Get Pucked

28. homecoming

PARKER

Nashville is incredible. Not only the city but also the team. The guys have accepted me with open arms, and they even invited me down to skate around with them in the Bridgestone Arena after practice ended. Now, I'm out with them, learning all there is to know about the nightlife of Nashville.

I'm staying sober, I want to remember every moment of this trip. After dodging many of my future teammates and the women crawling around the bar, looking for hockey stars to hook up with, I finally am able to sneak into a corner and call Dakota.

Admittedly, I haven't been texting her much, I want to tell her everything in person when I get home.

She answers on the fourth ring, "Who the hell is calling me at two in the morning?"

Her harsh tone throws me back. I didn't even realize it was that late, "uh, hey baby. Did I wake you?"

I hear her lightly sigh, adding to the guilt beginning to cloud in my chest. "Yes, but it's fine. How's everything going?"

"So good, Kota. I realized I forgot to call yesterday, I'm so sorry."

She responds, but I miss it when one of the first-line defensemen calls out to me, "Cadell, we're going down the street, are you coming?"

"Yeah, just give me two minutes," I yell back to him before returning the phone back to my ear. "What was that, love? Sorry, one of the guys just asked me something."

"It was nothing," she snaps. "You sound busy, I'll text you in the morning, goodnight," and the line clicks.

She hung up on me.

I try calling her back three more times, but every time it rings and rings until her voicemail sounds. Shooting her a few texts, I tell the guys that I'm done for the night and head back to my hotel. I don't sleep, though, my night is spent tossing and turning, wishing she was with me and feeling like the world's biggest dick. 

Every five minutes, I flip my phone over, hoping to see her name pop up. It never does.

After my meeting with the general manager this morning, I tried to call her once more, and when she didn't pick up I decide to call Connor instead.

"Hey, Cadell. How is Nashville?"

"It's great. Listen, I'm all wrapped up here so I'm going to catch an earlier flight. Can you and Dakota come to pick me up? I take off in thirty, so I'll be there in like, two hours." My voice sounds desperate, but I don't care.

"I can come to get you," he pauses. "Between you and I, she didn't sleep at all last night. She and Brooks are passed out in my bed, and I'm not waking her up."

His confession feels like a punch to the throat. "Oh," I manage to get the one word out, but it's weak.

"Yeah," he's quiet for a moment. "Text me when you land, man."

"Will do. Thank you, Connor."

"Anytime," he finally responds, both of us knowing I'm thanking him for more than just a ride.

~

The last thing I would've expected to see walking out of the airport was a dog hanging its head out of Connor's window.

My head drops in laughter, "what the hell?"

"Dakota let him in my bed, this was the only way I could get him to leave her," he just shrugs.

"She got a dog?" My jaw drops.

He rolls his eyes, " she found a dog. You know her, she and El love animals way too much to let him keep running on the street."