Chapter 22
Miller
Sweat drips down my back as I push myself harder in what has to be the hardest game we have played all season, Hell, the hardest game played since becoming a Dragon four years ago, but I keep pushing on, there is no way I’m giving up this close to the Semi-Finals. The Dragons deserve it and I can tell by how hard these fuckers are skating tonight and if I’m not doing it for these guys, then I’m doing it for our fans, the same very fans who have supported us all season and who have currently filled our grandstand to maximum capacity. We’re going to make it. I just know it.
There are ten minutes left in the game and we are neck and neck with the opposing team. Coach Harris calls a timeout and we all skate over to the boards to huddle around him. A bottle of water is thrust in my face from who the fuck knows but I don’t hesitate in grabbing it. I squirt a decent amount into my mouth and over my face then concentrate on Coach.
He is red in the face from yelling out at us during the entire game and I know he feels just as exhausted as we do, which is exactly what we expect from an amazing coach like him. With only 30 seconds on the clock for our time out, he spurts out a new plan of attack, gives us a quick pep talk and sends us back on our way with a new motivation to kick the other team’s ass.
Tank and I but heads and clap each other on the back as we skate into position with the crowd roaring around us, excited for the final deciding 10 minutes of the game. I glance up to find Dani watching me with a look of pride on her face and I know she feels it right there along with me. This game is ours.
The referee blows his whistle and the game is on. Tank and I push forward as we dominate the puck, in perfect synch with each other, Hell, even Jaxon is in synch with us tonight. Well actually, I guess that’s not fair, Jaxon has been working his ass off a lot lately. I think he might have even grown up enough to take over as captain next year, but we will see how he goes the rest of the season.
Two skaters charge at me and I shoot the puck over to Tank, who sends it straight over to Jaxon as he comes up the centre. I dart to the left to narrowly avoid being slammed into the walls and come up behind Jaxon just in case he needs a little assistance, though I know he won’t as he is lined up perfectly with the goal and with the same training as I have, I know he won’t miss. He rears back with his stick, shoots it forward and just as expected, sends the puck straight into the back of the goal.
The crowd get to their feet and roar their support, practically shaking the grandstands under them. Hell, if this place wasn’t built so great, I’d be worried it would be coming down on us any second.
Jaxon turns back and looks to me and I realize he is searching for my approval. I skate up to him and hold my fist out for him. “Good work, kid,” I say with a nod as he bumps my fist with a look of pure pride in his eyes and a grin the size of Texas on his face. Geez, out of all us fuck ups, who would have thought Jaxon would be the one to surprise me.
He takes off and skates past the rest of our team, who all hang out over the barrier to clap him on the back as he passes. I come up behind him and meet Coach’s eyes. He gives me a quick nod telling me to keep it up. Which is exactly what we do.
The next 8 minutes is the slowest, yet the fastest 8 minutes of my life as I take in every single detail of the game before me, watching every player’s footwork, their positions on the ice and where they move to while also keeping an eye locked on the puck.
Tank and I take charge of the game, the opposition has been wearing down since halfway through the last period which gives us the perfect opportunity to show them whose ice this is. Tank and I give the audience a show, demonstrating just how we got dubbed the Dream Team and pull the scores even further apart, in our favour, of course.
The final buzzer sounds and I couldn’t be prouder of my boys. We made it to the Semi-finals. The Frozen Four in Chicago, the place where we are going to annihilate any team that stands in our way of winning that championship.
The audience is once again up on their feet as we line up down the centre of the ice to shake hands with the opposing team, who all grunt at us in frustration and disappointment.
We head off the ice and down into the locker room with Coach Harris following behind. “Good work, boys,” he says as he walks into the centre of the room to be seen by everyone. “You kicked their asses tonight. It was close for a moment but you pulled it home. You worked as a team and you showed them whose house this is,” he says, getting a loud cheer from all around the room.
“Get yourselves cleaned up, celebrate tonight and be back here again tomorrow for training. We’re off to the Frozen Four in 6 days and you all need to be ready,” he adds, giving us all a nod before turning and making his way for the door. “Oh, Tank. Miller. You’ve got press wanting to meet with you following this,” he tells us.
We both nod and wait for him to exit, then instantly turn to each other with wolfish grins. Yeah, we made it.
I quickly shower and get dressed and walk out with my boys. The crowd is still strong as they wait for us to exit. I search through the crowd and spot a mop of golden hair facing away with my number and name across her back. As if sensing me, Dani turns around and gives me a brilliant smile.
“Congratulations,” she says jumping into my arms and planting a huge kiss on my lips. “You were amazing.”
“Thanks, babe,” I say, winding my arms down her body to give her ass a firm squeeze. “You up for the celebratory party tonight?” I ask.
“Is it ok if I skip it tonight?” she cringes. “It’s been a huge week, I was kind of hoping for an early night.”
Damn. I should have known. As if she would want to party after the week she has had. “Do you want me to come back with you?” I ask.
“No, don’t be stupid,” she laughs. “Go and celebrate with the boys. You can wake me up when you get home,” she smirks with a wink.
“Fuck, baby, I plan to,” I murmur in her ear.
She giggles and gives me another kiss as she tightens her arms around me in a tight squeeze. She pulls back and looks at me with nothing but awe and pride, making me want to put that look on her face every day. “Here,” I say, digging into my pocket and pulling out my keys. “Let me put my shit in the truck and you can drive it home.”
“Thanks,” She smiles, taking them from me.
I walk her out the door and into the car park to my truck and throw my hockey bag in the back. I tell her about the press interview on the way which has her asking a million questions, though I can’t answer any of them as this is my first one. I help her up into my truck and watch as she drives away then head back into the stadium to find Tank, though, with his size, it really doesn’t take long.
I find him leaning against the wall of the merchandise shop as Sophie helps the girls to finish up. “Hey man,” I say, getting the guys attention. “You ready?”
He nods over at me with a grin. “Yeah.”
We squeeze our way through the lingering crowd and make our way back down the hallway that leads to the locker room, though instead, we turn down a separate corridor that takes us to the meeting rooms. We find the room and push our way through to find a few people sitting in front of a long table with two chairs behind it.
We head into the room and I take a moment to quickly look around. There are two women and a man with a camera, then Coach Harris up the back. We take our seats and they get straight into it. We stay for at least 20 minutes with both the women asking numerous of questions about our season, our team, what we hope for the future and most of all our relationship as the Dream team. I even get asked who I think would be a good captain for next season. I let them know that I believe Jaxon should be up for the role and I look up at Coach when I say it. He raises a questioning eyebrow at me but gives me a slight nod and I realize that Coach has seen the same hard work he has been putting in that I have.
We finish off our interview and meet with Coach right outside the door. “Fuck, that was awesome,” I say to Tank who grins ba
ck at me.
“Yes, you both handled yourselves well. Keep it up because there will be a lot more of that in Chicago,” Coach tells us and I momentarily wonder if it will be televised as I know my family would get a kick out of seeing me on live television, you know, apart from the actual hockey games, which they have seen millions of times.
Tank and I head out, bypassing the merchandise store to pick up Sophie on the way who asks where the hell Dani has gotten to. We climb into Tank’s truck as I explain what happened with Dani.
The boys wanted to head out to a club tonight, so I frown a little when we drive straight past Micky’s but I’m in too much of a great mood to let that ruin it.
Tank pulls up at the club and takes Sophie by the hand, leading her inside. I hang out the front for a moment and pull out my phone to let Dani know how it went when I see a missed call from Mia from this afternoon and few missed calls from mum a bit later on, probably wanting to congratulate me.
I give Dani a quick call and give her a quick rundown of the interview and promise to give her all the lengthy, boring details in the morning while we cook breakfast. She wishes me a good night and I hang up. I fiddle with a few buttons on the screen and pull up Mia’s number, the phone rings out and I leave her a message telling her to call me back when she can. Next up I bring up my mother’s number.
“Hello,” she says in a voice that is hardly recognizable.
“Mum, hey. Sorry, I missed your call, I was busy on the ice getting my team to Chicago,” I smirk.
“Oh Honey,” she whimpers on a cry and I realize this isn’t the cry of happiness but of sorrow. She lets out a sob that has me wondering what the fuck is going on.
“Mum?” I question a little concerned. “What’s wrong?”
“Baby, I’m so sorry,” she sobs. “I don’t know how to tell you this. It’s Mia.”
My concern quickly turns into a flat out worry over what could possibly have the strongest woman I know turning into a sobbing mess.
“What is it, mum?” I ask with urgency, my stomach sinking with unease. “What’s wrong with Mia? What happened?”
“There was an accident,” she cries as she struggles for breath. “She’s gone. My baby is gone.”
I don’t hear what she says next as I fall to my knees in the middle of the walkway. My heart sinks. How could she be gone? My baby sister? Little Mia.
Dead.
Chapter 23
Danielle
I’m startled awake by a loud ringing that has me nearly falling out of bed. I groan and roll over, reaching out for Miller to realize that he isn’t here. I sit up a little as the ringing continues and look over at the glowing alarm clock that sits on his bedside table. Crap, its 2.05 in the morning. Where the hell is he?
I reach over for my phone to silence it when I see Tank’s name flash up on the caller ID. An odd feeling settles over me as I hit answer and bring the phone up to my ear. “Hello?” I croak through my sleepy haze.
“Babe, hey, it’s Tank,” he shouts over the sound of what must be a bar or club.
“Uh, yeah,” I hesitate. “What’s up?”
“I’m sorry to ask, but do you mind coming out to get your boy? I just found him at a bar and he doesn’t look too good.”
“What?” I ask sitting up in bed. “What do you mean you found him?”
“He bailed early on. I figured he went home to you, but apparently, he wanted to drink alone in a bar.”
“Oh ok,” I say a little confused as to why Miller would bail on his team, especially tonight of all nights, I mean, he is supposed to be celebrating. “Where is he? I’ll come now,” I say, throwing the blankets off while I run around the room to find a pair of jeans and my bra.
Tank gives me the details of where to find them as I rush down the stairs and grab the keys to Miller’s truck.
“Hey,” he says, pulling my attention back to the conversation. “Could you hurry? He looks off, like there is something on his mind. Something bad, I’ve never seen him like this,” he warns.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure,” he says. “But you’ll see when you get here.”
I rush out the door and throw myself up into his truck and kick the engine over. I speed off down the road and follow the directions Tank gave me. Twenty minutes later, I pull up to an old worn out bar, far away from the college population. A place where you would go only to be alone.
I hop out of the truck and make my way up to the door, swinging it open to find Sophie and Tank sitting at a table just inside the door. Sophie jumps up immediately and makes her way to me, pulling me in for a tight hug. “Hey,” she says. “Thanks for coming.”
“No problem,” I say pulling back and glancing around the bar. “Where is he?” I ask in concern.
Tank comes over to joins us and motions with a nod of his head over to a dark corner of the bar. I follow his gaze and find Miller sitting alone, slumped over the bar while he nurses a glass of hard liquor. “You just left him there alone?” I ask a little outraged.
“We tried,” Tank says. “He doesn’t want the company.”
I ignore Tanks comments and take a step in Miller's direction only to be stopped by a hand at my elbow. I glance back at Tank who gives me a sympathetic cringe. “Just be careful, he seems angry.”
I give him a nod and he releases my elbow. As I make my way over to Miller, I notice his body gently shaking and I realize he is sobbing. Rage storms through me at Tank and Sophie for leaving him alone while he must be going through some kind of turmoil.
Seeing him like this tears my heart in two and makes me want to do whatever it is I can to take his pain away. I rush the rest of the way over to him and gently place my hand on his shoulder. His body stiffens under my touch but he doesn’t look up.
“I told you to fuck off,” he snarls, tightening his grip on his glass.
I step closer to him so he can feel my body along his. “It’s me,” I say quietly, afraid to use my full voice in fears of it breaking.
“Dani?” he asks, finally turning to look at me. I gasp when I get a good look at his face, the red-rimmed and bloodshot eyes with his wet cheeks combined with the complete look of a haunted man has me struggling to pull in a full breath. “Dani,” he repeats, getting up from his stool and pulling me roughly into his body and wrapping his arms around me like I’m his only lifeline. He buries his face in the crook of my neck and weeps.
I hold him tighter, giving him every ounce of my strength. He wobbles slightly on his feet and I gently push him back so he sits back on his stool. “What is it?” I murmur into his ear.
I feel his chest rise and fall in a deep breath as he pulls back to look me in the eye. He searches my face and I have no idea what it is he is trying to find but whatever it is, apparently is there. He lets out a deep sigh as I place both my hands on the sides of his face and lean into him. “Mia was walking home from the store this afternoon. She was hit… By an out of control, drunk driver. S-she was killed on impact,” he whispers as he struggles to get the words out.
“Fuck,” I gasp, feeling my eyes immediately fill with tears. A sob ribs itself from my body and I crush myself against Miller. Holy Shit. I know I never met her but she was the one person Miller loved more than anything in this world, he would talk about her constantly and I can’t imagine for even a second the world of hurt he must be going through right now.
“Let me take you home,” I beg, knowing being here in a rundown bar is not what he needs right now. I’ve never had anybody close to me pass away before, let alone someone as close as an only sibling, so I honestly have no idea what to do and hope I’m doing the right thing for him now. I guess all I can really do is just be here for him. Be his rock when he needs it.
He doesn’t answer but allows me to tug on his hand and bring him to his feet. He grabs his drink from the counter and throws back what is left. I loop his arm over my shoulder and struggle to help him out as he leans nearly his full weight on me. Tank rush
es in and slides his arms around Miller and takes his weight, allowing me to be saved from being crushed.
Tank helps Miller up into his Truck while I pull myself up into the driver’s seat. “Why don’t you guys get in, I’ll give you a ride home.”
“Sure,” he says, motioning for Sophie to hop in the back. He helps her up before climbing in behind her. “Just take us to your place. You’re going to need me to get him upstairs. He’s a big fucker, you know,” he says, trying to make light of the situation. If only he knew. “We’ll walk home from your place.”
“Thanks,” I say, giving him a tight smile.
“Is everything ok?” Sophie asks, leaning forward in the seat and placing a hand on my shoulder.
I take a deep breath and kick over the engine. “No. It’s not,” I tell them honestly. “I’m sure Miller will talk to you when he is ready,” I tell them both, unsure if Miller would be happy with me sharing his heartache. I glance over to Miller to find him on the verge of passing out but I have a feeling sleep is going to be hard for him to find tonight.
I pull out of my spot and reach over to him with my free hand, taking his hand in mine and lacing our fingers. He gives me a sad, tortured smile and gives my hand a gentle squeeze.
We drive home in a pained silence and arrive back at our doorstep 20 minutes later. True to his word, Tank helps me get Miller upstairs. “Thank you,” I tell him. “I’ll call you guys in the morning,” he gives me a curt nod and makes his way back down the stairs.
I lead Miller into the bathroom and begin stripping him off while I hear Sophie and Tank let themselves out the front door and hear the distinct sound of the door being locked. I mentally send Tank another ‘thanks’ knowing that is just one less thing I have to worry about tonight.
Miller_Kings of Denver Page 17