Get Pucked

42. proud

PARKER

Being at Ellie and Nate's house is making me wish I was getting drafted to some small town with a lake instead.

While the guys and I hang out on the patio, the girls brought chairs down to the shoreline and throw toys into the water for the dogs. We figured that at this point, Birk is ours to keep. He must've either been a stray or his owner simply didn't care to come get him back.

Their loss.

As of today, Friday, I am the only one of us who hasn't gotten a call and it's stressing me out beyond belief.

"Man," Connor slaps Brooks' chest. "I am so excited that you'll be in Tampa."

Brooks got called up the moment teams were allowed to start recruiting. Tampa's backup goalie is retiring, and they wanted a young guy to replace him. They picked a good one.

Not shockingly, Colorado called Connor the same day while we were eating dinner. My favorite part was when he called his parents and his mom immediately started crying, which caused Dakota to cry, then Ellie, and then we were all crying a bit.

"I'm just excited to hang with you and Kota's parents. And that fucking signing bonus," Brooks shakes his head in disbelief. "The first thing I'm gonna do when it comes through is send my credit card back to my dad with a wad of cash. Then I'm done."

"You haven't talked to either of them, right?" Nate jumps in.

Brooks chuckles lowly. "Not a chance. I mean, my mom texted me on Christmas, but I'm not ready to even look at her right now. She stood back and watched my dad speak down to me for years, then shrugged after he punched me. Shrugged. Like I deserved it or some shit."

Leaning forward, I place a comforting hand on his shoulder, ready to change the subject before he gets angry. "Hey, at least it'll make things easier when we all want to meet up. Every time Dakota and I visit her parents, we'll be able to see you too."

He smiles, the tension slowly leaving his body. "And then I can crash with you guys when I play up there."

"You can sleep on the couch," I smirk.

"Not a fucking chance, Cadell. You get the couch, I get to have a sleepover with your girl."

Standing up, I look at the other two guys. "I'm gonna go get us refills. Brooks is getting cut off, I think he's getting delusional."

Walking away, I hear them all laughing until I close the door behind me and everything turns quiet. My bare feet pad through the house until I reach the kitchen, and the second I go to open the fridge, my phone starts ringing loudly in my pocket.

Pulling it out, I freeze when I see the unknown number on the screen. Snapping myself out of it, I click answer and put it to my ear.

"This is Parker."

"Hey, Parker. It's Ron Francis from the Seattle Kraken, how are you?"

Fucking shit.

My hands immediately begin to sweat. "I'm great, you?"

"Great, great." He clears his throat. "Listen, all of us here are huge fans of yours, and we'd love to have you on board for our playoff run this year."

I feel like my throat is closing. "That sounds amazing, thank you for the opportunity, sir. I won't let you down."

"We have so much faith in you and your skill level, so we're very excited to get you up here and get things started. I'll have my team send you and your coach some information by the end of the week."