“Gotcha,” he said with a slow nod. “So your team had two hot centers, then. Lucky.”
I grinned. “We were, definitely. The second line center?” I whistled. “He was crazy good on faceoffs. Probably could’ve been a top ten overall draft pick if he hadn’t gotten hurt.”
“If he—” Peyton furrowed his brow. “Wait, was that Bryan O’Connor?”
“Yep. Shame what happened to him.” I shuddered. “I will never forget that sound as long as I live.”
Peyton shivered too. “I’ve heard a bone break one time. That was more than enough, thank you very much.”
“I’m pretty sure I heard it when I broke my jaw, but I was in too much pain to notice.”
He made a face and squirmed. “Ugh. No. No, thank you. Fuuuck that noise.”
“My thoughts exactly, believe me.” I shifted a little on the mattress. “Anyway, having him and Leif centering thetop lines—we were gold, you know? So Gardener didn’t mind getting bumped down. Honestly I think he clicked better with O’Connor anyway.”
“Sometimes that happens.”
“Right? So yeah, Leif and I were linemates for the rest of the season, and we were pretty much inseparable on road trips and stuff.” I chuckled. “Some of the guys started wondering if we were dating. I’d been out since U14, so they just figured any guy I was close to must’ve been my boyfriend.”
“That didn’t bother Leif?”
“Oh, God, no.” I laughed and shook my head. “He leaned into it, actually.”
“Did he?”
“Yep. A couple of the guys were razzing him about it at practice one day. It wasn’t mean-spirited—they were cool with me being out, they were just being guys, you know? So when we go to the bench between drills, he just comes over and parks his ass in my lap and says, ‘Baby, they’re being jerks!’”
Peyton barked a laugh. “Did he really?”
I nodded, laughing myself. “He did, and we played it up like crazy for the rest of practice, and we just sort of did the whole ‘oh, look at us dorky boyfriends’ thing for half the season.”
“Half? What stopped you?”
“He started dating Rachel.”
“Ah. Damn those women, getting in between two guys in love.”
“Right? What the fuck?” I scoffed. “So inconsiderate.” I paused. “The guys chirped us forthat, too. They would threaten to tell Rachel that she was Leif’s side piece. And then we’re at a party with a bunch of teammates, and she’sthere. One of the guys comes right out and says, ‘I can’t believe you broke up Early and Calds.’ She doesn’t even miss a beat, either. Looks him dead in the eye, puts her arm around my waist, and says, ‘What makes you think I broke them up?’”
“Oh my God,” Peyton laughed. “There was no trolling any of you, was there?”
“It took work, let me tell you.” I sighed. “My second year of major juniors was kind of boring, to be honest. A lot of hockey and traveling, but without Leif there…” I made a face.
“I can imagine. I was tight with our starting goalie during my first season. Not having him there the second year was tough.”
I cocked a brow. “Tight with him, eh? So you were?—”
“He’s married with like five kids.” Peyton rolled his eyes. “And no, he’s not bi. We were just really good friends, and we roomed together on road trips.”
“Ah.” I flashed a toothy grin. “So you wereroommates.”
That got me an exasperated groan, and I laughed.
“You’re a dick,” he muttered.
“Yeah. Kinda.” I laughed softly. “Anyway, yeah, it was a little quiet after Leif moved on.”
“And you got drafted to the same team. That’s some incredible luck.”
