By now he felt like he was going stir-crazy. For the past few days, he’d laid low – taking the advice of Bernie. At this point, it was the least he could do in the hopes of salvaging his career. However, he didn’t know how much he could take remaining holed up at home like this. It felt like the walls were closing in on him.

If only she would talk to him. He could deal with the fallout of everything else if she would just return one of his calls or messages.

Stopping his pacing, he headed into the bathroom and looked at his reflection in the mirror. The bruises were fading – the one on his jaw was probably the worst still, but at least it had started to go from deep purple to a green-tinged mustard yellow. His split lip wasn’t as visible and was now pretty much scabbed over.

‘Whatever,’ he shrugged. ‘Not the worst I’ve been.’

He headed out of the bathroom and grabbed his jacket hanging by the front door, his gaze drifting to Pretzel’s still-full food bowl, trying to recall the last time he’d seen her. He’d been so distracted with his current predicament that he honestly couldn’t remember.

Vowing to search for the cat later, he shrugged the jacket over his arms, put on a baseball cap and jumped in the elevator, heading down to the ground floor of his building.

Ward needed to move. He craved some fresh air. Needed to be out and among the living. Hell, grabbing a beer wasn’t a bad idea, either. Having run through a list of watering joints in his head, he decided on Horn’s Hook Tavern nearby. It was a chill and relaxed spot and no one there was likely to pay much attention to him or give him any grief.

Pulling open the front door, he walked into the dimly lit setting and took a seat at the bar. He immediately recognized the bartender and nodded his head in greeting. A moment later, once Joe was done pulling a beer for another customer, he approached.

‘Hey, man, long time,’ Joe greeted, offering him a fist bump. ‘The usual? How’s the knee?’

Ward nodded. ‘Thanks, Joe. Better. And yeah. Tall one.’

As he poured he looked over and smiled. ‘Good thing you didn’t relapse after that stunt with the golfer. Man, that was great. Always thought he was an asshole.’ He placed the beer in front of Ward and smacked the counter. ‘So, what’s the deal? What the hell happened? Just been off the ice for too long and needed to kick some ass?’

The corner of Ward’s mouth turned up. ‘Something like that,’ he replied with some satisfaction.

‘Your girl, though …’ Joe whistled his appreciation. ‘Where’d you find her? Smokin’. And damn, a fighter too. Nice catch.’