SHOOTOUT SAVE (The Renegades Series Book 6) Page 12

  With only five minutes left in the game, Tyler, Luc, Tanner, Kris, and Sam got into position as play resumed. Tyler shoved the puck towards Sam. He skated backwards, protecting it until he could pass it to Kris. Kaden had to look back and forth from the scoreboard to the other end of the ice, neither giving him a great view of what was happening.

  “Keep the pressure on them, guys!” he yelled.

  Florida stole the biscuit, shifting focus back to his end. Shaking his head, he braced for action. His head had been all over the place this game; that craziness needed to stop.

  Eyes on the jerseys ahead of him, his breathing deepened and the sound around him disappeared again. This time he was solely focused on the puck. The Renegades were up by one, and it was his job to keep it that way.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Alison

  Alison curled up on her couch, pulled her feet up under her, and covered herself with a warm blanket. It was only seven thirty at night, and she was already yawning with exhaustion. Pregnancy was taking its toll on her.

  After a long day of bathing dogs, then one very long ice skating lesson in what she thought was an extra cold rink, she was freezing and ready for bed. Going to sleep at seven thirty felt wrong to her. Popping some popcorn, getting cozy on the couch, and turning to the television seemed like an okay compromise. Flipping through the menu, nothing caught her eye. There has to be something on to watch.

  She mindlessly channel surfed, browsing from show to show in the hope that something would grab her attention, until a hockey game ended up on her screen. Watching for a second, she recognized it was the Renegades playing against Carolina. Hailee had mentioned about the guys being on a two-game road trip.

  A few gray and yellow jerseys were sprinkled in the sea of Carolina fans. Renegades fans always did travel. She didn’t want to watch, and yet couldn’t manage to change the channel.

  Once the camera panned towards the Renegades goalie, and noticing the darker pads, immediately she knew that was Dom in goal tonight. Relief washed over her, and she relaxed against the couch. Kaden must’ve played last night. It would’ve been difficult to watch him in net, but the twinge inside her stomach told her she probably would’ve watched just the same.

  Splitting her attention between the game and a local baby store catalog that had arrived in the mail today, she went page by page, marking things she might want to get. The crib stood out in her mind the most. It was more of an expense than she’d like right now, but at least picking one out was a good first step.

  The announcers startled her as they hollered about a goal being scored by Kris, with an assist going to Sam Morris. The camera followed the guys as they all skated by the bench, getting high fives from the rest of the team.

  Alison’s insides jumped when the camera passed Kaden. He was seated at the end of the bench with a backwards baseball cap on. He looks adorable, his hair tucked up in his hat and behind his ears. Just as a warm and fuzzy feeling grew in her stomach, the camera left the bench and went back to the game.

  She had done such a good job lately avoiding him, and now he was on her television, sort of. And she couldn’t look away. Snuggling up in her blanket, she sighed. Missing him was the hardest part. They always had so much fun together. If they had both been on board with this pregnancy they could have had even more fun baby shopping and planning. But she didn’t want him to be part of this only out of a sense of duty.

  Her heart ached with loneliness without him. She wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe watching this game is a bad idea. Pulling the blanket tight around her body, she snuggled in until she felt secure. Grabbing the remote, she turned on a mystery television show as background noise and closed her eyes. The blanket soothed her tired muscles and warmed her to the core as her breathing slowed and her eyelids grew heavy.

  * * * *

  The sound of her cell phone ringing woke her. Rubbing her eyes and fighting a yawn, she looked around. The television was still on, but now it had on some infomercial for miracle skin cream. What time is it? Alison fumbled around looking for her phone. It wasn’t beside her where she left it. But the ringing continued.

  After some searching, she found it on the floor. Hailee’s name was bold across the screen. The yawn finally escaped as she answered the phone. “Hailee?”

  “Took you long enough to answer. Everything okay, Ali?”

  “Um, yeah. I guess. What time is it?” Her eyes were still blurry as she searched for the clock, finally remembering there was one on her phone.

  “It’s almost ten thirty. Did I wake you?”

  “In the morning?” Alison looked around and noticed sunlight shining into the room.

  “Yes. Are you sure you’re okay?” Hailee asked, concern in her voice.

  “Apparently I fell asleep very early last night on the couch. I’m just feeling a bit out of it.” Like I don’t know what day it is, kind of out of it.

  “Well if you’re not feeling up to it today, we can go out another day.”

  Alison’s head began to clear up, and she remembered they were supposed to go out baby shopping today. “Baby store, right. No, I’m still interested in going. Just give me a little time to wake up and get ready.”

  “Okay, I’ll be over within the hour. See you then.”

  “Sounds good.” Alison hung up with Hailee and looked around. She was in her pajamas and her stomach was growling. For having slept so long last night, she didn’t feel like she’d had any sleep at all. She should’ve asked Hailee how Dom did last night, if the Renegades won or not. But she had sworn off talking hockey, at least for now. It was easier just not knowing what Kaden was doing than hearing that information accidently.

  She took almost the whole hour to get herself together. After eating breakfast, getting dressed, morning sickness, then a second breakfast, she was finally ready to go. Exhaustion still plagued her. Hailee driving was the right decision.

  Once at the baby store, the reality hit her. She sat motionless in the car, staring at the store.

  “Ali? You okay?”

  She stared out the window at the store. Warmth filled her chest and butterflies danced in her stomach. She swallowed, but her mouth stayed dry. Her hand rested on her stomach. “I’m having a… baby.”

  “Yes, Ali. You are. You sure you’re okay? We can do this another day.”

  Alison snapped out of her fog, and looked right at her friend. “Will you please quit asking me that?”

  “Sorry. But you were staring off into space.”

  “It’s just… I haven’t done any shopping yet. Because… well it just didn’t seem real yet. But sitting here at the store, it’s a reality. It’s weird, that’s all.” She took a deep breath. It was all sinking in. She was really doing this—without Kaden.

  She unbuckled her seatbelt and scooted out of the car before Hailee could continue to ask her questions. Inside the store, the little teeny-tiny clothes caught her eye first. They are so tiny. Everything is so tiny.

  She ran her hand over her stomach and stared with wonder at little tiny footed sleepers as Hailee talked. She didn’t know what her friend was going on about now; her focus was on the little pieces of clothing.

  Where do I even begin? I need everything. A little hockey player sleeper caught her attention. The sleeper looked like a hockey jersey, and the feet looked like ice skates. When Alison tossed it into her cart, Hailee gave her a pointed look.

  “You don’t even know if you’re having a girl or a boy.”

  “So? I’m sure it will work for either.” Even though she’d never given a girl much thought. For some reason her heart told her that Kaden’s baby would be a boy.

  “You’ll get tons of clothes at your shower, so let’s look at the big stuff. I’m sure if you find a few necessities you like—a crib, stroller, that kind of stuff—that Kaden will buy them for you.”

  “No.” She shot Hailee a sharp look. “I don’t need Kaden to buy my things. I work for a living, too. I’ll be
just fine.” Storming over to the cribs, she spied one in the corner. Making a beeline to it, she stopped short when the first price tag came into view. They were more than she expected, but she would figure out how to make it work. Even if it wasn’t the one she wanted.

  Hailee looked over each of the cribs, stopping by a light wood one and leaning on it with one arm. “So, which one do you like? There’s got to be one here that you just have to have.”

  She already knew which one she liked. She’d seen it as soon as she entered the crib department. But, just to be sure, she glanced at every other crib on her way to find out the price. The other cribs were nice, but just not her taste. “This one is on sale for one hundred dollars.” She touched a cherry wood crib.

  “It’s on sale. Great. Is that the one you really like?” Hailee tilted her head and watched Alison. “Or do you just like it because it’s on sale?”

  Her friend knew her all too well. Owning her own business, Alison had learned not to splurge on things, and to find bargains. But settling for a crib just because it was on sale? That sounded irrational even to her. Maybe I could ask Kaden to help… No. I can do this by myself. I won’t use him just for my personal bank. She continued to the one that had caught her eye originally.

  She held her breath and averted her eyes to the ceiling as she picked up the price tag and turned it over. Please be in my price range… Moving her eyes down to the sign, she let out her breath—not in relief, but ragged in frustration.

  “So, that’s the one you like. I can tell because you fixated on it when you walked in. Nice try looking at all the other cribs though, but that ‘eh’ look on your face gave you away.” Hailee closed in on Alison and the crib.

  Alison ran her hand over the light wood, and the rounded edges. It was traditional. And it was perfect. “This is it. Just what I had in mind. Too bad the price is twice as much as I intended to spend.”

  “So, ask Ka—”

  “I’ll figure something out. It’ll take more saving on my part, and probably longer before I can buy it. But I can make it work.”

  “Can I help you ladies with anything?” a sales woman asked with a soft grin.

  “I’m just looking—”

  Hailee interrupted. “I was wondering, can you tell us how early folks start their baby registries? My friend here is just starting her baby window shopping, but would it be better to start putting a few things on a registry?”

  “Absolutely. There is no right or wrong time to start a registry. It’s all up to the parents-to-be. But it’s great to have one, in case people want to know what to buy for you. Were you looking at something specific? A crib?”

  “Yes.” Hailee had a knack for taking over the conversation. “She was looking at this crib here.”

  “Do you have a layaway, maybe?” Alison asked.

  The sales woman shook her head. “No, sorry. But this is a very popular crib. I don’t see us going out of stock anytime soon, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  Alison glanced at the sale crib that she was looking at earlier. “Okay, I have some thinking to do. Thanks for your help.” She quickly cut through the crib department, looking up at the wall lined with different designs of crib sheet sets.

  Hailee stood beside her. “You’re going to need a theme. What about turtles? Turtles are so cute!”

  Themes? Turtles? Blanket and sheet sets, baby furniture… This was more difficult than she ever imagined it would be. Maybe if she wasn’t doing it alone…

  Her stomach twisted and nausea swirled around with it. Her face grew warm, but her body was cold.

  “Hailee, I don’t know if I’m ready for all this. I’m not feeling well. I think I just want to go. There’ll be plenty of time for shopping.”

  Grabbing her friend’s hand, Alison pulled Hailee towards the exit.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Kaden

  Coach took it easy on them this morning with an optional practice after two wins in a row: Florida and then Carolina. But everyone showed up anyway. One win was credited to Kaden and one to Dom.

  Even with the recent wins, their stats were low. They may have still been playing like a well-oiled machine, but in their hearts, it was too little too late; they knew that making the playoffs would take a miracle. Their goalie tandem was their saving grace, and what was keeping them afloat in the standings. Barely.

  The regular season was almost over, and every point was important. Losing even one game would lessen their chances of sliding into the last playoff spot. No one said it, but not making the postseason weighed heavily on everyone’s minds.

  That possibility was the white elephant in the room. They were fighting for the last playoff spot in their division. Everyone was keeping a close eye on the other teams, especially Boston. The balance was delicate when fighting for last place. The men wanted to win, and they wanted the other team to lose, so that would put their own team in the lead. What they didn’t want was a loss, and certainly not more than one loss. Every game was important, and they all knew it.

  Kaden sauntered around the Renegades players’ lounge in his sweats and a backwards baseball cap. After grabbing a bottle of water, he stretched out in front of the flat screen television. He wanted to practice longer. I should’ve made one of the guys stay out there and keep shooting pucks at me. Even with everything else that he had going on in his head, their playoff position weighed heavily on him.

  As he looked mindlessly at the television, all of his other concerns came flooding back to him. I should be with my mom, and I should be checking on Ali. I should be doing anything else but sitting here right now. He looked up at the screen but didn’t move. It was like a battle between his brain and his body. His brain knew he had things to take care of and look after, but his body was exhausted from the stress of it all.

  “K-man, whatcha doing?” Dom flopped down beside him. “For a man with so much shit going on in your life, you’re just chillin’ here in the lounge?”

  Kaden sighed. “Tell me about it.” His stomach twisted, causing a burn to travel up his throat. He was a mess, and he wasn’t even sure what the right thing to do was anymore. “I think I’m better off hanging out here.” Hiding out here was more like it.

  It was that point in the season where his mind should be all hockey. Sleep, eat, breathe—hockey. Instead, hockey was thrown in with all of the other worries he had.

  His stomach hurt, and his chest ached when he tried to organize everything in his head and concentrate on one issue at a time. Time management used to be a strong trait of his. Hockey was the only thing right now that he could control. Therefore, he sat here, in the arena lounge, avoiding all the rest.

  “Look, we’re not out of it just yet. We can still slide into the playoffs. We just need to take it one win at a time.” When Kaden didn’t respond at all to Dom’s pep talk, Dom squinted in confusion and relaxed his tone. “You alright, bro?”

  “No, not really.” Kaden shrugged. “I should be at my mom’s hotel hovering and making sure she has everything she needs. And I should be confessing my undying lo—I mean, telling Ali how much I care about her and want her in my life.”

  Dom cocked his eyebrow and smirked at Kaden’s slip-up. Without saying a word, Dom let him know that he heard it loud and clear. But Kaden wasn’t ready to tell anyone within earshot about his feelings for Ali. She should hear it first.

  He continued on, ignoring his friend’s goofy look. “Then I think about my mom again. I should be seeing what I can do to help her get better. Even though she keeps telling me to live my own life. Don’t skip practice, don’t skip games, and don’t hover. She’ll be fine and they’ll come over later. And Ali… Well, you know how that one is going probably better than I do. That is going to take some work. Work that I should be doing. I know what I need to do; I just don’t know how to do it. So, instead, I sit here. Seemed like a good compromise. I’d rather hang out here than go home. Alone at home, I’ll just buy more baby stuff.” That was becoming
a bad habit.

  Tyler limped into the room for a bottle of water, breaking the tension for a moment. And taking Dom’s attention away from the fact that Kaden had almost used the ‘L’ word about Ali. Tyler grimaced as he hobbled. He only had one shoe on, and his toe on his bare foot was taped up.

  “Ty, you okay?” Dom called. No one ever wanted to see their captain hobbling around. Not now, with their playoff hopes dangling by a thread.

  With an annoyed sigh, Tyler answered grumpily. “I don’t know yet. I think I broke my toe when I blocked that shot in practice. With my skate still on, it wasn’t too bad, but now it hurts like a bitch.”

  Tyler wasn’t one to whine over minor injuries. He’d been known to continue playing even when he shouldn’t have been out there.

  “Damn dude, you must be seriously hurting if you’re even complaining.”

  Leaning against the kitchenette counter Tyler grimaced. “Yeah, this is the last thing I need right before playoffs. Hopefully I can get my skate on and be fine. I’ll ice it down and see what happens.” He nodded a goodbye to them before he left the lounge area.

  Sam joined them, sitting down in one of the armchairs. “What are we watching?”

  “Don’t you need to get home to your wife and baby?” Kaden asked sarcastically.

  “I will. But Trina doesn’t need me there every second of the day. She says she likes her quiet time when Willow is sleeping and I’m not there.” He shrugged. “Go figure.”

  Dom slapped Kaden on the arm. “See dude, Mom’s right, hovering isn’t cool.”

  “So,”—Sam took a bite of an energy bar and continued to talk with a mouthful—“How is your mom doing?” His words mumbled, but somehow Kaden understood.

  “She’s doing okay. The doctors thought they might want to do chemo and radiation, just to be sure they got it all. But they opted for pills instead. She’s not having any side effects besides being tired since the surgery. So I guess that’s a positive.” He really should do a little more research on her therapy to understand it better and make sure there’s no possibility for any more adverse reactions. Add that to his already long mental to-do list.