Chapter 39
Chapter thirty-nine
Duncan
It's not a cock.
My phone is ringing, before I can think twice about wanting to impress Rhys tonight. I leave tomorrow for a long road trip and by the time we’re back he'll be back in Nashville.
"Duncan, is everything okay?" Felix answers before the second ring can start.
"Yes Cap, but is Andre at your place today?"
"He is, why?"
"Do you think he'll want to prep a meal for me?"
"Is the store out of dino nuggets?"
"No, I just want to have a good meal."
"Okay, then yes, come on over whenever and you two can make a meal plan and he can get it set up for you."
"Thanks Cap."
"Of course."
And, I know Rhys has accepted my dino nugget aficionado status. He even helped me invent a new meal with them. You mix up a bagged salad, dish it into a burrito size tortilla, and pile the nuggets on top. Roll it up, air fry it for three minutes, and boom, meal.
It’s delicious.
But tonight? Tonight I want to impress him with real food.
How hard could cooking be? I’m a professional athlete for fucks sake. I can learn how to roast some meat. Maybe toss a little salad.
Ha.
Hopefully Rhys loves this gesture so we can toss salads or do whatever else we want to be doing to each other before I leave in the morning.
The traffic on the way to Felix’s moves quickly and it’s enough time for me to gird my loins ahead of seeing Andre again. But not too much time that I chicken out.
"Duncan! Why the sudden interest in the culinary arts?" Felix asks as I step inside.
"It’s my last night in town before Rhys leaves." I shrug.
Felix nods, understanding coloring his features.
"Well, you know the way, head on in."
I kick off my shoes at the door and walk into the kitchen. Andre is standing at the island arranging ingredients.
"Duncan."
"Hey Andre." I bail out of my nervous laugh with a cough.
"We're making Sheet Pan Souvlaki." Andre informs me.
"Yummy!" I shrug at Felix who mouths chicken and vegetables in a pan.
"Good. Now wash your hands and put this on." Andre hands me an apron.
"So, will this be like something I can bake?" I ask.
"Ideally you'd grill it but yes, baking would work. I'll give you the instructions for both."
I'm nodding my head in agreement, thankful Andre is so helpful, when I hear a commotion at the front door.
"Why didn't we do a cooking class sooner?" Bryson asks.
"This isn't going to be a class." Crosby says. "It's going to be like one of those live shows. You remember the one where he would just yell out BAM as he tossed spice on the food?"
"Not really." Bryson says.
"C'mon boys, we're here to support Duncan in his new hobby. We could all use a little diversification in our skill set." Aiden says as I hear what sounds like a bike helmet hit the floor.
"G.T. says we should all participate in some other physical activities as well. To diversify the muscle groups our body uses most."
"Oh, now that Jo and I are living together there's no need to worry about me not getting enough other physical activities."
"Dude." Emmett says flatly as they walk into the kitchen.
Felix claps his hands. "I brought up the extra counter stools from the basement so everyone will have a seat."
"For what?' I ask, dreading the answer.
"We're here to support you as you learn how to cook." Bryson smirks.
"I'm not learning how to cook. I'm watching Andre make one meal for me."
"That's not what Felix said." E.T. points to our captain who doesn’t respond.
Well great.
"Duncan, clean the corn on the cob while I set out the snacks for the audience." Andre instructs.
"Audience?"
"What else would you like them to call them?"
"I mean, I'd love to call them idiots but I don't think that would go over well." I say as Andre lays six ears of corn out on the counter in front of me.
"We're not idiots, you're the idiot that doesn't know how to cook."
"Hey, that's not fair." I defend myself to Bryson. "When did you learn to cook?"
"I helped my mom now and then."
"Well, my mom likes to be alone in the kitchen, it was her haven so I didn't get to learn anything from her."
"You don't have to be so snippy." Crosby says.
"I'm not being snippy." I say, snippily.
"Boys, boys, settle down." Felix interjects. "Here, I've got drinks for everyone and I'm going to put on my favorite cooking playlist."
Felix settles us down and I start to peel the outer edges of the corn back.
"You’re doing that wrong." Bryson says.
"I wasn't going to say anything but yeah," Crosby adds.
"How the hell do you know how to clean corn?"
"Of anyone, I would have expected you to be excellent at cleaning corn on the cob." Bryson mutters before sipping his sparkling water.
"It's not a cock."
"Then why are you holding it like one?"
I look down and see that I have it in my hand like I'm about to rotate and tug so I slide my fingers down and pinch it at the base but that doesn't look any better.
"He's just a natural with a phallic shaped item." Felix says proudly.
"But he's still doing it wrong." Emmett points out.
"Alright, fine, how would you do it?" I chuck the ear of corn at E.T.
"Well, first of all you're not taking big enough pulls, you'll be here all night if you do it that slowly.
" He grips it and rips off half the outer leaves.
I pick up another and do the same. Then E.T.
rotates it and pulls off the rest, and so I copy him.
Then he starts to pull the little strings out and in just a minute or so the corn is clean.
"Huh, that was pretty easy."
I marvel at the clean ear of corn in front of me. Maybe I am going to be good at this cooking thing after all.
***
"Duncan, it's a piece of chicken." E.T. unhelpfully points out.
"But it's cold and slimy!" I shiver.
"This I'm going to give to him,” Aiden says. "Raw meat is kinda gross."
"Fine but you're a vegetarian so I don't expect you to be good with this." Bryson pops a grape in his mouth.
"Oh, sorry, Young Gun." Felix says. "Do you need to step aside?"
"I'll be fine." Aiden says as I try to muster the bravery to pick up the piece of chicken again. I'm supposed to be slicing the thigh into strips so it'll bake with the vegetables and better but I'm struggling. And there are a lot of chicken thighs in that bag from the deli.
Andre is just standing to my left, one hip leaning on the counter, with his arms crossed. I feel like I'm in trouble.
"Fine, okay, fine, I'll do it."
I can almost feel the way my teammates lean in across the counter to watch me more closely.
I pick up one of the thighs and lay it on the cutting board. The knife Andre gave me is small but really sharp so I exhale and just make a slice.
It cuts through pretty easily and before I know it I've gotten through one piece.
I slide it into the bowl we're going to use to coat the chicken in the mix of spices and reach for the other.
"This is a lot of work, you cook like this every day?" I ask Andre.
"Food can be your medicine, and for me, it is also meditative. I get into a zen state when I'm prepping and cooking."
"Kind of like when I'm riding my bike." Aiden says.
"Or when I'm in bed with Jo." Bryson says and Crosby throws a grape from their charcuterie board at him.
"That's like me when I hit the ice." Felix says. "Or maybe the locker room. Or the moment I get to the arena, it's like I get another level of depth to pull from."
"That's beautiful, Cap." E.T. says.
"Yeah," I add halfheartedly. I'm not sure there's ever a time I'm that zoned out. Or in. My mind always has a song playing or a scene unfolding.
Like right now. I’m handling cold, slimy, raw chicken but my mind is already picturing feeding Rhys a bite and watching his mouth chew and swallow the food I made him.
I think I get the point of cooking now.
"Have you and Rhys talked about how you’re going to work on your relationship when he leaves?" Felix asks after I successfully get all the chicken into the bowl with the spices.
I’m glad he waited so I could concentrate.
"Not yet, I think we’ll get into it tonight."
"You’ll have to, we leave for Arizona, Texas, and Florida tomorrow." E.T. reminds us.
"As the foremost expert in long distance relationships, I have one word for you." Bryson points his fork at me. "Toys."
"Toys?" I like the sound of this.
"Oh yeah, I sent Jo a new toy every month, I found this subscription box. She’d call me when she was opening it and I’d get to watch her enjoy it."
"Are you canceling the subscription now that she lives with you? I mean, how many sex toys can one person really need?" E.T. asks.
If you’ve never seen six hockey players fall absolutely silent let me tell you, it’s unsettling.
Even Andre stops what he’s doing.
"Dude." Aiden says.
"The limit does not exist." Bryson says.
"But like, there can’t be that many variations though." Emmett defends weakly.
"What do you mean?" I ask, as a list of at least fifteen different toys runs through my mind.
"Well, I know about vibrators. And I guess butt plugs." E.T. shrugs. "What else is there?"
"Handcuffs." Aiden says.
"Clit suckers." Bryson adds.
"Strap-ons, rings, pumps, sleeves…" I start reciting my list.
"Ben Wa Balls." Felix adds.
I go quiet. I’ve never thought about Felix fucking. But, I bet he does. And, like, yeah, it makes sense he’d know what to use to strengthen pelvic floor muscles.
"I, how, what?" Emmett stutters.
"Just don’t google everything at once." Bryson says with a clap on E.T.’s shoulder. Crosby nods.
"We’ve gotten side tracked." Andre says. "And attention during cooking is vital."
"Shit, sorry." I give the guys a whoops-I-got-busted wince and turn around to finish getting the meal put together.
***
"Where did you order from? It smells really good." Rhys calls as the elevator closes behind him.
"Come see for yourself." I glance around confirming everything is in place.
Rhys rounds the corner and his eyes double in size a millisecond before his grin does too. "What is all this?"