Page 182 of Securing the Pucking Rebound

I can’t lose Sienna and my place on the team I love in only a few hours, can I?

Fuck, I really fucking hope not.

“Rumor has it Vancouver is shopping Nash.”

“What?” I blurt. “Why?”

He’s been there since he was drafted. There has never been talk about him moving. Well, I guess that’s something else I’ve been wrong about.

“Where’s he going?” I ask, my heart already racing.

Nash's release from his contract is big news, but it isn’t something that warrants an early-morning phone call. Unless…

“Nothing is confirmed yet,” Rett hedges.

“But…”

“LA is being mentioned.”

“But we don’t want him. We have no space for him.”

My heart rate only increases until I struggle to pull in the air I need.

Oh God. I think I’m going to have a panic attack.

“Take a breath,” Rett says, clearly able to hear my freak-out down the line.

“I’m good,” I force out, lying through my teeth.

“Are you?”

I mumble a response that basically screams, ‘No, I’m fucking not, but what are you going to do about it?’

I drag my hand down my face and suck in a couple of deep breaths.

“Yeah. I’m good.”

“He won’t replace you,” Rett says firmly, “if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“He’s gonna have to replace someone,” I point out. “We’ll go over our cap if we secure him.”

“Yeah,” Rett muses, letting me hear his own worries for the first time.

“It won’t be you. Or Monroe—he’s fucking killing it up there with you.”

We spend a few minutes discussing the other D-men on our roster, trying to predict what Grady, our GM, is thinking.

Despite Rett’s confidence that my spot is secure, I don’t feel all that much better when we eventually hang up and I dive online and start reading the articles myself.

They’ve been written by legitimate hockey journalists. It’s not just gossip—Vancouver really is shopping.

But would he want to play in LA?

There’s no love lost between him and the Vipers. He plays like an asshole, and I can only assume the man beneath the equipment is just as much of a jerk.

Kodie played with him in college, and he doesn’t have much good to say about him beyond his ability on the ice.

Nothing I read makes me feel better, and when I see my name starting to be brought into it, I force myself to close everything down and not get sucked in.