Chapter Seventeen
JENNA
“No, but seriously, that punch made it halfway down the pitch!” Darcy rockets her arm forward, almost catching Collins square in the nose.
“I was convinced that ball was going straight into the back of your net.” She takes a sip of her cosmo, eyes wide with excitement.
“But in the blink of an eye, you cleared it and turned it into the best counterattack move I’ve seen in modern-day soccer.
” She shakes her head and takes another sip of her drink. “I mean football.”
With a rare pint of IPA in one hand, I stand, staring at my cute, petite British friend. “Modern-day soccer?”
Darcy just shrugs. “It sounded like I knew what I was talking about, adding that part on.”
From behind, Archer approaches, wrapping his arms around her waist. He sets a kiss on top of her head and gazes around our small group of friends.
Every time one of my girlfriends interacts with their man, it’s like a sharp sting of something shoots through my veins.
It’s only brief, but it’s there, and it doesn’t get any less painful.
Sometimes, I hate myself for feeling that way.
I should be happy for Kendra, Collins, and Darcy as they gather around me, wearing rings that sparkle and reflect the happiness and contentment they’ve found in their lives.
But to suppress my own sadness would be unnatural or maybe inhumane.
I have feelings and needs myself, and I long for a man to wrap his arms around my waist from behind, even if I’ll never let it show how deep that desire runs.
Kendra nudges me in the shoulder. “What are you thinking about? I feel like you’ve been more absent than present lately.”
Buying myself a second to gather my thoughts, I take a sip of beer. “I’m not sure if I completely agree with that. I just kept a clean sheet, and we’re one win away from the shield.”
“Off the soccer pitch, I mean,” she counters, eyes turning from playful to more concerned.
“I feel like if we weren’t a part of the same team, then I wouldn’t see you nearly as much as I’d like.
” Kendra turns around and sets her water glass down on the bar behind her.
“And that worries me because you’re my best friend.
You were there for me when everything went down with my shitty ex and when I moved to this city and had no one. ”
A lump forms in my throat as Darcy, Collins, and Archer talk between themselves.
“We’ll never lose touch, Kendra. You’re my number one girl.” I set my glass down beside hers and take my best friend into my arms. “I rarely promise anyone anything, but I’m promising you this now: we’re together forever. You can trust me on that.”
To my surprise, she sniffles into my hair, her breath tickling my neck as she speaks quietly. “I’m pregnant.”
I pull back, my hands braced on her shoulders. “You’re what?” I heard Kendra clearly the first time around. I just want her to say it again because I know how much this means to my friend.
“I’m pregnant,” she says, rosy stains painting her cheeks. “I took a test this morning, and I’m definitely pregnant.”
My eyes rove the bar for her husband and find him staring straight at his wife from across the room, a broad smile spread across his face.
“Does he know?” I ask, turning back to Kendra.
She shakes her head. “No. With our match this morning and then the hockey game straight afterward, we’ve barely had time to talk. I took a pee test because my period hadn’t started straightaway, and I’m ordinarily like clockwork. Jack had already left for the rink.”
I’m practically vibrating on her behalf. “I bet you can’t wait to get home and tell him.”
Her smile widens. “We’re going to have a July baby! Only …” She trails off and looks down to the floor. “That puts my due date right in the middle of the season. Not ideal, I know.”
With my finger under her chin, I tip Kendra’s face up to look at me. “Having this baby is the most important moment in your life. I know how much you have both wanted this, and soccer can wait. The team can wait.”
Kendra’s eyes shine beneath the bar lighting. “I’m so fucking happy, but I’m going to keep it quiet until I get a chance to tell Jack. Then we’ll decide when we want to break the news.”
I nod and pull my friend back into a hug.
“What did Coach want to see you about after the game?” she asks, picking her water glass back up and taking a sip.
I tap the side of my nose and wink. The way I want to spill my secret to Kendra because she will undoubtedly go crazy on my behalf, even if I know that I have to keep quiet for now.
The entire team was aware that Hollie Browne would be stepping down from her role as captain at the end of this season since she’s reaching the twilight of her career.
What I never expected was to be called up to take her place.
It’s a dream come true, along with a bump in salary that I desperately need.
“I can’t actually tell you right now,” I reply on a wince.
Like a child, Kendra drops her shoulders. “For real?” she whines.
I offer her another wink, hoping that will satisfy her. “The whole team will find out soon enough.”
Silence falls between us as Kendra stands there, studying my face for clues.
“Aside from both the Blades and the Storm winning today, do you know what’s taken tonight from an eight to a full ten out of ten?” Collins breaks the silence, flicking her mid-length pink hair to the side.
“Pray tell,” I reply, equally amused and enraptured by anything and everything this girl has to say.
She raises a single brow and looks between Kendra and me. “The absence of one Tommy Schneider.”
The brief mention of his name fires off a surge of goose bumps as they break out over my skin.
“No snarky comments or cocky smirks. Just a bunch of friends having a great night, like the old times.” Darcy joins our conversation when Archer returns to a small group of his teammates.
She props a hand on her hip. “I’m convinced, even at five months old, Emily hates him. She threw her teething ring on the floor when he joined the team on the bench tonight.”
“You should’ve been at the game earlier,” Collins adds, gaze floating from Kendra to me. “The look on his face when the Jumbotron focused in on him, it was a sight to behold. He was seething at being benched for multiple games.”
“He shouldn’t be a first-rate arsehole then.” Darcy snorts. “He’s definitely getting traded before the March deadline.” She downs the rest of her cosmo in one, enjoying a child-free night with her husband and friends. “Although I’m not convinced he’ll find another team.”
“Why isn’t he here tonight?” I ask casually, brushing off comments about Tommy getting traded.
I haven’t spoken to him since our last text exchange, where I told him my car stank and it needed detailing.
The truth is, it did smell, just not badly.
I swear his cologne has permeated my seats, and I hate that.
The best place for Tommy is on the other side of the country and as far away from me as possible.
I don’t trust him, but more than that, I don’t trust myself around him.
“Probably licking his ego wounds.” Kendra rolls her eyes.
“The team was way more cohesive without him on the ice. If they play like that again for the next few games, I’m certain the GM will put him on the trade list,” Collins adds.
“The only reason he made it to New York in the first place was because of the GM insisting. Sawyer tells me he’s even turning his back on the guy.
I don’t think Curtis Freeman taking to social media helped either. ”
My heart rate picks up to a wild pace. “Wait. What do you mean?”
I assumed Tommy was being punished for something he had done in practice. The Blades haven’t made an official statement about why Tommy was benched, and frankly, him being reprimanded isn’t exactly news.
Collins tips her head to one side, surprised that I’m not aware.
“A couple of days ago, Curtis Freeman took to his socials with a scathing three-paragraph post, calling for Tommy to be canceled from ice hockey, like his dad basically was. He said he was a danger to the sport or some shit like that. The post was taken down really fast, but naturally, screenshots were taken. Sawyer thinks it was Freeman’s frustration bubbling over when the league deemed no action needed to be taken for the way Tommy had beaten him up in their last game, but the Blades have obviously responded with a punishment of their own.
” She blows out a long breath. “I can’t say I blame them for benching him, someone had to do something. ”
My throat runs dry. Maybe that’s why Tommy hasn’t been in touch for the past few days. It sounds like he has bigger fish to fry than antagonizing me.
Or maybe he just grew tired of our antics.
Discomfort settles in the pit of my stomach as my girls continue to speculate on how long the Blades enforcer has before he’s shipped out altogether.
“You know what?” I finally speak up after losing track of time. I don’t make eye contact as I adjust my handbag on my shoulder and feel a vibration. “I’m going to head out.”
The first person I make eye contact with is Kendra. Running out on her when she just dropped the biggest news of her life makes me feel like a shitty friend.
“I’ll text you when I get home,” I tell her.
She nods once, and Darcy laces her hand through mine. We’ve grown way closer since last year, when I stayed over at her place one night and she told me all about the secret pregnancy with Archer.
“Do you need a ride home?” she asks. “Archer isn’t drinking, and I’m sure he’d run you back to your place.”
I shake my head immediately. Thoughts of a ten-minute walk in the cold November air grows more appealing with each passing second. I need to clear my head.
“No, it’s fine. I’m fine,” I lie, just as my phone vibrates again. “Let him stay and celebrate a hard-earned shutout. The entire walk home is lit, and I have a can of three-year-old pepper spray in my bag that I’m dying to use.”
Collins snorts a laugh, and Kendra rolls her eyes. These girls know that leaving bars alone—or with strange guys—isn’t unusual for me.
“Did you get a booty call or something?” Collins chuckles.
Heat rises from my toes to the tips of my ears as I scramble for an answer. In the end, nothing materializes, and I conclude my silence is probably the best option since telling them I can’t stop thinking about the most hated guy in Brooklyn—or his tattooed cock—likely wouldn’t land well.
Collins raises her glass in my direction. “Jen is getting dicked down tonight. Let’s all say our goodbyes and wish her a pleasure-filled evening.”