“We’re going to my place,” Tane replied, picking Jacob up and standing him back on two feet, his strength coming to the fore as he handled the far more slender Jacob with ease. “No more questions now. We’ll talk later. Right now, I’m taking you with me. I’ve got a boy on my hands who needs a warm mug of milk and a hot bath. Come on, let’s go.”
With that, a shaken Jacob leaned in and rested his bodyweight on Tane’s strong, broad frame. They only had to wait a minute or so before Tane’s driver appeared around the corner and the two of them hopped into the town car.
Jacob wouldneverhave imagined that he would be going home with Tane at the end of the night. But right at that moment, anylocker room rivalry or old crushes were out of Jacob’s thoughts – he needed a safe haven, and Tane Rivers was the man who had stepped up to provide it.
Chapter 4
Tane
The three Toronto veterans found themselves in one of their favorite haunts in the whole city, just like they often did after a big victory. The bar was called The Rocks, and while it may not have been a celebrity hangout it certainly did come out tops in terms of refinement, privacy, and the best whisky in the city.
Tane, Alex, and Connor held their drinks aloft and toasted to the team, and to one another too. But the third and final toast was for Tane himself…
“The king is back, and back in motherfucking style,” Alex said, a look of affection in his eyes as he held his whisky glass up.
“Back to fitness, back on form, and the playoffs are there for us to smash,” Connor added, thumping his chest with one hand as he raised his glass with the other.
The three men cheered and took a sip of their vintage liquor.
With its classy lighting and low key members club vibe, The Rocks was somewhere that Tane felt like he could let go the burden of being team captain. While Tane loved the responsibility of being the team’s longtime figurehead, he also knew that he needed time to simply be himself.
But hockey was never far from Tane’s mind, especially now that he knew the clock was ticking down toward the end of his glorious career.
“So… I’m thinking we can seriously challenge this season,” Tane said. “I’m talking playoffs. I’m talking winning the whole damn thing.”
“Hell yeah,” Connor said. “With you back, we’ve got the perfect balance. But…”
“Don’t say it,” Tane said, knowing full well that Connor was going to bring up Jacob Gosling. “Just don’t say his name…”
“Ha!” Connor laughed. “The kid’s got talent. Fuck, he’s got more talent in one hand then I do in my whole body. But what he doesn’t have is team spirit. He who must not be named is a brat. And brats don’t work for the team. They play for themselves.”
Tane knew that there was much truth in what Connor was saying.
But what Tane also knew was that Jacob was young. Sudden fame and money could be an unsettling thing for a young man to deal with. And it was more than possible that Jacob was struggling to deal with his new status, no matter how cocky and full of himself that he seemed from the outside looking in.
Still, Tane also knew that it was bad for any sporting team to have a player in its ranks who wasn’t working toward a shared goal. Tane had seen it countless times in his career. All it took was one negative player to disrupt a season, or in some cases tear a franchise apart and set them back years.
Jacob needed a strong man to guide him, Tane didn’t doubt that for a second.
But the fact that Antonio Cardini had stepped in and made the Cardini family’s wishes very clear to Tane added a level to this game that made Tane uncomfortable. It was one thing acting like a team captain and leader and guiding a young player toward a better outlook. But with the pressure of a notorious Mafia family weighing down on the situation, it was far from ideal.
“It’s the family, right?” Alex said, noting how deep in thought Tane appeared to be. “They’ve said something to you about the boy?”
Tane nodded.
While it was an open secret amongst players that the Cardini family were serious people who you simply did not cross, there was an unspoken agreement that any public talk about them was kept to an absolute minimum.
Tane knew that the Cardini family had a far reach, and it wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility that they were operating a network of street spies across the city.
Some players felt like this was just a little bit too far on the side of paranoia, but Tane felt certain that the Cardini family would stop at nothing to make sure that their franchise was run with just as much ruthlessness as their other business interests.
“So… that’s ayesthen?” Alex said, quickly looking around to check that no one was obviously listening in to them. “Whatever they’re asking you to do, jut tread carefully Tane. This is your last season. I think I speak for me and Connor when we say that we both want you to get out of this game alive.”
“Thanks,” Tane said, a wry smile on his face. “It’s good. Don’t worry about me.”
But just as he was speaking, Tane noticed his cellphone flash up a message from none other than Antonio Cardini…
ANTONIO: Lux Lounge. The boy is acting the fool. He’s alone. You should be there, remember what we talked about.
