Mindless

Twenty Five

~Callie~

Cole was out of town today. Something about needing to help Rowan with something he couldn't do himself, it was weirdly unspecific but it's obviously none of my business. It did, however give me a chance to right something that had been bugging me since our afternoon at the rink last week. 

"Why won't you tell me what this is about?" Lil twirled a piece of hair around her finger as she leaned against the wall. 

"Because as soon as I start talking about it, I'm gonna get pissed off again and it's not you I'm mad at." 

"Your mad at the team? What'd they do?" I gave Lilah a resigned look. I wasn't in the mood for any of this today. Everything hurt more than it should be. My arm is itching like crazy under this fucking pot. I used to think it was crazy when people would say they'd put anything down them to get an itch but I get it now.  I'm this close to finding a dinner fork or something. "You know, I honestly thought that you finally screwing Cole would calm you down a little but you're even more pent up than you were before." My glare at Lilah dropped, instantly making her chuckle, sly little smirk creeping across her face. "Oh you didn't think I'd worked it out? How dim do you think I am?" 

"I have not-" 

"Do you know how long I've been trying to teach you to skate? 5 years and Cole comes out of nowhere and suddenly you guys are play fighting out there until he's carrying you off the ice and slapping your a-" I dived at her, slapping a hand across her mouth before she announced my sex life to the rest of the world, but this woman is always going to know how to push my buttons. Lil licks her tongue up my palm and I jump backwards. 

"DID YOU JUST LICK MY HAND?!" 

"You're the one who covered my mouth." 

"Lil, that's gross." 

"You're telling me. Now, what were we talking about. Oh right! You sleeping with Cole and not telling me immediately." 

"I was busy." I rolled my eyes at her, leaning back against the cool wall. Truth was I'd spent the past 8 days in a tug of war with myself over the whole me and Cole thing. Not that he'd let it settle in my head for long. He has this way of reading my mind and just knowing when I'm talking myself out of it and he doesn't stand for it now. He's turned it into a betting war I'm continuously loosing, resulting in me crying with laughter when he'd tickle me and cover all visible skin in kisses as my punishment. 

"I'm sure you were." Another of the team wandered down the hall, Theo and Miller mumbling something at them before pushing the changing room door open and turning to me and Lil a few feet away. 

"That's everyone but Ambrose." Miller's voice boomed in the echoey hall. "This better be worth it Callie. I had shit to do today." I stood up straight, walking straight up to the 6 foot hockey god that was the Cougar's longest running Captain. I crossed my arms, ignoring the height difference as I glared at the man. 

"You wanna leave Miller, leave. But you better fucking believe if you're not in that room I will make the rest of your life on this team a living hell." He looked to Lilah who just chuckled quietly behind me, then Theo. I didn't need to look at him to know the look he had on his face. Just as concerned as Miller was. "Make your decision and make it now because I'm just about out of patience with you stuck up hockey players thinking you know everything." 

"Rude." 

"Shut the fuck up Theo. You're not exempt from that statement. Get your ass in the changing room." 

"Don't look at me like that. I'm not stupid enough to get on the wrong side of Callie. I did warn you." Miller took a step back, side stepping into the changing room and dragging Theo in behind him. "Don't be harsh with them Cal." Lil grabbed my hand as I reached for the door. "They're a lot more sensitive than they look." 

"Oh, I know. But I'm sick to death of Cole telling me he doesn't feel like he's wanted in this team when he works his ass off just as much as them. This is a team sport and they've sidelined him for too fucking long." Lilah's shoulders drop and I let out a quick breath, pumping myself up to face a room full of 20 something year old men with too much testosterone. 

They're all chatting when I walk into the room, immediately falling silent when I climb up onto the chair and I gather every single ounce of power I have in my system. 

"I'm gonna get straight to the point because I'm very aware there's places you'd all rather be. Someone needs to sort this fucking ingrained rift out because it's just straight up an asshole thing you guys are all pulling on Ambrose." Heads started to turn, eyes rolling and I deepened my voice, forcing it out louder to make sure they understood just how serious I was. "Theo, when you joined the Cougars last year. How did you get welcomed to the team?" 

"Uh-" He looks around and then back to me. "The icebreaker party at the clubhouse." 

"How did you feel after that?" I stared at him. 

"Like a part of the team." 

"Like you knew who you were working with?" 

"Well yeah. Enough for it to not be awkward to talk again anyway." I nod. 

"Silva. How'd you get welcomed to the team?" I select over half of the guys, pulling the exact same answers from them before standing up a little taller. "Ambrose joined this team 5 years ago. What happened to Valerio sucks and I'm so sorry to anyone that knew him and worked with him, I know how much he meant to you all. But has a single one of you ever stood back and looked at how you all treated Cole when he started? Has anyone every thought about the fact Cole wasn't given that icebreaker at the clubhouse that cemented you all as more of a family than team mates?" The murmurs had died off now. The room was scarily quiet and if the men weren't looking at each other with pain in their eyes, they were staring at the floor. "And yet every single of one of you in this room has had the nerve to stand there and tell me he's no good, that me dating him is a bad idea, that he'll probably be some murderer or something stupid. And you laugh. I've watched over half of you laugh at him. But then you wonder why he doesn't interact with you? Why he misses half of the off season stuff you all do? Doesn't ever look happy when he's here? Doesn't come to the dinners, or the friendly matches or want to sit around and braid your beards whilst you sing nursery rhymes and sing Britney Spears?" 

"That man has devoted his entire fucking life to this team and what have you guys given him in return? Ridicule? Pushing him out? For what? Because he was brought in to replace someone who's death he couldn't have prevented? The death of a man he had never fucking met? I've listened to Cole reel off every single one of your best plays. He has only ever had amazing things to say about every single one of you in this room. He's told me about saving your asses on and off the ice. When one of you fucked up, he knocks something over to grab the coaches attention so you don't get a bollocking. When one of you forgets your skates or your water, who's the one who always has a spare of everything laying around? But you guys haven't had is back for even a second of the five years he's been here." My eyes lock onto Miller's in the packed room. 

"And you. You're this teams fucking Captain. You're supposed to be setting an example to these guys. You're supposed to be the one they can come to about anything. But you've got his number fucking blocked and you won't even look at him?! After what he helped you with last year? After not saying a damn thing to anyone he should have?" Miller turned a ghostly white and I nodded. "I am so beyond disappointed in every single one of you in this room. The lack of care towards one player is down right disgusting and I want to know, right now, how you're going to fix it because no one is leaving this room until we have a plan for each of you to make a full apology to Cole and to undo whatever damage you've done."