Chapter 13 Zane
ZANE
“Look here,” Jax Echlin said. “Doesn’t this baby look like she’s about to explode out of her bra?”
Jax held up his phone, wearing the proudest smile I’d ever seen from him.
Clearly, he thought he’d made the discovery of a lifetime.
On the screen, I found a blonde twenty-something female with boulder-like honkers that really did look like they were testing the fabric of the bikini she was wearing.
“Is that all you ever do?” I asked. “Ogle chicks and rate their tits?”
“It’s not all I do, for your information. I haven’t missed a single practice all year, have I? Besides, I do a buttload more than rate their tits. I have special categories for their asses, too.”
“You’re a class act, Jax.”
Normally, I would’ve laughed at that last remark.
You know, in a different life, one that hadn’t been turned upside down by Jakob Martin.
I wasn’t wrong, though. Jax had a weird obsession.
His Instagram was loaded with pictures and videos of women he’d never met and almost certainly never would.
Ditto for TikTok. If he didn’t jack off to his social media girls nightly, I would’ve been utterly stunned.
“You’ve changed, bro,” he said.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m saying you’re not the same guy I knew. Last year, you would’ve been all over a picture like this. No, wait, I would’ve been picking your tongue up off the floor.”
“Whatever…”
I couldn’t deny that, which was precisely why I meant to avoid saying any more than necessary. Life had turned into a rollercoaster. I didn’t know whether I was coming or going. Jax didn’t need to know about that truth. One misstep and everything would unravel on me, and I would be totally fucked.
“I’m sorry, bro,” he said, “this time last year you would’ve been yapping nonstop about how you would like this babe to sit on your face and wriggle.”
A tiny laugh sputtered out of my mouth. I couldn’t help it.
Sometimes Jax sounded so stupid that it was actually funny.
Just the type of thing hockey players said to one another in locker rooms everywhere.
Still, I couldn’t deny he’d spoken another truth.
I would’ve been all over that picture in the past. In fact, I would’ve taken an intense interest, but I barely cared now.
My Instagram had been filled with gorgeous women just like Jax’s. Still was.
So, what the hell happened?
I still loved women. That was the crazy thing. Women still turned me on every bit as much—in theory. Yeah, I know how that sounds, but it’s another truth. Jax would find a way to turn that around on me because, well, he was Jax.
“Maybe I’ve grown up,” I said.
Jax’s eyes widened before his face turned to stone. It must’ve sounded like the craziest thing he’d ever heard. And why wouldn’t it? Maturity had no place with the Remington Riptides.
“Dude, you danced around the locker room with your underwear on your head,” he said.
“Oh, one time. Give me a fucking break.”
“It was just last week, Zane.”
I shut up.
“Uh huh, you know it’s true,” he said. “That means you can’t play the maturity card, Mister Responsible Adult.”
I stuffed into my bag the same briefs I donned on my head before performing a solo (and naked) tango in the middle of the locker room. Doing that didn’t get me all hot, though. Again, that happened in locker rooms everywhere.
“Okay, I guess not,” I said.
Sometimes you’ve got to know when you’re defeated.
“And all that crap you’ve been pulling with Jakob Martin will disqualify you from the Fred Rogers award,” he said.
Oh God, he said it. That name. The situation was bad enough without him dropping the four deadliest syllables in the English language. I wanted to run and hide so I could avoid furthering the topic but understood how that would look.
“You’re not still trying to get revenge on him, are you?” Jax asked.
“No. And can we forget that guy exists, please?”
Jax arched his eyebrows like I’d taken him by surprise. Yeah, I’d exposed myself to Jax. For that matter, I nearly exposed myself to Jakob Martin. Jakob nearly exposed himself to me. He—
Okay, I needed to stop myself there. This whole thing would’ve spiraled out of control if I didn’t get a handle on it in an enormous hurry.
Memories of Jakob’s lips locked with mine flooded my mind.
I still felt his tongue mingle with mine, and I couldn’t forget the spicy scent of his body wash.
I’d seen my share of hard bodies, including plenty of naked ones in the locker room, but Jakob’s somehow set itself apart from the rest—especially when he clung to me.
His cock was the elephant in the room—no pun intended… I think. Only then did I realize that I wanted that dick in the worst way. Jakob’s dick had been rock hard. Feeling it jab my leg wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to see it. Wait, no, that’s not right. I wanted to taste it.
Tasting it would involve Jakob’s cock entering my mouth, something I’d never even considered before.
I couldn’t deny thinking about it now. But I couldn’t tell Jax about something like that, and not just because Jakob was a Larkin Lion.
Jakob was another man. I shouldn’t need to draw anyone a diagram here.
“It doesn’t sound like you want to forget the guy exists,” Jax said.
“I’m not following.”
“How can you not be following? Jakob Martin is all you ever talk about.”
“No, getting revenge on Jakob is all I ever talk about.”
“Is that any better?”
It wasn’t. I also understood I was totally full of shit, but I couldn’t admit that to Jax either.
“Okay, now that we’ve established that you can’t seem to discuss any topic that doesn’t include Jakob Martin, at least let me show you this, and you can tell me what you think.”
Jax flipped through his phone and then flashed it at me. On the screen, I found Jax’s OnlyFans account, which boasted a beautiful red-headed twenty-something working on a truck. She was changing the oil or tightening some nuts (in more ways than one) all with her ass proudly displayed.
Again, I normally would’ve felt a stirring in my pants at a sight like that. I still found that picture seriously hot. I’m not made of stone. Like I said, what happened between Jakob didn’t eradicate my zest for women. It opened a new door and a fresh avenue to explore.
Oh God, was I really thinking that way?
“Something’s totally off with you,” Jax declared.
I shook my head at him.
“Just because I didn’t say something ultra stupid about your OnlyFans babe?”
“It’s not about that, Zane, and you know it. I’ve been trying to tell you for this whole conversation that you’ve changed.”
“And when did this supposed change take place?”
“Near as I can tell, the moment Jakob Martin’s fist connected with your face.”
Oh, perfect.
“How would you know?” I asked.
“I was there.”
“You were laid out unconscious on the Colter Bay Grill’s floor.”
He turned from me to hide his embarrassment. That had to be it. No way was that a coincidence.
“Are you going to leave me the fuck alone now?” I asked.
“No way. I know that something in you seriously changed and that’s all I can trace it back to.”
You know what the worst part of all was? He was one hundred and ten percent right, if such a thing was possible. But I wouldn’t hand him that much credit.
“I told you before,” Jax continued, “that guy’s really gotten into your head. That’s the worst possible thing for any hockey player.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“I still don’t see how that has made your libido go in the toilet. And don’t tell me it hasn’t. Before, you would’ve been the one showing me pictures of hot babes.”
That was true, but it didn’t concern me at this moment. I cared about the fact that he hadn’t figured it out. If he had, he would’ve come right out and said it. No one ever accused Jax Echlin of having tact, or a personality, or more than a handful of brain cells.
Problem was, he would find out about my true feelings eventually. And no, I couldn’t simply strike them down or pretend they didn’t exist. If I could then we wouldn’t have had that conversation in the first place.
We zipped up our equipment bags, hefted the straps over our shoulders, and marched out of the locker room. I wanted to get the hell away from Jax, but you all know how my luck has been since my face ran into Jakob Martin’s fist.
“We’re going to The Government this weekend.” Jax referred to the nightclub on West Chippawa Street. “It’s a total pussy emporium. No way on earth you won’t be going home with someone.”
That piqued my interest, and it must’ve showed, because Jax’s face lit up.
Even the club scene had fallen off my radar in the midst of everything that’d happened to me.
Initially, I wondered if I would run into Jakob there, too.
That would be just my luck. If by some miracle he laid me out again, there would be a club teeming with beautiful and available girls to witness it.
“You down?” he asked.
“Sure.”
“Awesome. I’ll let the guys know you’re coming. Gotta fly. Got a paper to finish.”
He offered a small wave as he headed off to the right. Thank God. I honestly thought I would never get rid of that guy.
Jax’s temporary absence wouldn’t solve my problems, though.
I knew a trip to The Government, or the pussy emporium as Jax had so poetically called it, wouldn’t change a thing.
Jakob Martin had gotten into my head. Some would say he was living there rent-free.
The worst part was, I couldn’t do anything about it.
Sure, I could go to The Government with the guys, and I could take a girl home, but it wouldn’t matter. I would think about Jakob Martin the entire time.
God, help me…