Daniel laughed. “Yeah, you’re right. I guess... I just...” He rested the cool water bottle against his cheek and sighed. “I keep feeling like I’ve gone as far as I can go with the Venom. That should make me happy. It does make me happy,” he corrected himself. “But it’s also...part of the problem, I think? My numbers aren’t as great as they used to be. I’m not the leading goal scorer. Haven’t been for years. What purpose do I serve on this team, really? We’re all champions. We’ve reached the pinnacle, haven’t we?”
“You’re our captain,” Tristan said simply. “You’re an amazing leader. Everyone on this team looks up to you, Bellzie. You know that.”
“I do know that.” Daniel cherished the esteem, the respect, the faith his teammates had put in him. At the same time, did he want to spend the next few years watching his stats get worse until retirement was forced upon him because his body just couldn’t keep up with the intensity or the younger, faster players? Did he want to go out quietly, comfortably, or did he want another challenge? Something new? “Maybe I need a change. I don’t know. My contract’s up. I’m meeting my agent next week to discuss whatever offers might be on the table.”
Tristan’s fair brows arched in surprise. “You’d leave the Venom?”
“I don’t know,” Daniel said honestly. “It’s not anything I’d considered before, but we were chasing the Cup then. I wasn’t focused on anything but that goal.”
“And now that we’ve won, we need to defend it. Don’t you want to go for a repeat?”
“Back-to-back championships would be amazing.” Daniel knew the team was strong enough to make another championship run a legitimate possibility, too.
“But?”
A scream followed by a splash drew Daniel’s attention to the pool, where Morley had just tossed a woman into the water and her friends were trying to enact revenge by shoving him in behind her. Everyone was laughing, but especially Morley, whose six-foot-seven frame hadn’t budged an inch, even with both ladies working on him.
Daniel chuckled softly and turned back to Tristan. “I guess I wonder if I could make more of an impact somewhere else.” That was what it really boiled down to. Daniel loved feeling useful. He had years of wisdom and experience under his belt, and there were plenty of other teams that could benefit from his level of expertise. His agent, Clarke, had hinted at multiple offers. Initially, Daniel outright rejected the idea of signing with anyone but the Venom, but maybe he needed to put some real thought into it, give the idea the consideration it deserved.
“Any team would be lucky to have you,” Tristan said after a few beats of silence. “I can’t say I wouldn’t miss you if you left. It wouldn’t be the same without you, but... I guess I see what you mean. You’ve been part of the Venom organization for, what, a decade?”
“A few years more than that.”
Tristan nodded. “I can see why you might want a change. Especially after...everything.”
“Everything” being the dissolution of his marriage and the separation of his household. In actuality, his situation wasn’t that bad. His friendship with Tabby was just as strong as it’d always been. Whether apart or together, they made a great co-parenting team, and Daniel was bound and determined to never let that change. It still hurt, of course, but it was a dull ache now. Nostalgia more than anything. He’d never known how silent a house could be until he’d settled into one on his own, with only his dogs for company. But, deep down, he knew they’d made the best decision for everyone involved, including the kids.
“Is this arrogance?” Daniel asked, brushing sweaty curls off his forehead. “Is this just my ego talking? Bellzie the champion thinking he can go to another team and make a difference?”
Tristan gave him a wry look. “You’re really going to question your own arrogance when we have Morley and Army and their massive heads sauntering around on this boat? I’m surprised we’re not sinking.”
Daniel snorted.
“Ryu, too. We’d probably have a hard time scrounging up an ounce of humility between them all.” Tristan’s shit-eating grin made Daniel smile in return. “But, no, seriously, I don’t think it’s egotistical of you to consider how much value your experience would bring to a team. This isn’t just about your Stanley Cup ring. This is about everything you’ve learned since you got signed. In my opinion, that’d be worth its weight in gold to a strategic coach.”
Daniel hummed softly and finished off his bottle of water. “Something to consider. Maybe I’m overthinking because I’ll be an unrestricted free agent soon. It’s never really gotten to this point before.” Back in his midtwenties, he’d been offered a lucrative eight-year deal by the Venom, and that contract period was coming to an end. It intimidated him to have his future so uncertain.
He had to wonder if the Venom would make him another offer. On the one hand, why wouldn’t they? He’d just captained their team to a Stanley Cup. But he’d seen coaches fired after bringing that prized trophy to their town. In hockey, there were no guarantees.
“Talk to your agent,” Tristan said. “This might just be a passing mood, but you need to know what all your options are before you make any real decisions anyway.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“Hang on a sec.” Tristan pulled his phone out and aimed it at Daniel. “Say that again, please, so I can play it for Seb when I get back home. He doesn’t tell me how right I am nearly often enough.”
Daniel laughed, and for now, tried to push his grumpy, introspective thoughts to the back of his mind.
Chapter Two
One of Micah’s favorite things about his job was the excuse to talk out loud to animals. He’d been doing it since he was a child—to the family dog, his stuffed animals, you name it—and the fact he could walk around and, say, tell a shark good morning? Absolutely amazing, as far as Micah was concerned.
As the head animal care specialist for the Biscayne Bay Aquarium, Micah’s main job was overseeing the rehabilitation programs for all the animals currently in captivity. Most of them—like Dudley the sea turtle, with whom Micah had just had a very pleasant, one-sided conversation—were on a release schedule, but the aquarium did have a few full-time residents that were unable to integrate back into the wild. One of those was Silver, the dolphin who had become something of a mascot for the aquarium, currently sharing a large tank with a soon-to-be-released female dolphin named Bonnie.
Micah knew, logically, that while Silver was pretty smart, he could have no way of knowing his new friend Bonnie was going to be leaving soon. Micah liked to try and prepare Silver for the day he was back to being an only child, so to speak, even though he realized Silver was probably used to it by now. He considered good, clear communication as part of his duties. Also, it was just fun to talk to dolphins. How many people could say they did that for a living?