Page 7 of Breaking Through the Doubt (Espen Jetties #4)

7

LESLIE

Fuck, I was tired. We’d been on the road for two games. It wasn’t the longest stretch by any means, but we got our asses handed to us in both games. I had to hope we did better now that we were home again.

King ruffled my hair. “Quit pouting, Knox. We’ll get ’em next time.” He could say that. King scored our team’s only goal in the last game while I let two past me into the net.

This was a shit feeling. Yeah, it happened, and we didn’t win every game but when the puck slipped past me, that was on me. It didn’t matter that it was a team sport, and we were all responsible for wins and losses. I took each one personally.

He slung his arm around my waist. King was smaller than me by about four inches and twenty-five pounds. “Come home with Hayes and me. Jamie’s traveling for work. We have the place to ourselves. All that tech shit Jamie loves is there, like the video games he created. There’s a pool and hot tub. Let’s go relax for a bit.”

I didn’t have anywhere to be but home, so I nodded and got into my car to follow them. Soaking in a pool sounded good right about now. It didn’t matter that it was October. The air wasn’t frigid yet. Besides, the pool was heated.

We pulled up to the tall building they lived in and parked in the garage. A private elevator took us to the top. We all made great money, but Jamie took his smart mind and money and put it to work in his home. Everything was high tech in here from the motion sensors to the voice recognition that would do a host of stuff.

Hayes spoke to it as we entered, and the lights came on. He said a command to turn the heater on in the pool and get the jets going in the hot tub. Shit, this was crazy. It wasn’t my first time here, but I was still in awe.

The furniture was a mix of comfort and style. Even though there was a lot of expensive stuff, it wasn’t the kind of home where you couldn’t touch anything for fear of breaking it. Everything was replaceable. That was who they were. Nothing was put above family and friends.

King was a family man through and through. Hayes quickly became part of the Walkers when he joined the Jetties. Then there was Jamie who wasn’t a hockey player but knew a lot about baseball, given his brother was the owner of Espen’s team, the Emperors.

I took my coat off and draped it over the back of the couch.

“Be right back,” Hayes said as he climbed the stairs to the second floor.

“Bring mine too!” King called. “The pool is calling our names. Drink?”

“Water.” I wasn’t drinking anything bad for me or that could get me in trouble. Besides, I wanted to drive home tonight and not spend it crashed out on their couch or in a guest room.

King came back from the kitchen with a reusable bottle in hand, just as Hayes descended the stairs with swim trunks.

“We keep a lot of sizes here, so hopefully these will fit you,” he said, handing a pair to me. Hayes was a bit bigger than King but not my size, so his clothes wouldn’t fit me.

“Thanks.” I put the water down and went into the bathroom to change quick. When I came out, they were standing close together, talking and smiling, but quickly pulled apart when they saw me. “You don’t have to do that. I know how much you love each other. Don’t stop what you’re doing on my account.”

Hayes shook his head. “You don’t need our affection in your face.”

“He’s right,” King said and gently slapped my shoulder. “Let’s relax in the pool then get into the hot tub.”

The pool wasn’t heated enough by the time we were in it, but the cool water felt good on my skin. The fact it was on top of a building with sweeping views made it even more spectacular.

“You two really know how to live,” I said to them.

“Not us,” Hayes replied. “This is all Jamie. Our place was modest.”

“It was.” King nodded in agreement. “But we wouldn’t give this up. It’s heaven to come home to this and Jamie.”

“When does he return from his trip?” I asked.

“Tomorrow morning. He tries to time it so if we all have to travel, we do so on the same dates. Then we get to spend more time together when we’re home. Luckily, he’s home more than not. He’s running his own business now, so it’s more legwork than when he was working for someone else.”

“Makes sense.”

“So…” King said with his eyes trained on me. “Tell us about the guy who gave you the tattoo.”

I groaned and dropped my head back. Two nights ago, I made the mistake of bringing up Corey after our game. My mood was shit and I said how the guy who tattooed me was beautiful, and yet, my dumb ass turned him down when he asked me out. Why? Because he asked to go for a drink. I didn’t want to get into why I couldn’t do that. Not only did I not want to go to a bar, but I wasn’t drinking. This season was me doing better. At least until the last two games when I sucked.

“Hey,” Hayes said and nudged my leg with his foot. He was leaning against the pool wall. “You don’t have to tell us.”

“No, it’s fine.” I started talking about Corey and how attractive he was, how he asked me out, and I said no like a moron, which they knew. These were some of my closest friends. It wasn’t hard to talk to them. While King could joke a lot, he could also be a great listener.

“Knox?” Another nudge with Hayes’s foot. I didn’t realize I’d closed my eyes as I floated on my back.

“Yeah?”

“If you like him, ask him out to somewhere you both agree on. And if you feel comfortable, tell him why you turned him down before. If he’s worth knowing, he’ll understand.”

“I know. It’s just… What if he only asked me out because I’m me?” It was a valid question. So many times I got men because of my car or who I was. They loved a guy with money, especially one who was built like I was and played professional sports. Being on my arm would bring anyone attention. Except once I got to talk to them, they were shallow and after my dick. We’d fuck and move on.

“If you want to know the answer to that, ask him. Did he talk to you like someone who wanted to be with you because you’re a Jetties’ player?”

“No, it was more like he wanted to get to know the real me. At least, that’s what I thought, but then I was talking to Kenna—”

King groaned loudly. “What did he say?”

“He helped me. It was me who got into my head. He was trying to get me to move forward instead of staying stuck where I was.”

“Good. I didn’t want to have to kick his ass.”

Hayes splashed him. “You’re not doing any such thing.”

“That’s right. I have you to kick his ass for us.”

Rolling his eyes, Hayes turned and pulled himself out of the pool. “Let’s move to the hot tub. I want the jets to beat on my back.”

King quickly followed while I took my time. Between Hayes and his easygoing personality and King and his infectious happiness, I loved being here with them. It took a while to get my head around them being together though. For so long they were best friends and teammates. But then I saw them as more, once they told us they were together. The way they looked at each other was obvious. They made sense. Add in Jamie and they were a great match. They balanced each other.

I climbed into the hot tub with them and relaxed in the seat. Okay, this was fucking perfect. I could live here. “I should get one.”

“Hell yeah,” King said. “Then when we skate at D’s house, we can hop over to yours for a soak.” Devon had a skating rink in his backyard. It wasn’t the size of the arena, but it was cool as hell and fun to skate on. When it was just us out there playing, no need to keep score, we had a lot of fun as a group.

We spent more time relaxing before we started to prune. I thanked them for talking to me. King made sure to wrap me in his arms before I left. The man gave the best hugs. And since I was a hugger too, I pulled Hayes in until we were a big circle of friendly love.

With my muscles relaxed and my mind calmer than it was before, the last two games a distant memory for now, I got into my car. Instead of heading home, I pointed it toward the tattoo shop. I wasn’t second-guessing myself this time. Thanks to King and Hayes, I was feeling good and wanted to talk to Corey.

The bell chimed when I opened the door and walked in. Corey was sitting in his station with his feet up, a sketch pad on his lap, and a pencil in hand. His eyes lifted to meet mine. Before the person behind the desk could greet me, Corey stood and walked my way.

“Hey, everything okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, the tattoo’s healing well. Do you have a minute?”

“Sure, let’s go into the back.” I followed to a room where we were away from others, but he didn’t close the door. “What’s up?”

“The other night, you asked me out for a drink. Did you want to go out with Knox the goalie or Leslie the person?” There, I asked him. Depending on what he said was how I’d proceed.

“I won’t lie and say I didn’t know who you were the moment you walked through the door, but that doesn’t mean I only see you as your job, the same as I don’t want people to assume things about me based on mine. You trusted me enough to ink your body for the first time. Please trust that I asked out Leslie the other night, not the goalie for the Jetties.”

A smile lifted the corner of my lips. “Will you go to dinner with me?”

His eyes widened. “When I asked you out, you said no.”

“I’m fixing that. I could use a friend.” Shit, why did I say that? I wanted to be more than friends but for some reason I didn’t want to jump into bed with him, like I did everyone else. Sure, I’d gladly get between the sheets with Corey. I also liked talking to him and wanted to get to know him better. I opened my mouth to say more but Corey smiled.

“Sure.” I might have been reading into things, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. I fucked up, didn’t I? I shouldn’t have said the friends thing. I panicked and now I was screwed.

“Great. I’ll text you my schedule and we can pick a date.” Jesus fuck, what was happening right now? I should have corrected myself and said as more than friends but nope. Instead, I told him I’d text him. I sucked on the ice and in my personal life. Fantastic.