Breakaway

Chapter 17 - Breakaway

ERIC

We beat Nashville the night after Casino Night, but we'd let them push us into overtime to get there. They came out of it with a point, meaning we were tied with them in the standings. Again. We held the tiebreaker against them at this point, but the positioning and tiebreakers were changing daily.

Every night, back at the house, no matter what else was going on, we'd been turning on NHL Network and seeing what the scoreboards looked like. Soupy, Babs, Dana, and I spent an awful lot of time watching that to see how things were shaking out.

It didn't ever make us feel any better about our position, any more comfortable. We couldn't seem to stop ourselves from doing it, though. Scoreboard watching gets to be an everyday part of life at this time of the season, especially if you're a fringe team like the Storm has been the last few years.

We had four games left in this last week of the season, two on the road, and then a back-to-back at home. Just this afternoon we'd flown into Los Angeles and got set up in our hotel. We'd be playing the Kings tomorrow and Anaheim two days after that. If there were any positives to take from playing against those two teams, it was that we didn't have to travel between those games. All of the games we had left would be in the same time zone, too. That should help with jet lag, if nothing else. Every bit of rest we could get was priceless right now. It could give us the advantage we needed to finish out the season strong and get into the playoffs.

After we got settled in our rooms, I'd gone out to dinner with the boys. Soupy and I both tried to get Dana to come with us, but she said she wasn't up to a night out and she'd rather just stay in, order room service.

I hadn't pushed her. That last panic attack she'd had, when I'd given her the necklace, had taken a lot out of her.

Out of all of us, actually.

It hadn't just been panic. She'd felt like she was about to be raped again. Three big men surrounding her, me keeping her arms trapped, Babs and Soupy trying to get the necklace off—it didn't take a lot of imagination to understand how that must have been for her considering she was already in a panicked state. Not now, looking back at it.

We should have realized it at the time. All three of us had just been so focused on calming her down, getting the necklace off her, that it never crossed our minds.

This time, she seemed more than just exhausted afterward, though. She seemed really down. Depressed.

She'd talked to Laura and Sara quite a bit over the last few days. That had been helping, but we had to leave for this last road trip of the year.

I'd almost suggested she stay behind, spend some more time with the girls. Almost. We were only going to be gone a few days. I couldn't bring myself to do that, though. Maybe it was selfish, but I wanted her to be with me. Wanted to hold her as much as I could, try to soothe away her demons. Give her new memories to help wash away the old.

I didn't let myself think about how it would be next season, once she wasn't traveling with the team anymore. Jim and the coaching staff had been great about allowing her to come with us this year. That couldn't continue forever. Wives and girlfriends don't usually get to go with the team. Eventually, I'd have to start leaving her behind, but hopefully not until next season. She had plans to fly home in about a week, but I was determined to talk her out of it as soon as we finished the season.

The thought of leaving her at home when I was gone for road trips irked me more than it should. I'd never had a problem with leaving Kim behind. The other guys managed it with no problem.

I'd have to learn to deal with it.

After dinner, a bunch of the guys went out to a bar. Babs wasn't old enough to go, and with Razor back home with his injury, he didn't have anyone else to stay behind with him, so Soupy and I went back to the hotel with him. I wasn't really in the mood to drink tonight. There were way too many things on my mind for that.