Tane felt truly at home at the training complex, arguably even more so than he did at the Enforcers stadium.
There was something about Pine Rise that allowed Tane to relax into himself more than almost anywhere else in the world. But relaxation wasn’t on Tane’s mind in that moment.
It was time to see the so-called wonder-boy of ice hockey and make it clear that things were about to change whether Jacob liked it or not…
* * *
“What’s this all about?” Jacob said, the nerves coming through in his voice as Tane shut the meeting room door behind him.
“Okay, you can drop the tough guy act,” Tane said, rolling his eyes. “I remember the first time my captain brought me in for a one on one too.”
Tane could see that behind his cocky bravado, Jacob was still a twenty-one year old boy. All the talent and ego in the world wouldn’t change the fact that Jacob had less life experience in his entire life than Tane had accumulated in the last year alone.
“I thoughtyouwere injured?” Jacob said, doubling down on his defensiveness.
“I was,” Tane replied, keeping a cool exterior. “But Captain Tane is back. And I’m going to give you some advice, Jacob.”
Tane could tell from the look on Jacob’s face that he wasn’t feeling like hearing advice from a twenty season veteran. But like it or not, Tane knew that he had to tell Jacob exactly how things were going to go down from here on in.
“Trust me when I say this,” Tane said, stepping forward and closing the space between him and Jacob. “How you move outside of here is being noticed. You’re young, you like to let loose.Whatever. But you’re a professional athlete. You’re an asset to this organization. You need to be careful. And I’m telling you here and now that you need tobehave. Am I understood?”
Tane waited for Jacob to reply.
The boy’s got something about him.
He’s nervous, but he’s not crumbling.
There’s a defiance there… and I kind of like it.
“Sure, I hear you,” Jacob said, a note of petulance in his voice, but not enough for Tane to act on. “Can I go now? I’ve got fans to meet, autographs to sign. You know, what with me being the main corporate asset around here.”
Tane nodded and just about managed to keep his temper in check.
That was some Grade A sass from Jacob, and what Tane wanted more than anything in that moment was to pull the boy’s sweatpants and briefs down and roast his peachy ass right there and then.
But Tane knew that he needed to keep this professional.
Antonio Cardini wasn’t a man you fucked around with – and as he’d given Tane the task of keeping Jacob on the straight and narrow, that was exactly what he was going to do.
However Tane suspected that this wouldn’t be the last time he’d need to warn Jacob about his conduct, and next time there was no guarantee that Tane would be able to keep his instincts at bay…
Chapter 3
Jacob
Jacob was sitting in his car in the bowels of the Enforcers stadium. It was game day, and he had a lot on his mind. As well as knowing that the day’s game was another important match in their quest for the playoffs, Jacob knew that with Tane steel coming back to fitness it was important that he played well.
“Tane Rivers can kiss my shiny ass,” Jacob muttered.
Being pulled aside by Tane Rivers and having to listen to Tane lecture him wasn’t exactly what Jacob wanted to experience at his new team.
Jacob had just been settling down and getting to know his teammates, and despite some grumblings about his attitude it seemed like everyone was on board with him and taking his talent seriously. The last thing that Jacob wanted was someone like Tane coming back into the picture and threatening Jacob’s emerging status as the most important player on the roster.
Coming up through the various local youth leagues and training squads, Jacob had always been the go-to player. The move to the Enforcers was just another step on the ladder as far as Jacob was concerned and he saw no reason why he should have toadapt his personality or behavior. Jacob knew that when it came to the action on the ice, he was more than capable of delivering the goods, and the more his new teammates saw this then the more they would accept him as a person.
But there was something about Tane that just didn’t sit well with Jacob.
For all that Jacob had always admired Tane’s accomplishments from afar, he had always had a strange relationship with Tane as a hockey player. From a fan perspective, Jacob saw a player in Tane who lacked the outright flair and sense of fun out on the ice that Jacob felt was so valuable to his own game.
