgement… I left everything behind to be with you,” she continues. “I appreciate everything that you do for me, so much, you have no idea… And if you have nothing, I would still love you just as much,” she finishes.
I nod in gratitude, then start pacing back and forth. My head is a mix of emotions. I have never experienced anything like it, not even when I thought I’d lost her forever. After I do a coupleof laps around the kitchen island, I decide to drop a bomb on her.
“I think I want to quit hockey.”
She lets out a soft gasp of surprise as she presses both hands to her chest. She stares at me like she can’t believe what she’s hearing. Truth is, I insisted for so long that hockey was my life, it sounds crazy to me, too, when I say I want out.
“Is it because you’re in the second line?” she asks. “I’m sure you’ll have opportunities to grow, Lo. This is not it for you. You’re an amazing player, a great goalie…”
“It’s not just that,” I interrupt. “Why would I sacrifice so much for hockey when it’s so easy for hockey to take a shit on me, ya know?”
She stares at me with pity in her eyes, and I hate seeing it.
“Is this because they wouldn’t let you skip the game tomorrow?”
There’s sudden tightness in my chest while my breathing is more labored.
“My friend is lying in a bed dying, Lizzie,” I yell at her. “Literally dying!”
I start pacing again, running my hands through my hair, making a mess of it, but I don’t care about anything anymore.
“Logan…”
She touches my back, and I jump, shaking her hand off.
“It is just a business to them,” she tells me, like I don’t already know. “Their heart is not involved. Sebastian was part of the team, but in their world, life still needs to go on. They have sponsors, and…”
She continues telling me all the things that I already know. It’s ironic that they’re coming from her. She is such a mess when she lost her job, and she couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t give her another chance. Only for her to sound like… like a team owner.
This is something I never thought of her as when, in fact, she is the heiress to one of the best teams in the league. While she’s never been involved in the business itself, it sounds like she’s got enough of her father in her to understand better than me why Coach said no to my leaving today.
“I think you should go back to your father,” I tell her out of nowhere.
“Logan,” she cries out. “What are you saying?”
I let out a long breath of air, trying to release some of the pressure in my chest.
“I’m saying that you’re better off in his world than mine. You’ll be happier there, I guarantee it.”
She slams her body into mine as she hugs me from behind, begging me without words to take it all back.
‘You don’t mean it,” she tells me. “It’s because you’re upset about what’s happening with Sebastian…”
I drop my eyes to the floor, fascinated with the design in the tiles.
“I am going to quit hockey,” I repeat to her in a cold tone. “And you are going to move back to New York. We are both going to move on with our lives.”
“Logan,” she begs.
