Chapter 5
Jacob
Jacob woke up to the sound of an early morning removal truck parking up somewhere on the street outside. With its slow but punishingly loud bleeping noise, there was no hope for Jacob remain asleep.
“Urgh, my head,” Jacob said, pulling the duvet over his head and attempting to snuggle himself back to sleep.
But as Jacob brought his knees up to the fetal position, he realized something. He wasn’t in his normal bed. In fact, Jacob was in a bed he had never slept in before…
Where am I?
Did I hook up with some asshole stranger last night?
Oh… no… the SUV… then… Tane Rivers.
As memories of the night before came flooding back to Jacob, he felt a mixture of emotions come over him. On the one hand, Jacob felt safe and secure in the big, comfortable bed. But on the flipside, Jacob felt a nagging sense of regret over the fact that it was Tane Rivers who put him in here.
“Did Tane make me a warm milk?” Jacob muttered, gripping the duvet and bringing it even tighter around his body. “What the hell?”
Jacob then remembered just how kind and caring Tane had been once they were back at Tane’s house. It wasn’t just the warm milk, but Tane’s whole demeanor seemed different. Rather than barking orders and trying to boss Jacob around, Tane had been gentle and full of empathy for him.
There was no denying it, it was a whole other side to Tane – and Jacob liked it.
While the beeping from the truck outside the house may have stopped, Jacob knew that he was no awake and there was no going back to sleep. But as he wriggled around in bed, Jacob saw that there was another issue to deal with…
“Hmmm, okaaaay,” Jacob said, looking down and seeing the big tent at the front of his banana print briefs.
It might have been a case of morning wood, but Jacob was as hard as a rock.
Then Jacob remembered the dream he was having right before being woken by the noisy truck. The dream involved him, Tane, and a distinct absence of any clothes.
Instinctively, Jacob reached down and put both his hands inside his briefs and began to casually squeeze his erect dick. It felt good – but it also felt a little bad, like he was breaking the rules. Which of course just made it hotter.
Am I really jerking myself over Tane Rivers?
He’s so annoying and thinks he knows it all.
Tane can’t teach me anything. I’m the future of hockey, not him…
As Jacob fondled his hard cock, he delighted in thoughts of pushing Tane to his limits and enraging the big, burly hockey captain to the point where Tane decided that enough was enough…
“Oh… that’s it… you can kiss my butt, Captain Tane,” Jacob snickered, fully involved in his fantasy as he pumped on his shaft. “What are you gonna do? Spank me? Choke me with that big cock?”
But Jacob was quickly brought back to reality by the loud thud on the bedroom door.
As quick as a flash, Jacob let go of his dick and rearranged himself so that his head was poking out the top of the duvet.
“You up?” Tane’s voice boomed. “Time for a morning juice.”
“Um, yeah, one second,” Jacob replied, a guilty tremble in his voice as he sat up in bed and made sure that his body was covered – especially down below.
Jacob watched as Tane entered the guest bedroom with a big glass of OJ in one hand and what looked like a plate of pancakes in the other.
“Wow, is that for me?” Jacob said, briefly forgetting the fact that underneath his duvet he was as hard as a rock.
“Sure is,” Tane said, carefully placing the drink and plate of pancakes on the bedside table. “These are protein pancakes too. You need to make sure you get your nutrition right during recovery after a game.”
“Uh-huh,” Jacob replied, not entirely paying attention to Tane’s health advice as he sipped on the perfectly fresh OJ. “Can I have some maple syrup with the pancakes, please?”
Jacob smiled as Tane rolled his eyes and quickly returned to the bedroom with a small pot of maple syrup.
“Thanks, it’s the only way I eat pancakes,” Jacob said, hungrily pouring the syrup before devouring the pancakes. “Yummy!”
“Glad to see you’re enjoying them,” Tane said, his voice not exactly full of warmth, but not unfriendly either. “Listen, we need to talk.”
Jacob could sense that Tane was about to say something that he didn’t want to hear.
The last thing that Jacob wanted was an early morning lecture after a hard game and ensuing night out on the town.
But Jacob could sense that Tane didn’t care much for how he felt about it, and this was something that he was going to say regardless…
“Jacob, you need to listen to me,” Tane said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.
“I can’t give you the specifics of the situation, but you need to change how you’re behaving.
Partying too much, acting out when you’re in public…
it’s not a good look. And some very important people have noticed it too. ”
Jacob could feel a hit of adrenalin shoot over his body.
This sounded a lot like a lecture, and Jacob simply wasn’t in the mood to listen to one of the older guys on the team talk to him like this.
Tane can say what he wants.
I’ve got to the top by being me.
I’m not going to change for Tane, or for anyone else.
Jacob shrugged his shoulders and made it clear that he wasn’t impressed with what Tane had to say.
“Boy, you’re really not listening to me,” Tane said, a hint of irritation in his voice.
“I can’t say it much clearer than this. Your career at the Enforcers is in jeopardy if you keep this behavior going.
And… I won’t go into any more details. You’re representing the fucking Toronto Enforcers. Just shape the hell up.”
This was as much as Jacob could take.
In a rapid blur of activity, Jacob flung the duvet off the bed and got himself dressed as quickly as he possibly could.
All the while, Tane simply stood on the edge of the bed and shook his head.
“You can’t tell me what to do!” Jacob said, stomping his foot on the soft carpet underneath. “You’re just jealous that I’m the new star and you’re…you’re… you’re past your best!”
Jacob didn’t wait to see how Tane would react to his comment.
Instead, Jacob flung his coat and shoes on and made a beeline for the door. After charging down the stairs and finding his way to the heavy oak front door, Jacob left Tane’s house and began running down the street without the faintest idea as to where he was headed.
All Jacob knew was that he didn’t want to see Tane anytime soon.
The only problem of course being that they were teammates, at least for now…
* * *
After hailing down a cab, Jacob managed to get himself home and surrounded by all the things he loved most…
Spicy tortilla chips.
A selection of the fizziest, most sugary drinks.
A ton of sour candies.
And to top it all off, Ricki came over for a hangout too.
“I’ll never get tired of your place,” Ricki said. “You’ve got all the retro videogame shit in the world here! Like, I don’t know man. I don’t even know how you focus on anything else. I’d be playing until my fingers fell off.”
“Hehe, I know man. But there’s always more games I want,” Jacob chuckled, his purple and yellow t-shirt and shorts combo fitting him snugly. “I’m just glad to be away from Tane.”
Jacob looked for a reaction from Ricki, but it seemed like Ricki wasn’t sure what to say. Jacob liked Ricki a lot and didn’t want Ricki to feel like he couldn’t speak freely.
“You don’t think Tane’s so bad, do you?” Jacob said, taking a new can of Pepsi and opening it to a loud fizzing sound.
“I do think he’s someone who’s seen it all,” Ricki replied, munching on an extra-large ultra-sour strawberry gummy. “He might sound all mean and strict and boring… but he’s like an alpha, right? Isn’t that what these guys are like?”
“Makes sense,” Jacob said, the pair of them giggling together. “He’s… hot.”
“I know!” Ricki chirped with delight. “Do you think you might like him?”
“Bleurgh, no fucking way,” Jacob replied.
“I might be a horny as hell but that doesn’t mean I can handle some grumpy guts bossing me around and telling me what I can and can’t do all the time.
I do feel a bit bad about telling him that he was washed up as a player though.
I was just so angry, but now I feel all crappy for saying that. ”
Ricki nodded and the pair of them quickly moved back onto playing an old retro version of Tekken, bashing the buttons and pulling off all the old combos that were imprinted deeper than any hockey playbook could ever be.
Jacob felt safe playing alongside Ricki. While settling into the team might still be very much a work in progress, Jacob knew that in Ricki he had a friend for life. Ricki was cool as hell and never judged. He was a real one, that was for sure.
But just when Jacob and Ricki were about to settle down for a best of seven Tekken match, he saw a message flash up on his phone. And it was very much one he would rather not have seen…
COACH TREMAINE: A message to all players. You’re needed at Pine Rise training complex. ASAP. Attendance compulsory, no excused.
The last thing Jacob wanted to do on his Sunday off was head into Pine Rise. But he knew that coach wasn’t screwing around.
It was time to leave his safe space and head somewhere far less appealing indeed.
And of course, there was the even more unwelcoming prospect of seeing Tane to contend with too…
* * *
Coach Tremaine wasn’t in a good mood. After all, this was his Sunday too…
“Trust me, I take no pleasure in hauling your beat up asses in here on a Sunday,” Tremaine said, his weathered face and deep blue eyes fixed with their usual intensity.
“But this came from the Cardini family. And they’re the ones who built this franchise from the ground up, so when they ask… I fucking make it happen.”
After issuing everyone with some guidelines and hooking their bodies up with the usual GPS monitoring vests, the whole Enforcers squad was put to the test on the indoor Pine Rise athletics track.
As far as Jacob was concerned, it was a breeze.
Even though he still felt somewhat hungover, his natural fitness prevailed and he flew around the track for the first few laps. And then when Coach Tremaine put the squad on sprint tests, it was more of the same.
“Come on guys, this is easy work,” Jacob laughed, powering over the finish line for his fourth repetition. “We should all be finding this comfortable. Even the older players…”
Jacob smiled smugly to himself.
It had been clear enough for Jacob to see that the older players in the group, notably Cooper and Alex were pissed with him. Jacob imagined that Tane had filled his two closest allies in on everything that had gone down between them, and they were likely taking Tane’s side entirely.
I’ll show these guys.
It should be me who’s leading this team.
Tane might be team captain now, but I’m what the Enforcers need at front and center.
After a couple of sledge pull tests, Jacob was starting to feel the heat. Maybe it was the partying on Saturday, or perhaps his failure to do his stretches on Sunday morning, but Jacob was starting to wish that Tremaine would wrap the session up sooner rather than later.
For a moment, it looked like Jacob’s wishes were about to be granted.
“Right, that’s enough,” Coach Tremaine bellowed. “Only one test left. Pairs racing. We want you up against a teammate. Gosling, you’re with Rivers.”
Jacob felt hie heart jump.
Under any other circumstance, he would feel supremely confident about beating Tane in a track race. But with his legs beginning to feel heavy and his stomach churning over, Jacob wasn’t quite so confident.
But Jacob wasn’t about to let that stop him acting like he felt the win was all but assured…
“I’ll slow down to not make this too embarrassing,” Jacob said as him and Tane lined up at the start line. “Don’t say I don’t respect my elders.”
“You just focus on getting across the line,” Tane replied, a steely determination in his eyes that made Jacob swallow hard. “Try your best and don’t stop giving it your all until the race is done. Trust me on that.”
“Pffft,” Jacob retorted, roiling his eyes.
Jacob readied himself for Coach Tremaine to start the race.
THREE.
TWO.
ONE… BANG!
Jacob flew into an early lead, his legs suddenly feeling as light and gazelle-like as ever. But around the halfway point, the leaden feeling returned to Jacob’s legs and he could practically feel the lactic acid building inside his quads.
Worse, Jacob could sense that Tane was rapidly gaining ground on him.
No no no no.
Keep going.
Don’t let that grumpy asshole win…
But try as Jacob might, Tane simply powered past him and ran out a fairly comfortable winner at the end of the one hundred meter track.
With the sound of the players cheering and whooping for Tane, Jacob felt a mixture of fury, humiliation, and total despondency.
Tane had beaten him fair and square, and there was nothing that Jacob could do about it.
“Good race, kid,” Tane said, walking over toward Jacob, holding his hand out for Jacob to shake. “Now shake my hand and We’ll move on as a team.”
Jacob didn’t want to shake Tane’s hand.
But the longer Tane held his hand out, the more Jacob’s resistance grew.
“You’re coming with me, boy,” Tane snapped, a hushed silence coming over the squad – including Coach Tremaine. “We’re going to settle this here and now.”
Tane took Jacob by the arm and marched him out of the athletics track and into a nearby weights room.
Jacob didn’t know exactly what Tane was going to say once they were inside the room – but instead perhaps what he should have been wondering was what Tane was going to do.