Chapter 6
six
. . .
Jake
We win. It’s a glorious win, too, four goals to one.
I’m flying high as we shuttle down the chute toward the locker room. Flinging myself onto the locker stall bench, I sit there for a moment and breathe, taking it all in.
My phone buzzes in my locker, and swiveling in my seat, I reach for it. There’s a bunch of messages on the screen, but my eyes narrow in on the most recent.
Good game , Rachel texted. Where should I meet you?
I gave her the address of the bar already.
“Hey,” I nudge MacGregor. “Where does Hailey usually meet you?”
“In the tunnel?” He cocks his head. “Wait, did you send your girl to the WAGs suite?”
Slowly, I nod. “Should I not?”
He shakes his head. “I’ll handle it.”
Reaching for his phone, he taps on the screen, and when it buzzes in response, he looks up at me. “Hailey’s got her and her friend. She’ll bring them to us.”
“Thanks, dude.” I give him a fist-bump.
“For future reference,” MacGregor lowers his voice. “The box is for the people who are committed to being by our sides. Wives, fiancées, family. Girlfriends sit at ice level.”
I feel my face heat, and because I’m not wearing my pads, I’m able to feel it spread down my chest. Hopefully, the guys chalk it up to a post-game flush.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” I mutter. I just want her to be.
He shakes his head. “Be careful, man. I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into.”
After a few minutes, I peel out of my pads and pants to my base layer and head to the bikes to recover. How am I going to play this? What am I going to say?
I think about it all through the cooldown and during my shower. I’m still thinking about it when I pull on my post-game suit and style my hair with a little more care than usual.
MacGregor catches my eye, hiding a smirk. “You ready?”
Tying off my dress shoe, I blow out a breath and shake out my hands. “Yeah. Let’s do this.”
Followed by Larsson, Easton, and Logan, we head to the players’ tunnels connecting the locker rooms to the parking structure. Logan is the only other one of us unattached, but he’s been down lately, so I don’t mind him tagging along.
“Hey, boo,” Melanie, Easton’s wife, says as we approach. “Good game.” She’s followed by Hailey MacGregor, Rachel, and her friend.
Easton is such a fucking sap, because he melts when she wraps her arms around him. “You’re my good luck charm.”
I force a laugh. “I think you mean me. I’m your good luck charm.”
He punches me in the shoulder. “Fuck off.”
“Hey.” I nod to Rachel. “How are you?”
“Good. You played—wow, you played really well,” she says, wringing her hands. “Thanks for the tickets.”
Her friend, a tall, muscular woman with her hair in a ponytail, nods. “Thanks for including me.”
“I’m Jake,” I introduce, offering my hand.
“Viv Gallagher. I play with the Revolution. It was cool to see how you guys do things,” she says.
“No shit. You play rugby?” My eyebrows go up.
She nods. “Yeah. Our season is over for the year.”
MacGregor nods. “Rugby is totally cool.”
As all of the attention swivels to Viv, my focus is on Rachel. She seems to shrink into herself, a smile on her face like she’s content to let her friend take the spotlight.
I clear my throat. “Did you want to grab a drink before we head home?”
Rachel and Viv share a loaded look.
“I’m not sure…” Rachel starts, then stops.
“I can be around it without needing to partake,” Viv says. She looks to me. “I’m sober.”
“Logan can give you a ride home,” MacGregor offers, clapping our single teammate on the shoulder.
The man in question winces. “Yeah, totally.”
Oh, good, so I’m not the only one who’s noticed him staring wistfully at MacGregor’s sister. That is a recipe for disaster.
“I can hang out for a little bit,” Viv says, shaking her head. “Thanks, though.”
Easton laughs. “You guys have fun. We’re headed out.”
“See you,” MacGregor says, lifting a hand to wave. “Hailes, you ready?” He wraps his arm around his little sister’s shoulder.
She nods, looking between us and Logan, then to Rachel and Viv. “You’ll take care of them?”
I meet her eyes. “We’re good.”
Satisfied, she lets her brother lead her over to their car. I hook my thumb over my shoulder. “I parked that way.”
“See you there,” Logan announces, a defeated expression on his face. He tucks his hands into his pockets and walks toward his car.
I want to fix this. I want to make it better for him. But even I know that trying to ask out his teammate’s little sister is a bad idea.
My car is a “basic” black SUV—a luxury SUV, that is. Some guys go for the Porsche or Maserati. I’m more than happy with a plain, black Mercedes with all the tech bells and whistles. I’m not a car guy, I just need to get from Point A to Point B. Josh is the one into cars and motors.
I think that’s why I’ve always stayed away from it. Not because I didn’t want to take it away from him—I’d love to take away his toys. More because he’s such a territorial asshole, it wasn’t worth the fight.
And cars are boring to me, to top it off. If I were actually interested, it would be different. Where it counts, I hold my ground.
Rachel slides into the front seat beside me. Her sweet perfume fills the car cabin, settling that itch inside my soul that never really seems to go away. She’s so close—I could just reach across and grab her hand, or set my hand on her knee.
But that would be weird. So I don’t.
Even though I want to.
After we get out of the parking structure, we’re dumped straight into traffic. You’d think an hour after the game, it would have dissipated some. Instead, it seems to have gotten worse.
Once we’re out of the thick of it, it’s a quick ten minute drive to the bar. It’s loud and raucous, and the bouncer lets the three of us in without a second glance. Setting my hand on the smalls of their backs, I lead Rachel and Viv up to the VIP section where we hang out.
“You made it!” Vanessa exclaims when she catches sight of us. She’s wrapped around Larsson, who looks blissfully happy. He was a sad sack when they were fighting earlier this year. I’m glad they’ve patched things up.
To my surprise, Rachel and Viv both give her hugs.
“You… know each other?” I ask cautiously.
“We’re in the same book club,” Rachel explains.
“Imagine my surprise when you added them to the VIP list,” Vanessa teases.
“Another friend, Sadie, her boyfriend works for the team, too,” Viv adds. “And then Ceci… Well, let’s just say, we’re big fans of the team.”
“And yet you didn’t know I played for the team,” I grin at Rachel.
She flushes. “I didn’t realize it was you. It’s a common name.”
“There is another Lewis in the league, he plays for Edmonton,” I tell her. “I get it. You’re, like, totally obsessed with me.”
Rachel snorts out a laugh. “Yeah, okay. Glad to see your ego is still enormous.”
“Among other things.” I waggle my eyebrows at her, and she giggles.
“I need a drink,” she announces. “How do we get drinks?”
“I’ve got it. What do you want?” Vanessa says.
“Just a water,” Rachel says. She turns to Viv. “Same?”
The rugby player nods. “Thanks.”
“I didn’t realize you and Van knew each other,” I say casually. “Imagine, we could have been hanging out all this time.”
“Yeah.” Rachel’s voice is weak. Her eyes dart around the club. “We should sit. Can we sit?”
“I’m going to catch up with Robby,” Viv says, nodding toward our team’s equipment manager.
“You know Andrews?” He used to be a goalie before he blew out his knee, so he’s always kept a bit of distance from me. I can’t imagine sitting on the sidelines and watching someone else do the things I love most.
“He’s friends with my brother,” she says simply. “They played in juniors together.”
I blink. “Who’s your brother?”
She sighs. “Chuck Gallagher.”
“He’s with… Colorado?”
Viv nods.
“So you’re, like, really connected.” My mind is blown. “How have we not met before? I mean, you play for Boston, and your family is in the league, and…”
Viv’s eyes dart to Rachel. “I don’t know.”
Right. Rachel. The whole reason I’m here.
“Let’s sit,” I remember her request, guiding her over to a loveseat sofa and armchair. To my surprise, when I sit down on the couch, she sits right beside me. “You okay?”
“A little overwhelmed,” Rachel admits. “I didn’t expect you and Viv to hit it off so well. I should have, though. You’re both athletes.”
Is it just my imagination, or does she sound bitter?
“Professional networking,” I tell her honestly. “It would be the same if you went to a conference for physicists, right?”
She shrugs. “It’s just… a lot.”
“Moving is a lot. I can’t imagine doing all of that today on top of all of this.” Waving my hand at the crowded bar, I take it all in. “If you’re not used to this…”
“I’m just wound up. I’ll relax,” Rachel says firmly.
“Okay. If you need any help with that, let me know.”
Her eyebrow arches up. “How would you help me relax?”
“I don’t know. Shoulder rub? You could soak in my tub?” I purposefully don’t mention my favorite form of naked stress relief. That would be inappropriate , as she said earlier. This little crush I have on her is going to be extremely inconvenient.
There needs to be boundaries. Just because I want there to be absolutely no barriers between our naked bodies doesn’t mean she feels the same. I can’t make her feel uncomfortable in her new home.
Rachel bites her lip. “Or…”
“Or?” My heart thumps loudly in my chest. She can’t be insinuating what I want her to be. Can she?
“Never mind,” she says, shaking her head.
Before I can second guess myself, I set my hand on her knee. “Or what?”
She takes a deep breath. “There’s another way we could relax,” she says. She sets her hand on top of mine.
My skin prickles where she’s touching me, little pinpricks of electricity flooding my veins as blood rushes to my groin. My heart starts to beat a little faster, and my stomach flutters at the sensation of her soft palm on mine.
“Oh?” My voice cracks.
Rachel still looks nervous. “Can we head back to the apartment?”
“Yes. Absolutely.” I clear my throat. “Your friend, does she need a ride home?”
She pulls out her phone, sending a text. It buzzes a few moments later with a response.
“She’s good. Robby will drive her.”
“Great. Let’s head out.”
As we exit the VIP section, my hand settles on the small of her back. To my surprise, Rachel leans into me, her arm sliding around my waist. My cock jerks in my suit pants at the simple touch.
Okay. So maybe I need to relax, too.