Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
After practice, the guys come over to D-Low’s and my apartment.
They didn’t get to grill me enough earlier.
I plop down onto the couch, tired from a long workout.
Trav drops down beside me with a beer. Galaxy files in on his other side.
D-Low takes his usual spot on the opposite end of the couch, and Penn stands in front of the TV, arms crossed.
“When you say she’s Victor Aven’s sister . . .” Trav trails off, staring into the distance.
“For the love of god.” Penn rubs two fingers along his forehead. “How many times does he have to explain?”
“Is this why you and Aven got into it when we played Houston last?” Galaxy asks.
“No. He’s had it out for me ever since I beat him in the fastest skater skill test at the All-Star game my rookie season.” We weren’t friendly or anything before then, but that was the catalyst that turned him into an outright bully every time we meet.
“I forgot about that,” Galaxy says. “What a fucking sore loser.”
“The guy is a total dick. Always has been,” Penn says. “But he does seem to get a special kind of pleasure pissing you off.”
I’m a bully magnet. Everyone always says that things will get easier after high school, but the truth is that most bullies never grow up. They just find new targets.
“He doesn’t know about me and Whitney,” I assure them.
“Well, that’s something.” D-Low lifts both brows. “The thought of that guy knowing your relationship status before me would have me seriously questioning our friendship.”
“I didn’t want you all to tell me what a bad idea it is to keep seeing her,” I admit.
“How’d she break the news to you?” Trav asks.
“I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation,” D-Low notes.
“She has his jersey hanging in her house. I saw it and commented on it.” I wince a little internally. I didn’t even try to hide my dislike of Victor. Would I if I’d known? Maybe. I’m not sure I could have done it convincingly.
Galaxy sucks air in through clenched teeth.
“So they’re close?” Trav’s mouth pulls into a thin, worried line. “Fuck, I’m sorry about the shit I said in the game about his sister. That must have been weird.”
I nod. Weird is an understatement. “It’s fine. You didn’t know. And yeah, I think they’re pretty close.”
“Which means if Victor doesn’t know, he will eventually,” D-Low points out.
“What do you think will happen when he finds out?” Galaxy asks. It makes sense that he’s the one worried about how it might impact the team. He’s our captain, after all.
“I don’t know, but I don’t care.” We only play Houston once more this season, unless we face them in the playoffs again. And honestly, the guy already hates me. How much worse could it get?
“Fuck Aven,” Trav says.
D-Low’s lips quirk up into a grin. “You mean fuck his sister.”
The guys laugh, and while I know they still have their reservations, it feels like some of the tension has lifted.
I’d never do anything to put the team, or our chance of winning, at risk, but I promised myself a long time ago that I wasn’t going to let the bullies win and I’m not about to go back on that now.
“Man on Fire or The Equalizer?” D-Low asks as we settle into our seats on the plane. We’re headed to Colorado and then to Utah for two away games.
“I don’t care. You pick.”
He nods as he pulls out his laptop and sets it on the table between us. I’m holding my phone in both hands, staring at the dark screen.
“Texting with Whitney?” he asks, grinning.
“No. Well, earlier, yeah.” Now I’m wondering what to text next. I’m sure I’m overthinking it, but I’m not great at idle chitchat.
“When do I get to meet her?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Thinking about ending things because of Victor?”
“No,” I say quickly, then shrug like maybe I’m not sure.
That’s a lie. I’m not thinking about it at all, but that’s mostly because I’ve pushed her connection to Victor out of my mind as much as possible. Aside from the guys’ reminders, it’s been easy to separate. She’s nothing like him. Thank fuck.
It’s been almost two weeks, and while our schedules have made it impossible to hang out again, we’ve continued texting.
“What’s she like?” He sits back in his seat, laptop forgotten.
“The opposite of him. I can’t even believe they’re related.”
“Maybe they’re half-siblings. She doesn’t look like him, so that’s a plus.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” I huff a small laugh. “I don’t know much about the situation. Just that he’s her brother and she’s a Houston fan.”
He winces, sucking air in through his teeth. “We’ve all got flaws, I suppose.”
I make a throaty noise of agreement.
“Besides, it isn’t like you’re dating.”
My brow furrows. “What do you mean?”
He stares at me for a long moment. “Maybe I got it wrong, but it seems like you’re just hooking up. Have you gone on an actual date? Aside from the disaster one.”
“No, but . . .” I trail off. “The first time she invited me to her house because it was late, and most places were closed.”
“And the second time?”
“I think I suggested it, but she’d already been out that night with a friend and I didn’t think she’d want to meet me somewhere.”
He laughs quietly. “And you wanted to hook up.”
“Yeah.” I wince. I can’t deny that I was hoping it’d end with hooking up again. “But it isn’t that I don’t want to date her. It’s just easier when I don’t need to talk.”
His laughter grows louder. “You’re the only guy I know who could say that and I’d believe him. I wouldn’t worry about it.”
But I do worry about it. For the entirety of our trip, any time I’m not focused on hockey, I’m thinking about Whitney.
When I get back to Moonshot, I text her.
Me
Plans tonight?
Whitney
We have practice until six, but not after that. Do you want to come over?
Me
I was thinking I could take you to dinner, if you wanted.
Whitney
Oh. Okay. Sure.
Me
Great. Meet me at MVP at seven.
I’m waiting for her inside when Whitney walks through the doors at MVP.
She’s casual in jeans and a cream-colored sweater.
Her hair is down and curled, and her lips are shiny.
It hits me that I haven’t seen her like this very often.
She’s stunning no matter what she’s wearing or how she does her hair and makeup, but she knocks the wind out of me like this.
Which of course makes my words freeze somewhere between my brain and mouth.
The hostess leads us to a table. This one is thankfully not by my jersey hanging on the wall.
“Thank you,” Whitney says to the woman as she takes her seat.
I nod my thanks and curse my inability to not get tongue-tied around women. I came in my pants in front of her. You’d think talking would be no big deal after that.
“I need redemption,” I say out of absolutely nowhere.
Whitney’s confused expression quickly shifts to understanding. “So we’re on a redo date?”
“Something like that.”
She grins and picks up her menu. We’re quiet while we both look over the food options. I’ve been here so many times, I have it memorized. I wait until she sets hers down first. Then do the same. Only as I’m about to ask her what she picked, I spot D-Low and Travis.
D-Low waves and smiles as he talks to the hostess, then he and Trav head our way.
“Oh no.”
“What?” Whitney asks, clearly picking up on my distress because she glances around to see what has me panicked.
“I’m so sorry.”
She looks even more confused until D-Low comes to a stop next to our table.
“No way. I didn’t know you were coming here.” D-Low’s grin inches higher.
He did know. He knew exactly where I was going and what time.
When I don’t say anything, D-Low turns his attention to Whitney. He nods his head to her in greeting. “Hey. I’m Danny.”
“Travis,” my other traitor friend says from beside him.
“Whitney.” She looks far more gracious than I feel.
I stand and move in front of D-Low. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Yeah, of course,” he says, like I’m not glaring at him.
“At the bar.”
“Oh yeah, you owe me a drink anyway.” He peers around me. “Nice to meet you, Whitney.”
“You too.” She smiles politely.
Travis lifts a hand in a wave and the three of us head across the restaurant to the bar side.
“What the hell?” I ask once we get there.
“She’s even cuter than I remembered,” D-Low says.
“Really cute.” Travis nods. “I was picturing Victor with long hair.” He visibly shudders.
“Why are you two here?” I glance back to the table. Whitney is staring down at the menu again.
“Dinner and drinks. Same as you.” D-Low flags the bartender and orders a beer.
“Uh-huh.” I’m not buying it for a second.
“We thought we could help,” Travis says.
D-Low elbows him.
“What? He knows anyway.” Trav looks at me. “We wanted to make sure it went well. You like this girl and the last time you went on a date . . .”
I blew it.
I rub my forehead with two fingers. “I appreciate the thought but what’s worse: blowing another date or having my friends babysit me the entire time?”
They both think about it for too long.
“The second,” I answer for them while they’re still contemplating. “Just . . . stay over here while I try to salvage the second-worst date in history.”
I leave them at the bar and head back to Whitney. She glances up at me and smiles as I take my seat.
“Everything okay?” she asks.
“Yeah. Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay.” She leans forward, elbows on the table. “Do they want to join us?”
I bark out a laugh. “Oh yeah, they’d love that.”
She stares at me like she’s waiting for an explanation, so I let out a sigh. “They came to make sure I didn’t freeze up and scare you off a second time.”
Her mouth falls open, and she lets out one small chuckle of anxious laughter.
“I think they also wanted to meet you. I don’t date a lot and—”
“They’re curious about you going out with Victor Aven’s sister?”
“Yeah.”
“I get it.”
“You do?”
“Well, no, not exactly, but it’s sweet they’re looking out for you, and I get that my brother adds another level to this thing.”