17. Kiley #2
“About time you came to a game,” Jax responds before letting him go. He turns to me, and I give him a hesitant smile as memories from Christmas rush through me. An overwhelming urge hits me, wishing he would hug me like he did my dad, but then that wouldn’t be very professional.
And we’re only going to be professional around Jax. No emotions for him whatsoever.
“Thanks again, Jax, and thanks for these as well.” I indicate to my jersey that I’m carrying.
He glances at Zander and my dad before frowning at me. “Why aren’t you wearing it?”
I’m confused by how disturbed he looks. “I had my hands full and figured I would put it on later.”
He motions for me to give him my bag and jersey. I slowly hand them over. “Now take off your coat so you can put it on.”
His commanding tone makes me blush, and I can’t stop my thoughts from wondering if he’s like this in the bedroom. I glance at Brayden, who has a smirk on his face, and then at my dad. He’s studying Jax intensely, and I can’t read what he’s thinking.
“Okay,” I mutter while taking off my coat. It’s embarrassing having everyone watch me, so I quickly put the jersey on and straighten it out. “There. Are you satisfied now?” I tease because the silence is killing me.
His gaze trails up my body and with a slow, sexy smile, he says, “Very.”
Not very professional whatsoever.
My face feels like it’s been lit on fire, and there’s no way I’m looking at my dad until I can calm down. Jax gives me back my things, and I mumble, “Thank you.”
He claps his hands together. “Now I can say all three of you look amazing.” He glances at his watch and puts his hands down. “Unfortunately, I need to finish getting ready for warm-ups. Will I see you guys down at the glass?”
I give him a questioning look. “For what?”
He chuckles. “Sorry, I forgot that you aren’t hockey educated. It’s tradition for kids and families to go down to the glass to watch the players warm-up. Chloe and my family will be down there.”
“Sure,” I answer hesitantly. “But I don’t even remember how we got here, let alone how I’m going to figure out how to get to the appropriate place for that.” Brayden and Jax laugh while I shrug, amused that they think I’m funny when I was being dead serious.
“Looks like I’m babysitting you tonight,” Brayden jokes. “I’ll make sure to get you to warm-ups and back up to your suite.”
“Where do we need to go after the game?” My dad asks, and that’s a great question I hadn’t even thought of.
“Just follow Chloe back down here. She knows where she’s going.”
“I have a feeling I’ll be following Chloe around here for the next five months.” This arena is massive, and I feel completely lost being down in this secret backstage area.
Jax smiles at me and holds out his fist to Zander. “See you later, Zan-Man.”
“Good luck, Jax,” I tell him, hoping that’s the appropriate thing to say because I know in musical theater, it isn’t.
“Thanks. See you guys later.” He waves and walks out to leave. I watch him as he exits and stare a little too long, because when I glance back, my dad is watching me.
“So, I have one more room left to show you that might become a particular favorite of Zander’s,” Brayden tells us before looking at Zander. “You ready to see what it is?”
Zander’s eyes light up in excitement. He grabs my hand and starts pulling me toward the door. We follow Brayden out and across the hall.
“Are you ready to see the coolest room in the whole entire arena, Zander?” Brayden asks as we stop in front of another door.
Zander nods, and Brayden slowly eases the door open. Zander’s eyes widen as we walk in. “This is the best room ever,” he whispers in awe.
The room is the kids’ lounge, and it has multiple televisions, toys and a huge spiral slide that starts at the top of the ceiling. A young woman is inside putting books away and turns around and smiles at us.
“Let me introduce you all to Erin, one of our caretakers in the kids’ lounge.” Brayden makes the introductions and turns to me. “The kids’ lounge is open thirty minutes before the start of the game, and kids can stay in here until their parents pick them up after the game.”
“Is it common for most kids to stay in here for the whole game?” I ask.
Erin shakes her head. “No, most parents pull them out for at least one period. Depends on the child’s age. The younger ones stay here the longest.”
“What do you think, Zander? Do you like this place?” my dad asks.
Zander only nods, his gaze fixed on that slide, and I know he’s wishing he can go down it. “If it’s okay with Miss Erin, then it’s okay with me if you want to test out the slide,” I tell him.
He gives Erin a hopeful look, and she laughs. “Of course he can go down the slide.”
Zander bolts for the stairs and climbs up to reach the top. He slides down laughing, a permanent smile on his face as he races up to climb the stairs to slide down again. We let him go down a couple more times before saying goodbye to Erin.
“Can we go back there later?” Zander asks as we follow Brayden into an elevator that will take us up to the main level of the arena.
“Yes, we can go back later,” I assure him just as the elevators open to the main concourse of the arena.
“Your normal seats are in section 112, which is where most of the player season tickets are unless a player bought a suite,” Brayden tells us while we walk toward that section. “Tonight you’re in a suite due to Jax needing more tickets together for us to accommodate.”
The change in temperature is pretty drastic when we leave the comfort of the concourse and step into the seating bowl of the arena.
A blast of chilly air makes me shiver, and I stop short to take in the view of the ice.
I’ve occasionally watched hockey games on television before, but in person, the ice is almost hypnotizing with how bright it is.
A crowd of people have gathered against the glass boards on each end of the ice.
We walk down toward the glass, and I see Chloe at the end of the stairway with an older looking couple that I’m assuming are Jax’s parents. They’re all wearing Morrow jerseys.
“Morrows, meet the woman who’s going to be taking the best care of your granddaughter,” Brayden states in a greeting, and everyone turns around.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Brayden,” I tell him before looking at Jax’s parents. “Hi, I’m Kiley O’Shea, and this is my father, Killian, and son, Zander.”
“It’s so nice to meet you, Kiley,” Jax’s father, Dan, says while shaking my hand. “Killian, we’ve been dying to meet you. We’re so grateful to you for being a father-figure to our son when he’s here in Chicago.”
My dad’s cheeks get rosy with the compliment. “Aye, it’s nothing. He’s a good man. You’ve raised him well. It’s my honor for him to befriend an old man like me.”
“We were so worried about him during you know… the breakup. It truly meant the world to us knowing he had you here,” Jackie Morrow tells my dad. She turns to a young woman standing next to her who resembles Jax. “This is Jax’s sister, Marcie.”
“So nice to meet you, Marcie. You live in Vancouver, right?” I ask because I vaguely remember Jax telling us that she does.
“Yes, have you ever been?”
I shake my head. “Sadly, I haven’t been to Canada yet, despite it being so close.”
Dan scoffs. “Well, we need to change that! Maybe you and your whole family can come out this summer.”
“Look, there’s Dad!” Chloe exclaims, interrupting our conversation.
My eyes widen as he skates towards us. Jax looks like a force to be reckoned with in his pads and skates.
He stops at the glass and bumps it with his glove where the Morrows placed their hands.
He looks past them at Dad, Zander and me, and his smile widens, making my stomach flutter with how hot he looks in his hockey gear. He waves at us and then skates away.
Dan explains to us what happens during warm-ups, but I’m barely paying attention.
Jax has me completely hypnotized watching him take shots on goal, chatting with his teammates and laughing.
He does a lot of laughing and I can see that being on the ice is his happy place.
He skates by us a couple more times, and when he does, he taps his stick against the glass where we’re standing.
“We should probably leave so other kids have a chance to watch the guys,” Dan suggests. “Brayden, we’re ready to go to the suite.”
We let the Morrows go in front of us to follow Brayden. As we start climbing the stairs, I turn around to get one more look at Jax and notice he’s watching us. I give him a little wave and he nods.
We follow Brayden up the escalator to the suite level.
After a couple of moments, he stops in front of one of the suite doors and opens it.
I’ve never sat inside a suite for a professional sporting event before, and I marvel at the view.
We are behind the player’s benches, just left of center ice, but we can see both sides of the ice from up here.
Zander, in his excitement, goes all the way in and to the front row of the seats.
My dad and I follow, and we stand in awe, taking it all in.
“This is so cool,” Zander jumps open and down in excitement.
The players have left the ice, and the Zamboni is taking one more spin around before the game starts.
“There’s food and drinks up by the bar area, and there’s a bathroom inside this suite.
” Brayden comes up and stands next to us.
“Zander, see that box all the way up to the ceiling?” Brayden points to a suite across from us, where a couple of men are sitting down.
“That’s where I’ll be during some of the hockey game, and then I’ll be right by the player’s bench. ”
“Is that where Jax sits?” Zander asks Brayden, pointing to the player’s bench down on the ice.