Chapter Five
Bodhi
It’s been ten minutes since I got to the complex and watched the unmistakable redhead fly effortlessly across the ice, gracefully utilizing the space like it’s always been hers to claim.
I guess it sort of is, given the blood that flows through her veins.
I’ve seen that determined look a million times on a much less pretty face.
It’s way better staring at her soft features and voluptuous curves as she concentrates on a turn versus her father’s hardened expression as he grills us for fucking up a play.
When I’d gotten here forty minutes early, I didn’t expect anyone to be at the rink.
I figure I’d warm up a little longer than normal if today’s practice will be as grueling as the other others.
My shoulder needs some extra TLC because I spent half of yesterday carrying Gemma around when she fell asleep halfway through the Bronx Zoo with Joe and Helen.
I don’t need Coach to brutalize me anymore by not stretching enough.
“Who is that?” Henderson asks, scaring the shit out of me as he appears by my side.
My eyes snap away from Honor. “Christ. When did you get here?”
Henderson chuckles, patting me on the back. “A minute ago. I was wondering what you were staring at that made you look that way.”
“What way?” I question.
“Like you have a boner,” he muses, popping up an eyebrow. “Do you have a boner?”
He starts to lean forward to check, but I elbow him in the ribcage to stop him. “Don’t check out my junk, creep.”
I cup myself to hide the fact that I am sporting a semi right now. Which is problematic considering the person responsible for it is off-limits. If her dad saw me watching her with a hard-on, something tells me I’d be skating extra laps today and not invited over for dinner again anytime soon.
Sebastian grins. “I have to see your junk all the time in the locker room, and you’ve never been shy. Which tells me all I need to know.” He dips his chin toward the rink. “She’s good.”
I turn to Honor, who’s slowing down toward the rink’s exit. She rests against the wall to catch her breath. “Yeah she is,” I say in whispered awe.
My best friend chuckles. “You’re into her. It looks good on you. Haven’t seen you interested in someone in a long time.”
That’s not entirely true, but I guess he’s not willing to address the unrequited crush I had on his little sister. So, I do the only thing that comes to mind. Deny it. “I don’t even know her, so how could I be into her?”
He shrugs. “You tell me. You haven’t taken your eyes off her this entire time.”
Shit. He’s right. I peel my gaze away as she steps out of the rink. “That’s Coach’s daughter, Honor.”
His lips curl up as a glint sparkles in his eyes. I don’t like his tone when he says, “Interesting.”
I eye him. “There’s nothing interesting about it,” I inform him before he can make something out of nothing.
He holds his hands out. “If you insist.”
“I do.”
“Okay.”
“Okay,” I repeat.
We stand there silently, causing my eyes to drift back over to the now-empty rink. I do a quick scan of the arena to find Honor gone.
Sebastian walks past me, toward the hall leading to the locker room. “Not into her,” he muses doubtfully. “Uh-huh.”
I glare at his back as he disappears.
He’ll only give me shit about it if I give him the ammunition, so I school my features before my irritation gives me away. I didn’t dig into him when he got married out of the blue, so he shouldn’t insert his opinion in my business.
Not again, anyway.
He’d done enough over a year ago by telling his sister not to get involved with me. And while I know he meant well by it, it took a while for me to stop being pissed off. Not that it would have changed the outcome. Olive chose somebody else that she was more compatible with. End of story.
The sting of her rejection faded a while ago, so it’s not something I hold onto. But it’s not something I’ve necessarily forgotten either. Especially not when Sebastian likes to tease me over my lack of a social life.
My priority isn’t dating right now. It’s on being a good dad to Gemma, which I’m sure Sebastian understands more than ever after becoming a father too.
As much as I’m tempted to track down Honor and ask if Coach is the one who taught her to skate like that, I push the urge away.
Because my best friend may be annoying, but he’s right.
I’m intrigued by the redheaded woman who blew me off at the aquarium to do God knows what.
Hell, I even looked her up online after putting Gemma to bed only to find no social media accounts with her name attached.
And that’s a problem.
One I’m hoping that my hand and a cold shower can fix when I get home.
*
Gemma’s face appears on my screen a few hours later, and it puts a smile on my face no matter how exhausted I am. “Hey, Cookie Monster. Are you getting ready for bed?”
It’s late, but I know she tends to sucker her grandparents into staying up later than normal when she’s with them. “Grandpa Joe gave me chocolate and let me watch Dirty Dancing with Grandma Helen!”
“Hey,” a gruff voice calls out off camera. “You’re not supposed to rat me out, kid.”
Gemma giggles as Joe appears behind her.
“So much for not being their friends,” I tell him with an easy smile.
The old man grins. “I said parents can’t be their friends. Being their best friend is the only job for the grandparents.”
I roll my eyes. “Whatever you say, Joe.”
He chuckles and ruffles Gemma hair before walking out of the frame.
It would have been obvious that they gave her something even if she didn’t tell me considering there’s chocolate smeared over her mouth. “Are you having a good time? Joe told me earlier you won a stuffed animal in the claw machine all by yourself at the arcade.”
Gemma’s eyes light up before she reaches for something beside her. When she holds up her prize, my eyebrows go up. “Is that a—”
“A bull,” Helen quickly interjects before I put my foot in my mouth by pointing out the phallic looking stuffed animal. “Yes, it is. See the horns?”
I see a lot.
A shaft.
Two balls.
All covered in brown felt with giant fabric eyes and two felt horns attached to either side of the tip—I mean head.
“That’s a pretty cool bull,” I tell Gemma, trying not to laugh. I bet Joe and Helen barely contained themselves when she pulled that out of the machine.
Gemma goes on for ten minutes on everything she did today, detailing every second of her time at the arcade and almost no information on school or homework.
I learn that she hates the ring toss but loves Mario Cart, and even though she spent most of her tickets on the claw machines, it was her favorite part of the day.
All for a stuffed bull shaped like a penis.
Who thought that design was a good idea?
About thirty minutes into the call, Gemma’s eyes start to get droopy. “Get some sleep, sweetheart. I’ll see you after the game. All right?”
“Okay, Daddy,” she mumbles tiredly.
Joe passes the phone to Helen as he picks her up and carries her up the stairs.
“She’s doing fine,” Helen promises. “I do want to run something by you, though. We were going through Inez’s jewelry box and Gemma fell in love with some of the pieces.
Mostly the necklaces, but there were a few earrings that Inez made in her jewelry-making phase.
I was wondering if I could take Gemma to get her ears pierced the next time we have her so she can wear some of her mother’s designs. ”
I’ve never had much of an opinion on piercings, so I shrug. “That’s fine by me. I think being able to wear her mom’s jewelry will make her happy.”
Helen smiles, and relief fills her eyes. “We think so too. But I didn’t want to do anything without consulting you first. I did check with her school, and there’s no policy against it.”
That means a lot to me considering the hell we went through to find some common ground after Inez passed. “Are you guys still bringing her to the game?”
Her smile softens. “We wouldn’t miss it, Bodhi. Gemma told us we all had to wear our matching jerseys so you could find us in the crowd.”
Seeing my daughter in my number for the first time did some shit to my heart that I thought might kill me. I’d never felt so much pride in my life as when I saw her yelling for me through the glass of the family suite.
Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I clear it and smile. “I’m looking forward to it. And I can send you money for the piercing, if you’d like.”
Helen shakes her head. “We’ll handle it, but I appreciate the offer.”
After saying goodbye, I lean against the hallway wall outside the rink. Most of the guys have gone home by now, but I knew the second Gemma called that I’d be too distracted to drive.
On the days I don’t have her, I don’t like going home right away. Now that I know what having her around is like, my place feels too empty when she’s with her grandparents.
“Surprised to see you here,” a feminine voice says from a short distance away.
I turn to see Honor and Puck standing there and push off the wall. “Hey,” I greet, sliding my phone into my back pocket. “I could say the same about you. It’s late. What are you still doing here?”
Her brows pinch. “Still?”
A sheepish smile curls my lips. “I saw you skating earlier,” I admit. “You’re good. Wanted to tell you that but you disappeared.”
Even from here, I can see her cheeks tint a rosy color. “I didn’t know anybody was watching.”
She doesn’t like attention. Another fact I like about her. “I was only there for a minute,” I lie to make her feel better. “Had to get ready for practice.”
She nods, shifting her weight from one foot to another. Puck is sitting calmly beside her, looking between the two of us.
I flex my hand. “So…” She lifts her gaze. “I heard you got hired as the new Mackenzie. Congrats.”
Her lips twitch—not up, but down. “Does the team think it’s bullshit that their coach’s daughter got hired for the role?”
Is that what she thinks? “Nah. I don’t think anybody thought much about it. Coach said you had experience, and that was all we needed to know.”
I leave out the part where people started asking a million questions about her, since most of us had no clue she existed until now. But I doubt that would do much for the already strained relationship between her and her dad.
“Good,” she says quietly, looking down at the ground before taking a deep breath. Her feet readjust again, telling me that she’s either uncomfortable or nervous. I don’t like the idea of it being the first.
Then she says, “I need a favor from you.”
I blink, taken aback. “What kind of favor?” I pry with interest.
Honor rubs her arm before letting out the breath she’s holding. “This is going to sound ridiculous, but…”
I wait as she pauses, wincing at whatever she’s about to say. Is it a naked favor? I could only be so lucky.
Groaning, her shoulders slump. “I need you to teach me about hockey.”