Chapter 24 – Kirby
twenty-four
Kirby
“Okay, everybody,” Martin, the coach, says, coming into the room.
He’s wearing his usual tracksuit with a whistle around his neck, swinging back and forth.
“I want you guys all to rest up.” He looks over at all of us.
“We leave tomorrow on a five-day road trip.” Half of us groan, while the other half snickers.
The rookies look at each other as if they found their favorite toy under the tree at Christmas.
Little do they know that their look will slowly fade as we get later in the season.
It’s all fun and games traveling at first, having a girl in every city and parties to go to, but it quickly becomes old.
When you get to be my age and you’ve played as long as I have, those days away from home are the most dreaded of all the season.
“We are spending Saturday night in Vegas.”
“Coach, are we going to have a curfew?” One of the rookies, Owen, puts up his hand stupidly, and half of the old guys just look over at him, giving him a glare.
“We leave the next day at eleven,” the coach replies. “Anyone who throws up on that plane signs the whole team up for skating practice that night and the next morning.”
“If any of you fuckers,” Knox warns, “even think about getting shit-faced and throwing up, I will personally kick your ass.” He looks at all the young kids.
“Got it,” Owen confirms. “Go out, but don’t drink.”
The coach just shakes his head. “No one wants to skate after a six-hour flight.” Knox stares at Owen. “Especially not me.” He shares a nod with him. “You get me?”
“Got you, Coach,” Owen says, “loud and clear.”
“Jaxon,” Coach snaps his name. “Kirby,” he says my name right after.
“It’s your turn to babysit.”
I look over at Jaxon, who puts his head back and closes his eyes.
“I might sleep the whole time we aren’t on the ice,” he mumbles, making everyone laugh, and then his look goes to Owen.
“If you guys make me skate, you also get to babysit Jagger through the night.” He points at them.
“And news flash, he’s teething, so he likes to be up all night and he does all of this wailing.
” He makes sure he makes eye contact with all of us.
“So keep that in mind if you want to pick up that drink.”
“See you all tomorrow,” Coach says, turning and walking out, followed by the rest of the coaching staff.
“Listen up,” I say, leaning forward and looking at Owen and his crew, “if you think I’m going to babysit you guys in Vegas on a Saturday night, you are mistaken.
There is nothing more torturous than weaving through the mounds of drunk people.
So, you guys are going to get dinner after the game that ends at five, and then you are going to sit in your fucking hotel room until we leave the next day.
” Owen stares at me. “Are we clear?” They nod and share a look before they get up and head to the shower.
“You think they are going to listen?” Jaxon asks and I shake my head.
“Nope,” he replies, “and I think it’s a fifty-fifty chance we have practice on Sunday night.” I get up and take off my practice jersey, tossing it in the big gray bin in the middle of the room. The away bag is already open at my feet for me to put my things in it.
“I hope Ariella will be okay,” he says softly.
“First time I’m gone and she’s by herself since Lexi moved out.
” I try not to look over at him when he says her name.
Instead, I pull the Velcro off my chest protector from the right and then the left, tossing it into the bag.
“So you hired Lexi?” Jaxon asks me. I look over at him, seeing him still sitting down in his gear, a protein shake in his hand.
“Yeah,” I answer, sitting down and finally taking off the skates I untied as soon as I sat down. “She applied for the job.”
“She has no job experience.” I look over at him as I place one skate in the bag.
“What are you saying?” I will not play this guessing game with him. “If you want to ask me something, then ask me.”
“You two…” He puts his drink beside him and all I can do is look at him.
The whole locker room is filled with noise from different conversations going on all around us, but it feels like it’s just the two of us.
“You guys acted like you knew each other more than just meeting for the second time when you had dinner at our house.”
“Yeah,” I say and take off the other skate, and I know he’s waiting for more. “We”—I place the skate in the bag—“ran into each other in Phoenix.” His eyebrows shoot up like he was not expecting that answer. “She was doing a fundraiser at the hospital I volunteer at.”
“No way.” He takes off his own skate now and places it in the bag in front of him. “So you met her husband?”
“Oh yeah.” I nod, the lump in my throat getting bigger as I think about him.
“Is he as big of a piece of shit as I think he is?”
“Even bigger,” I confirm, taking off my hockey pants.
“Listen,” I say, stopping the conversation when it comes to Lexi, “I don’t want to sit around and talk about her and her life back there.
I won’t do it. You’re my best friend and I love you like a brother and would fight right next to you, but I can’t.
” I shake my head before tossing my pants in the bag.
“I am not going to talk about her or her dickhead of an ex.”
“Wow,” he says, chuckling, “so Ariella was right.” He gets up and folds his arm backward to grab the back of his jersey. “There is definitely something going on between you two.”
“I can confirm that,” I start, pushing down the lump that is growing in my throat, “that is not true. She works for me and I’m her friend. It’s nothing more.” I leave out the word sadly, because I’m fucking sad it’s not more. But I also have to respect her wishes.
“I’m happy she has you at least,” he states, shocking the shit out of me. “I didn’t know her that well when all of that was going on, but knowing her now and seeing how amazing she is, I’d love to meet her ex…with my fist in his face.”
“Trust me”—I shake my head—“he’s not worth it.” I toss my shin pads in the bag. “People like him feed off attention of other people. The more you ignore him, that’s what really gets him.” I stop talking because just the thought of him makes my blood boil.
I finish my shower, getting dressed in my black joggers with matching black T-shirt before putting on one of the team sweaters with the logo in the middle of it, my number seventy-seven on the upper left side.
I get into the SUV and pull out of the parking lot, the garage door opening as soon as I drive up the ramp.
I pull out and look over at the center console, seeing it’s just after one in the afternoon.
I stop by and pick up lunch before heading to the office.
I take the brown bag off the passenger seat before reaching into the back seat and taking out the blue bag with white handles and a white ribbon on it and shutting the door with my hip.
I look and see that Lexi’s SUV is here and then see the space beside her empty.
Kylie told me she would be working from home today, but I wasn’t sure if things had changed.
I press the elevator button and bounce on my feet, waiting for the doors to open.
It’s been four days since I last saw Lexi, and four days that I’ve done nothing but tell myself this is the way it’s going to be until she makes a move.
The doors open and I step in, pressing the button and then stepping back.
A couple of people get on when I get to the lobby floor, and by the time I get to my floor, I’m the only one left.
I take a deep inhale when I open the door and step in, hearing soft music coming from her office.
“Hello,” I call out and then hear the music stop before she sticks her head out of the doorway.
My heart speeds up for a whole different reason when I see her face.
The tightness of my chest comes on full force now; it’s a tightness I’m getting lately whenever I think of her and not having her.
“Hey,” I say and a smile now fills her face.
Her blue eyes light up and then she comes into the room and my eyes stupidly give her the once up and down.
My cock springs to action the minute I see her legs in that charcoal miniskirt she’s wearing.
It hugs her hips perfectly and looks like it’s been folded over.
It’s total class, just like her, and the black silk button-down shirt she is wearing is tucked in and the sleeves have these big cuffs that are tied to make the sleeves puff out.
“This is a surprise.” She steps closer to me and then her scent hits me and my cock becomes even harder. I’m thankful I wore track pants and not jeans.
“I brought lunch,” I mention, holding up the bag, “and I got you something.” I hold up the other bag.
“Kirby,” she says my name softly, just like she said it that night when I slipped into her from behind. When she was on her stomach, I lifted her hips a bit and then slid in. “That was not necessary.”
“The lunch or the gift?” I try to joke with her and she chuckles.
“Both, I think.” She shakes her head. “Kylie isn’t here.”
“Oh, really?” I look over at her office and see that it’s dark. “I thought she was.”
“You’re lying.” She calls me on it right away.
“Okay, fine, I knew she was working from home,” I admit, walking over to the couch and tossing the food bag on the table, “but I’m leaving for five days and I won’t be here for the Monday morning meeting.” I put the other bag down on the table. “So, I thought we could talk about your first week.”
She comes over and sits on the couch, leaning forward. “Okay, all valid points.” She reaches for the blue bag. “But the gift?”
“It’s a welcome-to-the-team gift,” I tell her, sitting next to her but not too close.
She pulls the white ribbon off and then puts it gently to the side.
I look at her beauty and I want so badly to put my hand on her leg, but I want more to put my arm around her shoulders, pulling her to me.
Just to kiss her softly and have her next to me. I would be happy with just that.
She takes out the white tissue paper and then unwraps the gift, laughing when she turns it over.
“It’s a gift that even Kylie will like,” I say when she shakes her head and turns it to face me.
It’s a mug that has the picture we took from the ride.
“She saw the picture when she came over two nights ago,” I fill her in, “and she took a photo of it with her phone.” I shake my head.
“I think she even called and asked if they did live shots.”
“She did,” Lexi says, putting down the cup. “On Monday, after you left, she asked me if you yelled for your life.”
“Anyway, it’s a gift that you can both use, I guess.” I put my hand on the back of the couch instead of around her shoulders.
“No way,” she declares, picking the cup up again, “this is mine. If she wants one, she needs to find out what you want and barter for it.”
“Don’t give her any ideas,” I tell her, leaning forward and opening the bag of food. “I didn’t know if you had eaten,” I mention, handing her one of the wrapped burgers, “so I brought lunch since I just left practice.”
“I actually haven’t stopped.” She reaches for the burger and our fingers graze each other and both of us stop moving. Her eyes fly up to mine to see if I’m as affected as she is. The moment lasts maybe two seconds before she is the first to move away. “Thank you.”
She folds one of her legs under the other before opening the wrapper and taking a bite. “Wow,” she says mid-chew, “this might be the best burger I’ve ever had.”
“Yeah,” I agree, grabbing my own. “It’s a small spot that only the local people know about.
They use all fresh ingredients, which is why their burgers are more expensive than others, but you can taste the freshness.
” I bite my own piece. “So tell me about this week,” I urge, wanting to know everything she’s done, and not just at work.
“Hold that thought.” She puts the burger down and gets up and walks to her office, and I make the mistake of watching her ass swing side to side and my cock literally groans.
“Yeah, I know, buddy.” I look down. “Trust me, I’m in pain more than you are.”
“Did you say something?” She comes back out of her office with two bottles of water, handing me one.
“I said I think they forgot to put bacon on mine.” I look down at the burger, seeing the bacon clear as day. “Nope, it’s there.”
She comes back to sit next to me. “Like I was saying, I spent the last two days looking at local churches.”
“Churches?” I ask her, confused.
“Yes, they are the first place people go to for help,” she explains something I didn’t even think about.
“Strangely enough, my therapist gave me the idea.” I want to know everything about her.
I want to know all of the things. The need to ask her everything is at the tip of my tongue, but I’m respecting her and her boundaries.
So, if she is going to give me anything, it’ll be her play.
“Anyway, I reached out to about twenty-five of them”—she grabs her burger—“and told them about us and what we are planning to do. Some were skeptical, which is only normal since we haven’t been open long, but a good chunk of them have already responded to my email. ”
“What are your next steps?” I ask her.
“The next step is to reach out to some of the local shelters before hitting up the hospitals.” She takes a bite of her burger. “Then we check and see how my lists are.”
“Well, it looks like you have everything under control”—I smirk at her—“just like I knew you would.”
We finish eating, then I stand up and she stands up with me.
Standing at the same time, very close to me, so close I can’t help myself.
“I miss you,” I say softly and she looks up at me, her eyes looking at me the exact way she did on Saturday night, full of wanting and need, “so fucking much.” I step in an inch, just to be closer to her.
“But I understand why we’re doing this.” She turns to face me, our chests almost touching, and if I squatted down and leaned in even a little, my lips would be on hers.
My heart speeds up, my fingers move to touch her, and my body aches with the need to hold her.
“I’ll see you next week.” I turn and walk out of the door before I do something I’ll regret and lose her forever.