Chapter 31: Chapter 31

TYLER

“That was your worst game,” Coach scolded. “I thought last night was bad. What the hell has gotten into you?”

Coach waited until we had returned home from Tampa to yell at me, which was unlike him. The other players had left by then, except for me, for I had the Coach still screaming down my throat.

“We are this close to the playoffs,” he said, pinching his fingers together. “And you choose now to start fucking up? You had sixteen penalty minutes tonight. Sixteen.

“You score more goals per game than almost any other player in the league,” he shouted. “But we had sixteen minutes without you because you decided to play like an asshole.”

“Coach,” I said, “I know, I’m—”

“Whatever excuse you have is not important. You want important?” he asked, still throwing his hands around in the air.

“Make sure the Martins know that the millions they’re spending on your ass are worth it. Play your little heart out. Everyone knows you can play, don’t fuck up your career.”

I nodded, straightened my suit tie, and knew I had to stop being pathetic. “You’re right, Coach. I apologize. This won’t happen again.”

He tilted his head to the side, motioning me to follow him to the parking lot. The eerie silence didn’t do much to help my aching heart, but I didn’t have much of a choice.

We approached our vehicles, and I leaned against my Mercedes. Coach’s Hellcat was parked nearby. I tried not to look at it. I didn’t want to be reminded of her.

“Now that that’s out of the way, what’s going on with my Kitty-Kate?” he asked, making me choke on the Gatorade I’d just sipped. “She got scared when Fred saw you guys?”

“I don’t know,” I answered. “We haven’t really talked since.”

He jerked back in surprise, eyebrows raised to his hairline. “You’re telling me that her uncle advising you to stay away from each other actually worked?” He almost laughed.

“Mr. Martin said she was smarter than that, and more specifically, better than that,” I finally said the words out loud. “She’s always been better than me, Coach.

“I was delusional thinking she should be with someone like me. So after Fred’s words, I left her. It’ll be easier for Kate this way.” Coach looked at me, eyes looking tired and sad.

“I’m so in love with her, I would’ve never let her go otherwise.”

Minutes of silence passed. I looked around, unsure of what was happening. “You idiot,” he finally said.

“What?”

“If you can’t see that she loves you too, then you are far more idiotic than anyone I know.”

Coach walked away, still shaking his head. He climbed into the bright red Hellcat and sped away.

I knew Kate loved me; I never doubted that. But I did doubt what we had. Her uncle’s reaction shocked me back into reality, and he scolded~ her~.

~Her~. She didn’t deserve that. She worked her ass off and was the kindest, sweetest person I’d ever met. She shouldn’t be spoken to like that. I had hated it.

Kate looked so broken that fateful night, physically and emotionally. Partially, I had done that to her, but it was in her best interest. I wanted her to move on and find someone worthy of her, if such a person even existed.

I couldn’t get her face out of my head, bandage covering her wounded cheek, tears in her blue eyes, and lips parted watching me walk away from her. ~I’m a fucking idiot.~

I called Ben’s work cell phone, surprised he answered, given the time difference in China. I quickly told him everything that had happened.

“So you’re telling me your ignorant ass just walked away? Like she didn’t mean a damn thing to you?” He all but yelled at me through the phone.

“Wait,” I said, “You don’t think she’d think that, right? That she doesn’t mean anything to me?”

“What the fuck would it look like to you?”

My foot pushed the accelerator further into the floor. My hands began to shake. I had thrown the woman of my dreams away. I needed to punch myself in the face. I deserved that and a lot worse.

I hung up on my best friend and went home to sleep on it. I needed to form a plan, and a good one at that.

I awoke the next morning and sent a mass text to my teammates. I needed to enlist everyone’s help, but I wasn’t scheduled to meet them until later.

In the meantime, the one person I didn’t want to discuss my relationship with was also the only person who I knew could help me.

“Hi, Mom,” I said when she flung open the door.

“You look like shit,” she said. “And your last two games…” She shook her head.

My dad came up and looked me up and down. “Did you not sleep last night?” he asked. “When was the last time you showered?”

“I showered before I came here, thank you.”

I pushed past them, walking into the house. It wasn’t long before Mom called my brothers, telling them I needed an intervention. They showed up an hour later, laughing at me.

“Mom told us it was an intervention,” Jason said. “I thought you were on steroids or some shit, but you look like a homeless person instead.”

“Jason, leave your brother alone!” she yelled from the kitchen. I rolled my eyes. My insane, wonderful family loved me, yet they were also about to tell me how stupid I was.

I narrated to them the same story I’d told Ben the day before. No one said anything at first. They just watched me, waiting for a reaction.

“So you just haven’t said anything to each other since then?” Steve asked and I nodded a no. “What the fuck?” he mumbled

I pulled out my phone. “She texted me asking if I was okay because I wouldn’t even look at her.”

“And what’d you say?” Mom piped in.

The anticipation was killing her. It was like she was watching the ending of a suspense movie.

“I told her she had been right all along. I said we were stupid, and that I was sorry I let it happen.”

The awkward silence surrounding me had me fidgeting. I wondered why no one was saying anything. I had the loudest family in the world, but at that point, they were eerily silent.

I moved my eyes around to meet each of theirs. All they did was look right through me, especially Jason.

My twin brother always knew how I was feeling. I had no doubt my own heartbreak was pounding in his chest.

My mom walked into the kitchen without a word and returned with a tray of pastries. Like a robot, she set them on the mahogany coffee table.

“Who the fuck do you think you are? God?” my father asked. He rarely cursed, so all our heads jerked up in surprise.

“What? No.”

“Why would you think that you can make that decision for her?” he asked, now standing in front of my seated self, highlighting my inferiority.

“If you’d left her because you didn’t want to be with her, then that would be your choice. How dare you decide what’s best for~ her~?~”

“I didn’t—”

“If I went by your shitty way of thinking, I wouldn’t be with your mother. She’s always been better than me, she always will be. However, it was her choice to make if she wanted to spend her life with me.”

My mom stared into the eyes of her devoted husband. “We’ve always been equal, Tom,” she spoke through her tears.

She walked closer and wrapped her arms around him, while he held her. “I could never be better than someone like you. You’re perfect.”

Typically, my brothers and I would take that opportunity to joke about our parents’ PDA. We didn’t that time though.

All adults now, we appreciated that true love existed. My mom and dad were living proof of that.

“You’re right. I love you all,” I yelled and darted toward their front door. I knew what I needed to do.

“Ty!” Mom’s voice stopped me, and I turned. “Make it big. She’s your~ one~. Chase her down at an airport, kiss her in the rain, drop to your knees, and beg. Do whatever you need to do.

“Show the world she’s what you want. What you need.”

I grinned at my brilliant mother. She was right like she always was. I had to prove to Kate that even when the world would get to know, it wouldn’t matter. They’d support us eventually, and all we really needed was each other.

That evening my teammates met me at the Garden. For the first time, I was honest with everyone. Most were shocked to hear that Kate and I had been together since before we knew who the other was.

By the end of the night, everyone extended their full support. They were all ready to help me get the woman of my dreams back.

Coach had invited both of her uncles to that meeting in hopes of me getting their support as well. They were quiet for some time. The first to speak up was John.

“This is your one chance,” he said to me. “You ever hurt her again, you’ll have a lot of really angry people to deal with.” He took a few steps toward me and held out his hand. “Good luck, kid.”

“So what now for project Win-Kate-Back?” Chris asked, excited as a child.

“Now we make a plan for tomorrow night.”