Chapter Five #2
“Here,” I said, tossing it to him, then stepping into my briefs and sweats. “If you’re going to be at Blades games, you need to represent.”
He held on to it. “But…this is your jersey.” As smelly and sweat-soaked as it was, I didn’t miss how he clutched it tight.
“Don’t worry.” I winked. “I can get more where that comes from. Let’s blow this joint. I gotta eat something. I’m starving.”
I made my good-byes to everyone else, and we exited the players’ area and the arena. The February air brushed cool against my face, and I rolled my neck from side to side as we waited for the car. “I really should hit the gym before dinner.”
“But you just played a hard game. Why would you do that?” Adrian joined my pacing.
“Believe it or not, it’s a way to lower the heart rate and cool our muscles.” I stopped. “What do you think? Wanna go ride a bike for a while? Unless it’ll be too late for you.”
He met my question with a laugh. “Don’t worry. I don’t turn into a pumpkin at midnight. It’s not past my bedtime.”
“Good. The gym in my building is perfect. Then we can order in and hang out a little, if that’s okay.”
“Oh, yeah, sure. That’s fine with me.” He seemed surprised, and I wondered if he’d been hoping to go out somewhere.
“If you want to go out, I’m okay with it. Just that I’m pretty much a homebody. The other night was to reconnect with the team after the break, but my routine is usually game, gym, food, and bed.”
“No, of course. I understand.”
“C’mon, the car’s waiting.”
Once in my apartment, I grabbed two bottles of water. “I have some exercise stuff that’ll fit you. You don’t want to exercise in your street clothes. Hang on a sec.”
I left him in the middle of my living room and dug through my dresser, finding a pair of track pants and a Blades T-shirt Neil would wear if we were hanging out. Adrian hadn’t moved from the spot I’d left him, and I tossed the clothes to him.
“Thanks. I’ll, uh, go change.”
On the way to my bedroom, Adrian passed by me, and at the scent of his aftershave, my body leaped with desire. But I quashed that and paced the living room, waiting. I’d made Neil a promise and couldn’t renege, no matter how turned-on I was.
Keep cool. Focus on the game, not your dick.
Adrian returned, and I swallowed hard. He had a surprisingly ripped body, the Blades T-shirt stretching across his broad chest. Thin track pants clung to muscled thighs and a firm butt.
Damn. When did this happen? Adrian sure as hell wasn’t a kid. He was all man.
“Ready?” My voice caught, and I cleared my throat. “Here’s your water.”
He took the bottle, and together we headed to the top floor of my building, where the gym was located. It was late enough for it to be empty, and for that I was grateful. I picked up a towel and hopped on a stationary bike.
“I like to ride, then do a set of light weights. Feel free to do whatever you want.”
Adrian picked a treadmill from the line in front of me.
He set it to a slight angle and began to run.
Great. Now I was stuck watching his ass bounce.
I tore my eyes away from him to concentrate on the screen of my bike.
After twenty minutes, I slowed to cool down and stopped.
I wiped my face and stretched for a minute before switching over to the weights.
Adrian slowed to a walk and finished. He joined me at the barbells.
“Wanna spot me?” I loaded the barbell with one hundred pounds. I could press more, but it had been a physical game, and I didn’t want to strain myself when we had another game in two days. “I’ll do the same for you.”
“It’s okay. I’m not much of a lifter.”
“No worries. C’mon.” I lay on the bench and lifted the bar off the rack. With a grunt I pushed it up, and lowered it. I did three sets of ten reps—all the while feeling Adrian’s eyes on me—then moved to a bench and did some free weights, finishing off with pull-ups.
“Done?” Adrian asked. “You don’t have to rush on my account.”
“Yeah. It’s enough. Hungry?” I wiped my face. “I know I am.”
“Yeah, definitely. I only had a sandwich at lunch.”
“Let’s go to my place and order. I need the protein and carbs. What’re you in the mood for?”
“I’m fine with anything. Burger, salad, it’s all good.”
I thought for a moment. “How about some chicken and sides?” By now I was truly starving, and my stomach let out a mean growl. Adrian laughed.
“Sounds perfect.”
Once we returned to my apartment, I pulled up my delivery app and found Dave’s Hot Chicken. “Not the healthiest, but I’m too hungry to care right now. Take a look and tell me what you want.”
I watched as he read the menu, fixated on the pink tip of his tongue caught between his white teeth.
“Rip?” Adrian’s voice brought me out of my fantasy of what kissing Adrian would taste like.
“Huh? What? I’m sorry.”
“I said I chose what I wanted. Here’s your phone.”
“Thanks.” Our fingers brushed when he handed it to me, and a faint blush stained his cheeks. “I’ll put the order in now. They won’t take long.”
Adrian took a seat on the couch. “So, uh, that was a good game. But I don’t understand how you can get slammed into the wall so many times and not feel anything. If that happened to me, I probably wouldn’t be able to stand for a week.”
I chuckled. “Well, that’s why we’re the professionals.
It takes practice and training.” I sat at the opposite end of the sectional.
“In my opinion, hockey’s the most physical of all the professional sports and the most difficult.
I have friends in the NFL and baseball who might disagree, but then I remind them we do it all on ice skates and they shut up. ”
We shared a laugh. “Yeah. I used to beg you and Neil to teach me to skate. I fell more than I stayed up.”
“Did you ever learn?”
He shrugged. “Not really. No need to once you and Neil left home.”
“Well, regular ice skating is different from how we play, but I can give you a few lessons. Pro hockey can be hard and brutal at times. Sometimes even violent.”
“I saw that tonight up close. But you love it, don’t you?” Adrian asked. “You said playing hockey was all you ever wanted to do.”
Remembering those days with Neil spent on the ice, I smiled.
We were both so young and filled with plans.
“Yeah. I was no scholar for sure, but even if I’d excelled at school, playing professional hockey was always my goal, and the fact that I get to do what I love makes me happy.
” I shifted closer. “What about you? Tell me about your life after I went away to college.”
“Me? Not much to tell.” His laugh was quick, nervous, and didn’t reach his eyes. Totally fake, and I needed to know why.
“I don’t believe that. Any boyfriends? Neil always brags about you—what?” I stopped at his grimace and the roll of his eyes. “You don’t believe me?”
Hurt and sadness bled through his disbelieving expression. “He’s my brother. Of course he’ll say nice things about me.” His fingernails dug into the fabric of the armrest. “But the truth is, I-I haven’t accomplished anything.”
“What? That’s ridiculous, Adrian. You’ve been working steadily since you graduated, and now you’re in one of the biggest news markets in the world.”
He slumped, his gaze everywhere but on me. “You know that’s only because of Neil.”
My brow furrowed. “What’re you talking about?”
Growing visibly agitated, Adrian hung his head and clasped his hands tightly. “Neil called in a favor because he used to work for Rob and they’re friendly. There’s no way I’d be hired on my résumé alone.”
Ouch. I felt for him, and scrambled for a way to rally his spirits. “Wait, you did well in our segment. You and your news director must be happy with that.”
“Not really. I screwed up the name of the team, and I fumbled the questions you gave me to ask only a minute before.”
I itched to hold him and hug away his pain. I hated to see him so down on himself, but I sat quiet, sensing he didn’t want reassurance and platitudes.
“All I’ve ever wanted was to report the hard news, but maybe I’m just not cut out for it. I should stick with staying off camera. I’m never going to have that confidence real news people have.”
I couldn’t allow him to continue berating himself. “Not true. Adrian, look at me.” At his dispirited half shrug, I rose from my seat to settle by his side. With his focus still on the floor, I nudged his shoulder. “Hey.”
Anguished eyes met mine. “What?”
“Do you think I was always as self-assured on the ice as I am now?”
“Come on, Rip. You were Rookie of the Year, set records…I know what you’re trying to do, and thanks, but it’s not gonna work.”
“Look, all that may be true, but my first few games? I nearly shit myself. Seriously. I spent the first intermission in the bathroom.” Adrian’s lips twitched, and I hurried on.
“Here I was, an unknown, replacing the beloved captain, Ron Lavalier. The man was a legend. Who the hell was I, a nobody, to take his place?” Memories flooded me.
“In my dreams I still hear the boos from the fans after my first two shots on goal went wide.”
“That sucks. But you won them over.”
“It took time. Lots of hard work, watching tapes, and talking to Lavalier himself to gain the courage to push through the negativity from the fans and my own insecurities. I’m not lying when I tell you I wanted to quit.”
“Really? No way. You’re kidding me.”
“Nope.” Fifteen years in, yet those one-on-ones with Ron Lavalier remained the most important moments of my career. A turning point.
“Halfway through my rookie year, I sat with Lavalier, and he insisted he’d had the same fears and worries.
And not only his first season—the insecurity remained through every playoff game.
Of course I didn’t want to believe him. One of the greatest of all time telling me, an unproven rookie, that he was scared? ”
“Maybe it was all to make you feel better.”
I scowled. “No. That’s the point. That fear was what made him stronger, the impetus to push himself harder.
He refused to give in to it.” I placed my hand on his shoulder.
“You shouldn’t either. We all have obstacles.
Some real, some self-made. It’s how we choose to handle them that can make or break us.
Don’t let the past handcuff you, keep you from the future you want. ”
Temptingly close, Adrian’s full mouth trembled. “It’s been hard doing it alone.”
“You don’t have to. That’s what I’m trying to say.”
He left the couch to pace the room. “I can’t ask Neil to help with anything else. He was nice enough to get me the foot in the door by calling in a favor with Rob. The rest is up to me.”
“I could help you.” The words tumbled from my lips before my brain could stop them, and judging by Adrian’s incredulous expression, he was as shocked as I was.