10. Liam
LIAM
“Hey, Crawford. Those jerseys you asked for are up in the box office. We put them with your tickets.” Gage, the team's equipment manager, tells me as he walks into the busy locker room.
“Thanks man,” I say, giving him a nod.
I promised Chloe a jersey with her tickets and since I haven’t seen her, I thought it would be a good idea for her to get it when she picks up her tickets.
Hopefully she puts it on and I get a glimpse of my name across her back. I wouldn’t mind also seeing her in it while I slide into her tight core if the night takes us in that direction.
A man can only dream.
“How come he was able to get jerseys? When I asked you, you told me no?” Blake asks Gage before he leaves the room.
Gage looks from me back to Blake before answering. “Because he only asked me for two. You asked for four. I can’t give every single one of your flavors of the week one.”
I look over at Blake’s expression and the dude looks like a damn puppy dog.
“They weren’t for my flavors of the week. I actually have women in my life that are important.” Blake answers, sounding a bit offended.
“Yeah, who?” Gage asks, crossing his arms.
I don’t know why but this whole interaction is entertaining.
“My mom, my sister, my sister-in-law and my best friend.” Blake answers, copying Gage’s stance.
The whole room can tell when Gage realizes that he messed up. He seriously thought that Blake was giving these jerseys away to random girls.
I would think the same thing too if I hadn’t gotten to know the guy a lot more these last few weeks.
The guy either spends time with either his teammates or his best friend, Sophia. According to him, he doesn’t have time for anyone he doesn’t already know.
“I’ll have the jerseys ready by the end of the game.” Gage concedes.
“Thank you,” Blake gives him a nod and heads back to his bench.
I can’t help but be nosy. “I didn’t know your brother got married already.” I say, sliding on my hockey pants.
You would figure that the wedding of the number one quarterback in the NFL would be all over social media.
Blake gives me a shrug pulling on his jersey.
“He hasn’t. Last I heard they were thinking about next year. I just call Lennie my sister-in-law already because she is a lot more than just my brother’s girlfriend.”
I’ve met his brother’s girlfriend once and from what I saw, she’s shy but it seems like both of the Jacobi men are enthralled by her.
“It’s nice that you already include her in things.” I say, grabbing my jersey.
“Oh the jersey is to piss off my brother. He hates it when she wears someone else’s name on her back. So I’m making it my mission to fill Lennie’s closet with so many Blake jerseys that the vein in his forehead pops. Me and her are in on it together.”
“But you have the same last name.” I state. Surely that would be okay.
“You would figure that would be fine, but the asshole has this weird possessive thing going on. His name, team and number or nothing.” Blake says, rolling his eyes.
Damn, that’s a little insane.
“Sounds like a smart man.” Christian says, coming into the conversation from god knows where.
The dude is serious about his superstitions and before every game, pregame and beyond, he disappears to do one of his rituals.
What that ritual is, I have no idea. All I know is that he comes to the arena, disappears for a good twenty minutes, and then reappears again ready for the game.
I asked him more than a few times about it but he always just says don’t worry about it, it’s his superstition not mine.
Whatever. I’ll find out eventually.
“Sounds like an asshole,” Blake replies.
Chris snorts back at him. “You’re going to tell me that if Sophia came into this arena with my jersey on, you would be okay with it?”
In the last few weeks, Chris and I have gotten to know Blake a lot better. We’ve not only included him in our work outs but we’ve also asked him to hang out with us a handful of times.
We’ve come to learn that wherever Blake is, his best friend Sophia is not far behind. It’s as if the two of them are attached at the hip.
Blake has told us that there isn’t anything going on between them, but we both think that it’s a complete lie. There might not be something going on physically but there is definitely something going on deep down. They just don’t want to open their eyes to it.
From the few times that I've been around them together, Blake can be very possessive of Sophia. They call it brotherly love, Chris and I call it he’s secretly in love with her.
She came to every single one of out games last year, away games included, and every single time she wore a Jacobi jersey.
No doubt if she wore anything else, Blakey here would not like it one bit. Even if he wouldn’t voice it to her. She is his best friend after all.
From where I’m standing it looks like Hunter isn't the only Jacobi with a vein that could pop with anger.
“Of course, I’m not her keeper. She can wear whatever she wants,” Blake says, but I bet a hundred bucks that he had to try real hard to get those words out.
“Cool, so you wouldn’t mind if I send her on. Bet you she will look good with the number ninety-three on her back.” Christian claps him on the back, and heads over to his locker.
I try not to laugh at Blake’s face but I can’t help it. The kid has it bad and can’t even admit it to himself.
“Ignore him. We got a game to play. He’s just trying to get under your skin.” I say to him making my way to the tunnel now that I’m all set to go.
Tonight is the last preseason game of the season and come Friday, every game starts to count.
Eighty-two games to show the hockey world that the Dark Knights have what it takes to make it to the top.
And we will. This is our year, I can feel it in my fucking bones.
It doesn’t matter if we are getting new owners or if our team didn’t succeed in years past. This year is different and we will get the cup.
We just have to play this last exhibition game and we’ll hold nothing back.
The team makes its way out to the ice for our warm up, causing the fans that are here early to raise the energy level a bit.
I skate around the rink, but instead of warming up like I’m supposed to, I look out to the stands. Usually I interact with fans, throw them a puck or two, but tonight, I have something else occupying my mind.
Chloe.
She said that she would come tonight. She’s been saying it for weeks, even early today, but a part of me still thinks that she will skip out.
I wouldn’t fault her for it, but it will hurt a bit, I’m not going to lie.
We’re not together, we’re more friends than anything but I can see us becoming more in due time. Possibly once she’s done with her busy season we can visit the topic.
For now though, I would be happy if she attends one of my games.
Catching a glimpse of her, becomes an obsession during the majority of my warm up. I spend most of my time looking over at her two empty seats rather than stretching or hitting a few slapshots.
I’m about to give up and head to the other side of the ice when I spot her.
The seats aren’t filled so that’s how I’m able to find her, she must have shown up when I wasn’t looking.
From my spot on the ice, I can see her giving her friend a small smile and tucking some hair behind her ear. Not only can I see her smile but also the fact that she is wearing my jersey.
As I watch her, I now understand what Blake was talking about when he mentioned possessiveness.
Seeing this woman with my name on her back is something I like seeing a little too much and I don’t want her wearing anything else.
Women wear my name on their back all the time, so seeing Chloe with it shouldn’t be any different, but it is.
She’s different in the best kind of way.
It’s times like this one where I know for a fact that the attraction I have for this woman is way to fucking strong.
I take a break from my warm up and skate over to Chloe and her friend.
The friend is the first to notice me, giving Chloe a nod in my direction.
The woman that has taken every inch of my thought process, turns to look at me and gives me a smile.
But it’s not the same smile that was ingrained into my mind from our days together. It doesn’t reach her eyes and there is no sparkle to it, which right away tells me something is wrong.
I give her a wave and she gives me one back, the small smile not going anywhere.
This woman may not have been a part of my life for that long, but I’ve come to learn how to read her.
I nod over to where there’s an opening between the stands and the ice, and both women walk over.
The closer that Chloe gets to me the more I can see that something is off.
But what, I don’t know.
“Hi,” I say to Chloe, wanting to reach over the barrier and kiss her, but I don’t.
She’s already freaked out about something, I don’t want to add to it.
“Hi,” she says back but her voice is so small I barely hear it.
What’s up with her?
“Are you okay?” I ask, my curiosity getting the best of me.
She doesn’t answer me with words. She just gives me a closed mouth smile and a head nod, before turning to her friend.
“This is my friend, Betty.” Chloe states, waving to the blonde next to her.
The friend doesn’t look as freaked out as Chloe does. She looks excited to be here.
“It’s nice to finally meet you! Been a fan for years,” she tells me, a huge smile on her face.
I give her a smile back. “It’s nice to meet you too. Glad you were able to make it.”
“Oh I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. Even if my husband almost cried because I was going out and he wasn’t.”
I like this woman. “Next time I’ll make sure to invite him as well.”
“That would be great,” Betty answers before turning to look at Chloe.
She looks absolutely uncomfortable, looking down at the floor instead of up.
Betty must notice the same thing that I am because she clears her throat and gives me a smile.
“I’m going to go take pictures from our seats to send to Cole.” She says right before walking away.
I don’t know who Cole is, but I could care less. Right now, my focus is on the woman in front of me. It’s not even on the hockey warm ups that are happening behind me.
“Are you okay?” I ask Chloe again, sliding a little bit closer to her.
Again she gives me a nod and a tight smile.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She’s lying.
“It’s okay if you don't want to be here. There won’t be any hard feelings if you get out of here.”
I like having her here. I like seeing her with may name on her back, but if this is all too much for her, then I’m not going to force her to stay.
Chloe’s face drops at my suggestion.
“What? No. I want to watch you play.” she states, nervously biting her bottom lip.
“There’s going to be other games.” I tell her, bending my knees a bit to be able to look into her eyes.
The extra height that my skates give me doesn’t help.
Chloe looks up at me for a long minute, chewing on her lip and with an expression that looks both sad and angry if that’s even possible.
I want to reach for her and take in my arms so that I can comfort her but a million things are stopping me. One of them being that I’m technically at work and two, I’m nothing besides a hook up to her. I shouldn’t care, I shouldn’t want to offer her comfort, but I do.
After a bit, she finally lets out a sigh and shakes her head.
“It’s just been a long day, both physically and mentally. I do really want to be here,” she says, giving me yet another small smile.
This one at least looks a little bit more sincere.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
She gives me a head nod. “Yeah, it’s just…” she pauses, looking around like she is debating if she should say what she wants. “Do you think we can talk tonight? I have something I really need to tell you.”
If I didn’t have a game that was going to start in a little bit, I would say fuck it and say lets talk right now.
But yet again, I can’t.
“Yeah, I’ll have someone come get you when the game is over and we can talk.”
“Okay.” She gives me a nod and before I know it I’m getting a wave and she's walking away.
I don’t know what is going on with her, but I have a feeling that I’m not going to like whatever she wants to talk about.
I’m getting friend-zoned. I just fucking know it.
Who knew that could happen to the captain of a professional sports team?