“Okay,” she says, “first rule of business, I have to know”—she slinks onto the couch and kicks off her heels—“how much did my brother scream when you took him on that ride?” I laugh and any self-doubt I had about working with her is now washed away. “And did you get it on video?”
twenty-four
Kirby
“Okay, everybody,” Martin, the coach, says, coming into the room. He’s wearing his usual tracksuit with a whistle around his neck, swinging back and forth. “I want you guys all to rest up.” He looks over at all of us. “We leave tomorrow on a five-day road trip.” Half of us groan, while the other half snickers. The rookies look at each other as if they found their favorite toy under the tree at Christmas. Little do they know that their look will slowly fade as we get later in the season. It’s all fun and games traveling at first, having a girl in every city and parties to go to, but it quickly becomes old. When you get to be my age and you’ve played as long as I have, those days away from home are the most dreaded of all the season. “We are spending Saturday night in Vegas.”
“Coach, are we going to have a curfew?” One of the rookies, Owen, puts up his hand stupidly, and half of the old guys just look over at him, giving him a glare.
“We leave the next day at eleven,” the coach replies. “Anyone who throws up on that plane signs the whole team up for skating practice that night and the next morning.”
“If any of you fuckers,” Knox warns, “even think about getting shit-faced and throwing up, I will personally kick your ass.” He looks at all the young kids.
“Got it,” Owen confirms. “Go out, but don’t drink.”
The coach just shakes his head. “No one wants to skate after a six-hour flight.” Knox stares at Owen. “Especially not me.” He shares a nod with him. “You get me?”
“Got you, Coach,” Owen says, “loud and clear.”
“Jaxon,” Coach snaps his name. “Kirby,” he says my name right after.
“It’s your turn to babysit.”
I look over at Jaxon, who puts his head back and closes his eyes. “I might sleep the whole time we aren’t on the ice,” he mumbles, making everyone laugh, and then his look goes to Owen. “If you guys make me skate, you also get to babysit Jagger through the night.” He points at them. “And news flash, he’s teething, so he likes to be up all night and he does all of this wailing.” He makes sure he makes eye contact with all of us. “So keep that in mind if you want to pick up that drink.”
“See you all tomorrow,” Coach says, turning and walking out, followed by the rest of the coaching staff.
“Listen up,” I say, leaning forward and looking at Owen and his crew, “if you think I’m going to babysit you guys in Vegas on a Saturday night, you are mistaken. There is nothing more torturous than weaving through the mounds of drunk people. So, you guys are going to get dinner after the game that ends at five, and then you are going to sit in your fucking hotel room until we leave the next day.” Owen stares at me. “Are we clear?” They nod and share a look before they get up and head to the shower.
“You think they are going to listen?” Jaxon asks and I shake my head.
“Nope,” he replies, “and I think it’s a fifty-fifty chance we have practice on Sunday night.” I get up and take off my practice jersey, tossing it in the big gray bin in the middle of the room. The away bag is already open at my feet for me to put my things in it.
“I hope Ariella will be okay,” he says softly. “First time I’m gone and she’s by herself since Lexi moved out.” I try not to look over at him when he says her name. Instead, I pull the Velcro off my chest protector from the right and then the left, tossing it into the bag. “So you hired Lexi?” Jaxon asks me. I look over at him, seeing him still sitting down in his gear, a protein shake in his hand.
“Yeah,” I answer, sitting down and finally taking off the skates I untied as soon as I sat down. “She applied for the job.”
“She has no job experience.” I look over at him as I place one skate in the bag.
“What are you saying?” I will not play this guessing game with him. “If you want to ask me something, then ask me.”
“You two…” He puts his drink beside him and all I can do is look at him. The whole locker room is filled with noise from different conversations going on all around us, but it feels like it’s just the two of us. “You guys acted like you knew each other more than just meeting for the second time when you had dinner at our house.”
“Yeah,” I say and take off the other skate, and I know he’s waiting for more. “We”—I place the skate in the bag—“ran into each other in Phoenix.” His eyebrows shoot up like he was not expecting that answer. “She was doing a fundraiser at the hospital I volunteer at.”
“No way.” He takes off his own skate now and places it in the bag in front of him. “So you met her husband?”
“Oh yeah.” I nod, the lump in my throat getting bigger as I think about him.
“Is he as big of a piece of shit as I think he is?”
“Even bigger,” I confirm, taking off my hockey pants. “Listen,” I say, stopping the conversation when it comes to Lexi, “I don’t want to sit around and talk about her and her life back there. I won’t do it. You’re my best friend and I love you like a brother and would fight right next to you, but I can’t.” I shake my head before tossing my pants in the bag. “I am not going to talk about her or her dickhead of an ex.”
“Wow,” he says, chuckling, “so Ariella was right.” He gets up and folds his arm backward to grab the back of his jersey. “There is definitely something going on between you two.”
“I can confirm that,” I start, pushing down the lump that is growing in my throat, “that is not true. She works for me and I’m her friend. It’s nothing more.” I leave out the word sadly, because I’m fucking sad it’s not more. But I also have to respect her wishes.
“I’m happy she has you at least,” he states, shocking the shit out of me. “I didn’t know her that well when all of that was going on, but knowing her now and seeing how amazing she is, I’d love to meet her ex…with my fist in his face.”
