Chapter 55 Chapter Fifty-five
Danny POV
The rink was cold and quiet at five-thirty in the evening but I had not been able to sleep since I sent a message to the team a few hours earlier.
While I had been giddy after my call with Vanessa and her suggestion, putting it into action proved a little bit more daunting. So here I was almost an hour before our scheduled team meeting.
I'd been running through what I was going to say over and over in my head until the words had lost most of their meaning. But now, standing here in the empty space where we'd spent countless hours practicing and bonding as team mates and friends.
I knew what I had to do, I had to tell them the truth and let them make the decision that they wanted.
We had all given a lot of our lives to hockey, this would be the final chance for most of us and I wouldn't let my emotions put everything we had worked for on the line.
The team started filtering into the rink around six, some looking confused, a few others were half-asleep but most of them looked ready to party for the evening.
It was Friday so that made sense,
Dylan showed up with coffee for everyone—he'd clearly stopped at the campus Starbucks and bought out their entire stock.
“ I can't believe how goddamn cold this place is,” he grumbled dropping the cup and I huffed grabbing a cup of coffee for myself
“ You train here, what are you complaining about” I asked and he sighed
“ I'm just saying that we could have at the very least used the Starbucks” he mumbled sipping from his cup. I shrugged
“ I like to make you sweat” I muttered, laughing at his brow arched in disbelief
“ Or not”
Ethan was right behind him, followed by the Booker twins, then the rest of the guys.
By six-fifteen, everyone was there except Marco.
Fourteen players–my friends sitting in the bleachers, looking at me expectantly.
"Thanks for coming," I said, standing in front of them. My voice echoed slightly in the empty rink.
"I know it's late or early for some of you” I muttered and Dylan raised his cup,
“ You are right about that” he muttered and we laughed
“ Anyway I know you're probably wondering why I called this meeting instead of just talking at practice."
"Please tell me someone died and we're getting the day off," Dylan said, then immediately looked horrified.
"Wait, did someone die? Shit, I'm sorry, that was inappropriate—"
"Nobody died," I assured him, and a few guys laughed nervously.
"But we do need to talk. About Marco. About the team. About where we go from here."
The laughter died immediately and everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats. I saw several guys exchange glances.
"We all know practice has been rough since Marco quit," I continued.
"We're not playing like we used to. Our formations are off, our communication is breaking down, and we're two months away from championship qualifiers looking like a team that's never been on the ice together."
"No offense, Cap, but we know that," Jake said.
"Is that what this meeting is about? Because we've been trying—"
"I know you have," I interrupted.
"All of you have been working your asses off trying to adjust” I raised my hands up in a waving gesture
“And I appreciate that more than I can say but yesterday, Coach pulled me aside and asked me to fix things with Marco. To get him back on the team."
The reaction was immediate and mixed, a few guys who hadn't been at the party seemed relieved. Some guys nodded like this made sense, others looked angry.
"And are you going to?" Henry Booker asked.
"Get him back?"
"I don't know, that's what I want to talk to you about," I said.
"Because this isn't just my decision to make. You're a team. You deserve to know what happened and have a say in whether Marco comes back."
"We know what happened," Dylan said.
"He quit. Said some shit about not wanting to play anymore and walked out."
"That's what he said," I agreed.
"But that's not the whole story."
Ethan shifted in his seat, and I caught his eye. He knew where this was going, and from the look on his face, he wasn't sure it was a good idea.
But I'd made up my mind
"Marco didn't quit because he was tired of hockey," I said carefully.
"He quit because we had a disagreement. A serious one about something he did that I couldn't overlook as his captain or his friend."
"What did he do?" someone asked from the back—I thought it was one of the younger players, maybe a sophomore.
Ethan sat forward.
"Cap, you don't have to—"
I held up my hand, cutting him off.
"It's okay, Ethan. They deserve to know." I took a deep breath.
"At Marco's birthday party, he did something that crossed a line, it involved my girlfriend and while it made it impossible for me to continue playing alongside him, leaving the team was his choice.”
"What did he do?" Jake asked, his voice hard.
"That's between Marco, me, and Vanessa," I said.
"I'm not going to give you all the details because it's not my story to tell. But what I will say is this–Marco made a choice that night, a choice to hurt someone I care about.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop about twenty degrees, every single guy was staring at me now, and I could see them putting the pieces together.
"Jesus," Dylan muttered.
"So here's where we are," I continued.
"Coach thinks we need Marco to win the championship. And he's probably right—Marco is an incredible player, and losing him has left a gap we're struggling to fill. But I need to know from all of you too” I mumbled, falling quiet.
“ Do you want him back? Because if the answer is yes, I'll swallow my pride and try to make that happen. For the team.” I mumbled softly
“For our shot at the championship."
The silence that followed was deafening, and for a moment I was sure they would say yes to wanting Marco back.
I was already plotting what I would say when I had to see him as Ethan stood up on his feet and looked straight up at me.
"Can I say something?"