Chapter 11
KNOX
There’s a renewed sense of excitement in me as I take the ice to warm up knowing that Sloane is somewhere close by watching me play. Xander promised to watch on TV, but we both made him promise he wouldn’t stay up past his bedtime.
Jude and I start stretching on the ice. Weston and Asher come and drop down next to us.
While Jude and I are focusing on warming up our muscles for the game, the other two clowns start practically humping the ice doing their frog stretches.
Ever since the book girls started drooling over the sport they have treated warmups like auditions for Magic Mike.
It makes them really popular online though.
“You two look like idiots,” Jude grumbles.
West just blows him a kiss. If he’s hoping for a reaction from Jude he’ll be waiting for a very long time.
I think that West is going to press the issue, but something distracts him in the stands. He turns his face to me, and I can see the evil twinkle in his eyes.
“Isn’t that your yummy little publicist over there?” He gives a jerk of his chin to show me that she’s in our box, and sure enough she’s filming some footage of us.
“Is she single?” Asher asks. Those two are two horny peas in a pod.
I promised myself I’d avoid fighting in the game, because I want to start setting a better example, but I might have to abandon that promise and beat these two bastards before the game starts.
Jude looks at me, and his eyes narrow. The quiet ones always see more than other people.
These three are my best friends in the world, and I should be able to tell them what is going on.
I know they are already suspicious since I locked myself away with her on our days off.
Not that they know I was with her, but I certainly wasn’t with them.
Even when I was with my ex I’d still see them at least once if we had more than a couple days off.
“C’mon, Knox, is she or not?” West pushes.
“Leave Sloane alone,” I grunt.
They share a look, but Jude just continues to watch me. I can tell he wants to say something, but there’s no time. Coach calls us over, and it’s time to get my head in the game.
As we head in the back I notice that Sloane follows along with Sawyer. I am happy to see that Gerry’s daughter is taking her under her wing, but I’d really like it if they weren’t coming back with us. In fact I want to keep her at least a hundred feet from all other men.
The problem isn’t keeping her away from men, it’s keeping these assholes away from her. She and Sawyer are set up in the hallway, asking us questions as we walk past.
Sloane’s questions are innocent, like if we prefer pizza or wings. I doubt they’ll get much buzz online, but she’s still too innocent to ask the kinds of things that will get a lot of attention. Sawyer has no such inhibitions.
Sloane turns the camera on Weston and Asher and is about to ask them the same boring question when Sawyer interrupts and asks them, “Boxers or briefs?”
West smirks, and I know I’m going to want to punch him again. “Neither.” He winks. “I can prove it later if you like,” he directs to Sloane.
Her eyes open wide, and not with lust. She looks around and finds me. I see the plea in her shocked gaze.
I head straight for them, not sure what I’m going to do.
I don’t think Gerry would be as accepting of her traveling with the team if he knew of our arrangement.
I’m supposed to be staying out of drama, not finding more of it.
Dating a woman seventeen years younger than myself might cause a few ripples.
Sure, I’m an athlete, so there are certain concessions the public makes, but no one is going to be accepting if they find out how imbalanced the power structure of our relationship is.
“Quit hassling my publicist, jackass,” I growl in his ear, after putting him in a headlock.
He playfully shoves me off. “I haven’t missed the way you look at her. I had to see if she was really off-limits.”
I don’t think he’ll rat me out to the coach or Gerry, but I don’t want to risk anything coming between us. Still, if I don’t declare her off-limits he is going to keep trying to charm her. As brutish as I’m being, she might decide that someone like West is a better choice.
“She’s an employee of the team. Leave her alone,” I insist.
He rolls his eyes. “That’s not a rule. Wait, is it?” He turns to ask Jude who has come up to us.
“It probably is. We should all leave her alone. Fuck, she’s barely older than Neve and all of you helped me raise her,” he says.
Coach Henry calls us over. Some of the guys are shirtless as we all work fast to change into dry gear.
“St. Louis has a damn good team. I want you to all bring your best tonight. They’re younger, faster, and hungrier than all of you.
They don’t have as much experience as we have on this team.
You know how not to rush a play. Don’t forget that out there.
Make them play our game. Knox, stay back a moment,” he says.
Everyone scrambles to finish getting ready for the game while I approach Coach.
“How is your shoulder?” he asks. He’s had me mostly on the sidelines the last week after that fucker Dean Fellows checked me hard and aggravated my already damaged rotator cuff.
“I’m as good as I’m going to be. Better than after my fight with Fellows,” I confirm.
He nods several times. “Good, because I’m going to be relying on you with this team. We need your stick handling with them. They got some good players, and I need your steadiness to keep the team together tonight.”
I’ve seen their record. We’re not going to be able to push them around the way we did with the Surge. They’re younger than us, but not a team of rookies like they are. I wonder, and not for the first time, how much longer my luck is going to hold out.
I look over at Sloane, and realize I have pretty good motivation for pushing myself to my limits.
Now I’m not doing it for my legacy, or to repair my reputation.
I’m doing it to see her stormy eyes heat with pride.
I’m not sure how to manage these feelings that are rapidly getting away from me, and that scares the shit out of me.
The game starts out strong. I win the face-off, and we do like Coach demanded and force them to play our game.
Their youth does give them an advantage as the game continues.
We’re up three to two, and they’re still going strong while we start to slow down.
It’s barely noticeable, but I start to see their strategy.
They’ve forced us to play hard the entire game, and now we’re at a disadvantage.
Logan Kearns, right wing for the St. Louis Arctic Knights, skates backwards in front of me. He’s wearing a shit eating grin on his face. “What’s wrong, old man, running out of gas?”
I grunt in reply as I force myself to dig deep for whatever energy I have left.
My shoulder burns, even through the pills Dr. Frost passed me before the game started.
I know that my ego isn’t going to give me what I need to see this through.
I can only hope that my backup is up to the challenge of this team.
I signal Coach, and skate away without replying to Kearns. Coach Henry immediately understands that I’ve hit a wall and signals my replacement. Grady Carver, a twenty-four year old rookie from Minnesota, wades into the game.
He gives the guys the jolt they need to finish strong. I have to admit that he’s a decent center. He’s had a bit more game time lately after that fucker Dean slammed my shoulder. It makes me feel better knowing I’ll be leaving the team in his hands at the end of the season.
Still, St. Louis manages to tie the game at the end of the third. We are able to pull off another goal in overtime, but that shouldn’t have been necessary.
I can see the look on Gerry’s face on the bus as we wrap up in the locker room.
He’s been so loyal to all of us, but all things eventually come to an end.
Pretty soon he’s going to have to start making moves to keep the team going.
It’s going to be hard on him, because I’m not sure if the other guys are as accepting as I am that our time is coming to a close.
On the ride to the hotel I try to catch Sloane’s attention, but she’s deep in conversation with Sawyer and Gerry.
I certainly can’t flag her down in front of the entire team.
Instead, I bide my time for when we get to the hotel.
I’m starting to fear that her being on the road with the team isn’t going to mean that I will have unlimited access to her.
In the hotel lobby Sawyer starts handing out key cards.
Weston, Asher, Jude, and I all get our own rooms as usual, so I didn’t even think about the fact that Sloane would have to share.
Mostly because there aren’t that many women that travel with the team.
In fact there are only four this time. Sloane, Sawyer, Dr. Frost’s assistant Delaney, and Gerry’s niece Kendall who also works as his executive assistant.
The Titans is run more like a family business.
That’s why the four of us are still playing together even though any other team would have sent us to pasture a few years ago.
I have hope that I’ll be able to steal her away until Sawyer hands her a card and lets her know that they’re rooming together.
Shit.
Sawyer seems to have some kind of mamma bear protectiveness over Sloane, which does not bode well for my plans. I doubt she’d feel comfortable with the way I like to use my little publicist.
My brain spins with ways I might still make this work without Sawyer catching on, but I’m interrupted by Weston insisting we go out.
“C’mon, we’re away from home, we are still undefeated, so we need to go out and celebrate,” West says, dropping his arm around Jude and me.