This is even more obvious when we approach the table and everyone calls out shouts of greeting and congratulations on my game play.
Granted, I played great tonight. Like I said, super focused. But so many other guys did too. It’s just their way of laying it on thick since this new camaraderie is long overdue.
Baden waves me over, and I see he’s been saving three spots beside him. I hold out a chair for Veronica while Janelle plops down on her own. I sit between Veronica and Baden, and the first thing I do is introduce them.
“We already know each other,” Veronica says but reaches across me to shake Baden’s hand.
“You do?” I ask.
She nods with a sly smile, and Baden smirks.
“What?” I demand. What am I missing?
“Nothing, other than Kane and I once hit on her when we went with Aaron to the bookstore.” Baden grins.
My gaze moves around and locates Kane who’s sitting at the end of the table talking to Mollie. It moves back to Baden. “You’re lucky I’m in a peaceable mood tonight.”
Baden chuckles and gives no indication he finds it weird that Veronica is with me, but I make it clear she is by looping my arm over the back of her chair.
It only feels slightly awkward, but I go with it.
It’s a school night for Janelle, but I don’t care. We order a late dinner—a bunch of appetizers—and Veronica and I each have a beer. The banter is fun and easy. My teammates circulate, those who haven’t met Janelle introducing themselves. I use the opportunity to introduce Veronica as well, using her official title as my girlfriend.
It gets easier each time, especially since the guys don’t make a big deal of it in front of her. I’m sure at practice tomorrow, I’ll get a ration of shit.
After we eat, we mingle. Some of the guys engage in conversation with Janelle and Veronica, but mostly the women end up huddling and talking about God knows what. By the sly grins of Veronica’s current posse—Janelle, Clarke, Mollie, and Brooke—they’re likely talking about her taming the confirmed bachelor.
Of course, those who know Veronica know that I had to tame her right back.
What they don’t know, although she might tell them, is that we took a collective step onto a new path, and we would have never done it with anyone else. That I know to be the truth.
I move back and forth between our team area and the fans outside the ropes. Posing for pictures, signing autographs… it’s part of the job but one I’ve never minded. The fans are everything, and even if I’ve been closed off from my teammates, I’m always fully present for the people who cheer us on.
A hand comes down on my shoulder as I give an autograph book back to an older gentleman, and I crane my neck to see Legend standing there.
He leans in so he can’t be heard by anyone but me. “Hey, man… I was on my way out and wanted to let you know, your sister is outside talking to the reporters.”
“What?” I snarl in surprise, jolting so violently, I knock his hand free.
He nods solemnly. “Came right back in to tell you. Caught Veronica, and she’s on her way out there but told me to come get you.”
“Fuck,” I mutter as I spin toward the door, calling back a thanks as I practically run out.
My sister… Jesus.
She’s just beyond the doors to the right, a cluster of reporters before her. She stands placidly, her hands clasped before her and Veronica to the side but standing back a little. Her eyes cut to me as I come to a skidding halt.
My first inclination is to charge into the group to disperse it, but Veronica gives me a subtle shake of her head and I hold my spot, grateful I haven’t been noticed.
And I listen.
“—time to set the record straight because my mother’s lies cannot be ignored.”
Christ, she’s going all in.
“What lies?” a young woman asks, holding out a handheld recorder to capture Janelle’s response.
“I was never kidnapped by my brother,” she says, chin lifted high. “He rescued me from an awful situation because the man my mother married—Shep Mergeron—tried to assault me. My brother came and took custody of me to keep me safe, and my mother signed papers giving me up.”
There are gasps and murmurs of dismay in the crowd. From behind me, I hear curses, and I glance back to see a big chunk of my hockey team standing behind me, listening to Janelle.
“If there was any kidnapping going on, it was yesterday when my mom and Shep came to Phoenix in an attempt to use me to extort money from my brother. When I wouldn’t go with them, Shep tried to physically take me. He’s in jail now, facing charges.”
Questions are now furiously shouted at Janelle, as this is far more exciting than what my mother told the media.
“What about your brother stabbing your stepfather?” someone calls out. I try to search the crowd to see who lobbed that question, but Janelle answers and my eyes cut back to her.
“My mother is twisting the facts and not providing context,” Janelle says assuredly. “When I was four and Riggs was fifteen, my father, Bruce Adamik—Riggs’s stepfather—assaulted my mother and broke her jaw. He hit me and then attacked Riggs. My brother defended himself, me, and my mother, and ended up stabbing my father with a knife to protect us. Riggs was never charged as it was deemed self-defense. In addition, my father is the one who did jail time for assault. I find it in horrible taste that my mother would bring our painful past out in public like this, but you wanted the truth… now you have it.”
“Riggs,” a reporter shouts, and I jerk, my eyes going to the source. “Will you be making a statement? Do you corroborate your sister’s statement?”
Before I can respond, a flurry of activity happens that I’m helpless to prevent. Several of my teammates swarm past me, while others grab my arms and pull me backward. I see others move to Janelle and Veronica, surrounding them and cutting them off from the reporters.
Bishop steps before the cameras. “Riggs Nadeau obviously corroborates his sister’s statement, but this now concludes any further comment on the matter by Riggs or his sister. The team will be issuing a press release.”
And with that, we’re ushered back inside—to the roped-off area where the remainder of our team awaits—and Kane presses a beer into my hand.
I turn to Janelle, Veronica right behind her. “Are you crazy?” I ask blandly. “They could have eaten you alive.”
“That’s dramatic,” my sister says, rolling her eyes. “They needed to hear the truth.”
“And what’s that?” I tease, looping my arm around her neck and pulling her into a half hug.
“That our mom’s the psychopath, not you,” she retorts, wrapping her arms around my waist.
“I love you, kiddo.” I bend over and briefly press my lips to her head. “I’m sorry she’s not a better mom.”
“Don’t be,” she replies solemnly. “I’m happy right where I am.”
I smile at her. “Me too.” My eyes move past her to Veronica, standing a few feet away next to Clarke. “Very happy.”
Veronica finds me staring at her and gives a blushing smile.
“Hey, hey, hey,” someone yells above the chatter of a hundred patrons. “Quiet down.”