by Kat Obie
With a calm voice, he said, “Not that kind of situation, Matty.”
“Talk to me.”
“Cancer. I don’t know if I will need your help when I go to the team to discuss the options.”
There was a low whistle. Corey was silent at first and waited for the slick talker to do his thing.
“What’s the outlook?”
“Um, the season is done. I have to start treatments next week but I should be back without a problem.” The only problem was when he returned he might have difficulty keeping his weight up, but he wasn’t going to talk about that. The important thing was he could go back to his career.
“What kind?”
“Melanoma and it metastasized into the stomach. It’s treatable and they have high hopes. But I won’t be able to play with the radiation and the chemo.”
“Gotcha. Don’t worry. You’re protected for this season. Just talk to the team. I don’t need to be involved unless they decide to be dicks about everything but that office won’t do that to you.”
“Alright. I’m going to the barn to talk to the team now.”
“Let me know if you run into issues.” Then there was the classic click. Sloan wasn’t always one for formalities and quick to move onto the next call so he wasn’t surprised. But for what Sloan lacked in phone etiquette, he made up for by getting him a sweet deal over the summer.
He quietly drove the two of them to the rink. He didn’t want to talk to Berman or Doc over the phone. If Sloan thought things would be fine without him, then he was going to deal with everything. Of course by the time they got to the rink, the lot was full of guys heading out to their cars. He kind of wanted to hide from them but there was no point.
“You got this, babe. I’m here for you.”
He kissed Jenna’s perfectly soft lips. “I know, babe. I don’t think I could face this if you weren’t here for me. But we will both get so much shit if you come in to talk to Berman with me.”
“No problem. I need to talk to the rink manager,” she said with a wink.
It was the perfect alibi to talk to Ed, the elderly caretaker who looked after the rink. He would know everything going on and was a talker. Jenna could go to him to learn anything about the rink without raising any questions. He was a sweet old man and the best skate sharpener in the off-season.
The two of them got out of the SUV. Almost immediately, they ran into Petey and Lager as they were getting into Lager’s car.
“Yo, how are you feeling, dude?” asked Petey who gave him a high five with an elbow bump.
“Still sore as shit but the stitches are out.”
“That’s great. That means you get to practice with us tomorrow, right?” asked Lager.
“No,” Corey said. His mouth went absolutely dry. He then felt Jenna’s hand rubbing his lower back and he had some strength. “I won’t be playing this year.”
Both of the guys cursed, but what else were they going to say? He didn’t look like his season would be done, at least not yet. He really didn’t want to get into it right now, so he just said, “Hey, I got to see Coach about this shit. How about we hang out tonight?”
“Alright. Seven at your place?” asked Petey.
“Works for us,” said Jenna, who inserted herself in the conversation for the first time. “You can also bring Bridge and the little one.”
Then they walked to face his doom. Of course, they didn’t even make it past the locker room door before running into Scotty. If they were running into Scotty, he was going to be lucky to talk to the coach at this rate. Scotty was never quick to leave the rink and if he was done, Berman would be wrapping up his notes and such.
“Have you seen Berman?” asked Corey.
“Yeah. He’s in the office getting the video session ready.”
Corey nodded and headed for the coach’s office. He knew he was being rude to Scotty but he wanted to get the worst part over with. He shot a look over to Jenna hoping that she would make apologies and invite Scotty to the house later.
Corey noticed the door was closed, so he knocked. Almost immediately, he was invited in.
“So what’s the news, CC?” asked Berman. Always straight to the point.
“Treatments should start next week for stomach cancer. I’m pretty much fucked for the season.”
“Man, that sucks. Well, you know the team will be here for you. Is there anything I can do?”
“Not tell the world it started off as skin cancer?” Corey asked with a smile. He knew he was being dumb but he just wasn’t comfortable with the idea of the world knowing everything. There was no way to prevent it from coming out; they would have to make a statement about why he was being pulled for the rest of the season.
Berman smiled. “We can do that. We’ll say it’s just stomach cancer. If people start digging, we’ll just tell the truth.” Corey cringed at that thought but it didn’t stop Berman. “When you banged up your wrist, there was something that seemed off with the bloodwork and we sent you to get the biopsies to be safe. It was a good thing we did.”
Corey nodded. Berman was right. That was the truth without any mention of skin cancer. He was grateful.
27
Jenna
“Okay, what’s the deal with Cor?” asked Scotty as soon as Corey left them in the hallway. It was a less than graceful exit but Jenna didn’t fault him. He had a shit ton on his mind and she hoped her love would be enough.
“Um. He should tell you when he tells Petey and Lager tonight. Think you and Alice can come over?”
“Yeah. We should be able to.” He pulled his lips tight. “Can you at least give me a clue? He didn’t seem like himself.”
“His season is done and he might be lucky to play hockey again. He’s going to need us for a while.” She felt comfortable enough saying that.
“Well, you can count on us being there then. Need us to bring anything?”
Jenna shrugged at first. She had to think about what they had on hand. They weren’t planning on an impromptu gathering but they should have plenty of food for the guys. “Um, some beer would probably be good.”
“No problem. You know we have plenty. Do you want me to keep you company while you wait for Corey?” asked Scotty.
“Nah. I’m okay.”
“Don’t play the martyr.” With that, Jenna knew that Scotty wasn’t going to take no for an answer. But at the same time, it was good to have someone to chat with to kill time. So she nodded in approval.
He led the way up to the upstairs observation area so they could watch some of the action on the ice without being noticed. Nobody cared about her and few people recognized Corey on the streets, although that was on the rise lately as Corey had been having a hell of a season before this. But Scotty was the freaking poster child of the franchise and was damn recognizable to the fans. It was still weird to her that she’d been sucked into this world of notoriety and professional sports at an intimate level.
As they sat down, Jenna sent Corey a quick text to let him know where she wandered off to. Of course, he probably would have been able to find her eventually. It’s not like it was the largest facility to hide in.
“So how’s your quest with Alice going?” asked Jenna.
Scotty just chuckled as he was prone to do. It was no secret that he wanted a baby and it was Alice who was the one who had some reservations. Normally she heard about it from Alice’s point of view. “She’s stubborn about trying to get the timing just right.”
“Are you surprised by that?”
“No, not in the slightest. Besides, I’m just as stubborn, if not more so. I’ll wait a little longer but we will have one.”
“Oh, we are?” teased Corey as he approached them. “When were you going to clue me in on this plan? Also what are we having?”
Jenna started to laugh big-time and Scotty was laughing as well but to a lesser degree. Of course, Corey was insinuating they would be involved without a clue on what was going on. While trying to control her laughter,
she said, “A baby with Scotty and Alice. Also I don’t like to share my boyfriend.”
The look of shock on Corey’s face was so amusing and he joined in the laughter. “Alright, I love you, dude, but you and Al are on your own for that one.”
“No shit. But nice try. Everything all set with Berman?”
“Yeah. Thanks for keeping Jenna occupied while I talked to him.”
“No problem. I’ll see you guys later on tonight.”
“Sounds good.”
With that, the three of them slipped out of the building without getting spotted by anyone else.
When they got home, Jenna gave Corey a giant hug. She laid her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, babe. I wish this was my battle and not yours.”
He grabbed her ass and lifted her. She immediately wrapped her legs around his waist, which wasn’t the wisest move, but sometimes you aren’t always smart. But instead of lust in his eyes, they were clouded and sad. “Don’t ever say that. If it was a choice between you and me, I would rather it be me. This is where I know I’m strong enough to beat this. I couldn’t bear to watch you go through the treatments.”
“So what do you want to do right now?”
He kissed her lips with passion and pushed her toward the wall. Although once she was against the wall, he used it to support her weight. She realized she was probably stressing out some of his surgical wounds and she immediately unwrapped her legs but stayed close to his body.
When he pulled back from the kiss, she muttered a quick apology. They were both going toward the downstairs bedroom. Their clothes were being stripped off along the way. He said, “You got nothing to apologize for.”
They made love until they were too tired to move. Jenna took a short nap in his arms. She looked at his beautiful face that was at so much peace in that moment. She knew he would be asleep for a while. Since his surgery, he’d been sleeping more and just needing to rest. But their friends would be coming over soon enough, so she crawled out of bed to clean the house.
She took a quick shower and got ready in casual clothes. She pulled her hair up into a messy bun and applied some light makeup. She took a peek at Corey to see he was still passed out. She walked over to the bed and just kissed his forehead.
His eyes fluttered open and he murmured, “Let me rest a little longer.” He kissed her hand but quickly let it go as he started to fall back to sleep. Jenna let him sleep for a little bit longer knowing that he would need a ton of strength in the coming months.
Jenna started cleaning the living room and kitchen. It was mostly neatening up the blankets, picking up the clothes they’d stripped earlier, putting the controllers away, and hiding his guitar. She still thought it was crazy that he was afraid of letting the guys know that he played guitar even though he sang in front of the team. She took it upstairs to his little music enclave.
As she was walking down the stairs, Corey was standing at the doorway with a smile on his face. He was looking at her body and clearly enjoying things. He was back to pretending like nothing happened in the past twenty-four hours that flipped his world upside down.
“Babe, shouldn’t you get dressed for when your friends come over?”
“They have all seen me naked, it’s not a big deal,” he said as he folded his arms across his chest, as if he really didn’t care if the guys saw him with his boxer briefs on. She tried to pretend it didn’t just turn her on.
Jenna raised an eyebrow to challenge him. “What about Al and Bridge?”
He turned back into the bedroom and said with a slight huff, “Fine. I will put on some pants on.”
Jenna went into the kitchen to make a roast. She had just put it into the oven when he came into the kitchen. True to his word, he had put on pants, but his shirt was nowhere to be seen. When he turned around, she could see the line of white strips covering his back incision. It was nice to see the stitches out but to see it still covered reminded her just how much healing he still needed to do. At least the other two wounds on his armpit area were healing well. Visible for now, but she knew those would most likely get tattooed over.
“Better now?” asked Corey with a smirk.
Jenna nodded. She was half tempted to tell him to put a shirt on but she loved having easy access to look at his abs. It didn’t matter if everyone saw him with his shirt off. “Feeling okay?”
“I’m sore,” he said with a mellow voice.
She pursed her lips together. She hated hearing that but that was the common answer. She was tempted to ask if he took anything but she knew if he was in pain, he would have done so. Instead she asked, “Was I too rough earlier?”
“Nah. That was fun.” He came up and held her close. “Trust me if it was too much, I would have said something.”
Corey
After dinner, he did decide to throw a shirt on. He knew that Jenna wouldn’t like it if hung out with their friends shirtless despite her being quiet and acting like it was cool.
When he came out of the bedroom, he was about ready to tease Jenna about going tarps on. But the doorbell rang, which dashed his plans. He answered the door to see Alice and Scotty with a couple six packs of beer. He laughed at how they had a six pack of Yuengling (Scotty’s favorite) and a mixture of craft beers that he knew that everyone else would enjoy.
“Thanks for the drinks. Come on in.”
Before he shut the door behind them, he saw two more cars pull up. It was Petey and Lager. So they waited for them to get to the doorway.
“Hey. Why the two cars?”
“He’s going to turn into a pumpkin. I, however, figured if you wanted to go out or hang for a while, I could drive” said Petey as he pointed toward Lager.
“What? You know I will only slow you guys down. This way the kids get to have fun,” said Lager. It was amazing how a couple months ago, Lager hated to be considered to be a team dad and now he willingly conceded he was turning into an old man.
“Get your asses in here,” said Corey. “Al and Scotty brought beers.”
On their way to the kitchen, Petey asked a louder than necessary, “Did they bring the good stuff or the cheap stuff?”
Lager actually slapped Petey from behind the head. “Don’t be a dick. He’s the cap. He can have crap taste in beer.”
Corey said, “Don’t worry. Al made sure it’s both. You know she takes care of us when it comes to the good beer. Besides, I got you covered when we run out of that supply.”
They all got to the kitchen and opened up bottles of beer. Jenna already had the bottle opener in hand and handed it to him after popping off her cap. He kissed her and whispered in her ear, “I love you so much for that.” He opened up a beer and then passed it to Petey.
“Alright. So enough cloak and dagger, what’s going on?” asked Scotty. “Why are we all here?”
Jenna rubbed his arms giving him that quiet strength that he loved from her. Not the in-your-face PDA like Alice and Scotty, but just as important to Corey. He took a giant swig of his beer and then instantly regretted it since it was sour as all hell. He started to look at what the hell he just gulped. A gose. Not the style he should have gulped down but it explained why it was so sour. He wished he had a Yuengling instead.
Almost immediately, Lager said, “Quit stalling!”
“Excuse me. I needed to wet my palate.”
“By trying to drink half the bottle in one swig?” asked Petey.
Corey looked toward Jenna for support and he saw she was giggling at him. He smiled. He could have been annoyed but he knew Lager was right, he was stalling. It didn’t stop him from taking a deep sigh before saying, “I got cancer.”
“Yeah, we know. You had it removed already,” Petey said with a scoff.
“Not quite. It has spread to the stomach. Now I get to deal with chemo and shit. It’s treatable. They think I should be able to play next year but I’m done this year,” said Corey.
There was basically a collective “Fuck,” which was how Corey felt about it all. Corey
raked his hand through his blond hair. He didn’t want to think about losing everything that he worked for. Talking about it made it all seem so real.
Lager said, “It’s going to be weird seeing you as a cue ball soon.”
Scotty elbowed his best friend. “Dude, not the time. Listen to your own advice and don’t be a dick.”
Petey and he looked at each other and started laughing. It was always entertaining to see Scotty give it back to Lager for a change. With Lager having seniority over the team, he could usually say pretty much whatever he wanted and it was always fun to see what he came up with next. Scotty was one of the few who had more seniority and they were two peas in a pod.
“Gah, he’s right though,” said Corey. He buzzed everything off back in juniors and it was a super bad decision. It was a look that he never wanted to repeat again. Then he remembered a comment Alice said in passing, about how Jenna loved his hair. He couldn’t help but wonder if she would stick with him, which was such a stupid thing to even think. Of course she would stay with him if he lost his hair. She wasn’t that superficial. “Me, bald isn’t a good look.”
Jenna hugged him and spun him around. “I don’t care what happens to your hair for a few months. I just want you to be okay in the long term.”
He laid his head on her forehead. He loved her so much in that moment. He whispered, “I just want to be okay too.”
Petey broke up their touching moment when he tapped Corey on the arm and said, “If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll go cue ball with you.”
“I will too.” said Scotty.
Everyone started to look at Lager to see if he was going to offer himself up. He lifted his hands up in a “who me” gesture. “Sorry, don’t look at me. I love you man but I love my flow more.”
“It’s cool. None of you have to follow suit just for me. But I do ask, please don’t let it out that it was melanoma first, I would never hear the end of the chirps. Thankfully the team is just going to release the stomach cancer part.”
