Cage's Misconduct (NHL Scorpions #3) (22 page)

He yelled at the back of my head as I was bent over, hands on my knees, trying to get some oxygen into my lungs. “You have no idea what Karen’s been through. You aren’t the kind of guy she needs. She’s had your type. Violent, skirt chasing. So leave her alone, do you hear me?”

My rage had simmered down to a slow boil. It was hard to be self-righteous when his concern was for Karen. Right or wrong, he was only trying to protect her. I slowly stood up, rubbing my stomach. “Yes, I do know what Karen’s been through. She told me all about Freddy.” His eyes widened at the mention of Freddy.

“Karen and I have spent a lot of time together, Jody. We’ve talked for hours and hours about everything. She’s been through even more than you know. Now here’s the important part, and I want you to listen up.” Danger being my middle name (or stupid), I took a step closer. “I’m not going away. I’m not going to stop being Karen’s friend. She means too much to me. And if by some miracle she’ll let me be more than a friend to her, you can be goddamn sure I’ll count myself a lucky bastard. I don’t want the girl of the day anymore. I won’t say my temper will never get the best of me again, but I can say without a doubt that there is nothing in this world that Karen could do to cause me to lay a finger on her out of anger.”

Jody’s chest rose as he got ready to talk, but I held a hand up to stop him. “I’m not done.” He stood up straighter and crossed his arms, but stayed quiet, nodding once. “You and I need to figure out a way to be together in the same room without upsetting Karen. I know you don’t see her as much as she’d like you to because I’m usually there now. That’s got to stop. You’ll have to deal with me, because as I already said, I’m not going away. You’re the one who’s hurting her. Not me. So what’s it going to be?”

His face was comically contorted in his effort to swallow his pride. I knew he had to agree with me. There was no other answer, and I think he knew he was wrong to feel so powerfully negative toward me. “Okay, great. You make valid points that I can’t argue with.” He still wanted to hit me, I could tell, but he knew he was wrong. “Goddammit, Booker, fine. We’ll call a truce and see how it goes, but you get one fucking toe out of line and we’re going to go a round or two.” After a couple of seconds of reflecting, he said, “Sorry I hit you—again.”

I shook my head and grinned at him. “No you’re not.”

He laughed in return. “You’re right. It felt good.”

“Allow me to disagree.” I rubbed my stomach again and shook the hand he offered me. It felt good to get all of that out in the open. I was glad I pushed the issue. My temper stayed pretty well controlled, too. Good for me.

We walked back into the bar to see our seats had been taken over, although Vlad still sat in his watching the game. We’d missed most of the first period. I couldn’t help but wonder if Karen and Maddie were watching. If I had my choice, I’d much rather be sitting in her living room than here at the bar.

“Come on, Booker. I’ll buy you a cold one.”

“Thanks,
LaGrange,
but I’ll pass. I feel the need to go check on your sister.” He sighed, but to his credit he didn’t say a word. “See you guys later.”

***

The second period was just getting underway when I got to Karen’s. Her mom answered the door wearing a San Diego Zoo hoodie. “Hey, Maddie. Looks like someone went sightseeing today.”

“I did. Lacey and I took Addie while Jody was working with a new youth group at the rink and Karen was resting. It’s a great zoo, but, holy cow, is it big! I was as exhausted as Addie by the time we got home.” She patted me on the back and pushed me toward the living room. “Go sit with Karen. I’ll grab us some sodas and be right in.”

“Thanks.”

Karen’s ponytail hung down over the back of the couch, swaying gently back and forth as she disagreed with the commenter on TV. “That was not boarding, you ass. Maybe you need new glasses!” Matty was escorted to the sin bin, pleading his case the whole way. “Great. Another friggin penalty kill! Ref, you suck.”

How sexy was it to walk into a room and see a beautiful woman throwing down like a man at the TV over a hockey game? “You tell em!”

She glanced at me over her shoulder and patted the seat next to her. “Come on over here and watch this bullshit with me. I swear sometimes I think these games are rigged.”

Didn’t we all. “What’s the score?”

“Tied, but we’ll see what it is after this penalty kill. Our PK has been sucking monkey balls lately.” She wasn’t wrong about that. It always seemed to me that you either had a good power play unit or a good penalty kill unit. You didn’t usually have both. Which was better? That depended on how bad or good your team was with not getting penalized.

“Monkey balls, huh? You get gutter mouth when you watch hockey, you know that?”

“Hey—I’ll be classy in a few weeks. Right now, it’s playoff time. Now, come sit down and shut up. And stop scratching your head.”

Yup. I was in love. Hook line and sinker. I was done. “I can’t help it. My hair’s growing back and it’s itchy. So, you think we’re going to pull this out?”

“We have to. We lose one more game and we’re out. Did you call Andre, by the way?”

“I stopped in earlier today when he was working out. We had a good talk. I think he’s a little calmer now. The kid’s good. He’s not as good as I am yet, but he’s getting there. It’s a shame he got thrown into the playoffs like he did. Another year or two and he’s going to be a serious contender. He’s got skills.”

“I hope you told him all of that.”

I did, and meant every word. I knew the kid needed to hear it. I know it sounded like I was patting myself on the back, but I was good. Some of the skill I was born with, but a lot has been honed through a ton of back-breaking work. This kid had skill, too. Our regular backup was out with a pulled groin. Jacques was our AHL goalie, and was doing a pretty good job for being thrown into the playoffs without ever having played in the NHL before. “I did. He’s under a lot of pressure, though. We’ll see how it goes. Hopefully our offense can step up and help the kid out with some goals.”

“Oh. Oh, what is this? Shh.” Karen turned the volume up as Maddie came in and put sodas for all of us on the table.

The announcers were overly animated as they talked. “We’re hearing that Chicago’s goalie may get a game misconduct. If he gets that, he’s out of here. Other players can serve their other penalties, but not a game misconduct. This could be huge for the Scorpions. Let’s take a look at the replay.”

Chicago’s goalie deliberately stuck his stick in our captain’s skate, and then threw his glove at him. The only time I’d ever seen someone throw his glove was during a particularly hostile game we’d play against Philly a while back. Good ole’ Scotty. I couldn’t help but like the guy.

If Logan had stopped at throwing the glove, he probably would have just gotten a couple of minors, but when the ref started giving out penalties, Logan banged his stick over his net hard enough to break it, causing a piece to fly to the side and hit the ref right above his eye. Blood gushed to the ice. Head wounds tended to look worse than they were, but damn—whenever humanly possible, avoid hitting a ref!

“Well, that can certainly help us.” She was right again. Jacques had a few playoff games under his belt. Their backup hadn’t played many games at all that I knew of. Only enough to have given Logan a break when he needed it.

We watched as Smith, their backup goalie, was brought in. He was given a minute to check his crease and warm up a bit. Then it was game on.

We scored two goals in the second period. The Scorpions were looking fanfuckingtastic, and my hopes were high. “Yeah! That’s the way to do it, boys!”

Maddie and Karen were both shouting right along with me. They knew every bit as much about the sport as I did. They may not have played professionally, but both grew up in Canada where both boys and girls played daily. And then there was Jody. They knew he was good from day one. And from day one, they also knew he’d be an enforcer. His number one instinct was to protect—on any level. And he did, until too many shots to the head and a pregnant wife convinced him that retirement was a blessing in disguise. He now ran a hockey club for youth groups as part of a Scorpions’ outreach program. Vlad worked for them, too. It was a sweet deal. They were potentially recruiting the next best hockey players around and helping out their community at the same time.

The third period brought us two more goals, which wasn’t all that common in playoff hockey. Playoff hockey games were usually pretty tight, but there were extenuating circumstances with second-and third-string goalies playing. We went on to win the game and would see another day in the playoffs. We weren’t eliminated yet.

“Well, we live to see another day. Three games to three. Next game will decide it.” I was stoked for my team. Really stoked! I wanted my name on that cup. Since I’d played so much during the year, my name would still be on it, even though I wasn’t playing right now.

Karen’s hand was over her heart. “I swear. Sometimes hockey’s too much for me. I get so angry and happy and loud and then quiet. I’ll almost be happy to have a break after the Scorpions win the cup.”

“From your lips to God’s ears, darlin’.” I knew she loved when the Texas came out in me, and I tried to slip it in now and then when it didn’t seem too obvious. “I’m restless. Do you ladies want to go for a walk?”

Maddie looked at both of us and shook her head. “Not me. I’m going to get into bed, call my Samuel and read for a bit. You two go on without me. Will you make sure Karen gets up to bed okay before you leave, Dalton?”

“Yes ma’am, I will. Thanks for letting me steal some of your time with her again.”

Her smile was all knowing. There was no doubt in my mind she knew I couldn’t stay away. “Oh, that’s no worry. You stop over any time you like.” To my surprise, she leaned over and gave me a peck on the cheek. “I’m so glad you’re here for my baby girl. You’ve done wonders taking care of her. Thank you.”

I didn’t know what to say. Luckily, I didn’t have to say anything. She got up and quickly took herself up the stairs, leaving Karen and I alone with only the commercials on the TV for company. “Why don’t you go get a sweater while I take our glasses into the kitchen and turn the TV off?”

“That sounds good. Thanks.” I watched her walk up the stairs. It was a view I didn’t think I’d ever tire of seeing. And I noticed that she didn’t pause as much on her way up. She was healing nicely.

The glasses were in the dishwasher by the time she ambled back down. She looked adorable in her pink San Diego hoodie and sweatpants. A tourist to the end. She didn’t bother with shoes.

“Ready?” I held my hand out to her. When she took it with a smile, I couldn’t help but lean in to give her a kiss. Her lips were begging for it. Okay, maybe that was my imagination.

“What was that for?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to.” She smiled demurely at me and squeezed my hand.

“Oh.” I was pleased she hadn’t slammed her walls back up where I was concerned. Before the accident, she had given in to the chemistry between us, but since then we really hadn’t had much opportunity to act on it. I’d been afraid she’d withdraw from me again.

The night was cool and the stars were bright. It was a perfect night for lovers—or good friends—to take a stroll on the beach. We took it slow as the chill in the air caused her to walk a bit closer to me. I was ever mindful that I couldn’t grip her too hard. She was still fairly tender from her surgery. As a matter of fact, I made sure we didn’t stray too far from the house.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Eh. I’m not great, but I’m a little better every day. It’ll be nice when I can stand up straight and not have to think about it, but really that’s the last thing left. I can comfortably lift my arms to do my hair, I can take a deep breath, and I even did some laundry this week. It’s just frustrating that those things make me so tired, you know?”

I did know. I wouldn’t say it to her, but I think it was even more frustrating for an athlete. On any given day, I put my body through workouts that don’t seem humanly possible—unless I’m concussed. Concussions were a very different animal. “Yes. I do. The physical aspect anyway. And from experience I can tell you not to worry about it. Really, Karen. The more you sleep now, the faster you’ll heal. It’s what your body needs. Just give it another week or so. Trust me.”

“I do. Trust you I mean.”

I took her hand and laced our fingers together. “I’m glad.” We walked just a little bit farther in silence before I turned us around. “Tell me something about you that no one knows.”

A couple of strands of her golden hair had escaped the confines of her ponytail holder as the night breeze blew around us. I reached up and tucked them behind her ear, noticing the cut on her face. Both of our stitches had been removed a few days ago, but the doctor said facial scars can take six months to a year to settle down. He didn’t think hers would be too visible unless she was in the sun a lot. One thing I knew about Karen was that she was a freak about sun screen and skin treatment in general, so I figured her face had a better chance than most of healing well. I really didn’t care how mine healed. It would be mostly covered when my hair grew back anyway.

“Something no one knows, eh? Let me think.” She stopped and looked up at the moon. “Well, one time when I was little, my friend Malcolm and I snuck into the principal’s office and put a whoopee cushion under the cushion on her seat. She took such good care of that cushion. She sewed it herself. It was kind of the joke of the school. You could hear her yelling down the hall when she sat down on it.”

“Did you get caught? Did you want the world to know you got one over on Mrs. Whoever?”

“Mrs. Snodgrass. Great name, eh? It fit her. But no. We never told a soul. Until now.”

“Where’s Malcolm now? Do you keep in touch?”

Her mouth turned down as a flash of grief rippled over her face. “He died on September 11th. He was with his father at work in the World Trade Center. Neither of them made it out. They never did find their bodies.”

“I’m really sorry. My mother lost a close friend who was only there on a business trip. She actually did make it out, but died of complications from her injuries a couple of days later. It was a hell of a thing.” We were quiet for too long. Too quiet. The sorrow of our memories was overtaking us until Karen broke the spell.