If You Love Me: Chapter 40

“It sure is tense in here,” Grace observes as we suit up for practice.

A shitstorm is brewing—well, actually, it’s brewed. I just hope my teammates can handle it.

“Where’s Coach Forrester?” Madden asks as he finishes lacing up his skates.

“She won’t be joining us today,” Vander Zee snaps.

Madden frowns. “Is she okay?”

“Why don’t you ask our goalie? He might know.”

I give Vander Zee a look. “Really, man?”

“Fuck.” Hendrix shakes his head.

“This is about to get nasty.” Palaniappa focuses on his gear.

“What’s in the air today?” a rookie asks.

“I wish I had some popcorn,” Bright whispers, but he’s not nearly as quiet as he thinks.

Vander Zee’s head whips around. “You think this is funny?”

“Nope. Just hungry.” Bright goes back to lacing up his skates.

Ryker looks anxious, and Stiles seems like he’d rather be anywhere else.

“Someone want to explain what the fuck is going on?” Madden asks.

I cross my arms. “This is how you thought the team should find out? While you’re still pissed off and being reactive? You’ve been my coach for the past nine years. Where’s the respect?”

“I could ask you the same question,” Vander Zee fires back.

“Is there a full moon or something?” Stiles mutters.

I hold up my hand with the ring on it and glare at Vander Zee. “Coach Forrester is my wife. She’s not here because someone has an axe to grind. Happy now?”

Vander Zee’s nostrils flare.

Murmurs of “holy shit” and “no way” and “what the fuck?” ricochet through my teammates.

“All right, guys. Let’s get on the ice and give these two a minute, yeah?” Hendrix makes a circle motion with his finger. Coaches Thomas and Boxer step in and usher the team out of the locker room.

Hendrix hangs back, arms crossed.

“Of course you knew about this,” Vander Zee says to him.

Hendrix sighs and pins Vander Zee with an unimpressed stare. “I get that you’re not happy about this, Coach, and I respect that you’ve been blindsided, but I’m a little concerned you’re going to say the very wrongest of things, and then our goalie is going to be out for a five-game suspension for punching you in the mouth.”

“I can handle myself,” I say through gritted teeth.

“Under normal circumstances, I would agree. However, these are not normal circumstances,” Hendrix argues.

“We’ll be fine,” I assure him.

“You can go,” Vander Zee agrees.

“Okay.” Hendrix raises his hands. “Please don’t break your hands on each other’s faces.”

He leaves the locker room.

Vander Zee grips the back of his neck. “Why, Roman? You’ve kept your dick in your pants this entire time. Why fuck the team now?”

“First of all, Lexi is my wife. Not some bunny I decided to have a good time with,” I grind out.

“She said you met three years ago, and she didn’t think you would remember her. So what was that about?” Vander Zee asks.

“It’s none of your fucking business, Coach.”

“It is when my assistant coach is suddenly married to my goalie! Do you have any idea what the heat is going to look like coming down from the top? This isn’t just about the two of you breaking every fucking rule we have.”

“The team lawyer is married to a player, and two of the PR staff are involved with players,” I point out. Again.

“This isn’t the same. We’ve been over this already.” Vander Zee slices his hand through the air. “Every time something like this happens, who do you think gets to deal with the team owner? It’s not you who will end up on the chopping block. It’s me and Fielding. I bring Lexi to the team, and you can’t find the self-control not to go after her until the season is over? What do you think this will look like, Roman? Like bringing Lexi on wasn’t enough of a risk without this?”

“Lexi was an excellent choice for assistant coach, regardless of her gender.” I hold up a hand. “And my relationship with Lexi has nothing to do with her effectiveness in her role.”

“To you, maybe. What do you think it looks like to those guys out there? To the fans? To the people who have been waiting for something like this to happen? You think she won’t be called a bunny? Or that they won’t question whether this was her motivation from the start, like Donnie did?”

“Watch your mouth, Vander Zee. That’s my wife you’re talking about. Our being married doesn’t change all the positive things she’s done for this team this year.”

He scoffs. “Get your head out of your ass, Roman. Alexandria just married a twenty-year veteran player during her first season as assistant coach. It doesn’t matter what’s true and what’s not. She could be the best assistant coach out there, but all of that is eclipsed by this.” He motions to me. “You might have saved her job by marrying her, but how will you protect her from the media? Are you ready for the backlash, Roman? Because I’m not.”

I suppose he’s right. Gaining the support of the team will be hard enough. But the rest of the hockey-watching world is a whole different beast.