Chapter 4 #2
“Oh?” Was it the woman Ian had mentioned? We walked down the corridor, past cork boards with flyers stuck to them, and stopped at the gym doors. “And what’s her name?”
“Margot. Margot Welch.” He clenched his jaw. “She found a local job and needs a place to stay until she finds an apartment.”
With a nod, I opened the door and strolled inside. “Now you’re friends, or friends with benefits?” My chest twinged. Why did I care?
“Friends. No benefits. We broke up before I left for Arizona.” A wide grin grew on his face. “Look at these little ones.” He quickened his stride toward them.
Mason and Jett stood with a crowd of children, knee-high to waist-high, signing shirts and toy hockey sticks. A few adults rounded out the mix.
Archer Carlson shook his head, standing with his own crowd. “About time you got here, Cap.”
“Where’s Ace and Lucas?” Alex stopped beside Archer.
“They got stuck in traffic. Ace texted me. There was an accident on the 101. It must have happened after we drove through there.” Archer bent down, signing a child’s shirt with a Sharpie.
Ian strolled toward me. “This will go over well. The event planners are so happy we could pull this together on such short notice.”
“Yes, well, the season hasn’t started yet, so it was easy.
” As my gaze found his, my pulse flickered.
Ian looked amazing today, dressed in corporate casual.
As I shifted my attention to Alex, now sitting in a circle with the kids, my heart warmed.
Alex had layers. He had a toughness I never saw in Ian, and it was sexy as hell.
When Alex had caught me on the ice, his strength had been intoxicating.
And when he’d shoved me against the wall…
damn, I’d never gotten hard so fast in my life. Why was my mind going there?
“Oh, Jonathan.” Ian strolled toward a man with blond hair and dark eyes. “I want you to meet Julian.” He pulled on Jonathan’s hand, leading him toward me.
Was this the man Ian was dating? My chest flared with heat. He didn’t look very interesting. In fact, he was plain-looking and boring. I forced a smile and stuck out my hand. “Hello, Jonathan. And you are?”
“I run operations for events like this.” Jonathon shook my hand and eyed me from head to toe. “It’s nice to meet you. Ian talks a lot about you. You both have quite a history.” He snuck a peek at Ian.
“Yes, but much of it’s behind us now.” Ian let out a faltering laugh. “We’ve become close friends.”
Jonathan was definitely the new man in Ian’s life. “Well, I hope he only shared the good things.” I chuckled as my gaze roamed to Alex, standing and looking around as if lost. “What are we supposed to be doing?” I didn’t want to hang around Ian and his new boyfriend.
“Oh, the coordinators are running the show. Do you see the two women over there? Looks like they’re getting the kids geared up with their toy hockey sticks.”
Ace and Lucas appeared at the door and strode toward me, with Ace saying, “Sorry, Julian. We hit some traffic.”
“So I heard.” Planting my hands on my hips, I worried my lower lip. How could I escape Ian and Jonathan? “Follow me and we’ll get you on board.” I strode toward the commotion of kids, who swiped their plastic hockey sticks around as if they were swords.
“Settle down now, or you’ll get a penalty. That’s called high-sticking.” Alex swiped at a stick as it only just missed his ass. “On the ground, you need to keep them on the ground.” Chuckling, Alex wiped his eyes. “Oh my God.”
“What have you done? The kids are all riled up.” Ace grabbed a stick and set the blade on the court’s surface. “Kids, you hold it like this.”
Most of the children halted and watched Ace, and then mimicked him.
“Dude, I’m glad you’re not a dad yet. Your house would be chaos.” A snicker escaped Lucas as he took a stick, bent down and placed the blade on the floor. “You swing at the puck, not each other.”
“Okay, let’s break into teams.” Mason smirked at me. “I get the tall ones.”
Jett clicked his tongue and said, “No, we’ll count them down.”
Breaking away from the chaos, Alex stepped toward me. “Who’s the guy and why isn’t he helping?” He jabbed his thumb toward Ian.
“He’s Ian, my, uh, the friend who set this up with me.” I glanced toward Ian, now giving Jonathan a warm grin and brushing a lock of hair from his forehead. Could they be any more obvious?
“So this Ian, have you always been friends, or something more? He’s queer, right?” Alex narrowed his eyes at them. “They look like they might be together.”
“They are.” I clenched my teeth as a knot formed in my gut. Should I tell him? What could it hurt? “We started dating in our senior year of high school, but it ended in college.”
“Yeah? What happened?” Alex dropped his stick to his side and focused on me.
I winced. “He fell out of love with me.” I hadn’t been enough.
I never was. Even now, a man who clearly wasn’t of my caliber had replaced me.
But somehow, boring Jonathan was lovable, according to Ian.
I ground my molars. With a huff, I said, “Apparently I’m not enough to hold his attention, but that guy is.
” Why would I admit this to Alex, of all people?
“Hey, don’t say that. Are you okay?” Alex shifted to stand between me and Ian. “Look at me.” He lifted my chin.
I crept my gaze to his stunning blue eyes, so light they could have been made of the ice he skated on. “I’m fine.”
“You’re hurt. Do you still have feelings for that guy?” The edge of his lips quirked. “’Cause we could uh…” He huffed a laugh and swung his arm around my shoulders, tucking me into his side. “Pretend we’re not at odds with each other.”
My mouth dropped open. What was he doing? “No, don’t be stupid. There are kids around.”
“But your ex and his boyfriend are being affectionate.” He dropped his arm and then held my hand. “Come on, let’s ignore that asshole and have fun with the kids. I’ll show you how to play hockey and you won’t even need to skate.”
I glanced at Ian, peering at me with his jaw muscle bulging.
Maybe this wasn’t so bad. Damn, Alex made it almost impossible for me to hate him. But he was straight.
We ran around with the kids, laughing and hitting soft pucks at Ace, guarding a toy net.
He’d pretended to be knocked to the ground by our shots.
When it ended, the players signed all the gear and shirts we could find.
The kids had loved it, and their parents expressed their gratitude then they collected them.
These players were amazing. Their love of the game showed, and their humility made everyone feel welcome.
I strolled across the floor to Ian, who’d vanished through most of the game and had returned. “Where’s Jonathan?”
“He had work to finish for the next event.” He tilted his head toward the players, coordinators, and kids helping to clean up. “So, Alex Volkov and you…is he queer? I didn’t notice that he was out.”
My heart did a happy dance. He’d noticed. “If he’s not out, then I’m not allowed to disclose it.” I winked at him. Damn it, I shouldn’t start rumors and get myself into more trouble. “He’s not queer.”
“Oh.” As a smirk swept his mouth, he gave me a nod. “He’s a friendly guy, then.”
“He’s comfortable in his own skin.” I’d exploit this situation as long as I could. It was nice seeing Ian squirm for once. “Being the captain of the team, I work closely with him. He’s mentoring me from a player’s perspective.”
“I see.” He toed the wooden court surface with his loafer. “I suppose that makes sense.”
“Hey, we’re stopping off at the Coach House in Scottsdale for a beer on the way home. Want to join us?” Ace lumbered toward me.
“Sure.” I flicked my gaze toward Alex. Surely, he’d go. This would be an excellent way to get closer to these guys and hopefully earn some respect. “I’ll park my car at home and walk over. I live in those high-rise condos on the waterfront.”
“Oh, fancy.” Ace made a flourish and cackled. “Come on, guys, let’s go.”
“See you later, Ian.” I patted his shoulder. “Have a great time with Jonathan. He seems like a very nice guy.” Nice as in boring.
I parked my car in the garage at the condo and then strode to the bar, a mostly outdoor venue with rustic wood accents and bulbed lighting over the expanse of patio. The weekends were busy here, but we were visiting in the afternoon.
As I came to the corral-like fence, I strolled through the opening and past patio tables under Palo Verde and mesquite trees. As my gaze caught Alex, sitting alone at a long table under the covered part of the bar, I halted in my tracks. Where was everyone?
His gaze flickered to me, and the corner of his lips tugged up. “Mercer, pull up a chair.”