Chapter 25
Chapter twenty-five
Luka
I can’t believe Reid isn’t even a little bit excited for me that the trainers want to look at some of my plays in closer detail.
Actually, I can. He’s so fixed in his ways about everything on the ice.
In the bedroom, he’s open to everything, but put a hockey stick in his hands and a wall goes right up.
It can’t just be a fear of losing, cause the team has had its share of losses before I even got here.
“You’re home early,” Mom says as I hang my keys by the door.
“Yeah, I figured I should get a good night’s sleep, you know, with the game tomorrow and everything.”
“Are you sure that’s the only reason?” she asks, pulling out a covered dish from the refrigerator. “Sit. I’ll fix you a plate.”
“It’s not the only reason, but it’s the only one I can talk about.”
She frowns. “I doubt that. Come on, you’ll feel better once you get it off your chest.”
I sit on a stool and rest my head in my hands, and she loads up the plate with chicken and roast vegetables, then pops it in the microwave.
“Come on, kid, let it out. It’s about someone you’ve been seeing, isn’t it?” she asks, and I look up to find her knowing smile.
“He’s just so . . . stubborn,” I sigh.
“Uh-huh.”
“I know what you’re going to say,” I continue as the microwave beeps and she pulls out my plate.
“And that is?”
“I should look at why he’s being stubborn and not just whine about it,” I tell her, and I take a bite of chicken. It’s hot and perfectly seasoned and tastes just the way it always does when Mom cooks it. Maybe that’s the real reason I haven’t really looked for a place of my own yet.
“So?” she presses.
“I guess he’s technically doing his job.”
“And you want him to disregard his job to make you happy?”
“Well, when you say it like that, it doesn’t sound like a reasonable thing to ask for.”
“There’s a reason for that too, you know?”
“Yeah, because it’s not reasonable, right?”
She doesn’t say that I’m right, but she doesn’t have to, her smile says it all.
I pop a perfectly roasted potato into my mouth.
“You’re going to have to tell me how you make these taste so good,” I say, and she shakes her head.
“If I do that, then you won’t have a reason to come visit.”
“I’ll always visit, Mom. I know I said that when I was in college, and I really meant to come home more often, but with classes and hockey and skills camps—“
“I know, honey, it’s fine. We moved here to be closer to you and make visiting us easier now that you’re in the NHL. And we love having you here, so don’t even think this means I want you to move out, but . . .” She reaches into her purse and pulls out a flyer.
“You found a place?”
“Maybe. It looks like it checks off a lot of your must-haves,” she says, handing it over.
I’m not looking for anything too outrageous.
I just want it to be comfortable. A two-bedroom condo with a shared gym and pool, close to the rink but on one of the higher floors, so it has a view of the city.
Oh, and if it has a doorman, even better.
I like the idea of guests having to sign in.
White suggested that when I told him I was looking.
He said I’ll thank him when I get my first stalker.
I’m hoping he was joking, but if I can find a place with one, why not?
The team put Colt up in one of the condos they own in a newer complex around the corner from the rink, but it’s meant to be temporary as new players find their own place. My parents already bought one here, so I passed on it when they offered one to me too.
“This looks nice,” I say as I scan the images on the flyer. It’s a twelfth-floor condo, with big windows overlooking the city, and it’s only a couple of blocks from the rink.
“I thought, it’s close to us, but not so close you feel like we’re imposing, and it has a rooftop pool for tenants and their guests only,” she says, taking my plate, and I go to protest, but look down and find I’ve smashed through it and eaten every bite already.
“It’s up for auction tomorrow. I have a game,” I say, sliding the flyer across the counter.
“If you like it, Dad and I can go bid for you.”
“Is that even allowed?” I ask, and Mom’s eyebrows pick up.
“The woman at the real estate office said you just have to make me your proxy or something. I have a form for you to fill out.”
I look at her skeptically. “You just happened to find this place and already talked to the real estate agent about it, but you aren’t trying to get me to move out?”
“Your father and I thought you might need a little . . . push.”
“A push?”
“You know, a nudge, to move forward with your new life.”
“Instead of backward living with Mommy and Daddy?” I chuckle, and she comes around to my side and wraps me in her tiny arms.
“Maybe if you have your own place, you can have your new friend over and talk about why his stubbornness frustrates you so much.”
“I think he already knows why.”
“Can’t hurt to talk about it. At least not with the other person anyway. If you’re just talking to yourself in that handsome head of yours, then you can bet you’re going to hurt, honey.”
“Okay, give me another look at that flyer.”
***
“Rookie, can we talk for a second?” Reid asks as we get ready to warm up for our game today.
White glances my way, but no one else bats an eye.
Either this is totally normal, or I’m about to get in shit for something else now, and they don’t want to watch.
Can I blame them? The last time Reid went off at me, I gave it to him right back.
I can’t do that again. No matter what we are or were outside of the rink, here, he’s my captain.
“Sure, Cap, what’s up?” I ask as I follow him out into the hall, trying not to sound worried, but my throat is all tight as the nervous energy starts to build inside.
The hallway is practically empty except for a few security guards at either end, and I lean on the stark white wall waiting for him to say what he has to.
Reid checks the hallway in both directions, then steps closer.
“I’m sorry about yesterday,” he says, and I don’t know where to look. Did I hear that right?
“I’m sorry. I should have told you sooner about the trainer’s interest in my plays,” I say, and he shrugs, drawing my attention to his wide shoulders that are sitting a little slumped today.
He doesn’t have the same energetic light about him either.
His eyes have a darker shade around them, like maybe he hasn’t slept, or at least not much. “Are you okay?”
He chuckles. “Why, because I apologized?”
“No, because you look like you spent the night on the town.”
He rubs the back of his neck with one hand as if he can somehow massage away the tension living there.
“Let’s just say I didn’t exactly sleep well after . . . you know.”
“Sorry.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. It did make me realize one thing, though,” he says.
“What?” I ask, as my heart hammers against my ribcage.
“I don’t think I can be your captain and your boyfriend.”
My stomach sinks.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m giving up captain.”
“You can’t give up captain,” I exclaim, and he quickly shushes me.
“Keep it down, I haven’t told everyone yet.”
“But you have told someone?”
“Yeah, I met with Coach Dennings this morning. He understood. Or at least he did when I explained that my feeling for you are a big part of why I need to do this.”
“You can’t do that for me. You’re the best captain we could have. The guys won’t like this.” I plead with him to reconsider his decision, but he has that same determination on his face that he had when he carried me up the stairs to his bedroom.
“I can’t captain you and date you, and I’ve never felt like this for anyone. I don’t want to give you up.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, and he nods.
“I’m positive. Now, can you please smile, or those security guards are going to think I just booted you from the team or something.”
I laugh.
“Wait, did you just say boyfriend?” I whisper, leaning in closer, and throwing him my cheeky smirk.
“Maybe, is that okay?”
“It’s better than okay. Wow, can today get any better?”
“Well, we’re about to play a game, so yeah, it could get even better, but what else are you so cheery about?” he asks.
“I might have found a place. Well, actually, my mom might have. She’s going today to try to bid on it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it’s just a condo a few blocks from here.”
“What do you mean, just? It’s awesome that you’ll have your own space. Is it high up? I know you wanted a view.”
I love that he remembers what I like.
“Twelfth floor, big windows, and a doorman.”
“To keep the stalkers out,” he says with a nod. “White will be pleased.”
“Did he seriously come home to find a stalker just there at his door in a wedding dress?”
Reid laughs loudly, briefly drawing the gaze of a couple of the security guards.
“Twice, actually. Then he moved to a place with a reception for visitor check-in. What time is the auction?”
“One. So I should know by the first intermission today if I have a new place to live.”
“Nope, give me your phone,” Reid says, and I step back.
“No, why?”
“If you see that you’ve won it, you’ll be distracted by the excitement of having a new place. And if you lose it, you’ll be disappointed, and that will affect your game even more. It’ll be best to wait until we win today to check.”
I hold my phone, pondering his words for a moment, then cave in and hand it over. He flicks it to silent and then shoves it into his back pocket.
“We really should get ready now,” he says, nodding toward the locker room door. Then he leans in a little closer to whisper, “I really am sorry. I’ll try to be more . . . open in the future.”
He starts to walk past me, but I reach out and grab his arm and look up into his piercing brown eyes.
“You can show me later how open you can be,” I say with a smirk and my words bring back a little of the light missing from his face moments before.
“Deal,” he replies with a wide smile, and it sends that same flurry through me, making me wish we weren’t in a hallway at the rink so I could pull him to me and kiss those big, perfect lips.