Chapter Six Guys’ Night
CHAPTER SIX: GUYS’ NIGHT
ZANDER
Monday morning, I head over to the apartment and use the key Carson gave me to let myself in. I only brought a small duffle bag of clothes with me, figuring I’d just go back and forth between here and my place as needed. It’s not like my building is on lockdown or something.
The apartment is still fully furnished since Grace moved in with Jensen.
Stepping in the door, the kitchen is to my left with its small island and stools, and the living room is straight ahead with a couch and TV on a stand.
The hallway is just past the kitchen and leads to the bedroom and bathroom.
It’s kind of small, but quaint and neat.
A little feminine with the soft colors and floral decor, but that’s fine.
I’m not a guy who’s afraid of girly things.
Dropping my bag in the living room, I go to the kitchen to check the fridge and am pleased to find that it’s full.
Didn’t realize Carson would be so thoughtful.
Grabbing a loaf of bread, mayo, mustard, and a package of sliced turkey, I make myself a sandwich and dig through the cupboards to find some chips.
Leaning on my elbows on the island, I scroll through my phone as I eat my sandwich.
The Cloak app stares up at me, willing me to click it, so I do.
It’s been two days since I created my profile, and I’ve been getting plenty of pings, but I’ve only started a few conversations.
None of them have really caught my interest, though, and I don’t feel a great deal of urgency to keep them going.
Hey, I know we’re not supposed to ask, but how tall are you?
I only like guys who make six figures.
If you want to get a sneak peek of me, I have an OF. It’s only $19.99 a month.
How big is your dick?
Sighing, I set my phone back on the countertop and shake my head.
So far, this app hasn’t impressed me. Even with the goal of creating deeper connections, people seem to want to circumvent the rules, push their own agenda, or try to dig for more information than I’m willing to give right now.
I was really hoping this app would be different from the other dating sites, but I’m afraid I’m going to be disappointed.
Finishing my sandwich, I clean up the kitchen before heading to the bedroom to change. I need to get to practice, which I’m looking forward to. Unlike dating, hockey makes total sense, and I just need to get onto the ice and forget all about Cloak.
Stepping onto the ice, the cold bites through my gear for half a second before adrenaline kicks in.
My skates grip as I push off, gliding into position at the blue line.
Coach blows the whistle, and we start with warm-up laps.
I fall into rhythm, keeping an eye on Wilder and Jayce ahead of me, already calculating who I’ll likely be paired against in the first drill.
After stretches and some puck handling, we move into breakout drills.
I drop back toward the corner, stick down, ready for the pass from Carson.
He fires it over, and I catch it cleanly on my tape.
Quick glance up—I see Wilder cutting up the boards.
I bank the puck off the glass to him, then shift to support.
He misses it, but I’m already turning, skating backward, prepared for the turnover.
Coach barks something from the bench, and we cycle into a 3-on-2 drill.
I’m paired with Owen, and we hold the line as the forwards come rushing in.
My eyes are locked on the puck carrier, but I’m tracking the trailer too.
He passes wide, trying to draw me out—I don’t bite.
I angle him toward the boards, stick in the lane.
He tries to cut in, but I get a piece of his stick and shove him off balance.
Puck squirts loose, and Wilder clears it.
Next drill’s a scrimmage. I love this part.
I take my spot, right side, and focus on gaps.
Jensen’s aggressive today, so I cover a bit more conservatively.
The opposing winger cuts across the middle—wrong move.
I step up, body solid, and separate him from the puck.
It bounces back into our zone, and I hustle to retrieve it.
Head up. I fake left, pivot right, and skate it out myself. Feels good.
By the time practice winds down, my legs are burning, but I don’t mind. I tap my stick on the ice as we circle up, sweat dripping, heart pounding. This was just what I needed. The adrenaline and physical exertion has helped push Cloak from my mind… at least for the time being.
We all make our way into the locker room, everyone pumped after such an intense and successful practice. Reaching my locker, I start stripping off my pads, ready to shower and spend the rest of the night chillin’ with my boys.
“Yo, Jensen, Carson, Owen, you want to join us tonight?” Wilder says, looking toward those guys with a raised brow.
“What are you up to?” Carson asks.
“Zander and Jayce are coming to my place for some gaming and then we’re going out,” Wilder explains, shooting me a glance. I give him a thumbs up because I’m so fucking in. Honestly, I’d usually much rather game than go out to the bars.
“Sorry, fellas,” Carson shrugs. “I’m going to go kidnap Sky and take her out to dinner. She’s been working on this new game - some epic quest RPG - and she’s been really stressing. I want to give her a break.”
“Ahhh, that’s so sweet,” Jayce teases with a grin.
Carson throws a towel at him.
“I’m out too,” Owen says. “Millie and Stacey are going to be here any moment and I promised Millie we’d go for pizza and ice cream because she did so well at her skating competition this weekend.”
“Fair,” Wilder nods, then looks to Jensen. “Cap’?”
Jensen just grins and shakes his head. “I’ve got wife plans.”
I feel a small pang in my chest - I wish I had that. Someone to go home to. Someone to spoil, who’s excited to see me when I come home at the end of the day.
“You’re all so domesticated,” Wilder says with a dramatic sigh.
“You bet your hairy ass we are,” Carson chuckles.
That makes me burst out laughing and Wilder scowls. We finish getting cleaned up and start to filter out of the locker room, one-by-one. When I make my way out, Owen falls into step beside me.
“Good work today, man,” he says as we step out into the hallway.
“Thanks, bro. You too.”
“Daddy!”
We both stop and look to see a little girl with her red hair arranged in pigtails and her blue eyes wide running toward us.
Grinning, Owen drops to a knee and opens his arms, and Millie charges into them.
“Hey, sweetie,” he says, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. “How was school?”
“Good!” Millie exclaims. “We had a lady come to class and she had a snake!”
Owen arches a brow. “Oh, that sounds… exciting.”
Millie turns her gaze up to me and gives me a big, toothy grin. “Hi, Zander!”
“Hey, Mills!” I reply. “Heard you had a skating contest this weekend and you did really good. Your Dad was telling us about it.”
Millie looks thrilled by this and clings to Owen’s neck as he stands up, holding her tight in his arms. A little ways down the hall, Stacey is standing with Millie’s Bluey backpack, smiling as she watches us.
She has a slight belly bump, though she’s only four months along. I give her a wave and she waves back.
“All right, we gotta get going,” Owen tells me. “See you, man.”
“Yeah, see you.”
Owen carries Millie as he makes his way to Stacey. When he reaches her, he gives her a kiss and she slips her hand through his arm. I watch them walk away, a perfectly happy family and I feel that pang in my chest again.
Clenching the handle of my duffle tighter, I shake my head and let out a deep breath before continuing on by myself toward the building’s exit.
Ping. Ping. Ping.
“Dude, what is that?” Jayce asks, looking at me with a frown. He blows a lock of his blonde hair out of his face.
Sighing, I pull my phone out of my pocket and wave it at him.
“Sorry, it’s this app I signed up for,” I mutter.
We’re sitting in Wilder’s apartment, huge flat screen TV in front of us and his Playstation 5 up and running.
We’re playing a video game Skyler developed based on our team - which was the original reason she came out to Denver - and it’s sick as hell.
After she quit her previous job and got her new job in Denver at the place my cousin works, her new company was able to convince the clients to switch the hockey game development to them.
She gifted everyone on the team an early copy ahead of the release.
The controller vibrates subtly in my hands as I skate down the ice.
I flick the right stick to deke past a defender, then fire a wrister top shelf and watch the net ripple, then pause—replay time.
I find myself spinning the camera around just to see how real the action is on the ice.
The goalie’s movements, for instance, are fluid and there’s even ice spray at his skates, like he tried to dig in. Details. Damn.
Skyler’s a fucking genius.
Wilder’s place is the definition of a bachelor pad - old leather couch and not much else furniture-wise, piles of laundry around the floor, empty beer bottles sitting on the counter in the kitchen, and take-out boxes stuffed into the trash can.
“What kind of app?” Wilder asks without taking his eyes off the game.
I hesitate a moment before admitting, “It’s, uh, a dating app. It’s called Cloak.”
Jayce furrows his brow. “I’ve heard of that one. It’s like anonymous dating or something, right? Like Love is Blind?”
“Yep,” I nod, executing a quick combo move in the game to score a goal while Jayce is distracted.
“Fuck!” Jayce exclaims.
“So, what?” Wilder questions with his usual stoic tone. “You talk to girls without knowing anything real about them? Seems counterproductive.”
“Big guy’s got a point,” Jayce says with a nod. “What makes you think you won’t end up meeting a serial killer? Or some chick who wants you to join her cult? Or, worse… her MLM?”
“Okay, calm down. The idea is to get to know someone on a deeper level without knowing what they look like so you’re not biased by appearance,” I explain, as if I’ve become a spokesman for the freaking app.
“And how’s that going?” Wilder asks with a grunt, his eyes never leaving the game.
“Not great,” I grumble. “I don’t get it. So far, my conversations have all sucked, but the profiles I’ve reached out to seem to have a lot in common with me. You’d think that’d mean we’d be a good fit, but lots of the conversations are either trolls or just… boring.”
Jayce laughs and shakes his head. “You mean trying to chat up your clone isn’t working?”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“Jayce’s right,” Wilder says matter-of-factly. “Why would you ever think it’s interesting talking to someone who’s like you? Try to find someone who’s completely different, now that is something that would spark a relationship.”
I sit back, my mind a little blown. “Huh… I didn’t think of that.”
“Don’t worry, bro,” Jayce chuckles. “That’s why you’ve got us. We’re here to do your thinking for you.”
He’s joking, but honestly, now I’m thinking that I should approach the app in a completely different way. Not be so obsessed with compatibility, and reach out to girls myself instead of waiting for the pings.
Okay… maybe I won’t give up on the app quite yet.
Suddenly, Wilder shoots a puck into my team’s goal.
“Fuck!” I exclaim.
It’s almost two in the morning by the time I make my way back to the apartment.
After playing a bit longer at Wilder’s, we ventured out to a nearby bar, and so I’m a little buzzed as I ride the elevator up to my floor.
A mistake, because I know I’m going to feel this at practice tomorrow.
Dumb, dumb, dummy. Coach is going to rip me a new asshole.
Making my way down the hall, I dig out my keys as I draw near the door.
I can’t wait to collapse into bed and sleep until noon. A pure fantasy, though, since I have practice tomorrow…
The moment I open the door, something small, furry, and demon-like shoots out of the apartment and attacks my leg with a vicious hiss.
I scream - unfortunately, like a high-pitched girl, but fear does crazy things to a man - and bolt into the apartment to try and get away from the tiny demon clawing at my calves. My foot catches on the rug just inside the door and I go flying to the floor.
“Fuck!” I shout, the gremlin pouncing on me before I can get away. I scream again, and hear footsteps rushing down the hall from the bedroom. I see a flash of blonde hair, and meet startled moss green eyes that are all too familiar.
Rylee is standing over me, holding a lamp over her head, and the world seems to freeze as I gawk up at her in shock.