I laugh and leave the Fury arena for the last time. This isn’t me. I don’t sit here and feel sorry for myself. Screw Aiden Drake. He’s the one who lost out this time.
Chapter Thirty-One
Aiden
We won, even though not one drop of wine hit my face before the game. The Fury won with me scoring one goal and one assist. As good as it feels knowing I’m performing again and there’s just one more game left before trade deadline, I’ve been grumpy and mean and an asshole since I split with Saige. I want her in my life, but getting traded won’t accomplish that anyway. And if being with her is the distraction that causes a trade to happen, then how do I handle this double-edged sword without either of us getting hurt?
Lucky for me, Ford flies me and Maksim up to New York and we catch a game there. Being with my friends is a welcome distraction. I love playing hockey, but I love watching it too, especially when you have friends who came up with you on the ice.
We opted for front row seats obviously, but just to infuriate our friends playing, we’re wearing our own jerseys.
“So that’s it? You ended it?” Ford asks.
“I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“You’re being a complete pussy,” Maksim chimes in before taking a swig of his beer.
“We won, didn’t we? I guess the white wine didn’t have anything to do with it to begin with.”
They’re both quiet and look at one another. Maksim shakes his head at Ford.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing,” Maksim says.
Ford stands. “Go. Go!” He pounds on the glass when Jake, a guy who used to play with us, skates toward the goal and scores. “Woo-hoo!”
Jake comes over and pounds on the glass when he sees us.
“The best thing to happen to him was moving away from you three.” Jake’s wife, Bree, comes over with a baby on her hip.
“Who’s this little one?” Ford touches the little guy’s hand.
“This is Jake Jr.”
“You know you miss Florida,” I say.
Jake and Bree are the couple from high school who made it. They’ve been together since I’ve known Jake and they have two daughters, along with this little man.
“You came down from your suite to see us?” Maksim says. “I feel honored.”
“Well, you three in your Fury jerseys stick out in this crowd. Not to mention my lunatic husband keeps giving you attention every time he’s down on this end.”
We all laugh.
Jake skates by us again and he’s got the puck now. We all cheer for him, ready to celebrate another goal, but another player comes at him from behind and runs him into the boards. Jake loses his footing and crashes headfirst. The energy in the arena shifts and silence commences when Jake doesn’t get up. I glance at Bree and see that her face is ghost-white.
“Get up, Jake,” she whispers. “Come on, baby, get up.”
The more she talks, the more I hear the emotion in her tone. As if on cue, Jake Jr. starts crying, as if he feels the tension filling his mom’s body.
I hold out my hands. “Give him to me. Go.”
She hands me the baby and runs over to the bench. The coach lets her climb over as the team doctor goes to Jake on the ice.
This is what we all fear. That one play will take you out when you think you have it all. We’re all invincible until it happens.
“Fuck,” Ford says when Jake still doesn’t get up.
All the players kneel on the ice, and the stretcher comes out after the team doctor waves them over. Jake isn’t moving a muscle, his body still limp on the ice.
A woman comes down the aisle with Bree and Jake’s two girls. Bree points at us, and I hand over Jake Jr. How can she be dealing with this and still be thinking of what needs to happen with the kids?
“Thank you,” the woman says when she takes the baby.
A man hands Bree her purse and the woman screams to Bree, “We’ll meet you at home.”
I watch Jake get carted off the ice on the stretcher toward Bree. She whispers something to him and kisses his forehead. The crowd claps as they disappear through the opening toward the locker room, and I swallow the bile in my throat.
Sitting down, I catch my breath as the players return to the ice. Surely the player who hit him from behind is gonna get his ass nailed to the boards after he gets out of the penalty box. But as I watch, I’m struck by how the play goes on. Not that I’m not used to it. I’m just usually involved in the play, having to move on from what happened and concentrate on the present. Nobody is saying let’s call it a night. These fans might care what happens to Jake, but it doesn’t stop them from enjoying the rest of the game.
The only people whose world just crashed and burned were Jake, Bree, and their little ones. If it was me, it would only be me. I’d be carted off by myself, wake up in the hospital by myself. Sure, maybe my family would come down, but for how long? They have their own lives.
The more I wrap my head around it, the more a sick feeling sours my stomach. I’ve made the worst mistake of my life. “I have to go.”
“We can head out,” Ford stands.
“I need to go home,” I say.
“Why?”
“Because I need to win Saige back.”
Maksim smiles at Ford. “Now you can tell him.”
“What?”
“She was at our last game. Tweetie said she and Tedi were in the nosebleeds, watching you through the first and second period.” Ford claps me on the back. “She’s your lucky charm, man. Not the wine. Saige.”
I huff and jog up the stairs.
“You need to do something big to win her back,” Ford says from behind me. “Good thing I’m your best friend.”
“I’m his best friend,” Maksim says.
“I am,” Ford argues.
I turn and look at them over my shoulder. “You both are, okay?”
“Who’s gonna be your best man then?” Ford asks. “I should add that we all know how good I look in a tuxedo.”
I shake my head. “Let me win her back first.”
One night later…
It took a lot of brainstorming between the three of us on the plane home to figure out what I needed to do to try to win Saige back after my epic fuckup. Bree messaged us to let us know that Jake would be okay after a few weeks’ rest for a concussion. Knowing he’d make a full recovery set us all at ease.
I’m sorry for what happened to him, but at the end of the day, I’m grateful because it allowed me to see that the most important thing in your life is who you have in it. And I want Saige in my life, no matter what. Whether I’m playing the best I ever have or like complete shit, I want her there to see me through it all.
I read back over what I wrote, then exhale a deep breath and press Post.
This is Aiden Drake. Not my social media manager. I’ve locked her out so she can see the post but not change it. I’m a lot of things to a lot of people. I’m a son, a brother, an uncle, a teammate, a captain, and yes, the center of the Florida Fury. But the role I valued the most was being Saige’s boyfriend. I despise social media, but the woman I love makes a living off of it, which is why I’m doing this here. I fucked up and put my career before the woman I love. I’m sorry, Saige. I plead temporary insanity because from the minute I saw you at that party, I knew you were her. The woman I’ve been waiting for. I waited until you were available, then I shamelessly threw you to the side. I know now that there is no such thing as superstition, but I do believe in fate or destiny. I was with you on the first second of this year and I want to be with you on the last second of my time here on this earth. If you think you can forgive me, there’s a ticket at will call for you, but there’s one hitch. You have to sit in the wives/girlfriends area because that’s where you belong. I hope to see you tonight.