The mumblings started as soon as I walked out of the house, Hawk in step beside me. I knew recognition was a possibility before joining the club or showing up here today, but I hoped it wouldn’t happen until after the season started and people saw me with the team and behind the bench. I looked so different than what I had before. The graying hair, the smaller physique, the dog. It gave me a much different look, but apparently not different enough.
Which meant coming clean with Aiden.
I grabbed a chair at one of the open tables, and Hawk lay down next to me. I tried returning Hawk when I first got out of the hospital. I didn’t feel I needed him. Mikal’s shot hadn’t disabled me enough, in my mind, to require a service dog. My injury left me in this odd sort of limbo where I was too disabled to dowhat I loved but not enough to need the dog whom I was coming to love.
When I arrived at the facility, the owner, Julie Holt, showed me around, telling me about what they did there, and before I knew it, Julie had enrolled me and Hawk in some classes. She’d even put me up at the ranch where her training facility was. I sat on the porch of that tiny guest cabin and watched Julie and the others she employed put not just dogs like Hawk through their paces but tactical dogs trained to guard, sniff out all manner of stuff. They even worked with military units.
I was utterly and truly amazed, and after that first day, I bit my tongue and threw myself into the training classes Julie scheduled for Hawk and me. Hawk’s training was to always be a buffer for the side with diminished senses. So, now while he looked like he didn’t have a care in the world with his head resting on his paws at my feet, I knew differently. He was close enough he could nudge me with his nose to get my attention if someone approached from my bad side, and he’d be on his feet quicker than you could blink if there were danger. He was the only friend and help I could accept for the longest time. Since my time on the ranch with Julie and her staff, I’ve fully funded the training and placement of several dogs with families who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford a service animal for their child. Not that Julie needed it, given who her family is, but it made me feel like a contributing member of society and not just a hanger-on.
The mumblings I’d tried to ignore turned to whispers and pointing, and I sighed. I looked through the open patio doors toward the kitchen, where I’d left Aiden. His head was cocked as if he overheard something he was trying to hear better. I could be wrong, but when Aiden moved away from buffet lineand pulled out his phone, my heart fell to the pit of my soul and I knew, he’d heard the same shit in there, that I’d been hearing out here.
I pushed out the chair and rose to my feet, making my way toward the patio doors. I didn’t know who he could be calling or texting, or even if he was, but what I did know was I needed to get to him. Then he glanced toward me and spun on his heel, rushing out of the kitchen. I picked up the pace, hoping to catch up with him, but as luck would have it… who the fuck was I kidding? I had no luck, and a couple of people waylaid me who wanted to say hi and shake my hand.
When I finally got inside the house, I skirted around everyone, making a beeline for the front door. The boy was spooked. Of that I had no doubt. I just didn’t know exactly what set him off.
I stepped out on the front porch to see a Jeep spin around in the driveway and peel away. Aiden’s eyes met mine as he drove off and I sighed which turned to a groan when Ewen looked at me with his brow cocked.
I looked down at Hawk, who stared up at me, his brows bouncing as if he knew I was in for an uncomfortable conversation and agreed with it.
“I don’t need reprimanding by you, too, buddy.”
I walked over to the seating area on the porch, opposite the kitchen, and took a seat. Ewen made his way toward me, typing away at his phone.
“I’m the owner, that makes it…” he started as he sat down
“You don’t need to explain. And before you ask, I’ll say, I’m not sure what happened exactly. Only I think he heard the murmurings of me being outed as Sasha Storm.”
His eyes widened, and a small smile tugged at one side of his face. “I didn’t see it last night, but now that you’ve said the name, I do.” He took a deep breath, his eyes cast toward the drive, Aiden’s Jeep no longer visible.
“The kid didn’t know?”
I shook my head. “I use Alex now. Not Sasha.”
“Why?”
“Would you want to be answering questions about a nearly decade-old injury constantly, or if you still speak to the best friend that caused the injury, and why you have a service animal?”
“Fuck no.”
“That’s why. People, unless they’re hockey people, don’t recognize me. I played college hockey here. I should’ve known I’d be recognized easily, even with using my legal name.”
“Yeah. My brother’s going to kick my ass if he learns I didn’t recognize you. As will my buddy Priest. Well, he won’t kick my ass. He’ll laugh his off at me.”
“Why’s that?”
“My brother’s Will Grigor and my buddy Priest’s boy is Gavin Samuelson.”
“Fuck,” I groaned. Will was my Assistant Head Coach, and Gavin played for the Nashville Nighthawks.
“No worries,” he said. “Club business is sacrosanct. I don’t divulge that shit to anyone without a court order. And my brother doesn’t talk to me about team shit.”
“Well, that’s good to know. So I’m assuming you wanna know what happened?”
“That would be nice considering the kid took off like a bat outta hell in complete panic.”
“Like I said, I assume he heard some shit about who I am and it freaked him out.”
“Did you guys come together for the munch?”
