Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
MATT
I backed up to bend over and pick up my skates and bumped into someone behind me. When I looked around, Drew glared at me, his headphones on, his mouth set in its perpetual scowl.
“Uh-oh, you interrupted his hardcore warmup playlist,” Jesse teased.
Brown snorted. “I know exactly what kind of music McKinley listens to and it’s about as hardcore as a unicorn.”
Jesse tsked. “Don’t forget that unicorns have horns.” He turned to Drew, who looked about ready to punch someone in the face. “Are you a horny unicorn, Drew?”
“I’m a pissed-off unicorn,” Drew growled. “You’d better watch for rainbow farts, Brown.”
Jesse stared at him, visibly delighted. “I think we all will now.”
Coach Dunn whistled to get everyone’s attention and, once he had it, launched into his usual pre-game spiel. I sat to pull my skates on and laced them tightly while listening, then I taped my stick and made sure everything was in order.
Once Coach Dunn had told us the starting lineup and explained how he wanted to approach the game—rock solid in defense, limit the movement of defensemen out of the defensive zone—we made our way out onto the ice.
I’d played in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas over a dozen times before and knew it well. Rows of black seats formed a ring around the ice while a massive screen displayed camera footage for those seated farther back, on the second level or beyond.
The stadium was packed, as it often was. Las Vegas was such a popular tourist destination that even if locals didn’t buy enough tickets to fill the stands, they ended up filled, nonetheless.
We circled around the ice, and I silently catalogued where Assistant Coach Willets waited and where Chelsey and the documentary team stood near the edge of the rink.
They must have pulled some strings to have been given such a good position.
As I skated past her, she raised her camera and snapped a photo.
I smiled, hoping she’d be able to tell with the helmet blocking my features.
My heart pounded for a reason completely unrelated to the exercise I was doing, and I pictured her face as I’d taken her apart. Thankfully, there was no chance of me getting a hard-on in front of so many thousands of people because I couldn’t wipe the image from my mind.
I hoped she’d let me touch her again.
I hadn’t had nearly enough of her. If she allowed me to, I’d kiss her first thing in the morning and last thing at night every day for the rest of our lives.
The game began a short while later, and it wasn’t difficult to stick to Coach’s plan. Vegas’s forwards came out strong, so it was all Gauthier and I could do to hold our own. There was no chance of one of us taking a run with the puck.
Unfortunately, their center and wing managed to get the puck past me and slotted it over Davenport’s left shoulder just before the end of the first period.
We fought them off in the second period.
Gauthier and I were an impenetrable barrier whenever we were on, and McKinley and Elliott were strong together too.
McKinley even managed not to throw hands despite the fact he was obviously tempted.
Perhaps he was conscious of the documentary crew capturing absolutely everything we did.
Going into the third period, we were down one-nil.
Vegas fought harder than ever, eager to score again, but five minutes in, I got the puck and passed it to Harris, who put it over the opposing line.
We cheered and piled on Harris, who, in his typical fashion, tried to dodge the congratulations and claps on the back.
The goal must have set a fire under our forwards because less than a minute later, Kelly scored, and only seconds before the final whistle blew, Young did too.
We gathered together in the center of the ice, elated at the win.
I slung an arm around Young and another around Gauthier.
Even though we all knew not to read too much into our wins this early in the season, I was feeling more optimistic than I’d had in years.
If we kept this up, we might make it to the playoffs.
We cooled down, stretched, and showered. Coach Dunn congratulated us on the win and cautioned us not to go wild overnight. McKinley was given Frankie the fox—to his horror—and Coach took Harris and Young with him to the press conference. The rest of us dressed and made our way to the bus.
I looked for Chelsey but found her already sitting with Max, deep in conversation. A little disappointed, I dropped onto a seat beside Gauthier. When Coach, Jesse, and Austin joined us, we drove back to the hotel.
I lugged my bag to the room I was sharing with Jesse and immediately got out of the suit. It wasn’t that I disliked suits, but jeans were much more comfortable. I paired them with a button-up, so I’d at least look semi-formal and the two of us headed down to dinner.
Chelsey was seated at the opposite end of the table from me, so I didn’t get the opportunity to speak to her while I ate. I caught her looking at me once or twice and smiled, but I couldn’t tell what was going on behind her carefully neutral expression.
After dinner, I went to the bar to order a drink and was waiting for the busy bartender to notice me when someone appeared right beside me, so close I could feel the heat radiating from their body.
I turned, hoping it was Chelsey, and my stomach dropped when I saw it was instead a pretty brunette in a short black dress.
“Hi.” She gave me a once-over and grinned. “Want to buy me a drink, handsome?”
I shuffled sideways as much as I could, putting a little space between us. “I’m actually with a beautiful woman tonight, and I’m not interested in anyone else.”
One of her eyebrows rose, but she nodded. “I respect that. Good for you.”
She slinked away and I watched her go—and then realized that Chelsey was standing not far behind us, observing in silence. She met my gaze and, after a heartbeat, she smiled.
That smile gave me hope. Perhaps I hadn’t won her over right here and now, and maybe it would take some time for her to open up to me again, but I got the feeling we were on the way.
Life was about the journey not the destination, right?
As long as we were traveling the same path, maybe we’d end up where I wanted us to go.
I turned back to the bar and realized that the bartender was finally ready to take my order. I gave it to him and waited for my drink. Once I had my drink in hand, I made my way to the booth in a dimly lit corner where Austin, Nick, and Mitch were deep in conversation.
It was interesting to find myself fitting into this group.
Nick made a point of being everyone’s friend, so it wasn’t surprising that he’d included me, but Austin and I had never been close.
We got along well enough, but I wasn’t sure Austin had even had friends until his girlfriend came along.
As for Mitch Davenport… Well, he just didn’t seem to enjoy being social.
He didn’t have an attitude; he just kept to himself.
But I supposed that we were all a similar age and all key components of the team.
Not to mention the fact that Austin, Mitch, and I had never been the types to go out and let off steam like some of our teammates did when we were in other cities.
Nick ventured out occasionally, but perhaps because we were getting older, he did so less often.
We talked for a while about the game and how everyone was feeling, what aches and pains we had, and then I headed upstairs.
Jesse had already told me that he was hitting up a casino, so I knew not to expect him in the room when I got there.
Honestly, with him, there was every likelihood he’d come crashing in at 3 a.m., drunk as hell and semi naked.
Why the nudity? No one knew. But he had a habit of losing his clothes, and we’d all seen what he was packing plenty of times before, even outside the changing rooms.
I brushed my teeth in the en suite, stripped down to my boxers, climbed into bed, and had just turned out the light when there was a knock. I checked the time. If it was Jesse, he’d returned earlier than expected, and with a lot less noise.
I got up, flicked the light back on, and opened the door. My jaw dropped. It wasn’t Jesse standing on the other side, but Chelsey. She’d changed out of the clothes she’d been wearing earlier and was now in yoga pants and a tank top, her long hair loose and smelling of fruit and sweetness.
Her nostrils flared as her gaze raked down my chest, but then her eyes darted back to mine and she swallowed.
“Hey.” I smiled, wondering why she was here. I didn’t think I’d done anything to upset her today. “Is something wrong?”
Her teeth sank into her plush lower lip, and her eyes seemed to become impossibly bluer. “Is anyone else here?”
“It’s just me for now.” I scratched the back of my neck. “Jesse is at the casino. He’ll be back later.”
She nodded and tilted her head, her hair swaying and making me itch to wrap it around my fist. “Can I come in?”
“Yeah. Of course.” I stepped aside to let her in and locked the door behind her, figuring that if she wanted to have this conversation in private, then we ought to make sure no one could stumble upon us.
She glanced at Jesse’s bed and then at the one I’d just gotten out of. There were no chairs in the room, so I imagined she was sizing up places to sit. In the end, she just stood there, her hands folded over her lower belly, shifting her weight anxiously from one foot to the other.
“Can I help you with something?” I asked, since she seemed nervous and I didn’t like to see her so unsettled.
She let out a huff. “I’m scared.”
I rubbed my chest, which suddenly felt tight. “Scared of what?”
Whatever it was, I’d fix it for her.
She met my eyes. “Scared of being hurt.”
“Oh.” Well, I couldn’t take back any past hurt, but I could promise not to hurt her again. Was that what she wanted? It was impossible to tell.
“I miss you,” she whispered, dropping her gaze to where her toe was scuffing on the floor.
Tangles formed in my gut, and I drew in a deep breath, aware that a lot might ride on whatever I said next. “I miss you too. I’ve missed you since the day we broke up. I never stopped. If you let me, I promise to do my best to make sure you’re never hurt again.”
She peeked up at me. “I want to try. I want to see if there could be something between us.”
Fuck yes.
I didn’t let my elation show on my face. I knew how nerve-racking this must be for her and if I made a single misstep, she might run so far and fast that I never got her back.
“So do I. I’ll do anything for you. Anything. If there’s something that will make you more comfortable taking a chance on me, just say the word and I’ll do it.” I meant it with every fiber of my being.
She arched an eyebrow. “Anything?”
I nodded.
“Do you mean that?”
“I do,” I promised.
She cocked her hip, resting her hand on it, and I tried to ignore the way her juicy ass popped out to the side. “Like, if I said I wanted it, you’d crawl?”
Her mouth was twisted with a hint of humor and a lot of disbelief. She clearly didn’t realize I was serious and expected me to laugh.
Instead, I lowered myself to my knees, holding her gaze, and crawled across the carpet to kneel at her feet. Her pupils blew out and her hand flew to her mouth.
“I’m serious.” I looked up at her, prepared to do whatever it took to prove myself to her. “If you ask me to crawl, I’ll crawl. I’ll do anything for you.”