3. Romeo
3
Romeo
M y body was still sore from the game in Philly two days ago as I was walking into a practice that they promised would be light. I got out of my Jeep, a little stiff as I walked to our practice rink with a protein shake and my bag.
A few guys had arrived early like me. Cap was walking ahead of me with Riggs, and I had the urge to throw my protein shake at him for being such an insufferable asshole. I got enough shit at home about my performance from my father. The last thing I needed was to get it from my teammates. I realized my game had been off, playing for the big leagues was not what I had expected and the pace was so very different. I was not prepared for this, even though I thought I was.
As I got closer to the entrance, I spotted our social media manager, Valencia, with her camera out and a notepad. She smiled at Webber, who I know was sweet talking her, and I was glad I got to admire her without interruption. Valencia was fucking gorgeous. She was hot from her dark curly hair with blue tips, her hazel eyes that spoke volumes even when she was silent to that body. She was curvy, with thick thighs, and a nice round ass that I’d love to bite into.
Her laugh pulled me out of my fantasy as I saw her looking at Riggs with appreciation. A scoff left my lips before I could stop it. It was loud enough that Riggs turned around, raising his eyebrow in question and I looked away before I said or did something stupid.
“Hey, Gomez!” Valencia turned her gaze to me.
“Hey, Florida,” I said, giving her my best smile. “How are you this morning?”
“I’m great! Well… so I need a favor,” she said, looking nervous between Cap, Riggs, me and whoever was behind me.
“What can I do?” I asked, feeling a little disappointed that she wasn’t just asking me for the favor.
“I know next weekend you have a day off, but I was hoping you guys could help me out for a few hours,” she said quickly. “The local kids hospital wants to do a Trunk or Treat, but instead of transporting the kids, we are bringing local players to them, since a lot of them can’t really leave.”
“I’m in,” I said immediately.
“Really?!” Her face lit up.
“Yeah, I’d love to help out,” I said honestly, because it was one of my favorite things to do even when I was in the minor leagues. Giving back to those kids always held a special place in my heart.
“If it's only a few hours I can make it work,” Webber said behind me. “My best friend is coming into town, but I think I can figure it out.”
“You can bring your friend,” Valencia said.
“Can I bring Denny?” Cap asked.
“Of course!” she said as she smiled. “I’m sure the kids would love to hang out with other kids. The more people the better.”
“You should ask Thomson, he could bring the girls,” Cap suggested. “Or I can ask.”
“Whatever you think will work,” she said, writing something down. “The other social media managers and I are trying to get as many professionals to come out that day. It will be good PR and it will make those kids so happy. I’m also trying to get some hockey cards and some t-shirts, so maybe a few of you can sign some too.”
Valencia was glowing as she talked about her ideas and what she and the other managers wanted to do.
“I can do it too,” Hunter said, and we all looked at him in varying degrees of shock.
“Seriously, Hunter?” Valencia squealed, launching herself at him and he caught her.
A small smirk formed on his lips as he looked at me like he was taunting me.
“Yeah, I’d love to help,” he said, as she pulled back.
“You guys are amazing,” she said, writing something else in her notebook. “I will make sure you get all the details in the next couple of days.”
She looked up, giving me that gorgeous smile.
“Anytime,” I said smiling, before I went into the arena.
“I don’t think you said yes fast enough,” Webber teased.
I rolled my eyes because I knew I was going to get shit.
“I mean, I could have just said yes before she let us know what it was, but I got more sense than that,” I said, trying to play it off.
“You two need to cool it on Florida,” Cap said, his voice stern as he looked between Riggs and me.
“The kids have no shot with her,” Riggs said, as we made it to the locker room.
“Hey boomer, she has no interest in you,” I snapped, getting tired of his shit. “I’m sure she’d like someone who doesn’t think Myspace was the best.”
“At least we were born in the same decade,” he growled. “So get your teeny bopper ass out of the way.”
“Teeny Bopper? Don’t show your age, grandpa,” I sneered, walking to my locker.
“I’m sure this grandpa can run circles around you, kid,” he laughed. “I might be old, but that comes with experience and women sure do love experience.”
“You think I don’t have experience, I could?—”
“All right!” Cap yelled. “Can you focus on practice and actually working together instead of being assholes?”
Riggs and I glared at each other before we looked away. I took a couple of deep breaths, hating that we were like this. If he didn’t have such a big stick up his ass, he might even be cool, but Hunter Riggs only cared about one thing. Himself.
I threw my gloves into my locker, pissed at the outcome of the game. They slaughtered us and while I didn’t play great, all of us were off. It was embarrassing.
“What the fuck what that?!” head coach, Trevino, yelled. “I was going to give you tomorrow off, but now all of you will come back tomorrow at nine am because this is bullshit! We have gone through plays; we've executed them and practiced them repeatedly. My ten-year-old daughter can slapshot better than some of you.”
He threw his papers on the floor, red in the face. Shame hit me, because I knew he was talking about me and Webber. Even Riggs was off tonight.
“Tomorrow its back to the basics and we aren’t leaving the ice until I can see a fucking hockey team. I don’t give a shit if it takes all day,” he yelled, walking away.
“You guys are great players, we see your talent, or you wouldn’t be here, but we are a team. We all need to play well for us to succeed,” Coach Graves said.
He left, leaving us in silence. No one moved or said anything, most of us were probably embarrassed.
“Being on a new team is hard and it's even worse that all of us are new,” Cap said. “We need to leave everything off the ice, and we need to learn to trust each other. Go home, rest and be ready for a hard day tomorrow. I know we can make this work.”
The coach's words made me feel uncomfortable, but Cap's words made me feel embarrassed. I quickly changed gears, thinking about the entire game as I grabbed my towel and headed for the showers.
“Gomez! Ice bath!” one of the trainers yelled, and I groaned.
I didn’t want one, but from the body check I had received, it was probably a good idea. Rinsing off quickly, I dried off before getting a pair of my trunks. The locker room was somber as I walked across it to the medical area.
“Hunter, if this keeps up, you're going to need to see the doctor and get an MRI,” one of the trainers said.
“I’m fine I…”
“Hunter, don’t minimize your pain,” the doctor said to him.
“I’m not, it hasn’t been bad,” Hunter said, wincing when he rotated his arm.
“I still want an MRI,” the doctor said. “You need to quit body checking with this shoulder.”
“Seriously, doc? You think I can be like oh, hold up, let me skate on your other side so I don’t hurt myself,” he said sarcastically.
“Come on, Gomez, five minutes,” the trainer said, pointing to the ice bath.
I stopped myself from groaning as I stepped over the edge, plunging myself in quickly and closing my eyes. A thousand pinpricks hit my body at the same time. The pain was excruciating at first, and then numbness seeped in. I heard someone get into the tub next to me, but I didn’t bother to open my eyes.
The mental and physical exhaustion was hitting me. Since the day I had been signed, it was like everything had been on fast forward and all I wanted to do was have a day to catch up.
“Gomez! Out!”
I flinched at the voice, opening my eyes, feeling so exhausted. My body felt sluggish and I just wanted to lay down somewhere and sleep. Taking a deep breath, I got out of the tub and I realized my teeth were chattering. I looked up to see who was next to me and Riggs was looking at me with an impassive expression.
His hazel eyes looked me up and down, blatantly checking me out. My cheeks heated from his gaze and when we locked eyes, I felt a warm pool of arousal in my stomach reminding me of also checking him out. There was no doubt Hunter Riggs was handsome, but I had never looked at a man the way I looked at him. No one had ever been as attractive as he was.
He was making me feel things that I had never felt before, and I pictured what it would be like to kiss him. His lips were full, his scowl was sexy and I wondered what it would feel like to have his beard rub against my cheek. Blood rushed down to my groin and before he or anyone noticed me getting hard in my shorts, I looked away and walked quickly to my locker.
I had no idea what the hell was happening or what my body thought it liked, but there was no way in hell I would do anything with Riggs. He was a pain in my ass, constantly bitching about everything and some days I knew we just wanted to kick each other's ass.
Yes, that's what it was, the tension we had earlier wasn’t sexual, it was “I want to hurt you because you are insufferable”. I showered and changed quickly, needing to get out of here before he came back. I grabbed my bag, said my goodbyes to the remaining guys and walked out of the locker room wondering if I should just book it to my car.
I turned the corner seeing a head of curls, stopping myself before I ran into Valencia. She yelled, almost losing her balance, but I caught her by the waist pulling her against me to steady her.
“Geez, Gomez, you scared the shit out of me,” she said, looking up at me through thick eyelashes.
My body responded instantly to her, and I welcomed it. Now this reaction was better, it soothed some part of me that was still frazzled from whatever my brain was thinking about Hunter.
“Sorry, Florida,” I said, enjoying her curvy body. “I’m just in a rush to get home, we have practice tomorrow.”
She grimaced. “Damn, I’m sorry.”
“It's a part of the job,” I shrugged.
“Well, go get some rest.” She patted my chest, and her eyes slightly widened. “Night, Gomez.”
Her cheeks turned pink as she gave me a small smile and walked away. I watched her hips sway side to side. The movement mesmerized me and this attraction was familiar. I don’t know what the hell that was with Riggs, but I didn’t want to find out. I hated Riggs and that was the only emotion I was going to feel toward him.