Page 21 of Playoff (Toronto Blaze #4)

More won’t-power

Alek

Fitch didn’t stay up late. Jess was able to sneak out before midnight. I walked her to the door of our place, but she wouldn’t let me escort her to her own condo.

“It feels wrong to let you go on your own.” Which was stupid. I never escorted my hookups home.

She rolled her eyes. “It’s a secure building. And we don’t want anyone to know, remember?”

My brain immediately pictured the fun things we could be doing and need to keep secret. Not faking sex noises and talking about more people hurt by my family but repeating that first night we’d met.

Instead, she walked to the elevator and I watched till the doors slid closed behind her.

It took me a while to fall asleep after she left. I’d have liked to jerk off, after dealing with that simmering arousal, but it felt wrong to do it with her in my head, and I couldn’t push her out.

I knew my parents had upset people’s lives with what they’d done, stealing retirement savings, college funds, and investment accounts.

Their victims had sent me messages detailing exactly how their lives had been upended by my parents’ greed.

It was frustrating, and I’d wanted to help them, back when I was still reeling from what they’d done.

I’d lost my savings as well, and helping others hadn’t been possible, not till I’d been making better money on my second contract in the NHL.

By then I was hardened. Some of the stories people had told me weren’t true, and even for the ones that were, I didn’t have the resources to make up for what my parents had done.

There were too many victims, and I didn’t want to play god and decide who deserved to get their money back.

I’d lost money and had to find a way to handle my future without it. A lot of the people complaining might have a diminished lifestyle, but losses happened, even when you didn’t invest with criminals. Those were the arguments that let me sleep.

For self-preservation, I’d shut myself off from the problems my parents had caused others for a long time, and this was the first time in years I’d had to consider the fallout of what they’d done. More than just the money.

Fitch ribbed me about my hookup in the morning, but he had no idea who she was.

His ankle was doing better, so we worked out together and I accepted his offer to go with him to Ducky’s to watch the All-Star Game tonight.

A lot of my teammates would be there, and I didn’t have a secret meetup with my teammate’s sister to keep me otherwise occupied.

Maybe this would be some kind of team bonding.

Ducky had a condo not too far away from Fitch’s place. Close to the waterfront, and not far from our practice and game arenas on the western edge of Toronto. Fitch and I Ubered so that we didn’t have to worry about having a few beers while we were there.

The driver was a hockey fan and excited to have us in his car, even though we were both fairly new to the team. It was an ego boost, having someone so pleased to see us. Those things didn’t happen often in LA where baseball and basketball got more attention.

Fitch led the way once we got to the building. “Until a little while ago, I was living here.”

Had he moved out to get some space to himself? Was I foisted on him? “You sure you don’t mind having another roommate?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t mind living with Ducky. He’s easy to get along with, and I didn’t want to live alone. After the divorce, it was too quiet. But he and his girlfriend needed some space, and I was ready to put down roots here.”

“Not sure this is going to be a roots place for me.” If there was any chance of Ducky returning to the team, there wouldn’t be room for me.

The elevator doors slid open.

“You’re welcome to stay with me as long as you’re here.” He shrugged. “Changing cities is part of the job, so who knows where we’ll be next year?”

He pushed open the door to the unit at the end of the hallway, and I heard familiar voices from farther inside.

There was a pile of shoes at the door, and jackets dropped on the floor.

Fitch twitched when he saw the mess before opening the closet to hang up his own jacket.

I did the same. It would be easier to find my coat in the closet than in the pile.

We’d brought beer and food with us. I could smell something warm and appealing from inside the condo and turned the corner to find a good number of my teammates sitting in Ducky’s living room. Beyond, I caught a glimpse of the kitchen, more bodies moving around there.

Ducky was sitting in a recliner, foot elevated.

“Fitch! Denny! There’s food and drinks in the kitchen.

Help yourself!” He had a beer in his hand, and on the coffee table was a pile of drinks, most on coasters, and bowls of chips and various dips.

Crash, Royster, and Oppy were on the couch playing video hockey while they waited for the All-Star Game to come on.

Fitch greeted them and continued on to the kitchen.

I nodded at my teammates and followed Fitch, a bag with a couple of six-packs of beer in my hand.

Our backup goalie Mitchell was leaning on the island, the only guy in the midst of several women.

One of whom I knew all too well. I stopped in the doorway, not sure how Jess wanted to handle this.

Fitch performed introductions. “Denny, not sure you’ve met everyone. That’s Katie, Josh’s girlfriend. Callie is with Cooper, and Jayna is a former Olympic champion in women’s hockey. Mitch is dating her. Jess is Justin’s twin.”

I nodded and said a generic hello. The women had waved or nodded as Fitch introduced them.

I vaguely recalled them from the night we’d gone to the Top Shelf.

Pretty sure I remembered seeing Katie, the curvy brunette who was now living here with Ducky.

I’d definitely noticed Cooper’s girlfriend, the redhead with the great rack.

That left the woman leaning on Mitchell as Jayna.

Jessica turned away from the door to play with the air fryer making chicken wings for the crowd. So, we were pretending not to have met. No reason to be upset. But I was.

“Nice to meet you all. Is there room in the fridge for more beer?” The fridge was several feet away from Jess, so it gave her a heads-up.

Fitch pulled out the stuff he’d brought to eat while I passed him one of his beers, putting the rest of his and all of mine in the fridge except for the one I was going to drink immediately. I hoped no one was planning to drive tonight, because there was a lot of beer in there.

“Ooh, you brought your hummus?” Katie said to Fitch.

He smiled at her. “I know how much you like it.” He passed her a couple of containers.

She snatched them from him. “Give me.”

“And the pitas to go with.”

She grinned at him. “Sure you don’t want to move back in?”

He shook his head. “No, too noisy. Though Denny isn’t any better.”

My eyes turned to Jess without thinking. She stared back, eyes round. She bit her lip and I rubbed a hand over my jaw to cover a grin.

“I believe everyone was satisfied,” I said.

That had every eye on me, instead of Jess.

Before I could be interrogated, there was a yell from the living room, letting us know that the game coverage was about to start.

Fitch and I followed Jayna and Mitch into the living room.

Even though Ducky had a huge room and a lot of furniture, there were more of us than there were seats, so I grabbed a pillow from behind Oppy and sat on the floor.

The initial coverage was a lot of commentary from the guys in the studio, but not much of real interest.

“How many of you guys have been there?” Ducky asked, tilting his beer at the screen.

“Dallas? Or the All-Star Game?”

Ducky rolled his eyes. “The game, obviously.”

“I have,” I answered without thinking. No one else spoke up.

“A few years ago, right?” Fitch had settled in a recliner. I could have sworn Oppy had been sitting there, but no longer.

“Yeah. Nevada didn’t have a great team, and someone had to play for them.”

Fitch narrowed his eyes at me. I smiled back, blandly. I didn’t need to brag. I’d been the team’s top scorer, so I was the obvious choice. Plus it had earned me a nice little bonus.

Ducky missed the byplay. “I think Cooper has a permanent invite.”

Conversation continued on to other players who were a given, and discussion of some of the new attendees.

The players for the game were introduced, and Cooper got a big cheer from the people in the room.

Katie and Callie had come in with more food, and I saw a proud smile on the redhead’s face as her boyfriend took the ice to applause.

A tax attorney and a hockey player was an unlikely pairing, but she seemed into him.

Jess came into the living room last. I hadn’t expected her at this party. She’d skipped the skills competition last night, after all. She looked around for a place to sit. The couch and chairs were full. There was space on the floor beside me, where I was leaning against one of the chairs.

“Ducky, throw over a pillow.”

He glanced at me, saw my nod at Jess, and tossed me one of the pillows on his chair. He and Katie were squished together, so there wasn’t a lot of room for pillows with them anyway. I caught his throw and dropped the cushion on the floor beside me.

“You can sit here…Jess, right?”

She shot a look around but no one reacted, so she crossed over and dropped on the pillow beside me, rigidly upright.

“Thank you.” She gave me a hesitant smile.

I shrugged. “Least I can do for my teammate’s sister.”

No one paid any attention to us. We were good.

The game was…well, an All-Star Game. It was all flash—limited players on the four teams, short time period, winners getting money for the pension fund. No one was going to risk injury, and the points didn’t count in the standings, but it was a chance to impress the people watching.