Risking the Shot (Stick Side #4) - Amy Aislin Page 0,60
giggle. “You already got ten more minutes. Three times!” Slinging him over his shoulders, Dakota headed upstairs, Andy squealing the whole way. Once he was clean of cake crumbs and icing and snuggled into bed, books read, Dakota tucked Helix into Andy’s arms and shut off the light, leaving the door half-open.
“Dad.” Andy’s sleepy voice stopped Dakota in the doorway.
“Yeah?”
“D’you think Tay’ll let me read his comic book?”
“I don’t know, buddy. Why don’t you ask him on Saturday?” And let me know what he says, he was tempted to add. I want to read it too. “Night, Andy. Love you.”
“Love you, Daddy.”
Downstairs, Calder was still in the living room, nursing a tumbler of scotch. A second tumbler sat untouched right next to Dakota’s garnishes.
Picking up the drink, Dakota sat next to his cousin and eyed the cupcakes he still needed to finish. Leaving it for the moment, he turned to Calder. “Are we doing this?”
“We’re doing it.” Pulling the laptop closer, Calder moved the cursor over Publish, grinning like a maniac. “Ready?”
“Ready.”
He hit the button. Once Upon a Time Cakes’s website was officially a go.
Anna: Did you order Mom’s cake yet?
Tay: I’m on it!
He was on nothing. Tay sat in the locker room minutes before game time and stared at his sister’s text in horror.
Shit. He’d totally forgotten to order the cake for his mom’s birthday party.
Also, he really needed to stop checking his phone right before a game. Nothing good ever came of it.
The good news was that he still had a couple of weeks until the party. He’d talk to Dakota about placing a cake order tomorrow.
Shit. His mom hadn’t outright said it at dinner last night, but she clearly thought he’d taken on too much. She might be right. He had a bad feeling that something would give sooner rather than later. Either he’d forget something right before a deadline that he couldn’t fix, or he’d fuck up during a game because he was too tired to concentrate, or he’d say something he shouldn’t to the wrong person.
No, no. He could do this. One more month in the regular season, one more month of classes.
Except he’d be starting classes all over again in early May. And not just two this time, but four. A full-time student gig. The realization made him want to cry. Gritting his teeth, he put his phone back in his backpack, in the inside pocket with Andy’s puzzle piece. The sight of it lightened some of the weight on his shoulders, drained some of the tension out of his neck.
Could he drop everything, just for a little while, and go snuggle on the couch with Dakota while Andy made puzzles? Okay, not everything. Not hockey. Everything else, though? It could take a hike.
His phone lit up again as he was halfway to standing, and he caught the message from Anna even though he tried not to look.
I’m sending you extra items for Gran’s grocery list. Don’t forget to drop these off tomorrow after your practice. Thanks.
Tay scoffed. As if he’d forget to bring Gran her groceries, jeez.
From now on he was turning off his phone as soon as he arrived at the arena.
His teammates were either teasing and ribbing each other or were going through whatever pregame ritual helped them focus. Tay didn’t have a ritual, never had. Hockey players were generally a superstitious lot, but not Tay. Whether he ate a Halloween-sized Kit Kat like Dean, stretched his quads a certain way like Collet, or listened to show tunes like Stanton, it didn’t matter, although he did give the puzzle piece a rub between two fingers for luck. Just in case. And there was the chocolate he shared with Stanton at away games, but that didn’t count. It was just for fun. Really, it was all about being mentally and physically prepared to face your opponents on the ice.
And today’s opponents—Tampa—were at the top of their game. First in the division. Tay’s team had to bring it or they’d get flattened.
And brought it they did.
The crowd was insane. Tay wouldn’t normally notice it, but there were twice as many pride flags waving as there normally were. Tampa’s Ashton Yager was in the house tonight, and he brought a slew of fans wherever he went. The first out player in NHL history had quite the following. Didn’t matter that others had followed in his footsteps. Didn’t matter that Toronto had its own gay NHL icon. Yager had been the first.