Playing the Game (The Renegades) (Volume 3) (5 page)

Paige frowned, thinking of the social media cleanup
she’d done just this morning. “Well I understand that would make
for some bad blood between him and Patrick. But what about all his
other… habits?”

“
I can’t say for sure. But if you
ask me, he’s afraid to put his heart on the line again. And maybe
he doesn’t even realize it, but he’s punishing women in general for
what she did to him.”

Her mind was racing with everything Melanie was
telling her. She knew Tyler must’ve had reasons for his
self-destructive behavior, but this was more than she imagined.
“So, getting back to what you said before, about him needing to be
saved… Who would save him?”

“
What he needs is a woman who’s
loyal, and who loves him for himself, not for his name. She’d be
everything he never knew he needed.”

CHAPTER 5

This is such bullshit
. Ty sat in the owner’s
suite above the other seats in the arena. He adjusted his tie; it
chafed the back of his neck. Rubbing the irritated skin, he shifted
in his seat. He hated being up here, overlooking the ice and his
teammates. He should be out there with them. There was no way they
were going to beat St. Louis without him. They
needed
him.

Sitting him tonight was a stupid idea. What the hell
were they thinking?

The PR team told the media that he was ill and would
be back for the next game. He still had the headache of the
century, so they weren’t completely wrong. The bar wouldn’t serve
him, and he was forced to drink bottled water. What he wouldn’t do
for a beer; it would taste great right about now.
Maybe I could
talk them into a jack and coke at least?

His stomach rumbled loudly.
Maybe food is a better
idea right now. I can always drink later, and I will
. He
approached the buffet. It was mainly bite size appetizers and
finger foods. His stomach rumbled again. He was too hungry for
these little snacks; he needed real food. He settled for a finger
sandwich and some carrots, since his stomach demanded that he eat
something.

“
Excuse me,” he said to the
bartender. “Any chance I can get a burger?”

“
Sure, Mr. Kidd. It’ll be a few
minutes. We’ll bring it over to you.”

“
Thanks.” Tyler nodded and returned
to his seat. No other players were sitting in the suite. Normally
one of the television guys watched the game from here, or injured
players. Hastily eating his snacks, his eyes searched the ice.
Everyone was out there but him.

He rubbed his forehead. Lately, his mind had been
working overtime. When he wasn’t being bent out of shape about
being sat, he was trying to stop images of Paige infiltrating his
thoughts.

God, but she was beautiful. When he’d first seen her,
he’d been stopped in his tracks. That tumble of dark blond waves
caught his eye first, but then she’d glanced his way with those
sparkling blue eyes and he was done for. She had a confidence and
professionalism to her that made his pants tight. He liked a girl
in charge. Her skirt and jacket screamed business, but there was no
way to hide that sexy little body, and those damn high heels put
him over the top. She was more than just a pretty face; she had
spunk, and he liked that. But the dainty way she bit her bottom lip
when he was around, and how her hands were shaking, that told him
more than any words. She might’ve been acting like a bad ass, but
she was nervous, and he was hoping it was because of him. Because
she had him just as mixed up.

The music died down and they dropped the puck. Matt
had his spot on the top line.
I should be out there.

The corner of the owner’s suite was occupied with
suits. He didn’t know most of them, and he sure didn’t care to talk
to any of them.

Soon a waiter appeared next to him with his sandwich.
“Here you are, Mr. Kidd.”

“
Thanks, but you didn’t have to
bring it up here. I would’ve picked it up myself.” The waiter waved
him off with a smile. But Tyler was preoccupied with his thoughts
today and didn’t need all the attention.

The floor shook as the crowd roared. Taking a pass
from Kris, Sam took a slap shot from the blue line, hitting the
back of the net. His first shift in his first game; Sam had scored
his first goal as a Renegade.

“
Way to go, Sam!” Tyler cheered,
almost hitting the plate out of the waiter’s hands.

The waiter laughed. “The kitchen is happy to bring it
to you.” He quickly retreated into the hallway and disappeared.

Any other day he’d be happy, would even expect to be
waited on. But today he’d love to get out of this room. He didn’t
think he could sit here for the whole game. Looking at his watch,
he thought maybe he’d check out early.

Fuck
. St. Louis scored. The game was now 2–1
St. Louis. Matt hadn’t won a faceoff yet. Dom was in goal tonight
and playing out of his mind. He was the reason it was only 2–1.
There were at least three more shots that he stole from St. Louis.
The Renegades were lucky to have him as their back-up goalie.

It wasn’t that the other goalie was better; it was
that the Renegades weren’t really trying. They were on a nine game
losing streak, and it didn’t look like this game was going to
change that.

Tyler finished his hamburger and pushed his dish to
the side. Matt was good as a center, but not good enough to be on
the top line. Tanner, maybe. But they kept him on the second shift.
It was clear having him on the ice with them wouldn’t change much;
these guys needed to wake up. He wanted to yell his frustrations at
them, tell them to get their heads out of their asses, but instead
he just slammed his fist on the table.

“
Not much fire out there, huh?” Ben
sat down next to him.

“
Nope. We aren’t going to make the
playoffs if we keep this up. I knew we were playing badly,
but…”

“
Yeah, I don’t know what the answer
is.” Ben took a long drink of water before speaking again. “Tyler,
I’d like to talk to you in my office. It’s intermission and we’re
not going to miss anything. With any luck, Sal’s down there
knocking some sense into them.”

Tyler took in a deep breath. His contract was
ironclad, so there was no way they could trade him, but his now
full stomach flopped and his heart sped up. He was sitting out,
taking his punishment, so what could Ben want to talk about?

“
C’mon.” Ben stood and nodded
towards the door.

Grabbing his water bottle, Tyler followed him down
the hall. His hand was warm and becoming sweaty, the thin plastic
molding to his palm and making a crinkly noise.

Once in Ben’s office he closed the door.

“
Sit down, Ty.”

A television in Ben’s office had the game on. Ty
chose to sit in a leather chair on the other side of Ben’s desk.
He’d been in here many times, but this office never ceased to amaze
him. The room was filled with hockey memorabilia from Ben’s playing
days, and from more recent years as the team owner. He’d saved this
team from certain doom. They’d been on the verge of being moved out
of Pittsburgh when Ben swooped in and saved the franchise, and the
last few years the team had proved itself, earning a spot in the
playoffs and winning multiple Cups.

This year was a different story.

“
Tyler, we need to take back
control of our season. I need you out there being the leader we all
know you can be.”

Tyler nodded.

“
You may fool everyone else with
your antics, but you don’t fool me. You are still the heart of this
team; they need you. Bringing Sam into the mix was a good thing for
us. He has energy, he’s fast, and hopefully he’ll shine. We were
very lucky to get him from San Jose. I believe he’ll fill a void
here.”

Tyler was about to agree, when the crowd went wild.
It was amazing that they could hear the cheering all the way in
here. The television showed Sam score again, this time flipping the
puck over the goalie’s shoulder into the net. “Damn. Yep, he’s
shining, that’s for sure. That boy has potential.”

Ben clapped his hands. “Way to go Morris! I told you
he’d be good for us! The thing is, Ty, we need our top guys to
shine together.”

The television announcer’s voice interrupted their
conversation. “Goal by Sam Morris. Assisted by Tanner MacAuley, and
Patrick Dubois.”

“
Tyler, there’s my point. Our stars
need to work together. This ‘thing’ you have with Patrick, it needs
to be over.”

Easy for you to say
. Ty narrowed his eyes and
glared at Ben.

“
Don’t give me that look, Ty.
You’re my top player, but let’s be honest. You’ve been playing like
shit lately and putting all your energy into going after Pat. This
isn’t the schoolyard and you aren’t out of control kids. It needs
to stop, even if it means sometimes playing Pat on your line. I
don’t care if you never say two words to him off of the ice, but
you need to communicate on the ice.”

Shit, he was right
. Tyler played with the cap
on his water bottle, loosening it and then tightening it again.
Finding a soft spot in the plastic, he pushed it, making a popping
noise, and he continued to mindlessly do that until Ben started to
speak again.

“
I hate to say this to you Tyler,
but I want to give you something to think about. If you continue
this angry vengeance against Pat, I’ll need to rethink the ‘C’ on
your jersey.”

“
What are you saying, Ben?” Tyler
snapped. His mind was spinning.
He’s saying he’ll take my
‘C’?

“
I’m saying maybe we won’t have a
captain if you can’t show that you can be one. I know teams that
have done it. Show me you
are
our captain—be the leader of
your team out there—and we won’t need to re-visit this discussion.
Continue your downhill spiral, and we’ll be right back here
stripping you of that title. Tyler, I don’t want to do that. But
something has to give, all right? Don’t make me do
that.”

Don’t make him do that? Is he fucking serious? He
can’t fucking do that to me. Tyler’s eyes studied the carpet in
front of him.

“
Tyler, your team needs
you.”

“
I know they do. They fucking
needed me tonight.” Tyler stormed out of the room, slamming his
bottle against the wall in the hallway.

Calmly, Ben called from his office. “Only you can
control that. I believe in you, Ty.”

Fuck him. Fuck all of them.

Tyler made a beeline for Mannie’s bar. Marco greeted
him as he shoved his way past a group of people to get to the bar.
“Busy tonight, Marco?”

“
Yeah. Most were watching the game,
but some are now coming in from the arena. You didn’t play—you
okay, Ty?”

“
Yeah, just fine, thanks. How about
you set up those bottles of Guinness and I’ll be even
better?”

“
Gotcha, boss.” Marco lined up a
few bottles as Tyler handed him a bill. “You driving?”

“
Dunno. Guess we’ll have to see how
the night goes.”

“
Okay. Well, just remember I’ll
have a cab on standby for you.”

****

“Kris, he’s over here.” Ty heard Sam call. He turned
to see the guys push their way through a group of people dancing
and talking.

“
Kris Lafleur!” A girl squealed and
tried to hug his teammate.

“
Hi there.” Sam stepped between
them. “If you’ll excuse us, we’re actually looking for our
friend.”

“
Boys!” Tyler raised his beer
bottle up to them. A blonde was hanging off of his side, her lips
pressed to his cheek.

“
There you are, T. We’ve been
looking for you.”

“
Well, you found me.
Congratulations.” Tyler swayed a bit before grabbing onto the bar.
His friends were standing in front of him, but they seemed to blur
together like some crazy abstract painting. “And Jessie, have you
met Jessie? She really likes hockey.” He thought his words sounded
fine, but by the scrunched up look on their faces they weren’t
understanding him so easy.

“
I bet she does,” Sam
whispered.

“
Happy to see you guys,” Marco
called, before grabbing Tyler’s keys off of the bar and tossing
them to Sam.

“
Hey!” Tyler whined. “Those are
mine.”

“
Not tonight, T. You go home with
your buddies.” Marco smiled as he started to clear the empty
bottles off of the counter. “I was just getting ready to call him a
cab.”

“
Thanks,” Kris called to the
bartender. “C’mon, Ty.” Sam tried to slide between him and the
girl.

“
Hey! What about Jessie?” Jessie
shoved her chest towards him, but Sam moved him away.

“
Jessie can find her own way home.”
Sam scowled at him and finally managed to separate the two.
“Goodnight, Jessie.”

Jessie grunted, turned on her heel, and stomped
away.

“
Don’t worry about her. She never
leaves here alone.” Marco laughed.

“
Worry about who?” Ty shrugged.
Everyone was fuzzy now. Waving his hand in front of his face, he
could only make out one big blur. “Marco, I will see you tomorrow,
brother!”

“
I don’t doubt it, Ty. Get some
rest, okay?”

****

Tyler slammed his helmet against the back of his
locker; the sound echoed in the empty room.
Thrown out of the
game for mouthing off to the ref? You’ve got to be fucking kidding
me!
The silence in here heckled him, making his already bad
mood worse.