Chapter 26
ZARIAH
SHE DOESN’T WANT ME YET
The game ended at six to zero; ETC lost, Gladiators won. Montoya still wasn’t allowed on the ice, but Denali promised he’d start doing one-on-one sessions after the ETC game. So it was only a matter of time before Montoya was allowed to go out on the ice again.
Regardless, the team was thrilled and there was a huge celebration in the locker room.
Tallulah worked for the student newspaper and had invited one of the reporters, Melody. The Gladiators were offered a spot on the fifth page. They’d never won two games in a row before.
Sémajuste urged the team for a group photo in front of the new Gladiators logo. The guys roughhoused at Elijah’s locker while I tried not to laugh. None of those pictures could possibly be usable.
Melody urged Denali for an interview. He hesitated for too long, and she grabbed his arm, directing him over. “Team captains always get better views, our audiences love them.”
His teammates crooned ‘Daddy Denali’ and Denali shot them a dirty look, too stiff for his closeup.
It was just him, alone. He clearly wasn’t prepared.
With a clipped tone, he discussed their game until Melody searched for something juicier, pressing him about the Daddy Denali nickname.
He maintained that it was just a joke, but Melody didn’t let up. “Do you have a girlfriend?”
A girlfriend? I straightened up, narrowing my eyes. What kind of interview was this?
Denali’s throat bobbed. “No.”
“Lone Wolf Denali,” Nick replied before howling. His team joined in until the locker room sounded like a wolf pack. Nick grinned, winking my way. “Right, Zariah?”
“Everybody loves a hockey player.” Melody laughed to the camera. “So the team captain is available?”
I didn’t like this line of questioning, it made me as uncomfortable as Denali obviously was.
I didn’t want him to proclaim anything, we weren’t at the stage of official titles yet.
But I also didn’t want him to say he was single and on the prowl.
Ugh, that was unfair, wasn’t it? What the hell did I want him to say?
I crossed my arms over my chest, watching him, waiting for his answer.
“I’m not available,” Denali said quickly.
I caught my breath, glancing around a locker room that suddenly fell silent. Some of them snuck looks at me while the rest had giddy grins. This was their strict team captain, showing embarrassing human emotion. To this team of hyenas, this was fresh meat. They couldn’t wait to pounce.
Melody arched an eyebrow. “Let me get this straight, you don’t have a girlfriend, but you’re not available?”
“There is a girl,” he admitted, embarrassed. His eyes flickered to mine. “She doesn’t want me like that yet. But I’m working on it.”
Blood rushed to his face as the room of hockey players exploded. His team bellowed, grabbing him by the shoulders, dragging him back. Nobody could believe what came out of his mouth—least of all me.
“You’re kidding!” Charlie yelled. “Denali!”
“Why would you admit that?!” Pickles demanded. “Publicly?!”
Nick laughed so hard, he barreled over, and Fridge put his head in his hands. Denali tried to hike back to Melody, begging her to edit that out, but the overjoyed look on her face said nothing like that would happen as she hurried out of the locker room.
“I didn’t mean to say that!” Denali pleaded, face dark red.
“Denali Maddox!” Cleo took his face in her hands, yanking him down. “That tremor in your voice? Did you rehearse that?! You’re a PR dream!”
“Yeah, Cap!” Nick said, gleeful. “Did you rehearse that?”
Denali avoided looking at me. “I need that video deleted—”
“Deleted?” Cleo squeezed him into a hug. “After so many years with the Romans and them bitching about every little thing I wanted, you’re my answered prayers!”
The team melted with laughter while his coach and Cleo took Denali down the hall. I could still hear him trying to convince them to somehow edit the video as I hummed with pleasure, overwhelmed with the butterflies inside once again.
“Zariah,” Elijah smacked my shoulder. “What are you doing?”
“Hm?”
“Put that man out of his misery!”
I feigned confusion. “What do you mean?”
“That’s such bullshit, we both know who he’s talking about,” Elijah said, grabbing his bag from his locker. “Are you fucking around with my captain? Or are you legitimately interested in him?”
That was a good point. Denali would no doubt feel a lot of things about blurting things out for the camera and I didn’t want him to think he overstepped and made a mistake by telling everyone.
The truth was, I liked this. I liked him holding out until I was comfortable. And I wanted him to know that.
I wanted to give Denali something physical that showed we were still on the right path. But what could I get him? His dorm was minimalistic. He didn’t like stuff like I did. If I got Denali something, it’d have to mean something.
An idea struck me. “I need your Colo ID.”
“What? Why?”
I grabbed Elijah by the strap of his bag, directing him towards one of the Colo’s study rooms. I could’ve gone to the library to print out things, but I knew the Colo would be locked tonight and I needed access to Denali’s locker.
“Zariah,” Elijah demanded. “What do you think about Denali?”
“Hm…eight inches, curved, but he’s one of those guys with a big dick who doesn’t know what to do with it.”
Elijah dry-heaved. “Why would you say that to me?”
“You’re right." I patted his shoulder. "You’re in locker rooms with him. You’ve definitely seen his dick. Why am I describing it to you?”
“Be serious for five fucking minutes. Do you have a thing for my captain?”
“How about you go to therapy, and I’ll give you all the delicious details?”
“You’re joking.”
“Nope, not joking.” I forced him to sign me into one of the computers and began typing. “One therapy session and we’ll gossip all you want.”
“I’m not going to therapy. I’m not that kind of guy.”
“What kind of guy?”
“The kind who bawls his eyes out to strangers or whatever. I have pride.”
“You can’t possibly have pride. We’re talking about how badly you want me to fuck your best friend.”
“I can’t believe you,” he huffed, so dramatic. “Denali obviously has feelings for you. Why don’t you give him a chance? Or let him down and be upfront? Have a heart, Zariah. Stop stringing him along.”
I shot Elijah a suspicious look. “What do you get out of this?”
He rolled his eyes and left, muttering something about needing to take a shower, while I printed another article. I picked it out of the tray and smoothed it over my notebook. I didn’t care what Elijah said. I had an arts-and-crafts project to finish.
I finished up my stack of articles and folded them into an envelope, writing Denali on top. The locker room was silent besides Elijah’s shower, everyone else gone. I slid the envelope into Denali’s locker then waited for my brother by the rink.
“Z?” he shouted, leaving the locker room.
“Hm?”
“Okay, you got me. I have an incentive.”
“Called it.”
“Denali’s doing this workshop,” Elijah admitted, falling into step beside me. “I tried everything to convince him to cancel but he’s refusing. He won’t admit it but he’s doing the workshop for you. Nobody else knows about it and when they find out—fuck…”
I scoffed. “I knew you didn’t want your captain to get laid out of the goodness of your heart.”
“Don’t say it like that. You’d also be good together.
Good for each other!” He pinched his brow.
“You know Denali, he’s fucking uptight. When I first met him—when he was in Michigan—he was hanging out with this girl, India.
He had this weird schedule with her. He’d carve out fifteen-minute sex slots into his calendar—shit, maybe I shouldn’t have told you about that.
The point is, he’s never acted like this before you! ”
“Did he do that with Evie?”
“You know about Evie?” Elijah blanched. “Denali told you about her?”
“No, Nick did.”
“You’re just proving my point, because the entire fucking team knows Denali’s into you!” Elijah sighed. “I didn’t want to tell you about Evie. It was the same weird sex slot schedule thing, but I swear it’s been a while since I’ve seen him hang out with her.”
“I know. He cut it off with Evie when I came to campus.”
Elijah’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“So you know he likes you! You’ve known he likes you!”
“And he knows I like him. That’s where we’re at.”
Elijah stopped me from opening the front doors of the Colo. “I’ll give you two hundred bucks if you ask him to go out for a movie on Thursday. I’ll even pay for the popcorn. You know how expensive that shit is.”
“That’s the day of the workshop?”
“He’ll cancel it for you. He’d cancel anything for you! He’s suffering, throw him a bone. Please, Zariah.”
Curiosity took hold. “What kind of workshop is it?”