Trade Deadline - Avon Gale Page 0,1
in his glass melted and watered down his drink. As the indisputable dad friend of the group, maybe he needed to start excusing himself from wild yacht parties in the Caribbean and stick to hosting mellow barbecues in his backyard.
“You look pensive,” a voice announced before fingers ruffled his curls.
Daniel peered over the rims of his sunglasses to see Tristan staring down at him. Tristan’s fair skin was flushed pink despite the liberal sunscreen Daniel had seen him applying at regular intervals, and his blond hair had dried in messy, sea-salt-encrusted spikes after his last dip in the pool with Ryu and Emmitt.
Tristan handed Daniel a cold water bottle dripping with condensation before plopping down on the lounger next to his. “I noticed you’ve been nursing that rumrunner for the past hour. Figured this might be more your speed right now.”
“Thanks,” Daniel said. He set the glass on the table beside him and cracked the bottle open. A few sips went a long way to easing his parched throat, but that itch in his brain was still there. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I just feel...edgy or something. I probably should have stayed home.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Here?” Daniel used his bottle to gesture to the drunken dancing and body shots currently happening across the deck.
Tristan snorted. “Do you think any of them will even notice what we’re talking about?”
Daniel tipped his head, conceding the point. “True.”
“We can go inside, if that’d make you more comfortable.” Tristan’s expression was earnest, as usual. He saw a potential problem; he wanted to help solve it. That was his nature, and part of why Daniel—and, well, pretty much everyone—liked him so much.
“Nah, here is fine.” Besides, Daniel had noticed Ryu and Emmitt head below deck a few minutes ago, as casual as anything unless you noticed the tension between them and the look they’d exchanged along the way. The interior of the yacht had room to spare, but he didn’t want to interrupt their private moment. He’d only just learned they were a couple after the NHL Awards earlier this summer.
“Then what’s up?” Tristan asked. “Are you thinking about Tabby?”
Daniel shook his head. For once, his thoughts weren’t on his ex-wife or his kids or his pack of rescue dogs. “I don’t really know. I should be thrilled right now. Right? We won the Cup. We won the Cup. There’s nothing for me to be unhappy about, or there shouldn’t be, anyway. Look at my life.” He waved a hand to indicate the yacht, the sun blazing overhead, and the gleaming sea surrounding them.
Tristan’s forehead creased, and he made a thoughtful noise. “‘Shouldn’t be’ is relative, though, isn’t it? When is emotion ever logical? I should be partying and heckling Morley about those trunks and how he obviously bought them a size too small to show off the illustrious Tripod, not missing Seb and wondering what he’s doing when we haven’t even been apart for twenty-four hours. Yet here we are.”
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