Chapter 13
Thwack. Over my left shoulder.
Thwack. Under my right glove.
Thwack. Straight through the five hole.
“Let’s go, Williams! Get your head out of your ass!”
Shit. If Coach has me in his sights already, it’s about to be a long week on the road. Somehow, I manage to make it through the rest of practice with a shutout, so I think I’ve dodged any extra scrutiny.
“Cuddles, how many teddy bears do you bring on the road? At least two, right? One for each hand.” Bugsy gives me a good-natured pat on the shoulder as we head for the showers.
We don’t have time to go home before we head to the airport, so there’s some rare time to enjoy the spa-like atmosphere of the players’ area this afternoon.
It’s more luxurious than what the Phantoms have in New York, with a sauna, multiple whirlpools, and an aromatherapy steam room.
Apparently, Pretzel has to avoid it because he’s allergic to the aromas, but I’m excited to finally have time to give it a shot.
Although I’d love to go back to when every one of my free moments was spent texting a gorgeous girl…
“Whoa, major heart eyes, man. Who are you thinking about?” Nikki’s voice shakes me out of my stupor as I find a free showerhead.
“Uh…”
“I know you’re still new, but you don’t have to be shy around here. We’re not a team that runs around telling each other’s business.”
“Yeah,” Bugsy chimes in. “We’re all solid, and none of the wives and girlfriends talk to the press either.”
Gabri grunts, and Nikki agrees with him immediately. “Exactly. Like Cap here says, only long-term girlfriends and wives get the gossip. Team rule. Keeps the drama out.”
Everyone has made their way to the sauna now, and we all drop our towels before heading in. With the quickest glance I can manage, I’m feeling alright about how I…measure up. Until Gabri walks in. Jesus Christ.
“Are you guys married?” The question is out of my mouth before I can stop it, but I’m more curious than ever about Ellie’s life.
She never mentioned having any sisters-in-law, but then again, we were so caught up in each other that we never had extensive discussions about family.
Fuck, I miss her. We had fallen into a routine of texts and even had a couple of rituals, starting the morning with an icebreaker and comparing artistic pictures of our lunches each day.
I never even got to tell her much about my grandma, and it feels crazy to think that I’ll never know more about her than I do right now.
Nikki scoffs, and Gabri grunts, as if I’ve touched a nerve. “Nah, Cuddles. Nothing serious for the Santori brothers.” Both of them look like there’s more to the story, but I decide not to press.
“What about the rest of you guys?”
Bugsy and Pretzel share a look from the bench they’re sitting beside each other on before shaking their heads, but Bud flashes his wedding ring with pride.
I hadn’t realized he was married, but it makes sense.
He’s one of the older guys on the team, trying to win a championship this year before retiring.
I think one of the main reasons he’s not captain is that he doesn’t want any extra responsibilities that would keep him away from home.
After this season, he’s planning on going back home.
“Eighteen years, boys. Nothing like a family at home. I keep telling these guys that having one woman who knows you inside and out and still loves you is worth a million of these nameless hookups on the road.”
“Hey man, the girls I meet get to know me inside and out. Trust me.” Nikki draws a few laughs but doesn’t smile or open his eyes from his relaxed position in the corner.
“How many kids do you have, Bud?”
“Five. Four boys, then one little girl,” he says proudly.
“I’ll show you pics on the plane, Cuddles.
They’re so damn cute. A handful, though.
Thankfully, my wife has her parents next door to help, and her little sister comes over when I’m on the road to stay as well.
Without them, I don’t know what we’d do. ”
Upon hearing the word “sister”, the sauna becomes a cacophony of “Ooo” and “no sisters!” Bud just laughs when another guy asks if he considers his wife’s sister just as off-limits as a blood sister. “She’s a lesbian, but I’d love to watch any one of you knuckleheads try your shot. Be my guest.”
“What about you, Cuddles? Big family?” Bugsy’s question is one I’ve been waiting for, especially as we spend more time together as a team.
“Nah, just me and my grandma. No siblings, Mom died, never had a dad.”
The awkward silence that follows is thicker than the air in the sauna, and I can’t let them think I’m still the same “woe is me” kid who used to dream about having siblings.
“It’s all good, though. I don’t have any sisters for you cretins to try to fuck.”
Cheers and jeers echo through the room again, and I relax, glad to move on from being the center of attention.
“Your sister takes the cake, Nikki. I guess she’s your sister too, Gabri.
” Shit. Now I’m really not the center of attention.
That terrifying honor has shifted to the man everyone calls Wednesday.
His name is Zach Tuesday, but he has jet black hair and a scowl more often than not, so his nickname was a no-brainer.
This is his second year with the Rising Tide, and he’s never stayed anywhere longer than two years.
He has a reputation as a shit stirrer, and the rumor is that he spends one year on every team making an effort, but by year two, he’s back to being his shithead self.
“Not sure what you mean by that, Wednesday. But I’d think very carefully about it before you tell us,” Nikki responds without looking up, but Gabri’s black eyes bore into Zach from across the sauna. Nobody poured any more water on the coals, but it suddenly feels at least ten degrees warmer.
Placing his hands in the air in surrender, Wednesday immediately backtracks. “I don’t mean anything except that she seems like the perfect sister, is all. She makes my sister look like a lazy piece of shit in comparison.”
“Oh my God, remember when she made those cappuccino brownies last year?”
“The brownies were good, but her cheesecake made me cry!”
“Anybody can bake, but my dad still wears the beanie she knitted him with our logo and my number on it! Hey Nikki, remind her if she ever needs any tax work done, my dad said he’s her guy for life, for free!”
The guys go on and on about Ellie, and based on what I know about the hospital, the retirement home, and the beach cleanup, it doesn’t surprise me at all.
She warms people’s lives wherever she is and doesn’t expect anything in return.
Every time she talked about her charity work or volunteering, she never wanted to tell me about it.
Instead, she wanted to talk about how hard others were working and tell me the stories of the people she met along the way.
This week, I know she had a twelve-hour baking day planned for Nurses Week and Luau Night at the retirement home.
I should send her a wrist brace for her carpal tunnel. She said it acts up when she makes more than 100 cookies at once…
“Oi, assholes!” Coach snaps me out of my reverie and silences the rowdy sauna. “If any of you knuckleheads are planning on making the plane outta here tonight and actually playing on this road trip, you might wanna get a move on! Wheels up in thirty minutes!”
Scrambling in a mass of sweaty flesh, we rinse off and grab our bags out of the locker room just in time.
It’s a long flight to the West Coast of Canada, and I’m hoping to get some sleep.
My noise-canceling headphones are fully charged, and I have a podcast downloaded on old-school film development techniques using a camera I’m thinking about buying.
Since Ellie encouraged me, I’m itching to get back on the beach and take pictures again.
My phone buzzes as I’m walking up the steps to the plane, and my heart skips a beat when I see who it is.
Ellie: Good luck on the road trip ?
That’s the first thing she’s sent me since she left my apartment the day we broke things off, both in tears and wishing things were different.
We should have Wi-Fi on the plane, so as soon as we take off, I’ll text her back.
Settling in, I get my snacks and electronics set up just the way I like and lean back with my eyes closed for takeoff.
It’s never my favorite part of flying, but the sound of ocean waves and taking deep breaths usually gets me through.
A thump in the open seat next to me has me opening my eyes, though. Gabri has plopped down and made himself comfy. He normally sits by Nikki, but I can see Nikki is holding court with Wednesday, being generally annoying and intimidating, probably as payback for mentioning Ellie in the sauna.
“Cuddles,” Gabri growls.
“Cap.”
“I like you. I realized we hadn’t talked much one-on-one, and this first away trip gave us the chance.”
“Sounds nice, I—”
“What Nikki and I said about Elia is not hyperbole, Theodore.” Pitch black eyes stare into my soul, and all I can see is a flip book of his sister: naked, coming on my tongue, coming on my cock, crying and choking on my length, dripping my spend before I eat it out of her just to spit it into her mouth.
“Cap, I would never—”
“I know you wouldn’t. You seem like a guy who likes his head on his shoulders.
I mean…has a good head on his shoulders.
We just like to reinforce things whenever the guys start thinking about her cooking too much, like today.
She’s an amazing woman, even better than they know. But she is not. For. You.”
With that, he places his own headphones on and falls asleep immediately. I’m left reeling, faced with information I already knew rewritten for me in neon red. Not for you. Taking a melatonin and chugging a glass of wine, I turn my ocean waves up louder and leave Ellie’s text unanswered.
Not for you.