“Are you fucking kidding me, Cap?” I whisper-shout so as not to draw attention from the front of the plane where the coaches sit.
Fitz and Quade lose the battle and they dissolve into laughter. Jordan just looks guilty as hell.
“I can’t believe you! I thought out of all these assholes, you were the responsible one. You’re a dad—The Captain for Christ's sake!”
“Why the fuck would you think that?” Jordan looks shocked as he throws his arms out with a defensive shrug. “I’m a father because I had a one night stand and got too drunk to remember a condom. Thank fuck I wrote my number on her tit in sharpie before I left or I would’ve never known I had a child just crawling around in New Jersey!”
“What?!” I shake my head. “That’s fucking crazy.”
“Yeah. I know.” He just nods likeI’mthe idiot. “Wanna share your conception story with the class— since we apparently all have to share.”
I scratch my head blushing like crazy over a story I absolutely donotwant to tell. “Nah we’re good.”
Now four faces turn to me expectantly as I try for nonchalance. I ignore their unrelenting stares as I take my time opening my go to airplane snack- a pack of honey roasted peanuts.
Ronan snatches them from my hands. “Out with it, Bridges.”
“Uh... What do you mean?” I purse my lips and look around the plane pretending to think,somehow managing to avoid all eye contact. Playing dumb never works for Matty so I don’t know why I think it’ll work for me.
“What’s the story?” Fitz asks as he smacks on his gum.
I throw my head back against my seat, yet again. Why was I so moody today? I just felt… off.
“Guys, I was a … kid. No way am I sharing those details.” I squint at them. They don’t budge.
“What, were you a virgin or something? Why are you being weird?” Fitz asks, still smacking.
“Nothing wrong with that, man.” Ronan answers quickly.
A little too quickly. Our heads take turns slowly turning to him.
Ryan snickers behind his hand.
Ronan tries to duck back into his seat, but Jordan doesn’t let him hide.
I’m just thankful the attention is off me. With that, I secure my headphones back into place and relax into my seat for a nap.
***
In the game against the Otters, no matter what we do, we can’t seem to find our momentum. Our opponents are in our space and leaving no room for mistakes.
Fitz is the only one playing with any skill tonight. He has been our saving grace in the game. Tied at 2-2, it’s a nail-biting fight.
I try like hell to get the puck back when it’s slapped away from my teammate and heading toward our goal on a pass. Number 24 shoots the puck, sending it flying. Ronan is too slow, the puck flies past his helmet. I see the devastated expression before he quickly wipes it away. He refocuses but I know he’ll carry the guilt of that one with him.
We give it everything, but we still lose 3-2.
The team is mellow as we file into the plane. The chill on the plane has me pulling up my hoodie as I fold my tall frame into a window seat near the back.
The guys spread out around me, all needing a little space after that hard loss too.
I feel the weight of the loss like a stone in my gut. I really have to make it work with this team. I don’t want to be traded from team to team until my career is over. I had something good with the Dallas Stars for a long time.
I’m still in my best years of playing, but I need to lock down a long-term contract. I have to. For Matty.
I hope he’s been good for Allison. He’s a good kid and so is Hudson. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t know how they could get each other into trouble though. I grew up with three siblings. Separately we were all angels. Soon as you put us together, we’d be up to no good.
Presley was the worst of us. Especially when all she had to do was shed a dainty tear in my leather-tough father’s direction and he’d melt like ice cream in the Texas sun.
