“But there are two kinds of players. The ones that use it as an excuse to mistreat and ignore the people who love them, and the ones who find balance.”
“Haven’t met one of those balanced ones yet.”
“Yes, you have.”
“Yeah, okay,” I say to Josh. “Let’s go down and meet him.”
Chapter 40
Sebastian
Glenn Beckford waltzes into the room like he owns it as I’m tightening the knot on my tie. Most of the guys are in their suits now, but no one is really leaving the locker room yet. Everyone is still trying to come to terms with the way that game imploded on us before facing our families and loved ones. I know I’m not looking forward to seeing Shay. I know she won’t like what she saw. I don’t regret going after Jude Braddock and I won’t pretend I do, and I know she’ll like my lack of remorse even less.
I grew up watching her dad lose his temper on the ice. He was a real pest: his nasty, personal attacks on the other team’s players often landed him in the penalty box without him even throwing a punch. By the time he retired, Glenn Beckford held the record for the most unsportsmanlike penalty minutes in the league. At least my penalty minutes are usually for my actions and not my words. I defend teammates and don’t take low blows with my fists or my mouth.
He stands there and surveys the room.
“Undisciplined loss out there, boys,” he lectures loudly, like he’s our coach or something. “You just made this whole series harder for yourselves, but you can rein it in and get it back next time. I know you can. Westwood, I don’t have to tell you it’s up to you to make sure of it.”
Avery frowns at him but, ever the Boy Scout, he doesn’t tell him to shut up. Avery, being the captain, has already given us a lecture, as has our actual coach. Neither of those lectures did anything to improve my mood, so this third one isn’t helping either. I glance over at Jordan, who is shrugging into his navy blue suit jacket. I grab my own from the hook in my locker and turn to find Glenn’s eyes pinning me. He grins, but it’s not friendly. It’s dark and cool.
“Deveau,” he addresses me. “You had some good chances out there. You probably would have had more if you didn’t have your ass in the box at the end.”
“Yeah, well, next time,” I reply tersely and give him a smile I know looks as fake as it feels. Jordan walks up beside me and mutters something about finding Jessie, but he doesn’t walk away because Glenn is standing directly in front of both of us now.
“What’d that little runt Braddock say to you two to make you so angry it cost you the game?”
That’s fucking harsh. What Jude Braddock did was ask Jordan if his fiancée was as easy as her sister. Turns out Braddock and Callie had fooled around a few years ago. There’s a code on the ice: you can knock a guy about almost anything—their skill, their intelligence, their looks—but children, wives or girlfriends are supposed to be off limits. So, yeah, Jordan wanted to kill him—and I went after him too, because I heard it and I will always back up my boys.
Jordan bristles beside me now as he faces this over-the-hill blowhard. “He made a personal attack. Directed at my fiancée and her family.”
Glenn’s expression doesn’t change. He looks as unimpressed as he did a second ago. “What? Did he claim to bang her before you or something?”
I can feel the anger radiating off Jordan, but Glenn doesn’t seem to feel it. In fact he seems completely oblivious to the crassness of his words. “Guys will say anything to get under your skin on the ice. Even if it’s true, you have to blow it off. You can’t cost your whole team a game over some chick.”
I put a hand on Jordy’s shoulder and squeeze. “Go find Jessie,” I urge, because I don’t want him to start something with Shay’s dad. Oh God, this man is going to be in my life for a while. That realization fills me with dread.
Jordan storms out of the room. I glance at Avery, who is eyeing the situation cautiously as he buttons his dress shirt. Our eyes meet and I see the plea in them to stay calm. I have to, he’s right, but I want to tell this jerk to get bent. I inhale deeply and try to excuse myself like Jordan did. “I have to go. I have friends waiting in the lounge.”
“You mean my daughter?” Our eyes connect. “I saw her arrive in the car you gave her. Thanks for that, by the way. She won’t let me help her. Now if you could get her an apartment in a better area of town, I wouldn’t have to worry so much.”
“I didn’t give her a car,” I reply, because I feel like it would matter to Shay that her dad knows she’s not accepting handouts from me either. “She’s borrowing it until this weekend when she gets her own.”
He scratches the back of his neck while he absorbs that information. “Pity. I thought maybe she’d come to her senses and realize she can’t do this on her own. Not as a silly yoga instructor anyway.”
“She’s also a nutritionist,” I remind him, and I can’t believe I have to defend her to her own father. “And an amazing human being, for the record.”
His gray eyes land on mine again, and he breaks into a soft, friendly grin. “Deveau, you don’t have to prove your feelings for my daughter to me. I know she’s a wonderful person, albeit a bit too opinionated and stubborn most of the time.” He reaches out and cups my shoulder in a fatherly gesture. “I’m happy you want to take that on. I hope it works out for the long haul. But I’m warning you: she’s never going to be easy. She doesn’t play by the hockey wives code. Consider that carefully, my friend. You’ll be giving up a lot of your extracurricular activity.”
“Glenn, why don’t you come to the friends and family lounge with me. I’m sure everyone would love to see you there,” I say smoothly, and without waiting for an answer, I escort Beckford out of the locker room.
My girlfriend’s father has no clue how close I was to punching him. I’m not even sure I realize how close I was until Chooch, who was sitting across the locker room watching the whole thing, says, “Unclench those fists, Seb.”
I relax my hands and shake them out before shoving them into my pockets. “Did that guy just honestly warn you that if you date his daughter she might not let you fuck other people?”
“Yeah. Not because he cares if I cheat on her, but because she might.”
“He made it seem like that fact was a fault in her character.” Chooch is also blown away, judging by the awed pitch to his voice. “Who the fuck thinks not being able to cheat is a bad thing?”
