Goalie Interference (NHL Scorpions)

by Worrell, Nikki

  “Well, I was just talking to Mr. Clark about filling another coaching position. I’m one man short. I was actually thinking about looking for a goalie coach and overall help with the defense. What do you think?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, I know I’ll need to do something, but I haven’t gotten that far. I have no idea how long it’s going to take me to get back to skating after the surgery. What if it takes months, or what if I never get back on skates again? Fuck, man! This is some scary shit.” Vlad had to admit, though, the idea was intriguing. It definitely had merit, but how could he expect Jody to hold a position open for him when he couldn’t ensure he could do the job?

  “Tell you what. Why don’t you just worry about the surgery, and let me talk to Mr. Clark? I’ve been operating without the extra coach for a while. I can hang on for a while more until we know what you’re dealing with. Are you even interested in something like that? I can tell you that working with the Mini Scorpions is a hell of a lot of fun. They’re good kids. Well, most of them.”

  Vlad pulled Jody over for a one-armed man hug. “I think it sounds like I have some thinking to do. But yeah, talk to Mr. Clark, and let me know how he feels about it. We’ll go from there. And thanks a lot, Chief.”

  Zoe had missed three calls from Vlad while she was seeing clients. Hoping nothing else had happened, she quickly called him back.

  “Hello, gorgeous,” Vlad answered on the first ring. It seemed he was feeling better than he was earlier. She knew it would take time for him to accept the situation, but there was nothing he could do but learn to live with it.

  “Hello yourself. You sound pretty chipper. I’m glad. I was a little worried when I saw you called three times.”

  Vlad laughed. “Well, I’ve finally got you where I want you. I don’t want to give you a chance to change your mind about us. Plus, I was wondering what you were going to wear to the Halloween game. Can I assume it’ll be something skimpy like last year?”

  “I’m not telling you; it’s a surprise. And Vlad, I’d still like to keep our relationship quiet until everything is finalized, okay?” Zoe was aware that everyone already knew how they felt about each other, but until Vlad was officially retired, she wasn’t comfortable declaring them a couple.

  He was glad to hear that she finally considered them to be in an actual relationship, but he was ticked that she still wanted to keep it quiet. “Oh, come on, Zoe. It’s just a few more days. Are you seriously telling me that I’m going to continue to be your dirty little secret until I’m officially retired? Technically, I’ll be on LTIR until the end of the season. No way. Good luck with that.” He was done waiting.

  “Why is it so hard for you to understand how important my job is to me? Your job is important to you. And your career is ending without your say, so you know how that feels. Why would you want something to compromise mine? If you have such strong feelings for me, why can’t you wait a few more days? ‘Good luck with that?’ Don’t be an asshole, Vlad. I still have a job to worry about!”

  As soon as those last few words slipped out, Zoe slapped her forehead. Shit, shit, shit. At Vlad’s silence, she ran her hand over her face feeling ashamed. “Shit. I’m sorry, Vlad. I didn’t mean it like that. I mean I did mean it, but that was incredibly insensitive. I’m just angry. Frustrated” There was more silence, which made her wonder if Vlad hung up. “Vlad?”

  “Angry, huh? Well guess what? I’m angry, too. You’re the only good thing I have going right now. At least after the other night I thought I had you. Looks like I made a mistake—again.” Vlad ended the call and wouldn’t pick up when she called him back.

  Jody and Lacey were finishing up dinner that evening when their doorbell rang. Izzy, their dog, let out a sharp bark, but didn’t bother getting up.

  “You’re such a great watch dog, Iz.” Jody gave her a pat on the head as he stepped over her one hundred forty pound body to get to the door.

  Zoe stood on the other side, looking out of sorts. “Hey, Zoe, come on in. Lace’s in the kitchen.”

  Zoe walked over to the seat next to Lacey and sat down hard. “I fucked up.” She laid her head on the table with a dull thud. “I fucked up bad. I think I can fix it, but I’m scared. Jody? Beer, please.”

  Lacey sat there and watched Zoe all but chug her beer. “Well, what happened?”

  When Zoe was done telling her, she cocked her head in thought. Her lips curled slightly as she stared blankly at the bottle in her hands. Zoe loved what she did for a living, but did it have to come at such a high cost? Finally, she had the mother of all epiphanies. “You know what? If I get fired for being with Vlad, I can find another job. Know what I can’t find? Another Vlad.”

  Zoe put her career before everything else in her life, and she knew that was why Lacey seemed so shocked. While she was normally fun and carefree, never taking anything too seriously, that wasn’t the case when it came to her career. When suicides became much too common in the NHL, it affected her. She wanted to do something to prevent that lethal combination of over-medicating and depression from ending in suicide. After two years of being with the Scorpions, the players finally trusted her and were comfortable enough to open up to her. She felt confident that they would come to her for help if they needed it.

  “I don’t know what to say, Zoe. You know I’ll support you whatever you decide, but I can’t weigh in on your decision. It’s too big, and it’s yours to make, not mine. For what it’s worth, though, you are right about one thing. There is only one Vlad Bejsiuk.”

  Zoe put her hand over Lacey’s. “I know you have my back. And I know what I’m going to do. To hell with everything. This one’s for me. Go big or go home, right?”

  Vlad was just stepping out onto the ice when Zoe walked into the rink. He didn’t see her, but she wasn’t surprised. It was Saturday, and practices were free and open to the public. She guessed there were upwards of two-hundred people packed onto the metal bleachers surrounding the practice rink.

  She made her way down to Vlad’s end of the ice and yelled loud enough for her voice to carry over the glass wall. “Hey, Impaler!” No response. She banged on the glass and tried again. “Come on, hot stuff! Turn around for me!”

  At his caller’s second yell, Vlad’s face broke out in a grin. He simply couldn’t help himself. He knew that voice, and he couldn’t stay mad at her. He’d tried.

  Vlad slowly turned around, lifting his mask. With an eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face he asked, “What do you want, sweetheart?”

  Zoe was suddenly very nervous. It was one thing to think about throwing caution to the wind. It was quite another to follow through with it. And now, most of the team was on the ice as well. She took a deep calming breath and went for broke. “Marry me!” Oh shitballs. I meant to say, ‘I love you.’ Where the fuck did that come from?

  It got so silent on the ice, she could actually hear the lone puck that was skating towards Vlad’s net. And that was quite a feat for a rink filled with people. Vlad took off his blocker and glove. Then he removed his helmet and placed everything on top of his net. Skating over to her, he said loudly, “Why do you want to marry me?”

  She didn’t have a ready answer. Could she take it back? No. Did she even want to take it back? Crap, crap, crap. Keep calm. Think! She began to realize it was actually exactly what she wanted. She’d been in love with him for a long time, and he with her. Now that they were finally able to move forward, why not skip the whole dating thing? She wasn’t a twenty year old kid who didn’t know what she wanted. She knew what she wanted. She wanted forever—with Vlad.

  “Do we really have to yell at each other through the glass with all of these people watching and listening?”

  Vlad crossed his arms and laughed out loud. He nodded his head. “I think after all this time, I deserve it.”

  Zoe was so happy to see Vlad’s eyes sparkle in amusement like they used to that she didn’t care about her surroundings anymore. “I want to marry you, because I think you’re the
bee’s knees.”

  He quirked his eyebrow at her again. “Bee’s knees? Nah, try again, woman. Dig deeper.”

  She even liked annoying Vlad. Rolling her eyes and grinning like a mad woman, she gave him another reason. “Well, you’re not too bad on the eyes.”

  “That’s a little better. How about something a bit more substantial?”

  “All right. How’s this?” She took her time to make sure she picked the right words. Vlad did deserve to hear how she felt. He did deserve the public recognition of her feelings for him. She put her hands up against the glass. “The first time I see you each day, you take my breath away.” She rolled her eyes at herself for using such a cliché phrase and tried again. “I thought about what it would be like without you in my life and it hurt here.” Zoe placed a hand over her heart. “You and me—we fit.” With a cocky smile, she finished, “And let’s face it: you’ve been smitten with me from the first time we met.”

  “Wow, is that right? You’re not very humble, Dr. Millis. Luckily for you, I happen to find that an attractive quality. Plus, you’re right. I have been.” Vlad waved her down the glass to the door that opened onto the ice.

  He opened the door when she got there and pulled her into his arms. He lifted her so that she was standing on his skates. He skated out to the center of the rink, keeping a firm hold on her as he lowered her to stand next to him on the ice. Intertwining their hands, he addressed the crowd. “Should I marry this woman? What do you think, does she deserve me?”

  There were cheers and boos alike. The naysayers were definitely the puck bunnies who had a thing for Vlad.

  “So? Don’t keep a girl waiting.” Zoe looked into his eyes and brushed back an errant curl that was hanging over his eye.

  “I would love to marry you. You’ve already got my heart; you might as well have the rest of me.”

  Zoe kissed him softly. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Vlad was anxious as hell. The start of the Halloween game was less than four hours away. He prayed to all the deities he could think of that he’d have his best game ever.

  He was already at the rink, leaving Zoe to go the game with Jody and Lacey. He had left earlier than usual to get his head in game mode. Before every game, he sat in the empty arena, helmet in his hands, staring at the ice. His ritual had begun as simply a way to clear his head and get in the zone. When his win record started getting better and better, it became a superstition.

  Matt, the defenseman who was in Zoe’s office when Vlad barged in, climbed the stairs toward him. “Hey, man, how you doing? You’re here even earlier than usual, aren’t you?” Matt always got there early, too. He liked to do a light workout before games.

  “Yeah, I’m just taking some extra time to clear my head.” He didn’t want to tell the guys that it was his last game until after the game. They didn’t need to be thinking about him when they should be thinking about getting the puck in the net.

  “Well, I won’t bother you too long. I just wanted to congratulate you again. We’re happy for you and the doc. Are they going to fire her, though?” None of the guys wanted to get used to another therapist.

  “Nah, I don’t think so. We’ll have to see what happens. So far, no one has said anything.” Vlad had actually talked to Mr. Clark, the owner of the Scorpions. He told Vlad that they would overlook it, due to the circumstances.

  “We all hope they don’t make her leave, man. She’s great. You deserve her.” Aside from Vlad’s attitude the past six months or so, all the guys genuinely liked him—even Cage. He was one of the older team members, and they looked up to him. “All right, Impaler. I’ll leave you to it. See you in the locker room.” With a slap to Vlad’s shoulder, Matt jogged back down the stairs into the tunnel leading to the locker room.

  Zoe shook her head as she looked at the costumes that Jody and Lacey were wearing to the game. Lacey’s costume was a far cry from the sexy fallen angel she was last year.

  Jody was going as Charlie Brown, accompanied by Lacey dressed as Snoopy. Lacey was wearing a white shirt and white pants. Her baby bump was Snoopy’s face. Black floppy ears, sewn to the sides of the shirt, hung down on either side of her big belly.

  Zoe doubled over, laughing. “You have got to be kidding me. I am not sitting next to you two.” She wouldn’t be caught dead in something like what they were wearing. Halloween was a time to break free. It was a day to wear something that you couldn’t get away with on a normal day. She had tried to talk Lacey into going as a scantily dressed trailer park girl, complete with a fake cigarette hanging out of her mouth, but she seemed to have lost some of her influence on Lacey since she had married Jody. Too bad.

  Zoe’s costume, on the other hand, was an eye catching number. No cute Snoopy for her.

  “Jody—put your tongue back in your mouth please.” Lacey gently put her hand to Jody’s chin and shut his mouth for him.

  Zoe smiled and spun around. She was dressed as Daisy Duke from The Dukes of Hazzard. Her barely there Daisy Duke short shorts were matched with a red button down shirt that she’d tied in a knot to rest under her breasts. The first four buttons were undone, and her red fuck-me-heels were the perfect accessory to make the outfit really stand out. “You like?”

  Jody looked at Lacey, alarm clearly showing on his face. “I have no way of answering that question without condemning myself.” He kissed Lacey and walked out of the room shaking his head. “Vlad is not going to like you wearing that, Zoe!”

  “Don’t you think Vlad will like it? I mean, I look hot, right? I don’t think he’ll mind. He never minded before when I smutted it up for Halloween.” Zoe hadn’t even given that a thought. Not that it would matter. She’d wear what she wanted to wear.

  “Yeah, but you weren’t his before. Well, we’ll find out soon enough, won’t we?” Who knew how Vlad would react. He wasn’t exactly himself as of late.

  Vlad saw Zoe in the stands during warm ups and immediately felt his groin tighten as he took in her costume—what little there was of it. When he lifted his mask and nodded his head in approval, she gave him a sexy smile he knew was all for him. He tugged on his jersey and swiveled his hips trying to rearrange himself before putting his helmet back on to skate back over to his goal.

  “Looks like he approves.” Zoe would have worn it either way, but it was a bonus that he didn’t freak out like Jody would have if Lacey wore something like that.

  “Approves? Yeah. I think you’ll be getting a lot of use out of that outfit.” Lacey hooked her arm through Zoe’s. “Come on. Let’s go up to the box. Jody’s getting nachos. He said he’ll meet us in there.”

  Zoe blew Vlad a kiss and pretended to drop something so that she could bend over for him. She saw him laughing as she threw him one last look over her shoulder. Good luck, she mouthed to him.

  Detroit usually came out like gangbusters, but you never knew how a team would play from one game to the next. This game started out slowly, which was good for Vlad. It gave him a little extra time to stretch out and determine how his hip was going to affect his play, if it even would.

  With a little over six minutes left in the first period, the score was still zero to zero. One of Detroit’s instigators decided to try and shake things up by getting Marcoux to drop his gloves. Brandon was not a fighter. He was a twenty-two year old winger who weighed about one hundred and seventy pounds soaking wet. It was a joke.

  When Marcoux refused to drop his gloves, Cooke shoved his stick up hard into his face, cutting his lip open. That definitely took things to the next level, but certainly not in the way Cooke had wanted. He went to the sin bin to serve a four-minute major penalty, which allowed the Scorpions to score on an extended power play. A couple of minutes later, the period was over and the Scorpions would go into the second, up a goal.

  In the locker room during intermission, Coach DeLeon pulled Vlad aside and asked him how he was feeling.

  “I’m doing okay, Coach. I’m still good to start the second period. The pain is on
ly about a three. You okay with that?” His pain was probably closer to a five, but he wanted to finish his last game, and the pain wasn’t affecting his play yet.

  The coach looked at him for a second, eyebrows raised, before responding. “A three, huh? So what, that’s really about a five? You look good. I can live with that.” He clapped him on the back. “I trust you, Vlad. I know you’ll pull yourself out before you would hurt the team. Have a good second period.” He walked into the center of the room to give the team a pep talk, and off they went to start the second.

  Pucks were flying up and down the ice so fast in the second period that, at times, the spectators were struggling to keep up with the action. Both teams had upped their intensity and physical play. Bodies were bouncing off the boards, and pucks were flying toward both nets. Vlad was getting a hell of a workout and was feeling the effects.

  “A little help here would be great guys! Can I get some fucking defense?” Vlad just needed thirty seconds of rest. Christ, if he could just get thirty seconds where he could stand still. Goddammit! I’m gonna have to pull myself out of this game if they can’t keep the fucking puck away for a minute. His hip was so sore and weak; he knew it was just a matter of time before he went down.

  Zoe wasn’t enjoying the game at all. Knowing what she did about Vlad’s hip condition, it was painful to watch him constantly going down into the butterfly and then snapping right back up to protect the high spots. He had to be in agony.

  Two minutes away from the end of the second period, it happened. Garvey, one of Detroit’s bigger centers, had the puck and was bearing down hard on Vlad. The Scorpions were in the middle of a sloppy line change that left only one defenseman in between Garvey and Vlad.