My phone pings, and I see her friend Celena can’t come out with us on Saturday. I tamp down a sense of relief. Part of me did want to meet her best friend, but the larger part is thrilled I won’t have to share her attention with someone else.
I send a frowning emoji, then type out a quick follow-up.
Ash
Too bad. Maybe next time.
Gray is unlike other women I’ve dated or wanted to date. I’ve dated smart women before, but no one so…intellectual. I feel like I need to be on my toes with her.
But that’s not the biggest difference. Most of the other women I’ve dated since joining the NHL have been those who fawned over me because I was a professional athlete. It was a status symbol for them to say they were with me. I didn’t realize until Gray told me about her date with the investment banker that none of those women ever asked me much about myself. Who I was and what I liked wasn’t as important to them aswhatI was.
Grace had her own fame, so she cared more about who I was as a person than anyone else before, and that’s what first drew me to her. Ultimately our goals and personalities weren’t compatible, though.
With Gray, I feel like she cares about meandwe fit together well.
She doesn’t seem interested, though. I swear I’ve caught her checking me out once or twice, but whatever I think I see is usually gone in a flash, and then she’s back to being the prim professor.
It’s occurred to me she might be keeping her distance on purpose. I’m sure dating your students is frowned upon at the university, and while I’m not her student per se, I’m close enough that I can see why she might not want to cross professional boundaries.
That will be a problem on Saturday because I’m going to be very tempted to touch her. The last couple times she came to practice, I had to stop myself from putting a hand on the small of her back or brushingstray locks of hair away from her face. Out at the club with alcohol involved, I doubt my resolve will be strong enough to keep my hands to myself. I only hope whatever walls Gray has up are made of paper.
My dick starts to go hard just thinking about Saturday. Not that it needs an excuse lately. Ever since my wet dream the other night, I’ve gotten myself off before bed to minimize any repeats of the incident.
My phone pings, and I note the way my heart leaps at the sound.
Gray
Is the whole team coming out?
Ash
Not everyone. Mostly the single guys with no wives or dates.
Then a horrifying thought strikes me. Kingston is single right now and might deign to grace us with his presence.
Gray hasn’t met him yet. By sheer coincidence, he’s always been at goalie practice or busy with something else the few times she’s visited.
I’m fairly certain he knows she exists, but he hasn’t said anything to me about her yet, and I hope that’s a good sign. Regardless, I need to let him know one way or another that Gray isn’t an option for him. Goalie privilege be damned.
Based on our recent text conversations, I know Gray has dated quite a few assholes, and putting her on Kingston’s radar isn’t going to help her track record. Honestly, I’m embarrassed to be a man, having heard about some of the jerks she’s been out with.
She also told me about some guy she dated about a year ago who kept making plans and then canceling on her. Drew, I think his name was? Apparently things were great with him for a few months. They’d slept together several times, and he seemed really interested.
Then the cancelations started. They’d make plans only for him to cancel hours before. They messaged each other regularly, and the guy insisted he wanted to see her, but then he’d leave her high and dry a few times in a row.
According to Gray, they took a break for a while, and she tried to move on, but he began to message her again, telling her he missed her. They made plans but – you guessed it – he canceled a couple hours before the date. He always had some emergency or other problem to take care of, a medical issue or a project at work that he needed to stay late to finish.
Gray finally dumped him permanently, but I get the feeling she’s gun-shy now about getting involved with someone.
Granted I only have her side of the story, but I can’t imagine why the fucker would have done that to her. I wanted to beat the shit out of him when she was done telling me everything. She did admit to going stalker on him at the end, but honestly, I didn’t blame her at that point.
Not that I haven’t had my fair share of crazy women. I dated one bunny for about a week until I turned my phone back on after practice one day to find she’d left me a hundred and thirty-two texts messages and ten voicemails. She’d completely freaked when I didn’t answer her first couple messages and spent the entire practice sending me increasingly unhinged texts. I’d ultimately had to get a restraining order against her.
So yeah, the crazy goes both ways, but I still feel like it’s my duty to show Gray not all men are scum or hopeless assholes. Even if she and I aren’t dating, she deserves to have someone of the male persuasion treat her right.
I pick up my phone and type out a message.
Ash
