13. John
Friday nights at Paddy”s were a whole thing. It was a Wombats tradition to gather here when we were in town, and the rest of the town knew it and came out to hang with us. It was great being part of a small-town team. Most of the people who lived in Wilcox knew a few of us personally at this point, and none of them ever bothered us when we were out. They might buy a pint or ask for a signature on a coaster or a napkin, but it wasn”t like the big city bars we went to as a team sometimes when we traveled, where there were selfies and crowds and insanity.
We were a fixture here, not a novelty.
One more reason I didn”t want to lose my position on the team. I loved this town. I loved how much they loved our team.
”Nervous about your first full season?” A local guy asked after buying a drink for me and one for Joey when we stepped up to the bar. I didn”t know him, so there was no polite way to introduce Joey, and the rest of the team had taken over the pool tables in the back, so we got waylaid on our journey to introduce her to them.
I glanced at Joey, who gave me a bright smile as she lifted her pint glass to her lips.
”A little, yeah.”
”Big shoes to fill,” the guy pointed out as if Mizzoni”s shadow wasn”t cast long and menacing over every one of my waking moments.
”Maybe you haven”t seen this guy”s feet,” Joey said, grinning. She nudged me with her elbow, and while a rush of warmth flooded me at her confidence, I also felt like I didn”t want to overpromise anything to this guy.
”I saw him at the end of last season,” the guy said, turning to Joey now. He gave her a wink and then an appreciative up and down.
”Pretty impressive, right?”
I raised an eyebrow at Joey, who I didn”t think had seen me play since high school, where ice hockey was certainly not as well-attended as, say, football. Alabama was not known for its winter sports, so those who attended really had to make an effort.
”All Star, maybe,” the guy said, and my attention snapped back to him. Did he know that was my goal? Was he just messing around?
I couldn”t help it. ”Think so?” I asked him. As soon as the words were out, I wanted to kick myself. Why was I seeking validation from some random guy in a bar?
”Could happen,” he said. ”Especially with the support of a beautiful woman like this one.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.
”Oh, no. We”re not?—”
”He”s got it nailed,” Joey assured him, taking my arm in her own and steering us away from the bar. ”Thanks for the drinks!”
I was about to ask her what that was all about, but she was already talking again.
”All Star, huh?”
”It”s unlikely.”
”If anyone can do it, you can. That”s a pretty big deal?” She stopped us at a high-top table in view of the pool tables, where she must have seen the gathering of big and loud men who could only have been a hockey team.
I sighed and then looked her in the eyes. ”Yes and no. If I could get All Star my first full season, it would help to cement my place on the team. It’s not like it’s a big deal, not really, not within the league, but it’s a fan vote... and the Wombats management has a history of listening to the team’s fans. If I got it, I might be able to relax a little.”
”You”re worried about your spot?”
”Yeah.”
”But the other guy got hurt, right?”
I nodded. ”And fell in love and moved away... His wedding is in September. In Italy.”
Joey”s eyes took on a distant look then, clouding slightly. I was about to ask her what was going through her head when Sly Remington appeared at our table, grinning from ear to ear. My protective instincts kicked up and I had to struggle to keep from tugging Joey to my side.
”Puppy dog, what do we have here?” He glanced between Joey and me and then stuck out a hand in her direction. ”Apologies, I”m being rude. I”m just not used to seeing young John here in the company of beautiful women. I”m Sly.”
”You”re... sly?” she asked, wrinkling her nose and glancing at me.
”I am, but that”s my name too. Short for Sylvester, but only two people in the world call me Sylvester. My mother and a tiny little hellion named Katie who I love just as much as I love her mother, my fiancée.”
It was nice to hear a guy like Sly talk openly about being in love. It made me feel like one day, when I”d gotten the hockey thing nailed down, I might have a chance at it too.
”Sly,” I said. ”This is Joey. My best friend from school.”
Sly looked between us, waggling his bushy eyebrows and breaking into a grin. ”Friends, huh? I know a thing or two about high school pals.”
”You do?” Joey asked him.
He nodded and turned to point at Clara, a dark-haired beauty with a brain to match, who appeared to be mopping the pool table with Corny and Freddy Elks. She high-fived Deck Gillespie, and then shot a grin at Sly and waved at me.
”She was my tutor. I was the dumb jock. When I came home last summer, she was back and she had a sidekick with her—her daughter, Katie.”
”And now you”re engaged?” Joey clasped her hands beneath her chin, wearing a wide smile.
”Yep. So let this be fair warning to you,” he said, pointing between us. ”Odds are good you”ll end up married.”
Joey swung her eyes to me, and I found our gazes locked, a hot, tense energy fizzing between us. I dragged my eyes away, my stomach twisting.
”Let me introduce you. I think Clara”s just about done cleaning the floor with our teammates,” Sly said, waving Joey over to the other side of the bar. I watched her go with him, recovering from the heated look we”d just shared.
I didn”t want to want Joey. I”d been doing a good job keeping my ages-old desire for her tamped down, but the kiss earlier had knocked me off balance. And Sly”s words didn”t help.
I watched as Joey greeted Clara, her trademark smile and southern charm firmly in place as everything within me whimpered with the same boyish want I”d felt all through high school. She was perfect. But no amount of heated looks or stolen kisses would ever make her mine. Her family had made that very clear, and though she was an adult now, I knew they still had significant sway over her. I wasn”t willing to wade into those waters again, believing it to be safe, while a monster catfish lurked just beneath the surface.
”You gonna stand here staring at the hot blonde all night?” Simpson and Corny made their way to my side. ”Want us to give you some pointers?”
Corny sounded serious, but Cade gave him a whack on the shoulder. ”Everyone knows you”ve got no game,” he scoffed.
Corny”s face lengthened as his brows went up and his mouth dropped open. ”Me? You”re the one with this whole Viking aesthetic. I don”t think that”s quite the draw you think it is.”
”At least I”m not wearing boat shoes in a bar.”
We all looked down at Corny”s feet. He was wearing Sperry Topsiders. I looked up and made a face. ”He has a point.”
”You want me to demonstrate my skills for you?” Corny asked us, angling his head at Joey. ”If your shoes are getting in the way of closing the deal, you”ve got other problems,” he said.
”That pretty little thing isn”t even in your league,” Simpson told him.
”Oh, and you think you could score?—”
”I”m gonna stop you there,” I said, breaking in before a discussion started that might end with me cracking someone”s nose. ”That is my best friend from high school. She”s staying with me, and no one on this team better get near her.” I looked between the guys, whose mouths had snapped shut simultaneously.
They stared at me, then looked at each other, and then looked back over at Joey. As if feeling their stares, she turned and lifted a hand toward me, beckoning me over with a smile.
”No shit,” Corny said as I gave them a little salute and took my beer over to where Joey was talking with Clara and Sly.
”Sammy,” Joey said, stepping sideways to make a spot for me at the little table by the wall where Sly had his arm around Clara. ”Did you know Clara is a biologist?”
I nodded at the gorgeous woman at Sly”s side. ”I think I did hear that. Nice to see you again, Clara.”
”You too,” she said. She looked at Joey and then back at me. ”I was just telling Joey that with her degree, she should really look into governmental public health, or even some of the private biotech companies springing up everywhere.”
”Totally,” I agreed. I loved that Joey had started a conversation about herself, about what she might want.
”I just have no clue where to start though,” Joey said. ”All my peers had jobs coming out of school. They”d spent their last years thinking about which path they would take. I spent mine doing... other things.”
Clara tilted her head, but obviously decided against asking what other things Joey might have meant. ”Well, if there”s one thing I”ve learned at this point, it”s that people might take different paths to get there, but success doesn”t have only one door in.”
”I”m living proof,” Sly agreed, raising his glass. ”Who would have thought I”d be heading into management?”
That got my attention. I”d heard that Sly was doing some office work for the organization, but I didn”t realize how serious he was. ”You finished an MBA, right?”
”Almost finished,” Sly confirmed. ”A few more credits.”
”That”s great,” Joey said.
”So,” Clara said, leaning across the table. ”You want me to make a few calls? Maybe I could get you hooked up to do a shadow or two and learn more about a couple of the options.”
”Seriously?” I could feel Joey”s excitement vibrating out of her at my side. ”That would really be kind of you. I”d sure appreciate it if it isn”t a lot of trouble.”
”It”s no trouble at all,” Clara said. ”And there”s one woman I know really well at one of the veterinary biotechs that I think you”d hit it off with.”
”Animals,” Joey said thoughtfully.
Clara lifted a shoulder. ”That”s kind of where I operate.”
”She wrestles bears for a living,” Sly said.
Clara whacked him on the chest. ”I do not. I track them and evaluate data about migration and habitat to help protect them.”
”And wrestle them. When you”re feeling spicy.” Sly said.
”There is only one bear I wrestle, and he”s on his way to solo hibernation at the moment.” Clara”s voice was sharp, but her eyes danced as she said this.
Sly pressed his lips together and shook his head, clearly not interested in losing his wrestling privileges.
”So you live here now? In Wilcox?” Clara asked Joey.
Joey glanced at me. ”I mean, not really. I”m staying with John while I figure some things out. Just visiting I guess.”
My heart dropped a bit at the thought of her leaving. I knew it was inevitable, but I hoped it wouldn”t happen soon. Maybe it would be for the best, though. Joey was a good distraction, but she was exactly that. And I probably couldn”t afford a distraction when I had so much on the line this season.
”Well, hopefully you”ll be around long enough to get a taste of the kinds of things you could do for work—there are probably similar things back where you”re from,” Clara said. ”And if you ended up going government, I know you”d find something. There”s a real shortage in that field all over the country.”
Joey nodded thoughtfully. ”Thanks so much.”
”Let me get your number. I”ll call you next week,” Clara promised, exchanging information with Joey.
”Get you another drink?” I asked her when Sly and Clara had wandered off to play another round of pool.
”Sure,” Joey said, hopping up on to a stool and glancing around. She looked happy, lighter.
When I returned with our drinks, she was flanked by two guys I was pretty sure I”d already told to stay away from her. But Joey was laughing gleefully at something Simpson said, and Corny and his Topsiders seemed to be minding their manners.
”You and Joey have known each other for how long?” Simpson asked me as I handed Joey her beer.
”Uh, forever?” I laughed. ”Fifth grade, Joey?”
”Sounds right. I had to save him when he almost died.”
Corny and Simpson exchanged a wide-eyed look. ”Do tell,” Simpson said, leaning in.
I braced myself for the humiliating story of the mile run, but that”s not what Joey told them. Instead, she told the story but made it about hydration and our evil elementary school teacher, and then went on to talk about my victorious mile the next year—for which I”d prepared and actually eaten and had water in my system.
”Hydration is important,” Corny quipped.
”Especially in Alabama,” Joey confirmed.
”That”s where your charming accent is from,” Simpson said.
Joey blushed and I fought the urge to trace the pink in her cheeks with my thumb.
”So if you two grew up together, why does Puppy here sound hillbilly while you”re one-hundred percent southern belle?” Leave it to Corny to dig a little too deep.
”Cuz I”m from the wrong side of the tracks,” I told them, not wanting Joey to have to spell it out. ”Which is why her family was never too happy when I came around. Joey was always destined for greater things.”
”Look how that turned out,” she said, wrapping her arm through mine and leaning into my side, sending reassuring warmth through me, along with pings of something much less innocent. I loved the way she claimed me in front of my teammates, the way she touched me.
”It”s gonna turn out fine,” I told her, wanting to give her the same reassurance she”d just given me without even realizing it. ”You”ll see.”
Simpson and Corny headed back to the bar, and eventually we all settled into a few tables with some wings and nachos. As the clock neared eleven, we agreed to call it a night. No one got rowdy or out of control—it might have been the off-season, but most of us were still focused on training. This was our time to recover and rehab, not to get so out of shape we didn”t have a chance of coming back. Me especially.
As I helped Joey into the truck, she looked back at me. ”I had fun with your team, John. I really like them.”
”I”m glad,” I told her, admiring the way the streetlight over the truck lit Joey”s hair in shades of gold and pink.
”They think a lot of you,” she said.
I wasn”t sure how to respond, so I carefully shut her door and headed around to the driver”s side. As I got in, she pressed on. ”You don”t think so.”
”Think what?”
”You don”t think your teammates admire you.”
I tried to play that one off. She”d gotten awfully close to the real seed of my insecurity. ”I”m still earning that,” I told her.
”They know.”
I started the truck, but paused, looking over at her. ”Know what?” I couldn”t resist asking.
”They know you”re a superstar.”
That was an exaggeration, but it felt good to hear. A warm glow of pride lit in my chest at the thought that she might see me that way.
We were quiet on the short ride home, and I tried not to wonder what might happen when we arrived. Would I have a chance to kiss Joey again? Would she want me to? Once we”d gotten back into the silent house, we found ourselves staring at one another as we stood in the kitchen.
”So,” I said, wishing this awkward uncertainty hadn”t followed us through the door. I turned and poured two glasses of water, just to give my hands something to do.
”So,” Joey said, accepting hers and taking a step closer to where I stood, one hand on the counter.
”You had fun?”
She sipped her water and I dragged my eyes away from the slim column of her throat. God, she was sexy. ”I did.”
”I”m glad,” I said, sipping my own water. When I put down the glass, Joey”s eyes raked my face, lingering on my lips and sending blood coursing at high speed through my body.
”Sammy,” she whispered, putting her glass down on the counter and stepping so close we were just inches apart. She stared up at me, her eyes unfocused and her chest heaving.
I couldn”t take it. I should have turned and gone to bed, but I couldn”t do it. The look in her eyes, the suggestive tilt of her head. There was no question what she was thinking about it, and dammit—I tried to be a good guy, but I had limits too.
I put down my water and dropped a hand to Joey”s hip. She sucked in a sharp breath at the contact, her eyes never leaving my face.
My other hand rose of its own accord, and I watched my fingers trace a soft line down the side of Joey”s cheek. Her eyes dropped shut for a second, and then opened again, finding my mouth. She leaned in closer, her chest meeting mine and forcing me to take a bracing breath to keep myself from lunging at her, devouring her.
When Joey”s arm came up, reaching for me, wrapping around my neck, I was lost.
I dropped my head and our lips crashed together, and every bit of the tension I”d felt between us all night wrapped around us, pulling us together in a frenzied dance of hands, lips, bodies.
I knew this would change everything, but in that moment, I didn”t care.