Page 1 of Game On

Chapter One

LOGAN

“Bro, you never come out with us!” my teammate TJ whined.

I thought now that TJ had settled down with his fiancée and had twins on the way, he’d be less annoying. Not the case. Especially after we had a win.

“No can do, man. I gotta get home,” I said with a shake of my head.

My teammates couldn’t relate to me being a single dad on a short-term contract that expired after this season. They didn’t understand the uncertainty. Especially since the team called up another rookie while G, our captain, was laid up with knee surgery.

“Dude, you’re wound so tight. You need to get it in!” TJ laughed that hyena laugh of his.

I rolled my eyes as I stripped off my jersey and took off my pads. He wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t have time for that shit. Occasionally, I’d take a bunny to bed, but only when I was on the road. When we were at home, my sole focus was on my nephew Liam.

“T, leave him alone,” my buddy and defensive partner, Blaise, came to my rescue.

Blaise was a recent addition to the team last season. Fans loved him because he was a hometown boy, and his dad was a Bulldogs legend. You became close when paired together, but when I confided in him about my struggles, he and his girl became my support system.

“I gotta jet and relieve the nanny,” I explained as I rushed off to the showers. Thank the hockey gods I didn’t have to do a post-game interview.

“Maybe she can relieve something for you!” TJ shouted after me, but I shook my head at him.

Never change, T, never change.

I took the quickest shower I could and changed back into my suit. I wouldn’t mind having to wear suits to the arena for game day if I had a better one. Being on a two-way contract, I wasn’t getting paid the big bucks. I had three suits to my name, and the boys always gave me shit for how ugly the brown one was.

“You good, man?” my teammate Mac asked. He ran a dark hand across his jaw as he peered at me.

I nodded and took a check out of my jacket pocket. “Here, this month’s rent.”

He waved me off. “Dude, I know what it’s like being a rookie.”

Mac was a veteran on the team, and when I got called up, he took me under his wing. He lived on the Main Line with his family, closer to our practice facility, but he sublet his condo in Old City to me.

I shoved the envelope in his hand. “I’m still gonna pay you for letting me stay at the condo.”

Mac nodded. “All right, kid. How’s Liam doing?”

“I don’t know. It’s hard. He cries for my sister every night.”

When my sister Rose and her abusive husband got into a car crash that killed them both two years ago, I got custody of her son. Did it rock my world that I became a father when I wasn’t prepared? Absolutely. I had just gotten the call-up to the big leagues and was working toward a bigger contract. I was finally living my dream, playing with the Bulldogs, but my priorities shifted when Liam came to live with me. Did it suck that I couldn’t stay out late partying with my teammates? Sure. But after Rose’s death, I made a promise to myself I’d take care of her son over anything else. Even my own career or happiness.

“Hey, you should talk to T’s girl,” Mac suggested.

I furrowed my brow. “Why?”

“T said she was the sole survivor in a car crash, and she’s in therapy. It might help your little guy.”

“Hmm. Maybe. I gotta jet.”

“How many nannies have you gone through?”

I groaned. “Four. I hope this one works out.”

Mac clapped me on the shoulder. “Good luck, kid.”

At twenty-four, I was still a ‘kid’ to most of the guys on the team. It was the usual shit you dealt with being on a hockey team and having to be the rookie. Although, since Cally got called up, he was Rookie now, and I was back to being Cully. God forbid hockey players call each other by their given names.