Chapter 13 - Cole
Cole
Being the captain of the Reapers was an honor that normally filled me with pride, but it had its drawbacks, too.
I was expected to set an example for the team, which meant being the first person to show up to practice and one of the last ones off the ice.
But my duties didn’t end there. The head of the social media team called me up to her office after practice to go over some of the marketing campaigns we were running in the next month.
I was the face of the team, which meant I was required to show up to more events than everyone else.
Sometimes I missed the days where all I had to do was play hockey.
The parking lot was nearly empty when I left. I trudged toward my car, a black Ford Bronco. But when I was about ten feet away, I realized it was someone else’s car. It was nearly identical to mine, but didn’t have the Reaper red trim around the edges.
I spotted my car off to the right, then started walking that way. But I noticed there was someone sitting in the other Bronco. A woman whose profile looked familiar.
Is that… June?
The door opened and she jumped out, waving at me. “Cole! Do you know anything about cars? Mine won’t start.”
I grimaced. “Afraid not. I’m useless when it comes to cars.” I glanced at my watch. It was late. But she was all alone out here. “Want me to wait with you while we call someone?”
June closed her eyes and sighed. “Honestly, I don’t want to wait for a mechanic. I just want to go home.”
“I’ll give you a ride,” I offered.
“Thanks, but I’ll just call an Uber. My apartment’s only half a mile away.”
I smiled at her. “All the more reason to let me drive you. Come on, I owe you for the way you’ve gotten Rhett back up to speed.”
For some reason, her cheeks reddened at the comment. She didn’t think I was flirting with her, did she?
“Okay,” she said. “Thanks, I really appreciate it.”
“This is me over here,” I said, leading her across the parking lot. “I actually thought your car was mine at first.”
“I was wondering why you were walking toward me,” she said with a chuckle.
I unlocked the doors and slid inside. Yet when I turned the keys in my ignition, nothing happened.
“The fuck…” I muttered, flipping a few switches. The lights came on inside, which meant the battery wasn’t dead.
“I guess it’s a bad day to drive a black Bronco,” she muttered.
“My mechanic says she can be here in an hour,” I said, hanging up the phone. “She’ll look at both our cars while he’s here. Just leave your keys on the front-right wheel. I’ll wait with you while you call an Uber.”
She hid the keys there, then said, “I think I’m just going to walk home. It’s only half a mile.”
I blinked at her. “You sure? It’s eleven o’clock at night.”
“I’ve been walking on practice days. The only reason I drove tonight was because I knew there were thunderstorms in the area.”
I glanced at the sky, then grabbed an umbrella out of my trunk. “I’ll walk you home.”
She brightened at that, but said, “You don’t have to do that. I have mace in my bag…”
Like I said: being captain meant shouldering the weight of the entire team. And June was now part of that team.
“I don’t mind at all. Besides, if something happened to you, I’d blame myself.”
She smiled genuinely. “I really appreciate it.”
We started walking.
“I didn’t think I would have to deal with car problems anymore,” she said. “My car was always breaking down in college, but it had two hundred thousand miles on it. This Bronco is the first new car I’ve ever owned. I bought it to celebrate getting this job. And it breaks down after only a month.”
“Crazy that neither of our cars would start. Maybe it’s a manufacturer’s defect?”
“I guess.” She glanced sideways at me. “I have to admit it feels nice to drive the same car as a professional athlete. Makes me feel like I’m a big shot! What made you choose it?”
“I, uh, got it for free,” I admitted.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m sponsored by Ford,” I explained. “I did a commercial for a local dealership, and they threw it in as a bonus. And before you ask: yes, it feels douchy to admit that out loud.”
“I wasn’t going to say it… but I was definitely thinking it!”
We laughed together, pausing at an intersection before the light changed. The wind started to pick up, and lightning flashed in the sky to the west.
June stared at the sky and said, “Maybe I should have called an Uber.”
“Too late now,” I said, walking a little faster.
“Getting rained on is the perfect ending to this annoying day,” she said dryly.
“Oh?” I asked.
She blushed again, then waved a hand dismissively. “It’s nothing. Just a lot of little stuff. I’m ready to change into comfy clothes and relax.”
“Amen,” I said as it started to sprinkle.
“Shit.”
“Glad I brought this.” I opened the umbrella, then held it out so she could fit under it.
We made it another two blocks before the rain began falling in sheets. June yelped and huddled closer under the umbrella as we tried to speed-walk through the downpour.
“How much farther?” I shouted over the rain.
June pointed. “The apartment building there!”
The wind was so strong that the rain was now coming in sideways. We started jogging until we reached the safety of an overpass.
“Might as well wait here until it lightens up,” I said.
“Sorry about this,” June said, sloughing water off her arms. “You could have been warm in your car if not for me.”
“Rain doesn’t bother me,” I said, shaking out the umbrella. “It’s sleet that I hate. Or freezing rain.”
“You’re from Vancouver, right? Is the weather similar to Seattle?”
“Exactly the same, but ten degrees colder. I used to walk to school in it.” There was some movement to my right, up under the bridge. Two homeless men were peeking out to look at the storm.
“Sorry about all this,” she said, glancing nervously at the men.
“Stop apologizing,” I said. “I’m glad I ran into you. I wouldn’t want you walking home alone in this, mace or no mace.”
“I’m glad I’m not alone, too,” she admitted with a bashful smile. “I owe you one.”
“You don’t owe me shit,” I insisted. “You’ve been a huge help for the team.”
“That’s nice of you to say,” she muttered. “But I’m sure you miss Andy.”
“Sometimes,” I said. “But you’ve done a better job than Andy.”
Her eyes widened for a split second. “You’re just being nice.”
“I’m serious. Sure, I missed Andy at first. He’s been with the Reapers since the team was founded. But you’re a better trainer.”
“I am?”
I nodded. “He was kind of set in his ways. He had two workout routines that he was married to, and he rarely deviated from them when creating our programs. But you’ve been tailoring your rehab assignments for each individual player. And it’s working. Just look at what you’ve done for Rhett.”
It was tough to tell in the dim light under the overpass, but it looked like June blushed again. I wondered what that was all about.
“I’m just glad the guys trust me enough to do what I tell them.”
“They do,” I said. “Every single guy in that locker room trusts you.”
June smirked at me. “Well, not every guy.”
“Oh? Who are you talking about?”
She glanced out at the storm. “Tell you later. I think we’ve got a window where the rain isn’t bad.”
We huddled under the umbrella and speed-walked the final couple of blocks to her apartment.
June was shivering in the cold, leaning against me to keep as much of her body protected from the rain as possible.
I didn’t think anything of it at first, but as we darted into her apartment lobby, I quickly became aware of how good her body felt against mine.
I stepped back and shook out the umbrella. “Whew. Barely made it.”
“I thought the storm wasn’t supposed to hit us until after midnight!” She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered again. “Want to come up and dry off while the storm passes? I’ll make you a drink as a thank-you for making sure I got home safe.”
It was an innocent offer. I was used to women hitting on me, and I could tell that’s not what June was doing here. And now that I was soaked, a warm towel sounded great.
“I’ve got spiced cider packets,” she offered. “I can booze them up with Fireball.”
Oh, that was tempting. It was far more appealing than going back out in the rain. June was smiling at me. Her Atlanta Reapers polo shirt was wet, molding to her curves and revealing the outline of her bra underneath. The word yes was on the tip of my tongue.
And in a flash of insight, I saw how the night would play out. What started as an innocent invitation would turn into drinks on her couch. As the storm raged outside, it would turn into two drinks, or maybe three.
And from there…
I realized that I wanted it to happen. To see where the night would take us. Maybe it was fate, our cars breaking down at the same time. Forcing us to walk home together, forcing us under the same umbrella.
Something inside me came alive at the thought. I wanted it badly.
But the weight of responsibility quickly slid into place in my mind. I was the captain of the team. I was supposed to set an example for everyone else. Getting involved with the new trainer was a bad idea. If it made things awkward in the locker room, throwing off the team’s chemistry…
I couldn’t risk it.
“I really need to get home,” I said, opening the Uber app on my phone. “Glad you got home safe. Enjoy the boozy cider for me.”
“I’ll drink two!” she replied with a grin that made my heart move behind my ribcage.
Only after she disappeared into the elevator did I let out a breath that I’d been holding.
I spent the Uber ride home wondering if I’d made the right decision.
My mechanic ended up bailing because of the storm, but promised that she would be there first thing in the morning. I looked up June’s number in the employee directory, then texted her to let her know.
The next morning, I was in the parking lot with my mechanic. She was an old friend of mine, so I chatted with her while she poked around under the hood of my car.
“So when are you going to ask her out?” she randomly said.
“What? I’m not going to ask her out,” I replied.
With her head still buried in the engine of my car, she said, “You’ve been talking about her for ten minutes.”
“I’m just… it’s nothing. You’re reading into things.”
She stood up and wiped her hands with a dirty piece of cloth. “I’ve known you a long time, Cole. So I’ll be blunt. You’ve got the hots for this girl. Now, I don’t know if it’s lust or love, but I do know you should ask her out.”
“You don’t understand. She’s the team trainer. I shouldn’t ask her out. It’ll make things messy.”
She raised an eyebrow at me. “If you’re going to let that stop you, then you’re a goddamn fool.”
As she bent back over my car, I wondered if she was right.