Chapter 21 – Zane
twenty-one
Zane
I pull into the parking garage and see Clive pointing at one of his guys coming from the side. I stop my car right next to him. “Hey, Coach,” he says once I open the door and step out.
“Hey, Clive,” I reply to him, “you’re going to be joining us, right?”
He nods his head. “Sure thing.”
“Good. I can’t wait to meet your wife,” I tell him, and he smiles big as he gets into my SUV and goes to park it.
I walk into the arena and there are people everywhere.
“Hey,” I say, making sure I stop and say hello to everyone.
“Thanks for coming,” I tell them. When I had this idea of doing a Family Day to build community within the team, I had no idea what went into the planning of it.
But Jill took off with my idea and now everyone who is associated with the team has been invited with their family.
Everyone from the kitchen staff to the players are here with their families.
From the last head count, it was three hundred and forty-seven people.
“Hey, Coach,” Eric says from behind me, and I turn to look at him. He walks in with his wife and daughter.
“Hi,” I reply and smile at his daughter, then nod at his wife. “Thank you for coming in on a Saturday night.” She smiles. “I know it’s not often we have Saturday off, and now he still has to come to work.”
“It’s not work,” she counters. “He’s been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks.”
“Good.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “He’s my left hand and sometimes part of my right hand.” He nods his head at me. “I’m going to go and see if Jill needs anything from me.”
“She did mention a weekend at the Four Seasons including spa treatments.” Eric chuckles and I turn to walk out to the back of the arena and out to the tent-covered area.
We were going to do it inside, but there were too many things coming in that it was easier to just do it behind the building, where there is an empty football practice field and we do off-ice drills out there when we can.
I look around to see long picnic tables everywhere. The one thing we did was make sure there were at least enough chairs for everyone, even though we didn’t think everyone would be sitting at the same time.
On the side there are six food trucks all set up to feed us, everything from burgers to tacos to funnel cakes and churros.
There are bouncy houses for the kids and then, I don’t know how Jill did it, but she found some adult bouncy houses too. There is a pit that has two poles you stand up on and you try to knock the other person off with a stick with foam at both ends.
The area is half full as I make it across to the crowd, stopping to thank everyone I see for coming.
I look over to see if Cam is here yet, but I don’t see him.
I see Brad and Ken, who are standing side by side.
“Gentlemen,” I say, holding out my hand.
Ken smirks at me, grabbing my hand and Brad does it just because there could be people looking over at us, and the last thing he wants is negative press.
It’s okay for me to get it, which I’ve been getting on the daily, but not the big man in charge.
“Quite a turnout,” I say, observing everyone.
“Lots of time and energy went into this,” Brad states. “Let’s hope it transfers to the ice.”
“One can hope,” I say, putting my hands in my pockets. “I’m going to go and make sure I see all the guys.”
I don’t bother waiting for him to answer before walking over to some of the rookies who have arrived. “Hey, guys,” I say and shake hands with each of them. “Spread out, yeah, and get to know each other and their families.”
“It’s almost like speed dating,” one of them mentions, and I look down at my shoes to not laugh at him. “You have five minutes to get to know the other person and then, at the end, if you guys have a connection, you write the name on a paper.”
“No,” I immediately shake my head, “this is not like that at all.” The other guys try not to laugh at him. “Everyone here is a part of the team in one way or another. It’s about meeting who is important to them. It’s who you guys play for.”
I look over and my heart stops in my chest. Or maybe it fucking starts, I don’t know, all I know is it’s becoming harder to breathe when she’s around, even if she isn’t right next to me.
My heart knows when she’s even in the fucking room.
It’s like my body has Victoria radar built into it, and it comes alive when she’s around.
I take her in, her hair flipped to the side reminding me of the mark I left on her, and I see her eyes light up as she points to the side talking to Jagger, who is in Jaxon’s arms. “I’ll be back,” I say to the guys. “Mingle.” I point to the people.
I zigzag my way through the crowd toward Jaxon, and I’m telling myself it’s the polite thing to do to greet my captain, but the reality is I want to see her.
It’s been two weeks since I last saw her, and every single day for the past two weeks I’ve had the intense desire to text her.
Every fucking night, without fail, no matter where I was, if I was home or on the road.
I would settle down and my heart would feel like it was being crushed when I thought of her about how I wished she was next to me so we could end our day together.
“Hey,” I say once I get to them, and she turns and looks at me. Her blue-gray eyes are flickering. “Thank you for coming.”
“This is great,” Ariella compliments.
“I heard some of the planning,” Jaxon says, looking around, “but this is—”
“It’s all Jill.” I motion to Jill, who is going around taking pictures. “I gave her an idea and she ran with it.”
“Ball,” Jagger says, pointing over to the ball pit.
“Well, that is where we will live for the next hour,” Ariella deadpans.
“I’ll take him,” Victoria volunteers. “You guys do your thing.” She holds her hands out for Jagger. “You want to come with Auntie TT to see the balls?” she asks and he lunges into her arms. “Yeah, who’s your favorite?” She smiles at him.
“TT,” Jagger babbles.
“You all heard him say it,” she jokes with us before she turns and walks away. I watch her for longer than I should, then Kirby and Knox arrive with Lexi and Kylie.
I spend the next forty-five minutes making sure I see all the guys who are there.
Looking her way every single chance I get to make sure she is still around.
I still don’t see Cam anywhere. Then I see her walking across the field by herself, going inside.
My feet are moving before I can stop them.
At this point, I’m just torturing myself but it’s a torture, apparently, I can’t stay away from.
I step into the hallway a couple of seconds after her.
The halls are quiet compared to outside, where it is filled with yelling and laughing.
Kids are chasing other kids, while the picnic tables are filled with people mingling with each other.
It’s exactly what I had in my mind when I brought it up.
No one is talking the game, no one is concentrating on the stress of the press.
It’s just a company party, families mingling.
I’m walking past my office when she turns around, hearing my steps probably. “Jaxon said I could use the bathroom inside,” she explains, pointing over her shoulder. “I just can’t find it.”
“You can use mine.” I point to my office, and she looks at me and then at the door. “It’s right in there.”
“I could use the public one,” she offers nervously, her head moves side to side as her eyes try to find a sign.
“It’s not that big of a deal,” I assure her and hold out my hand for her to walk into my office. “It’s the door on the right.”
“How many doors are in one office?” she jokes over her shoulder, looking at me as she walks into the bathroom and closes the door behind her. I stand in my office and look up at the ceiling.
“Leave,” I tell myself. “Just walk out and leave her be.”
I put my hands on my hips, waiting for my feet to follow my head’s advice.
The door opens and she steps out. “You didn’t have to wait for me,” she says, looking around.
“I wasn’t going to defile your office,” she jokes as she looks around.
“Though it could use some defiling, it looks very”—she turns her face back to me—“sterile.”
I put my hands in my pockets and look down, chuckling. “It is.” I shrug. “I don’t know if it’s on purpose, or if I think it’ll be easier to clean up if they fire me.” My eyes stay fixated on her as she looks around.
She laughs. “I mean, talk about a glass half empty.” Her laugh stops when she looks back at me. “I didn’t mean—”
“It’s not that,” I say, shaking my head. “It’s your laugh.”
“What about it?” she asks me.
“It’s just…” I look down exhaling, my heart rate kicking up a million notches because I’m standing in front of her, and for the first time in I don’t know how long, all I want to do is jump off this fucking cliff with her.
For the first time in my life, work isn’t enough for me anymore.
For the first time in my life, all that matters is this fucking moment and what I do with it.
I lick my lips, fighting it until I can’t anymore.
“Fuck this,” I swear and then my hands are in her hair and I’m gripping her head.
“I can’t stay away anymore.” That’s the last thing I say before my mouth crashes down on hers.
Her breath hitches, giving me the perfect opportunity for my tongue to slide into her mouth.
My other hand comes up to hold the other side of her face.
I feel her fingers at the side of my neck.
I kiss her like it’s the last time I’ll ever kiss her.
I kiss her like I’ve wanted to kiss her each and every single time I’ve seen her and not been able to.
I kiss her as if my fucking life depends on it.
The hand on the side of her face moves to wrap around her waist and I pull her to me.