He’s leaning on the boards in front of our bench, looking like he’s waiting for a late bus.I come to a stop beside him.“Thanks.”
“Yeah.”He nods.“What are teammates for?”
He smiles, and I smile back.
We win the game, and I get in a few more chirps, refusing to let it go.In the locker room, I’m buzzing.For the first time in a long time, I feel like myself.Like the happy-go-lucky guy who used to drink.But clearly it wasn’t the alcohol that made me feel that way because here I am sober and still high—on life.It’s fucking awesome.I take off my outer gear and pads and head to see the medical staff because they want another look at my cut.
When I step back out into the hall, the media is just finishing up, and a couple of them rush to me.“Theo, can we talk about the game you had?”
“It was pretty fantastic if I do say so myself.”I grin.
Every single reporter’s face lights up like it’s Christmas.“You were definitely channeling a Richard we haven’t seen this season.What caused the shift?”
“I just decided to let loose.”I scrub the back of my sweaty neck with my hand.“Found a reason to let my guard down, I guess.”
As if on cue, Lola and her parents round the corner at the end of the hall.She’s got Randie on her hip, and she’s smiling at something her dad said, and I swear to god every organ in my body grows wings.My grin deepens instantly, and the reporters take it as a sign to keep questions flying.“How did it feel to take some swings again out there?The fans have been missing a good Richard fight.”
“I don’t need to fight, and I won’t without a reason.Not anymore.”I shrug a little.“So I won’t say it felt good, but it felt right this time.That’s all I’ll say.”
They start hurling more questions at me, but I step away.“Sorry, guys.I have to get showered, or they’ll leave for Vegas without me.”
They all thank me even though they look defeated, and I continue past the dressing room to where Lola is standing.Her parents have broken off, and her mom is talking to Landon, who is now holding Randie, and her dad is laughing at something with the coach.I lean against the wall and grin at her.She tries scowling, her pouty mouth in a flat line, but the more I grin, the more she can’t hold it, and she starts smiling too.
“You hit him,” she whispers like it’s a secret.
“Sure did,” I reply and push my chest out like a proud peacock.“I wish I were wearing a mic.You would have loved the stuff I said, too.”
“I could see your mouth moving the whole damn game.”Lola fights a laugh.“I have a feeling if you were mic’d up, you’d have been fined.”
“Yep!”I say, still proud.I glance at her parents, who are still distracted, and lower my voice.“Worth it though.I will be his worst nightmare every time we play each other until he retires.In fact, I might be the reason he retires.He’ll want to get away from me that badly.”
“Theo, I’m a big girl.I don’t need you punching my exes,” Lola replies.“Physically or verbally.”
“I know.But I hate dudes like that.They add to the stereotype that all hockey players are bad to women,” I explain and lean a little closer.“Also, he thought that Randie was yours—that she was ours.”
Lola blinks and shakes her head in disbelief.“What?Is that why he came up to the glass before the game?He thinks I had a baby?”
“Yeah.I guess.”
“And he thinks it’syours?”Lola gasps out the last part and then bites her full bottom lip and glances at her parents, who still don’t seem to notice us.Her big blue eyes shift back to me.They remind me of the flowers my mom likes.“No.That idiot knows I can’t… unless… he forgot?”
Her face is a series of micro-expressions that starts with confused, then morphs into sad, and twists into horrified.
“What did he forget?”
She looks around the hall, as if trying to see if anyone else is listening, and then her eyes move to me and then to the floor.She raises them to me again when she speaks.“I can’t have kids.A few months after Ryan and I broke up, I had an emergency surgery due to a fibroid.They had to remove my uterus.”
I have no idea what a fibroid is, but I know what a uterus is.I blink and try to absorb this information.“I told him, because like I said, we’d just broken up and… I don’t know.I was weak and needy.We talked on the phone.He knew.”
I can see the pain on her face, so I try to make it go away with the only thing I’m good at.Humor.“Maybe the idiot failed biology.He doesn’t look that bright, Lola.Probably doesn’t realize that babies grow in uteruses and not stork dens.”
She kind of smiles, and I keep talking.“Anyway, he thinks you’re mine now, and he definitely won’t be forgetting anytime soon.”
She tilts her head, perplexed and adorable.“Why does he think that, Theo?”
“While I was fighting him, and winning, I might have said…” I swallow and then try to look indifferent.“I might have called him garbage for treating you badly.And not denied it when he said I had a thing for you.”
“Really?”She doesn’t look pissed, just confused.
