The Penalty Box - Teagan Kade Page 0,60
your kinky sex habits, bro.”
I laugh. “Says the guy who wrote the book on sexual perversion.”
He shrugs. “Hey, I’m a family man now. It’s missionary and lights out before nine.”
“How the mighty have fallen,” I muse, looking at his hand adorned with, what is it now? Three Superbowl rings? I’m losing count. “You’re going to run out of fingers soon,” I tell him.
He holds his hand up. “More than the old man.”
Dad’s sporting luck hasn’t been doing much for him this last decade. He eventually gave it up and settled down with Alissa in Maine of all places, jets around visiting us all and the grandkids. He’s so soft and smitten these days it’s hard to believe what he once was.
Alissa—well, she’s the wildcard. She managed to convince Dad to let her start her own event-planning business. It took off…in a big way. She organizes events nationwide, based out of New York but seems to do okay steering the ship from Maine. She’s also a kick-ass nanny, happy to lend a hand whenever one of us is looking to jump out a window because Junior wants to watch the Wiggles for the ten-thousandth time.
“It’s going to be my last season,” confesses Peyton, looking to the lake.
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “I said it was Friday the thirteenth, not April Fools.”
He looks to me. “I’m serious. I’m already talked to Coach. Next year I’m out. That knee thing that flared up a few years ago, it’s back. Doc says I can’t keep playing, and Erin…I’m sure you get the picture.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m thinking about coaching, reckon it’s time I kicked up my heels.”
“You’ve clearly forgotten Crestfall if you think coaches have time for rest and relaxation.”
“I know, but I figure if Dad can do it, hell, so can I. I can’t do any worse than him, right?”
He’s not wrong there. “No more Big Fucking Workouts then?”
“Only with my wife.” He winks, and I really wish I had a sickness bag on me. I try to change the subject. “What does Erin think about it all? You guys going to stay in New York?”
Another shrug. “We don’t know. Since Erin moved into the whole investigative journalism side of things she’s been pretty flat out, but she could work from anywhere. The New Yorker’s been good to her like that, being flexible and the like, especially with the charity stuff, and Evie’s about to start school, so there’s that to consider.”
Evie—it’s hard to think of a King as an only child, but Peyton and Erin have only ever had the one. I don’t like to pry, but Erin let on one day it a biological issue that prevented them having a second.
They sure got it right the first time, though. Evie has always been a stunner, that perfect baby everyone wanted to stop and fawn over. Even as a toddler Erin was constantly getting harassed by these kid model agencies, but she never went with any of it. She didn’t want that for her daughter.
Unlike Titus’s two, Evie’s far quieter and more introspective. She’s down by the lake collecting things as we speak, turning to smile as we watch. Sure, she’s an only child, but when you’re a King, there’s really no such thing. There’s always more than enough family to go around.
“How about you?” Peyton asks. “What is the mighty Nolan King, ruler of the ice planning?”
Instantly I’m thrown back to Boston and my time with the Bruins. I loved that city, and it loved me for the next three years, but I knew it was time to move on. Tampa Bay offered me big money to move, and we did. Given the Miami Sol were keen to sign Linnea, it made sense. It feels like forever ago now. Together, we brought those teams to the top, Linnea with one of the best point averages in the game and myself with two Stanley Cups to grace the mantlepiece.
Thinking of it brings a light, phantom pain to where the knife went in all those years ago at my side. The doctors have all told me I shouldn’t feel anything at all, but from time to time it makes itself known, a constant reminder.
Rex is all but forgotten, both him and his goons, his company long gone. Endless legal battles all resulted in the same thing—he remains behind bars and will do so for a long time to come. Every attempt at parole has been quashed by the courts. He’s