18. Jax #2
I wait impatiently until the one-minute mark and decide to get on the ice early.
I skate along the boards until I finally see Chloe and Zander at the glass with Kiley behind them.
I stop right in front of them and smile.
I throw over two pucks for the kids, and Kiley is able to catch both of them.
She hands them to Chloe and Zander, who’s doing his signature bounce because he’s excited.
Chloe puts her hand on the glass and tells Zander to do the same.
I bump my glove where their hands are, and then my eyes connect with Kiley’s.
Before I remind myself to be professional, I nod at her to put her hand against the glass as well.
She immediately understands what I’m referring to, leans in between the kids and places her hand on the glass. I smile and touch it with my glove.
I blow Chloe a kiss and tell them, “See you later,” as loud as I can before skating off.
“Awe, what a cute little new family you have over there,” Harry skates up next to me and gives me a playful shoulder bump.
“Fuck off,” I growl, wishing he didn’t see what I just did.
“It’s okay to like her, Jax. Just don’t wait for someone else to steal her away because you’re too chicken shit to play for love.”
I glare at him before skating away, not wanting to hear his unsolicited advice about my personal life.
I try to get in the zone for warm-ups, but my gaze keeps going back to Kiley and the kids.
The three of them look adorable together as they watch the players skate around.
The rest of the guys and I line up to shoot the puck at Joey, who’s our goaltender for tonight.
I focus on the puck when it’s my turn and try to tune the crowd out, but I’m failing, knowing they are right there, watching me.
I see Chloe turn around and say something to Kiley, making her nod.
They wave at me, and Chloe shoots me a thumbs up before they leave to go to their seats.
Tonight they’re sitting in my regular seats and I’m curious as to how the other wives and girlfriends will treat Kiley.
A lot of the significant others have gone to O’Shea’s, so some of them will recognize her.
For the most part, it’s a nice group of women, but there are some wives and girlfriends who can be rather bitchy and standoffish.
The sound of the horn blares through the speakers, indicating warm-ups are now complete and we skate back to the tunnel. Now that I know Kiley and the kids are here safe and sound, I can fully focus on the game.
The first twenty minutes of the game breezed by, with each team playing well defensively. During the first intermission, I change out some of my equipment, and one of the assistant coaches and I discuss some of the other team’s holes in their defense that we need to capitalize on.
The second period brought a swarm of activity in front of our net and unfortunately, one slipped past our goaltender’s pads. During our second intermission, Coach Donovan discussed what we did right and what we did wrong.
Finally, something clicks for us in the last twenty minutes.
We catch the other team in a line change, and Easton and I were able to score off of a two-on-one situation early in the third period.
That tied the game up, and it stayed that way until the last two minutes of play, where Hutch scored a beauty of a goal with a slap shot from the face-off circle to win the game for us.
Once the game was over and the coaches were done with their post-game pep talk, I showered and got dressed as fast as I could to go find Kiley and the kids.
After saying hello to people along the way, I find them inside the family room.
Kiley’s sitting on the couch, holding a sleeping Zander, and Chloe is sitting next to her, watching television.
“Hey,” I softly greet in order not to wake up Zander. “You guys ready to go?”
“Great game, Dad!” Chloe jumps up from the couch and gives me a hug. “Congrats on the assist.”
“Thanks, honey.” I kiss the top of her head and look at Kiley. “How long has he been out?”
“Only for about twenty minutes. That game was so exciting that he crashed from the adrenaline rush as soon as it was over. I can’t blame him; I was on the edge of my seat that last period.” She adjusts Zander in her arms and slowly rises.
I untangle my arm from around Chloe and reach to take Zander. “Here, let me carry him to your car, Kiley.”
“I can handle him,” she assures me, but I don’t want her hurting herself, especially in those high-heeled boots.
“Kiley, for once accept some help and let me take him.” My gaze silently pleads with her to accept, and after a moment, she does and hands him over to me.
Zander opens his eyes in the transition and gives me a sleepy smile. “Hi, Jax,” he mumbles, and once he’s adjusted in my arms, he goes right back to sleep. I hug the little guy tight and realize I’ve missed having a kid this age.
“Since my car is closer, let’s pile in and I will drive us to yours so you don’t have to walk in the cold,” I advise Kiley, who doesn’t argue this time. I ignore the looks I’m getting from some of my teammates and their significant others, who say hi to us on our way out.
The players have underground parking inside the arena, so it only takes us a few minutes to get to my car.
I unlock the doors with my key fob and have Kiley get into the car first, and then I hand her Zander once she’s settled into her seat.
Chloe gets in the back, and I race around the front to get in and start the engine.
It takes us less than five minutes to get to her car.
I park behind hers and get out to open the door for her.
“Here, why don’t you give me your keys so I can open Zander’s door for you?
” She agrees and rummages through her bag for the keys.
When she finally finds them, I take the key fob and her bag and unlock her car.
“Don’t worry about shutting the door, I’ll get it,” I tell her when she gets out of the car carrying Zander. She turns around and says goodbye to Chloe through the open door before looking at me.
“I can do it—that’s what butts are made for.” She uses that nice, round ass of hers to push the car door shut and shoots me a satisfied smile.
My hand itches to give her ass an encouraging pat. “Very nicely done,” I compliment as she walks toward me. I hold Zander’s door open, and she lowers him inside to his booster seat. He stays asleep through the whole transition.
Once she’s done and pulls back from the car, I shut the door. I look at my watch to see it’s ten p.m., and I worry about her driving so late. “Are you sure you’re okay to drive this late?”
“Yes, Dad,” she teases with a smirk, and an overwhelming urge to grab her and kiss that sassiness away flashes through me.
“Text me when you get home, please.”
“Will do. You guys get home safe too.” She walks around the back of her car, waving one more time at Chloe, and opens her door.
I get back into my car and reverse it so she can pull out in front of me. But as her bumper turns the corner onto the main street, a sudden, unwanted hollow feeling opens up right behind my ribs.
“Dad, are we going to leave?” Chloe’s voice breaks my trance, and I smile at her.
“Yes, honey. I was just making sure Kiley got out of here safely.”
As I head in the opposite direction of where Kiley turned, I dismiss the strange pull dragging at my chest as sheer exhaustion—because letting it be anything else, acknowledging the quiet shift in the air every time she enters a room, means opening a door I swore to keep locked.