Chased by The Hockey Stars

Chapter Eight

I felt frozen, the conversation I had just heard leaving me in an utter shell shocked state. I took another few creeping steps backwards but my distraction would get the best of me. I was supposed to be staying quiet and not drawing any attention to myself.

Leon had likely only taken that call because he believed he was here by himself with no one around to overhear the conversation. Only, I had been here, and I had shamefully decided to listen in on the whole thing. It was a fact that Leon couldn’t find out about, but the universe had other plans.

I continued to back away from my spot outside the change room, my third step still distracted as I forgot that I’d rolled the cart of hockey sticks over here at the end of practice today. I nudged the bottom rim just enough that the cart slid out. It was like the whole moment happened in slow motion.

The second I’d realized how careless that step had been, I’d spun around in a flurry. My eyes locked on the wobbling cart as I reached for it, but I was already far too late. The hockey sticks had to be so carefully placed that even a single nudge could knock one out of position and send the rest falling like dominoes. And that was exactly what was happening now.

Despite my flailing arms and desperate attempts to catch them, one by one the hockey sticks scattered across the floor. The noise echoed through the arena and one thing became certain. If Leon hadn’t already realized that he wasn’t alone in this arena, he certainly had now.

Once all the sticks had fallen, I scrambled to pick them up and place them back on the rack. It was a hopeless feat, but I had no other choice. I couldn’t leave this place in such a mess or the coach would accuse me of not doing my job when he came in for practice tomorrow morning.

I’d barely gotten two sticks back onto the rack when a fuming Leon stepped out of the change room. His eyes were wide at first, scanning the mess of sticks on the floor, but once they found the culprit, they narrowed in.

Leon moved too quickly for my brain to even process what was happening. In an instant his face twisted into anger. He rushed towards me, pressing my body backwards until he was holding me up against the wall. His hand pressed around the base of my neck, while the other held back my waist. My feet were probably only an inch across the floor, but somehow the ground felt as if it were miles away.

I blinked back at him, trying to process the moment like a normal person, but every instinct in my body had to disagree. All at once I was overcome with emotion, images of this same encounter happening with my father only last week. The bruises had only just faded to a light enough shade of brown that I could start wearing pastel colours again, but now they’d return even darker. I wanted to press my eyelids close, to tense every muscle in my body and prepare myself for impact.

I tried to remind myself over and over again that Leon was not my father, but right now I was absolutely terrified.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Were you just eavesdropping on my private conversation?” Leon spat the words out like they were lava, but I couldn’t formulate an answer. My mind was betraying me, sending tears streaming down my cheeks as I found myself just counting down the seconds until this moment was over. It was the same tactic I’d come to use when these run-ins happened with my father, but it still didn’t stop my tears.

Leon blinked back at me in shock, as if finally registering how I was reacting to the moment. His eyes scanned over my face, watching the tears pour down my cheeks like waterfalls. Then, suddenly, his grip loosened on me.

“Woah, woah, calm down. I’m not actually going to hurt you,” Leon said, fully releasing his hold now and stepping back. He threw his hands up defensively, or maybe he was just trying to show me his palms so that I knew I was safe again. I didn’t feel safe though, not when a man who probably weighed twice as much as I did, was towering over me like this.

“I-I know,” I said, making a lame attempt at regaining my confidence. I hated that it was Leon that I was having this moment of weakness in front of. He was the very last person I wanted to see me crying, but right now it seemed I didn’t have any other choice. Still, I had to get the topic of conversation off of me before Leon put too much thought into why I was reacting this way. I couldn’t let him think he had any kind of power over me. So, I was determined to face this problem head on.

“I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. I was just cleaning up,” I tried to argue.

Leon’s took on a more serious expression again, thankfully choosing to ignore my tears again. He placed his hands on his hips, swaying between his feet for a moment as if deciding how he was going to approach this.

“Mention anything about what you just overheard to anyone, and you’ll regret it,” He finally said, and Leon didn’t have to specify the threat to make it real. I could still feel the weight of his hand around my neck as he took a few more inching steps away from me.

If there was anything I’d learned with absolute certainty after our brief collection of encounters, it was that this was a man I always knew to take seriously.

“It’s your business, I’d never say a word. I promise,” I assured him, truly meaning it.

If there was anything in this world that I was truly good at, it was knowing when to keep my mouth shut. Little did I realize with this comment though, that I was confessing my sins to him. He now knew with absolute certainty that I had overheard the conversation.

Leon shook his head at me, letting it hang for a moment at the end. I braced myself for another burst of emotions from him but it never came. Instead, he raised his gaze cautiously, meeting mine for a moment before turning to the chaotic mess of hockey sticks around us.

“Come on, let’s get this cleaned up,” he surprised me by saying. He turned to the sticks, beginning to pick them up and carefully align them on the rack.

I followed his lead, and the two of us briefly worked in silence side by side. The silence could only last so long though, with the heaviness of his phone conversation looming over both of us.

“It’s not what you think,” Leon said, being the first to break the silence between us.

I had a choice at this moment, to completely ignore the conversation that I’d overheard, or to face it. Maybe I was making the wrong one, but my curiosity always had gotten the best of me.

“It sounded like you’re being scouted by another team,” I said, clearly catching Leon by surprise as he suddenly turned to a statue in front of the rack of hockey sticks. Slowly he turned to me, and I felt my panic begin to bubble up again. I did my best to shove it back down, wanting to prove that I could handle my own fear, and kept going.

“And it sounded like you were pretty interested,” I added.

Leon let out a deep and heavy sigh. “You’ll never understand it,” He grumbled, going back to work.

“Try me,” I pushed onwards, handing him the last of the hockey sticks. He took them from my hold and began to stack them onto the rack. For a moment, I thought he might choose to ignore me, bringing this conversation to a close, but instead he finished the job and turned to face me head on again.

“I want to make it to the NHL someday, and with this team, that’s never going to happen for me,” He said rather directly, but that didn’t answer any of my questions. I raised my eyebrow at him, waiting, until finally he decided to continue.

“The other coach assured me that I’d be their next captain if I signed with their team. Being captain of a college team would look really good to recruiters,” he confessed and all the pieces quickly fell into place. Suddenly it all made sense, why he would want to switch teams.

Being captain would be a tempting reason to transfer, but he had to see that that wasn’t the only solution here. You didn’t have to be captain of the team to be a good player. After all, there's only one captain on any NHL team and 20 other qualified players.

“Isn’t that a goal you could work towards on this team though? I mean Cameron won’t be Captain forever. Beat him in a skills challenge and you could be captain next year. Or even just take the position of Assistant Captain. Recruiters will still recognize you as a good hockey player,” I tried to convince him, but Leon wasn’t having it. I barely got the words out of my mouth and already he was shaking his head at me.

"It's not that simple. I have to be the best. I have to get their attention and what does it matter which team lets me do it?" He argued, his temper beginning to get the best of him again. His hands had balled into fists at his sides but this time I didn't feel afraid. I didn't feel the need to back down because this time the look in his eyes told me that he was listening to every word I said.

"It could be though. You'd be betraying a lot of people by leaving now. The season is only just about to begin, you need to see this through with your team," I made another pleading attempt, hoping that maybe this one would be more successful, but Leon's head continued to shake at me.

“Look,” He suddenly snapped at me, making me quickly shut my mouth. The last thing I wanted was to make him angry again and I could see those fists tightening even harder.

Against my will, I could feel my whole body tense up, in case he launched himself at me again. Yet, Leon seemed to gather himself once more. His eyes closed for a second, a deep breath escaping his lips before he refocused.

When his eyes found mine, they were soft and pleading. “I know you’re trying to help and you might’ve learned a lot about hockey but what we’re talking about right now, isn’t something you can learn in a book. Navigating team dynamics is hard, but making it to the NHL is harder. Only the best of the best get there, and if I’m going to make it then I can’t be standing alongside in the shadows of Cam.”

“Leon,” I called after him, knowing that this time I was definitely overstepping. I should keep my mouth shut and accept the natural ending point that this conversation had come to, but I couldn’t. Leon had been a jerk to me since I’d joined the team, but still, I wanted to help him.

He turned back to me, pausing for only a second to hear what I had to say.

“Team dynamics are hard to navigate,” I reiterated that same line he’d given me, back to him, but this time with a different point to be made. “I think when it comes down to it, the NHL will be looking for players who can keep the team dynamic positive and respectful. The whole team plays better when they can trust and rely on each other. Choosing to stab your team in the back, will have consequences too.”

That last line may have been a step too far. If it was though, Leon didn’t let on. He nodded his head to me, turning to leave the arena for real this time.