Chapter 45 The Ice Bucket Trick
The Ice Bucket Trick
Eric
It’s late, and I should be tired. But I’m wired instead, pacing my hotel room, waiting for Darcy to show.
I had a big night. Winning that game felt great. And afterward, I showed my face in the bar with my happy teammates for an hour, like usual.
Darcy was present, but not at my side. Truth be told, I was envious of Merritt and Zoe, heads bent together at the bar, chatting away together. I had to settle for a game of pool with Weber, and a cold beer.
It’s not the end of the world, I guess, keeping my distance at moments like that. But talking to her at the end of the night is how I usually unwind. So I’m waiting impatiently for her tap on the door.
There are things I want to say to her. Good things.
When the knock finally comes, I fly to the door and open it, finding her wide-eyed and holding a full ice bucket to her chest. “Quick, let me in,” she whispers.
I step aside. “You brought ice! I don’t need a cocktail at this hour, but I could still think of a few fun uses for it.” I give her a sleazy wink.
She laughs. “I’d never tell you to keep your mind out of the gutter, because I happen to like it there. But this was my decoy. And thank goodness, because Mr. Sharp cornered me just outside the elevators to ask me to plan a lunch in November.”
“Oh shit!” No wonder she looks a little frazzled. “So you pulled Zoe’s trick? Hello sir, the ice machine is broken on my floor?”
“Exactly.” She hands me the bucket. “He’s not even the only person I ran into. DeLuca and Larkin were laughing about some stunt they played on a rookie and—”
A sharp knock at my door interrupts her. And then a voice. “Yo, Cap?”
Darcy claps a hand over her mouth, and her eyes go wide again.
“… It’s Calder. If you know where Darcy is, I need to ask her my room number. She won’t answer her texts.”
My girlfriend gives me a panicked look. Then she digs into her big handbag and yanks out a sheet of paper. She shows me Calder’s name on the manifest, then gestures toward the door.
Taking my time, I walk over to the door and open it, but I don’t invite him in. “Hey, man. I don’t know where Darcy is. Why would you think I’d know?”
A guilty expression crosses his young face.
“Bro, I don’t know… it’s just, like, you’re always checking her out, you know?
Like lowkey keeping tabs and stuff? Sorry if that’s weird to say, I’m probably just talking too much ’cause of the tequila, that’s my bad.
But yo, check this out—DeLuca and Larkin totally got me with this.
” He holds out his key card folder where the room number has been blacked out in Sharpie.
I snicker. “Ah, the old room number trick. That’s how rookies learn. Pretty sure you’re in room 402. I saw them messing with a key folder.”
His face lights up. “Hey, thanks, Cap! You’re the real CEO here tonight.” He gives me a wave and lumbers off.
I close the door and meet Darcy in the middle of the room. She leans against my chest. “Apparently, you look at me a lot.”
“Can you blame me?” I wrap my arms around her.
“No,” she sighs. “But that better be the last interruption of the day.”
“No kidding.” I pull her into my arms. “Look—if this were a year ago, you know what I’d be doing right now?”
“Sleeping?” she yawns.
“No way. I’d either be listening to all the rookies’ troubles, like an overeager camp counselor, or I’d be lying in that bed overthinking the whole game we just played, wondering how I could have played better.”
She lifts her head up and frowns at me. “You played brilliantly.”
“Doesn’t matter.” I shrug. “The point is that I didn’t have anything but hockey in my life. It wasn’t a good way to live. But that’s not me anymore. The fact that you’re on the road trip with me is super fun, but even if you weren’t, I’m not that guy anymore. I just want you to know—”
Another sharp knock interrupts me. “Calder? What now?”
“No, it’s Brooksie,” rumbles one of our D-men. “You happen to know where Darcy is? She’s not answering her phone. Or maybe you know—what time is the breakfast meeting tomorrow?”
“Eight fifteen,” I say through gritted teeth. “Check your email next time.”
“Okay, okay, sorry, Cap!”
We stand perfectly still for a long beat, giving him time to walk away, and then Darcy kisses my chin. “Do you think it’s possible that we’re not as subtle as we thought?”
“Um…” I let out a nervous chuckle. “I can do better. I can learn to keep my eyes to myself.”
“You might not be the whole problem here,” she says, running her hands up my chest. “Just a thought. You look really hot in the new workout kit. Just saying.”
Darcy leans into me, her smile so familiar that it melts all the tension in my body.
There’s something about these stolen moments that makes everything else fade away.
I slide my hands around her waist, and when our lips meet, everything goes back to making sense.
Darcy is the only person who has the power to make me forget everything except the present moment.
The soft sound she makes when I pull her closer, the fact that somehow this incredible woman wants to be here with me—
The loudest knock yet reverberates through the room. Like artillery fire, and now I’ve had it.
“Hey!” comes Sharp’s voice through the door. “You know where Darcy is? Her phone is off, and I just realized I fucked something up. I asked her to plan a lunch for November fourth, but it’s really November fifth, and if she has to do it twice, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
My entire body goes rigid, and a white-hot fury ignites in my chest. My protective impulse explodes, and before I can stop myself, I’m marching toward the door.