I spend two minutes in the box, and when there are ten seconds to go, I stand and wait for the countdown. As I watch the play in our zone, the team passes it to the defenseman, who passes it along the boards to the right side. I slide out of the box at the same time that Manning clears the puck, and it goes over the defenseman’s skate, landing right on my blade. I skate into the zone and see that Michael has hustled over to help me. Moving the puck to the back of the stick, the goalie slides to my side and sticks out his stick, and as soon as he does that, I slide it right behind him. The red light behind the goal goes off, and I see the fans get to their feet. I jump up with my back toward the glass. Michael joins me, followed by Cooper.
When Manning and Miller make it to us, Manning hits my helmet with his gloves. “You get two stickers.” He jokes with me as we skate to the bench to high-five everyone. The rest of the game is uneventful, and Cooper buries an empty-net goal, so we win the game by two.
I get first star of the game, so I skate around the rink, tossing pucks to the crowd. When I skate off, a reporter waits to ask me questions, but all I want to do is take a shower. My face throbs from the hit, and my neck is hurting from being shoved back. When I walk into the locker room, I head straight for my spot, taking my jersey off and tossing it in the bin.
When I come out of the shower, the only one left is one of the rookies slipping on his pants. "Are you going to the after-party?" he asks, and I nod my head. "I’ll wait for you."
Fuck, I think as I get dressed. I’d hoped I could skip it. But I walk over to the pub across the street, and we can hear the music coming from the restaurant. My phone rings in my pocket right before I’m about to walk in. "I’ll meet you in there," I say when I see that my agent, Richard, is on the phone. I step to the side, away from the door, pressing the green button.
"You don’t get paid extra for calling me after a game,” I joke with him when I answer, and I can hear him laughing.
"What a fucking game," he points out. "You were on fire." I look around, seeing the front door of the bar open. Two women come out, and my eyes go straight to the blonde who stands beside another woman as they look down at the phone in her hand. They are having a conversation with someone on the phone. My eyes stay on the blonde as she throws her head back and laughs at whatever is being said. "Hello," I hear Richard say, and I look away to focus on my call.
"Sorry," I reply. "What did you say?"
"I was calling because we got a request from an up-and-coming show." I groan loudly. "I know what you're thinking, but hear me out." I roll my eyes.
"If you know what I’m thinking …" I put the hand that isn’t holding the phone on my hip. "Why are you even bothering me with this bullshit?"
"Because I’m thinking it would be a great opportunity for the world to see you as someone besides an asshole," he says without skipping a beat. "It’s called the Bad Boys of Hockey."
"Are you fucking kidding me?" I ask, getting heated.
"It’s not what you think. Listen, they sent me a list of the other players doing the show, and it’s kind of like a bad-boy redemption." I don’t say a word now. "Max Horton has signed on as well as Viktor Petrov." He starts naming a few. "I think you should do it."
"I’ll think about it." I look back and see that the women have gone back inside.
"Good," he says. "I’ll call you tomorrow, and we can talk more about it."
"You better not call me until after three." Disconnecting the phone, I put it in the inside pocket of my suit jacket.
When I walk over and pull open the door, the hot air hits me right away. I take a couple of steps toward the stand that says “hostess” as I look around the dimly lit room. The place has been shut down for our after-party, so no one is standing there.
The round tables in the room are filled with players and their family members. A buffet has been set up along the right side of the room, and a bar runs the length of the back wall.
"There he is." I look over to the left and see Nico walking toward me with a big smile on his face. He holds out his hand for me to shake. "The game-winning goal."