Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
CATALINA
"Isn't this fun?" Marley asked. She shifted her ass on the seat, trying to get comfortable. In the process, she almost pushed Eden off the side of the bleachers.
"That's exactly why we need an arena." Eden nudged her back over with her hip.
"Or fewer people here," I said. "If you two need more space, I can leave."
Marley grabbed my arm. "No you don't. You're going to stay and enjoy the game with us. Didn't you mention something about making a bet with Easton Grant?"
"I'm starting to regret mentioning that," I said. If I didn't watch, I couldn't say I enjoyed it. Would that mean I won by default? Yeah, okay, of course it didn't. Fine, I'd stick around for a while.
"You regret making a bet with a hot guy who wants to take you out?" Marley asked. "You could have jumped right to going out on a date with him." She fanned herself. Her eyes rolled back like she was swooning.
"Like that would ever happen," I said. "If you want him—"
"Oh no, he asked you to go out with him," she said. "Sisters before misters."
"There's no way I'm going out with Easton." I unscrewed the lid of my water and took a sip. "I told you, I hate hockey players. Give me a guy with a regular job any day. Not one who gets treated like a rock star."
"Easton is a carpenter during the day," Eden said helpfully. "Cruz is a car mechanic. Dean Hayes has one of those mobile lawn mowing businesses."
"It's nice to know they have mild-mannered lives outside the rink," I said dryly. "What about the other one, what's his name?" The ridiculously attractive defenceman had given me more sullen looks than the other three combined.
"Shaw Moss," Marley supplied. "I think he's a butcher or something. Something involving sharp knives." She smiled as though somehow that would make him enticing.
"My father works with sharp knives but I don't want to date him either," I said with a grimace.
"He does, doesn't he?" Marley looked thoughtful.
I shoved her with my shoulder. "Marley-Jane Hammond, that's my father we're talking about."
"You brought him into this," she pointed out.
"Let me put him out of it then," I said. The last man I wanted to discuss with my best friends was my father. Especially like that.
"What are you going to do if you enjoy the game?" Eden asked. "Are you going to back out of the bet?"
They were both looking at me now, both curious, smiles on their lips. Both absolutely certain how this would end.
"In the unlikely event I enjoy watching a hockey game, I'll follow through," I said. "I'll sit through coffee with him if I have to." No one said I had to go on an actual date, or that I needed to enjoy myself.
"You're welcome to take my place if you want to," I offered. Marley in particular, seemed into him, in spite of what she said.
"Not a chance," Marley said. "But if you have coffee with him, let me know when and where so I can come and sit in the corner and watch."
"I'm starting to think my father needs to find more work for you to do," I told her. "You don't seem to be busy enough."
She sniffed. "I'm definitely busy enough. I'm lucky to get the night off."
"When have you ever worked at night?" Eden asked.
Marley hesitated.
Eden and I laughed.
"That's what I thought," Eden said. "I've never seen you around Mann Terrace after five o'clock in the afternoon."
Marley crossed her arms over her chest. "Maybe I take my work home."
Before any of us could say anything else, the Ghouls appeared from the locker room and made their way through the crowds, to the ice.
Their competition, the Magpies, followed behind. The Magpies weren't under consideration as an expansion team, but they got a cheer from the crowd regardless.
"The locker room must feel really small with all of those guys in there," Marley said. "Imagine how it will be with the arena. They'll have more than enough space to get ready. And a visitor's locker room. And maybe one for speed skaters." She slid me a sly smile.
I snorted softly. "Even if they did, they'd still think the rink was theirs and not want to share." They'd be worse about that ice than they were about this. On the other hand, if they had their own, they wouldn't need to come here. Maybe I could get behind them after all.
"And maybe you and Easton could have ice skating dates on their fancy new rink." Marley grinned.
"That's as likely as me having a date with Cruz Brewer," I said.
"Or any of them." I glanced down to see the left defenceman of the starting line scowling at me.
His eyes were narrowed, jaw tight like he was clenching his teeth to keep from leaping up into the stands and wrapping his hands around my throat.
Maybe while he fucked me, deep and hard, our bodies sliding against each other…
I shook my head. What was I thinking? Sure, he was hot, but I got the impression he hated me and everything about me, even though he didn't know a thing.
"Especially him," I said firmly. Was I trying to convince them or myself?
I looked back at him and raised my chin as if I wasn't even slightly intimidated. He was a big guy. If he wanted to hurt me, he could. I'd never give him an opportunity.
"He seems to have some unresolved issues," Eden remarked.
I glanced over at her. "Yeah, just a bit." When I looked back at him, he was glaring even harder, clearly aware we were talking about him.
Easton clapped him on the shoulder and grinned up at me. He raised his arm and pointed at me, leaving no one in any doubt who he was looking at.
I felt like everyone in the arena was staring at me. I smirked at him and gave him a small wave.
That made him grin even bigger.
I shook my head at him and caught the look on Cruz's face.
The winger was glaring at Easton the same way Shaw glared at me.
Like somehow he didn't approve of Easton even looking at me.
We had that in common, I supposed. Easton was hot, but he should save his glances for the women in the rink who wanted them.
"Isn't that interesting?" Marley said.
"What's that?" I asked.
"It looks like you're on the receiving end of a testosterone bomb." She grinned. "You know, where a bunch of guys fight for your fair affection." She placed a hand under her chin and fluttered her eyelashes. Before pushing her glasses back up her nose.
"I wasn't aware we stepped into a Jane Austen novel," I said dryly. I cleared my throat. "It’s a truth universally acknowledged, that a single hockey player in possession of a good fortune, and a cock, must be in want of a willing pussy.”
When we all stopped laughing, I said, "None of them are interested in me. Especially Cruz. He's probably annoyed that Easton is talking to me because he hates my guts. He's wondering why he'd want to waste his time with me. That's all there is to it."
"That's not what it looks like to me," Marley said. She glanced over to Eden for backup.
Eden raised her hands. "I'm staying right out of it, but it does look like there's some tension there between them.
Whether that has anything to do with Cat or not, is another thing.
It could be an underlying situation between them and it could be pressure from this game and the whole expansion thing.
With everything going on, I'd expect them to be on edge. "
"What she said," I said. "It has nothing to do with me. I'm just an innocent bystander. Someone they had a brief interaction with. The sooner we all forget about it, the better."
I was starting to regret coming here tonight. And making the bet with Easton in the first place. I could have practised earlier in the morning or after work, when they might not be there.
I sighed and looked back towards the ice. Before the goalie, Dean, pulled his mask down over his face, I noticed him watching me too, his eyes intent on my face.
Maybe I was being paranoid. He might be looking at anyone else in the stands. Chances were, that was exactly what was going on. I was jumping to conclusions because of the other guy's glares and my friend's teasing.
"So, we're going for the Magpies, right?" I asked teasingly.
That earned me twin looks of mock outrage.
"Only if you want to be kicked out of Opal Springs," Marley said with a smile.
"And subjected to years of therapy to cure you of your traitorous behaviour," Eden teased.
I threw my hand up in surrender, narrowly missing knocking Marley's drink out of her hand.
"Fine, I'll cheer on the Ghouls if I have to. Or at least, I won't boo them too loudly." I ducked to the side to avoid Marley's shoulder when she tried to shove hers into mine.
"If you boo them, I don't think I can be seen with you in public again," she teased. "In fact, maybe I shouldn't anyway, just in case."
"Whatever happened to sisters before misters?" I asked with a laugh.
"They're not misters, they're a hockey team," Eden pointed out. "You know what they say, hockey before…something." She shrugged.
I laughed again. "I don't think there's any saying that hockey is more important than anything else."
In Melbourne, I met plenty of people who thought that way.
Although, just as many who considered the various codes of football, or sports like cricket, to be more important than breathing.
Sports had a way of drawing enthusiastic fans, who followed them for life, more obsessive and passionate than any rock band.
Even ones as popular as Wolf Venom and Ice Blue Roses.
Not to mention my personal favourites, Blazing Violet.
"Besides, it's not as exciting as ice racing." Not that I was biased at all. I adored everything about my sport. The speed, the rush, the feeling of ice under my skates, the surge of adrenaline at every bend. There was nothing else like it.
"That's what you say now, but wait until you've watched a full game," Marley said. "You might be convinced to swap your speed skates for a pair of ice hockey skates."
"Not a chance," I said. "And before you say it, I'm not going to bet on it." I'd already learned my lesson about betting on my enjoyment of things. I had a feeling the bet with Easton was going to come back and bite me on the ass.
"There's no reason why you can't enjoy both," Eden said easily. "Why choose one sport when you can enjoy a bunch of them?"
"You're not going to try to talk me into playing lawn bowls or darts, are you?" I asked.
She smiled. "Both of those are great fun. Very relaxing. You might enjoy them as a way to unwind."
"I don't think Cat knows how to unwind," Marley said. "Can you imagine her playing a relaxing sport?"
Eden leaned forward and looked over at me. "You have a point. But everyone should have a relaxing hobby or pastime. Something to unwind at the end of a long day."
"That's what reading is for," I said. "But I know you two are going to drag me out to the pub after the game, so I may try darts just for shits and giggles." I might pretend the dartboard was Shaw or Cruz, and that the bull's-eye was the space between their eyes.
Maybe Eden had a point about hobbies. That sounded both relaxing and cathartic. I could print out a picture of one of them and pin it up over the board, just for fun. They'd probably do the same with a picture of me.
An air horn sounded the start of the game.