‘She wants me to wear fur? I thought we were supposed to be improving my image here, Bernie. How about a Coors commercial or something?’

‘It’s not about wearing fur, you idiot,’ his agent told him. ‘It’s about dogs and cats and stuff.’

‘Right – but I don’t have a dog or a cat or … stuff.’

‘That’s why you’re doing this. Hannah wants to reveal a gentler side of you that hasn’t been seen before. It’s going to make the public realize that there’s a living breathing person inside that tough-guy shell. So she’s suggested a visit to this animal shelter—’

‘No.’

‘What do you mean, “No”?’

‘Look, while I agreed to do this whole “image reboot” crap you wanted, what I’m not gonna do is pretend to be someone I’m not. And definitely not some wimp drooling all over an ugly ass dog and talking to it like a baby and shit.’

There was a long pause. And when Bernie spoke again, Ward heard the no-nonsense tone in his rep’s voice.

‘Hey, you’ve got to meet me halfway here. Just meet with the PR people, do a couple of minutes of pretending to be fascinated with the animals, and then you’re out of there. They run a couple of cute pictures that go viral, and hey presto, the bad boy stories eventually get resigned to history. What have you got to lose?’

‘Gee, I don’t know – other than my dignity, what do I have to lose?’

‘Just knock it off, man. You can play Mr Macho with everyone else, but you and I both know the truth.’

Hanging up the phone, Ward dropped his head back on the pillow and winced at the familiar ache that, no matter what he did, didn’t seem to be abating.

By rights, he should have been completely healed and back on the ice by now.

He’d been doing everything he’d been told to do by the team physio – but thanks to that recent tumble, it seemed as if he was worse off now than when he’d first busted it during the game. He pushed himself out of bed, wincing at what felt like lava shooting down his leg. Then stood there for a moment taking several deep breaths, before he slowly navigated to the bathroom.

Opening up the medicine cabinet, he shook a couple of pills into his hand and tossed them into his mouth. He ran some water into the plastic cup he kept by his toothbrush and swallowed the pills. Then glanced at his reflection in the mirror and what he saw repulsed him. There was a haunted look in his eyes – a quiet agony he couldn’t ignore. He’d seen that look before but never in his own reflection.