Falling Fast (Loving the Sound Book 1)

by Kat Obie

  The year right before the expansion draft, Scotty found out that Denise was sleeping with one of his teammates and only using him. He was both livid and hurt by the whole situation. It also didn’t help that his roommate, Matty, was the one to break the news to him after he walked in on Denise doing it. Literally the only good thing that Scotty found comfort in was the fact that he hadn’t married Denise. His game was off for the year leading to the draft and was the main reason he got exposed.

  Most of the league writers assumed it was growing pains and assumed that Scotty just wasn’t going to live up to his early potential. Only Lager knew the truth after a very drunken confession following a loss to his Preds. Lager helped him to get over Denise. He also asked Lager to caution him if he moved in too quickly with the next relationship. For the first time in the past four years, Lager was calling him out.

  Scotty’s mood was darkened by Lager’s accusation. Scotty responded the only way he could. “Really, dude?”

  Lager just shook his head. “Did you think this through? Do you really know Alice?”

  “Of course, I thought it through. What do you take me for?”

  “I’m not trying to be an ass. You are the one who said that you jump into relationships hard and fast. After the last time, you wanted me to temper your habits, remember?” Lager took a deep breath, making sure his voice stayed measured. “From what I know, she’s good for you. But you guys have only been dating for, what, like a month and you’re already asking her to move in. You didn’t even tell me that you guys were this serious before the bye or even mention that you were considering this. So yeah, I have to question if you thought this through.”

  Scott nodded. Lager had a point. He looked down at his two dogs to make sure they were doing okay with all the attention from the three-year-old as he tried to keep a check on his temper. He made sure he was careful with his word choice since the Lagerfields had a strict no swearing policy around Klaus. Fortunately for the dogs, Chloe was patiently sitting while Klaus chased Backup in a tiny circle.

  Finally, in a low voice that was free of anger but showed the subtle amount of doubt that Lager had planted, he said, “I thought it made sense. I missed her so much, and she was too scared to sleep at her place whenever I talked to her. I had to do something. I figured that since we were together constantly and practically living together before I went to the All-Star game, why not ask her to move in? I know it’s sudden, but I did think through things. And I can promise you that she’s different from Denise. She wanted to keep her own lease for a bit and was already talking about what it all meant.”

  “Are you willfully ignoring any warning signs?” asked Lager carefully.

  That Scott could answer quickly and strongly. “None. She’s never asked for money or anything like that.”

  “But you got her an iPad for her birthday. That’s not nothing.”

  “Only because hers was stolen. If I hadn’t offered to replace it first, she would have let her sister replace it for her birthday. I got the feeling that if it wasn’t for the fact that it was on her birthday, she wouldn’t have let either of us replace it. She never asked for one.”

  “So what has she asked for?”

  “Time. Especially after the break-in.”

  “Alright. But what is she like around other guys? I remember you said that one of the things you missed right away was the fact that Denise was a shameless flirt with all the guys on the team and it should have been obvious that she was probably hooking up with other guys too.”

  “I haven’t seen Alice flirt with anyone. But I’m bringing her out tonight. You can see for yourself. At most, Alice will sometimes make double entendres.”

  Lager nodded. “Alright, man. I don't want to police your relationship. Just trying to look out for you like I promised. I trust you, dude. As I said before, I think Alice is good for you. If you’re happy, I’m happy. So, are we good?”

  “Yeah. We’re good.” Scott gave Lager a bro hug. Although he was still a little pissed off at Lager for questioning his relationship with Alice, he knew that Lager wasn’t trying to be an asshole and was doing what any good friend would do. “Well, I should probably get out of your hair and get back to walking these guys before they get too restless.”

  “Wait, I’ll go with you. Let me grab my skates and get Klaus inside,” said Lager as he scooped up his son and ran into the house.

  Scotty knew that as annoying as their conversation had been, it would be fun to race against Lager on the skates. Lager most likely hadn’t played on the break. So the more they could fool around, the better. Plus, he knew that Chloe would love to get a chance to really run. He could tell she was ready to get going again as she stood back up. “Wait girl, I promise it will be worth the wait.”

  Just then, line mate came down the driveway on a set of inline skates. “Alright. Let me take one of the dogs off your hands.”

  “You want to take Backup? But I will warn you, since he’s so young, he might need to be carried if he can’t keep up.”

  “Yeah. That’s not a problem. Also, that’s a weird name for a puppy.” He reached for Backup’s leash, then turned to the puppy. “You can run super fast, can’t you, little guy?” Lager turned towards Scotty and said, “Race you to the gate.”

  “Oh. Chloe and I will own you. On your mark: ready, set, go.”

  With that, both guys went off using their quick powerful strides. Chloe was running at full tilt and had her tongue hanging out like she normally did when she ran. Scott and Chloe took an easy lead. Lager couldn’t keep Backup running quick enough to really race. About midway down the street, Lager gave up and scooped up the pup. Lager had no chance to challenge since Scotty and Chloe were already nearly at the fence.

  Once Lager got to the fence, he complained, “No fair. Chloe is a ringer and you knew it.”

  “You are the one who wanted to race. It’s not my fault that Chloe is my fast girl. You knew she’s one of my favorite training partners.” Scott leaned down and rubbed his pit bull’s sides as she basked in the attention and from the run itself. "You can’t cry foul.”

  “Watch me,” said an indignant Lager.

  “Which path do you want me to take?” asked Scotty. They could go to the right and have a longer path, but if they went to the left, it would be a short trip.

  “Let’s go right. Do you want to switch dogs?”

  “Okay.” Scott lifted the little pup from Lager’s hand and passed off Chloe’s leash. “Hey little guy, how was your first skate? Did you like it?”

  Unfortunately for Scott, Backup threw up onto the ground, catching a little bit of Scott’s shirt. Scott pretended that it was nothing and said, “Awww. We must have gone a little too fast for you. I’m sorry.” Scott set Backup onto the ground. He looked towards Lager, and with a lot of humor in his voice, said, “You knew he was getting motion sick, didn’t you? Looks like we have to take it slow for a bit and let him walk it off. When we get back to the fence, we can do one more race. I’ll take care of Backup.”

  They had a casual skate, and Lager was apologetic about the pup throwing up.

  “Chloe was the same way when she was at that age. He’ll outgrow it, but I’ll need to be careful at first. I should have thought about it. It’s been a while since I had a pup this young.”

  By the end of the skate, he was in a better mood. He was considering what Lager had said earlier about rushing into things with Alice. While he didn’t doubt that was what they should do, he realized some people might question their decision and think it’s a bad idea.

  “So, want to join me for weightlifting or are you needed for babysitting duty tonight?”

  “Babysitting duty for now. Bridge has a class this afternoon, but I’ll see you tonight.”

  11

  Alice

  She didn’t see any cars in front of the rink like the last time she’d been there, so she had a feeling it was going to be all people from the Sound. She knew she was a beginner with limited
skills and was on the slower side even on a good day. That was before playing with actual skilled players who had the speed to play in the NHL. She didn’t stand a chance. Yet she walked into the rink with her gear.

  Alice was sure she was going to be the only one not playing in the NHL tonight when she was asked to use a general locker room. If it was a true family night, there would be an assigned locker room for family members to use. She got dressed and headed to the ice.

  The closer she got, the more she knew it was a bad idea. Alice was about ready to turn back and hide when Scott skated up to the boards and said, “You’re here. Come on and meet everyone.”

  Alice swore hard under her breath as she continued to the ice. She walked towards Scott as she heard one of the guys say, “Who’s the nerd?”

  Scott whispered into Alice’s ear before letting her get away from the bench. “Ditch the helmet, you won’t need it.”

  Alice took off the helmet and tossed it towards the benches. She shot Scott a dirty look as she came onto the ice. She was pissed off, and it was going to be a long night.

  Scott put his arm around her back which typically was a soothing move for her, but it wasn’t helping things. He said, “You have nothing to worry about. I promise.”

  He knew she didn’t want to make a fool of herself and was self-conscious about her hockey ability. She wanted to trust him, but everything she saw was just feeding her doubt rather than expelling it. Scott had never done anything to break her trust and he had a plan. He’d been her real life knight in shining armor.

  “Guys. This is my girlfriend Alice. She’s going to join for some shooting drills. But then she’s going to help coach/ref us for some 4-on-4. While she’s a newbie playing, she knows hockey. So I expect you to listen to her when it’s time. Alice, we have Crestie on net. You know Lager and Corey. But you also got PK, Wheels, Karlson, Andy, Dykstman, Hunter, Donnie, Sammy, and Hartsy.”

  As soon as Scott mentioned that he wanted her to coach while the guys scrimmaged against each other, her mind went into overdrive with plans. Alice recognized a few of the faces right away, but she was glad that Scott introduced her to everyone. That way she could start to put the team nicknames to faces and knew what to call them as they were playing. They had three defensemen and seven forwards. She knew she was going to piss off Scott with the one move, but she thought it was going to be the best move. It was a little subtle payback for putting her on the spot and making her sweat about her lack of hockey skills in front of his friends.

  The shooting drills weren’t that bad. She developed a wrister which surprised her. None of her shots even tested Crestor in the slightest, but she was just glad that she was doing the drills. It wasn’t that terrible. She continued to feel much more comfortable passing the puck, but if she seemed to be doubting herself, Scott would shoot her a reassuring look.

  Then it was time for the 4-on-4 for the last thirty minutes. The guys initially self-selected their teams, and it didn’t really surprise her with the initial set up. On one team it was Corey, Lager, Dykstman, Scotty, Sammy, and Wheels, and on the other side it was the younger guys who were normally on the same lines: PK, Karlson, Andy, Hunter, Hartsy, and Donnie.

  Scott’s normal line started to line up, and Alice said, “Wait. I want to try something. Dykst, head off for a second. Corey goes to the right and Lager heads to the left wing.” That raised a ton of eyebrows. She explained herself and dropped a little hockey knowledge. “Lager, you played left in the AHL the year you guys won the Calder Cup, right? I know it’s been a while, but just do it. I think this combo will work, but you got to swap sides.”

  Lager nodded, and the guys went to the assigned places. Then Alice turned towards Hunter and said, “Don’t forget the hip check. You will slow down guys like Scotty better than always for the poke check.”

  “Shit, man. I think she might be gunning for you,” said Anderson, Andy, as he matched up against Scott.

  “You actually have to win the faceoff,” said Alice. Scott had one of the best faceoff records in the league. Hunter, on the other hand, was terrible at them. She felt the boldest she had in a while and let her Philly attitude out. “You know what, let's make this really interesting. Dykstman, switch with Andy.”

  Everyone turned to Scott for approval. They were trying to defer to him, but she didn’t want to have to beg for it. “Just do it. She’s right, Andy, you couldn’t win a faceoff against me if you tried. Dykstman could.” The guys did as they were told, which was a relief, but she hoped that she wouldn’t need to rely on Scott tonight.

  Alice dropped the puck and things got underway. Scotty grabbed the puck and sent it to Corey. Almost right away, they were off to the races trying to get onto the net. They were looking like they were going to score. Hunter came at Lager with a hip check that landed him solidly on the boards and popped the puck loose.

  “There we go! Good Hit!” called out Alice as Dykstman took the puck out towards the line. He passed towards PK, who was in a great position to take the one-timer on Crestor. He had a clean read on and caught with his glove hand.

  Scotty told Corey, “If you lose, go out,” to which he just said, “Okay.”

  Once everyone was set, Alice dropped the puck again. Scott won it. This time it was a tic-tac-toe style play going from Scotty to Lager, who swung behind the net. Corey waited for the puck to be passed off from Lager along the side wall. He caught Crestor off guard as Corey slammed the puck into the net. Crestor didn’t see the shot since he was being screened by both Hunter and PK.

  As Alice grabbed the puck from Crestie, she said, “Watch the lines. Both of you screened Crestie and he had no chance.”

  Alice was astonished how much fun she was having as a coach. It was like coaching swimming but so much faster. The guys knew to make the changes after just one word. She loved using ideas that she’d gotten from watching games but never had the opportunity to use. For the most part, they were working out.

  Dykstman wasn’t the ideal center, but he improved the play of both PK and Karlson.

  The time flew by. Eventually Ed came out with a whistle and said, “Alright guys. Time to head out. Next group is up and we got to clean the ice.”

  Everyone grabbed their stuff, the pucks and the net. It didn’t take long at all for everything to be ready for the Zamboni. Alice skated off when she was grabbed from behind by Scotty. He was smiling and pulled her close as he said, “See, that wasn’t so bad.”

  “It was fun. But you are insane.”

  “You keep telling me, but I don’t see you running away.”

  Alice shook her head and said, “True, and I don’t plan to.”

  “Good. Are you mad at me?”

  “A little. It’s just been a really long day and I wasn’t expecting that. I don’t know what I was expecting, probably more of an open skate, but it wasn’t awful.”

  “Good. See you on the other side.” Scotty had to go in the opposite direction for his locker room. Before he left, he kissed Alice. She melted slightly in his hands.

  Scott

  Scott was tired but happy. He was surprised how easily they’d settled into Alice’s line formations. They were different from what he would have come up with, but they allowed for some good plays. His line with Corey and Lager scored a ton.

  It seemed so crazy when she suggested it, but he wasn’t going to undermine her role. Although, he might have fought her if she’d tried to split up him and Lager, but that hadn’t been an issue.

  Her personality was definitely much more mild-mannered than Berman. He’d seldom heard her get so sassy and unafraid to call bullshit when she wasn’t watching hockey. She rocked in his opinion, and they’d had a good warm up before going back to practice in the morning.

  Lager said, “Dude, what was that?”

  “What do you mean?” Scott was curious about what Lager actually meant. Was he upset about Alice being there or impressed?

  “You are dating someone who can actually coach and understa
nd hockey. I mean, seriously, she’s a freaking novice and a girl but she has good ideas on how to create offense. Would not have expected that level of hockey knowledge.”

  Scotty smiled and said, “I take it you liked it, then.”

  “Yeah. Dude, we need to do that freak line with you, me, and Corey in a game. It would give teams fits. Plus, it was fun to be on that side again for a few shifts. I can’t believe that she even knew I was on the opposite side when the Bears won. That was seven years ago, and it was the only year I wasn’t on my natural side.”

  “Yeah. I had no idea that she knew that, but it worked out a lot better than I would have thought. I’ll talk to Berman about using it out in a game. Maybe on the power play. I think our current line is pretty damn strong for 5-on-5, and we don’t want too many people to know that you can play both wings.”

  “Plus, she actually got Hunt to do more than the damn poke check,” chimed in Andy. “Although I still can’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It was a little rougher than I expected.”

  “Oh, did I hurt you?” asked Hunter incredulously.

  “You wish,” snapped Andy.

  “So, where did you find her?” asked either Karlson or PK. Probably Karlson due to the subtle hint of an accent but the two of them sounded very similar.

  Scotty had no qualms about saying how they met. “Ironically enough, right here. She came in for pick-up. We just ran into each other. There was something about her, and I needed to know more.”

  “Damn!” said Dykstman, which surprised Scotty. He had never been close to Dykstman off the ice. Scotty had mixed feelings about having his approval since Dykstman seldom stayed with a girl for long. It stirred up some feelings of jealousy. At the same time, he liked that Alice was liked by the guys.

  “Yeah. I’m just glad that you guys didn’t hate having her tonight.”