The news consumes me like a dark cloud. “Oh my God, Jude. I am so sorry.”
His eyes move down, staring at the concrete between us, and he drops my hand. “I know. Everyone’s sorry, which is why I don’t talk about it. I don’t like people to feel sorry for me.”
“Jude, people who care about you will always share your pain and wish you weren’t experiencing it,” I explain and reach for his hand again. “Your dad is an amazing guy, and so are you, and I wish you both didn’t have to experience this.”
“Thanks.” He pulls me close again. “It sucks.”
“Dixie probably wants you to talk about it with the reporter so that others going through it know they’re not alone,” I explain to him. “And because you have a lot of fans who would give to the charity because they want to do something for you.”
“Maybe.” He pulls back and gives me a small, sad smile, but then he takes a deep breath and changes the subject. “Let’s go meet the guys.”
He leads me down the hall and into an open door. The locker room is filled with people, most of them half-naked, sweaty, incredibly built men. I spot Carla right away as she stands in front of a shirtless Duncan. There are a few other women in the room too, standing near guys I assume they’re dating or married to. Levi is by himself sitting on a bench shirtless with a bag of ice taped to his shoulder.
“Hey! Listen up!” Jude calls out, and the entire room instantly quiets and turns to him. I feel suddenly and overwhelmingly shy because all of them are staring at me, not him. “This is Zoey. Zoey, this is the Thunder. Most of them are great; just stay away from Eddie.”
He points to a tall, dark-haired guy with angular features and a pervy-looking mustache that’s perched above a pervier-looking smile. Everyone laughs, even Eddie, who doesn’t seem the least bit offended by Jude’s statement. In fact, he steps forward, in nothing but his underwear, which are ridiculous black boxers with drawings of cat heads and magnets all over them, and extends his hand. “Eddie Rollins. I hear redheads are real firecrackers.”
“Umm…it’s auburn,” I mutter.
Jude chuckles beside me and leans in, whispering against my ear. “I told you.”
“Hey, Zoey.” Levi smiles and waves from his position on the bench.
“Are you okay?” I wonder if I missed him getting hit or something on the ice because I couldn’t pull my eyes from Jude. “Should I get Tessa?”
He shakes his head, his eyes darting to Jude, and then they come back to me and he smiles again. “Nah. It’s an old injury, just not one hundred percent better.”
“It’s a rough sport. We get banged up a lot,” Jude explains and squeezes my hand again. “But after last night, I know you’re good at nursing me back to health.”
He leans down and kisses me lightly on my temple, and my temperature rises. The entire room is still staring at us, only now most of them look completely bewildered. I feel like an explanation needs to be given, so I blurt out, “He had food poisoning, so I painted his guest room.”
Duncan laughs. It’s a loud, booming sound that fills the room and, thankfully, draws all the baffled eyeballs to him. He looks down at Carla. “If I eat something rotten, will you finish painting our master bath?”
“Not a chance, buddy,” she replies swiftly and gives him a little shove. She turns to the door and motions for me to join her. “Let’s go meet up with Tessa before Rollins takes off his pussy-magnetundies.”
Jude waves at me as I go. Pussy magnet. I cover my face with my hand and groan. “Oh God.”
18
Jude
The mini carnival wasn’t actually that mini. The college we played was supplying a bouncy castle, a kissing booth and a few carnie games like a hoops game and a balloon dart game. Dixie was in charge of the Thunder’s contribution. I knew it would be bigger than the college’s, but she really went all out. There were bumper cars, a swing ride, a carousel and a spinning ride I would rather die than go on after sushigate. Speaking of food, she’d also arranged for several different food trucks, so people had a choice of everything from corn dogs to cotton candy to lobster rolls to tacos. She even hired professional clowns, who are walking around doing magic tricks and making balloon animals for the kids. I personally find it creepy, but the kids don’t.
“This is insane,” Zoey says for about the tenth time since I met her in the lounge and brought her out here. All the people who bought tickets to the game were given passes to the carnival in the parking lot.
“I’ll be honest with you, I think this is the best one of these we’ve ever done,” I tell her as we weave our way through the crowd and I smile and nod at people as we pass. That is part of the reason people buy tickets to this event, because the players wander around the carnival afterward, and they get to hang out with us. I feel better about this event than I did earlier tonight. Telling Zoey about my dad made me feel happier, which is weird. I hadn’t told anyone else except Levi. I also found the reporter after I showered, on my way to the friends and family lounge to pick up Zoey, and told her exactly why I picked ALS for my charity. That had made me feel lighter too.
“I told the reporter about my dad,” I say now.
She looks up at me with a reassuring smile and squeezes my hand in hers. “Do you feel good about it?”
“I do. Thanks for giving me a different perspective,” I tell her and lean down and kiss the top of her head. I wish I could give her a real kiss, the kind too NC-17 for public. We’vebeen wandering around the carnival for more than an hour. There’s still about an hour to go before the event finishes, but all I wantto do, all I canthink about, is being alone with Zoey.
A couple, both wearing my jersey, with their son, who is also wearing my jersey, stop in front of us, and the dad asks if I’d pose for a picture with the kid. Zoey offers to take it so they can all be in it with me. She’s been doing that all night too, not at all uncomfortable or annoyed with the interruptions to our “date.” At least I hope she considers it a date, because I do.
After saying good-bye to the family, we make our way down the food truck aisle.
“Are you hungry?” I ask, but she shakes her head.
