8. Drew
EIGHT
DREW
**The HoBros**
Crystal (Reese)
Would you love me if I was a worm?
Trixie (Ford)
Which one of us are you asking?
Crystal (Reese)
All of you.
Destiny (Holden)
I think you’d make a cute worm.
Angel (Roman)
Holden and The Worm, a love story for the ages.
Crystal (Reese)
But seriously, would ya’ll love me if I was a worm?
Kandi (Kai)
What dating sites are you on?
Crystal (Reese)
All of them. Why?
Destiny (Holden)
We’d love you if you were a worm.
Trixie (Ford)
Speak for yourself.
*Sassy (Drew) has left the chat*
*Coach has left the chat*
*Trixie (Ford) has added Drew and Coach to the chat*
Trixie (Ford)
If I have to put up with them, so do you.
Sassy (Drew)
I have better things to do.
Crystal (Reese)
Rude. Does that mean you only love me for my beauty?
Sassy (Drew)
It means if I wanted to answer boyfriend-style questions, I’d find myself a girlfriend.
Destiny (Holden)
Why don’t you find a girlfriend?
Kandi (Kai)
At your ripe old age.
Sassy (Drew)
Et, tu Kai?
Crystal (Reese)
Obviously Drew is waiting for The One.
Angel (Roman)
The hopeless romantic has entered the chat.
Trixie (Ford)
Says the man who’s only wanted one woman his whole life and married her.
Angel (Roman)
Best decision ever.
Sassy (Drew)
Get me off this chat.
Crystal (Reese)
Nah
I shake my head as I put my phone aside and reach for the door handle of my favorite coffee shop in Toronto. We’re playing against the Toronto Knights tonight.
This is one part of professional hockey I never get tired of. Yeah, I’m not big on meeting new people and if given the chance, I’d rather stay home with Bailey. But I don’t hate travelling to some of my favorite cities and having regular spots I visit while there.
“Hey, you.” The owner, Sophie, smiles at me as soon as I walk in. She’s in her mid-thirties and loves to claim the Knights are going to win the Stanley Cup even though they haven’t won it since I’ve been alive.
“Sophie,” I greet, stepping up to the counter.
“You want the usual?” She’s already moving toward the coffee machine.
“Sounds great.” I’m already pulling out my wallet to pay. As she makes my coffee, I consider her from afar. She’s about medium height with full lips and soft dark hair which can’t decide if it wants to be curly or wavy.
I’ve been coming here long enough that occasionally our hockey conversations lean toward flirting.
But I’ve never crossed that line. Mainly because I really like the coffee here and I’d hate to have something wreck my ritual.
Even if our relationship ends amicably, I know I’ll never be able to return here.
Sophie turns to me with a smile which reminds of the second issue.
I feel absolutely nothing when I look at her.
I should want to date a beautiful woman.
Hell, I should at least want to fuck her.
It’s so bad I can’t even remember the last time I was with a woman. Maybe Lavinia is right to be concerned.
“Your team ready to lose tonight?” Sophie teases, pushing my coffee cup across the counter.
“Sophie,” I chide gently. “You should have gotten used to having a losing team by now.”
“Hey, we have a great line-up now.”
I make sure to add a big tip before I tap my credit card for payment.
“With Marcus?” I scoff. “The man has been struggling the whole season.”
Sophie’s eyes are bright as she crosses her arms. “Marcus may be having a terrible season, but we’ve got other good players. At one point we weren’t going to make it to the playoffs but here we are. I think we’ve really got a chance this year.”
“You say that every year.” I pick up my coffee and take a sip, sighing at the perfect taste. I don’t know how she gets it to taste the same every time. There’s never even a slight difference.
“Well, I like being positive about my home team. I’ll give you a free coffee after we win tonight,” Sophie promises.
“What do I get if we win?”
Sophie blushes, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “You’ll have to use the number on the cup to find out.”
I turn the cup around to see the number she’s written on the other side. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
I already know I’m not going to be using the number. It wouldn't be fair to her when I can’t bring myself to even be excited at the prospect of having her number.
The team’s too exhausted to celebrate the win. As confident and hopeful we are after this win that we’re going to bring the Cup home, the fact is this is the second round of the playoffs and anything can happen.
As much as my boys like to celebrate the wins, they also know when to get serious. Well, most of the time anyway.
After we came back to the hotel, I went for a walk around the city, Sophie’s number burning a hole in my pocket.
I walked past her coffee shop and saw her laughing with a customer and I wondered if I should walk in.
We won the game, I should be eager to continue chasing that high.
Instead, I turned around and came right back to the hotel.
As I exit the elevator on our floor, I see Ford and Roman disappearing into Holden and Reese’s room. The security latch is shoved between the door and doorframe to keep the door from closing completely.
I push it open. Inside, Roman is sprawled on a chair, Ford is lying on Reese’s bed with Reese beside him, whose blond hair is pushed back with a hairband because he has a face mask on.
There’s an extra bed shoved against the TV console, on which Kai is resting, his elbow pushed up and his head resting on his hand.
“What’s going on here?” I demand
“Drew! We thought you weren’t going to make it since you didn’t reply to our texts,” Reese says.
I pull my phone out of my pocket and realize I never took it off DND after the game.
“Phone’s still on DND.”
“Should we be offended that you don’t have us on emergency bypass?” I look toward the bathroom where the question came from. The door is partially ajar.
“Holden is taking his post-game bath,” Kai explains.
“I only have my family and Jules on bypass,” I say.
Roman arches an eyebrow. “Jules is on bypass?”
“Only because she spends so much time with the family.” I wave at Kai on the extra bed, eager to change the subject. “What’s this?”
“We’re having a sleepover,” Reese explains, like it should be obvious. “We were having a very important discussion before you came in.”
I grab a beer from the ice bucket on the TV console and take the chair next to Roman.
“Alright, what were you talking about?” I twist off the cap and take a sip of the chilled beer.
“We were trying to figure out who out of us has been in love,” Reese says.
I nearly choke on my beer. I shouldn’t even be surprised this is the topic of their conversation. At team dinners, we usually unearth a lot of these kinds of topics. If there’s anyone who knows me better than my family, it’s these guys.
“So far, Roman’s the only one who answered,” Kai says.
“What a shocker.” I roll my eyes, sipping my beer. “The only one of us who’s married to the literal love of his life.”
“What about you?” Kai tilts his head back so he can see me more easily. His brown eyes peer at me a little too closely. They’re all looking at me a little too closely.
“I came last, it’s not fair for me to go first,” I say. “What about Ford?”
Ford’s smirk drops as he glares at me. “What about me?”
I ease back into my chair. “Have you ever been in love?”
“Be careful, you have to share a room with him tonight,” Reese cautions me. “We’ll wake up tomorrow morning to find Ford has murdered you in your sleep.”
“No one in my family has murdered anyone since my great-aunt Tessie.” Ford brushes off a speck of invisible dust from his jeans.
The bathroom door opens and Holden steps out wearing sweats and nothing else, his wet hair swept back. “The last time I thought I was in love, I was in college.”
“Me, too,” Reese says.
“Never been in love,” Kai adds.
They look at Ford and me in expectation. As if there’s an easy answer to such a loaded question. Have I ever been in love? I’ve been in relationships which felt like love at the time. Though, now that I think about it, I can’t remember ever saying the words out loud.
“Well,” Ford starts, shifting a little. His eyes are focused on the beer in his hand. “I’ve—”
“If a single one of you is late for the plane tomorrow, we’re leaving without him.”
All eyes swing to the room entrance. Coach Cross stands there with his arms crossed, his expression stern, probably the same look he gives to his daughters at bedtime.
The surprising part is Sage standing behind him, looking awkward.
My eyes flick to Ford, and I realize I’m not the only one who’s noticed Sage.
“No, Coach,” Reese gripes. “Ford was just about to tell us if he’s ever been in love.”
Even Coach looks interested as he glances at Ford.
Ford clears his throat, getting out of bed. “Maybe another time. I’m sure you’re never going to let it go.”
“What were you two up to?” Roman asks, nodding at Coach and Sage.
“I was just getting a drink at the bar,” Sage says, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I couldn’t sleep. Ran into Coach there working on game plays.”
“The next time you can’t sleep, you should come to our room,” Reese offers. “We’ll do face masks.”
Sage laughs. “I’ll take you up on that.”
“We’ve still got a long way ahead of us, boys. Let’s not get complacent with our wins. I don’t want anyone hungover on the plane tomorrow, am I clear?”
We all nod. Maybe being a retired Titan himself makes our victories feel even more personal to him. He retired when he was my age to be with his family and I’ve heard he was offered a hefty salary to come back to coach.
“Maybe Roman should room with Drew and Ford so he doesn’t feel lonely,” Reese suggests.
Roman gets up from his chair, stretching as he does. “Drew isn’t the Callahan I want to share a room with.”
“You can take Ford with you to your room,” I say. “That way I won’t have to listen to all the calls he gets in the middle of the night.”
Sage coughs delicately as she makes space for us to leave the room.
“Like you don’t eat up insane Everett family lore,” Ford says.
I’m not one for gossip, but there’s nothing like insane Everett family lore to keep you entertained when you can’t sleep at night.
My father played professional hockey so I grew up with money and a trust fund.
But Ford comes from an entirely different tax bracket.
The kind of people who think our salaries as professional athletes are spare change.
We exit the room, all of us walking toward our separate rooms. I swipe my key card and just before we walk in, I glance behind me and catch Ford watching Sage disappear into her room.
In the room, Ford kicks off his shoes and drops onto his bed. Whenever we have to share rooms, it’s always the two of us together. From Boston to LA to Vancouver to back to Boston, we’ve been together our whole careers, which is really fucking rare in the NHL.
“You don’t have a problem with Coach and Sage grabbing a drink together?” I ask.
He laughs. “Nah.”
I remove my watch and empty my pockets, setting everything on my side of the nightstand. “If there’s anyone Sage is likely to date on the team, it’s Coach.”
Ford opens his eyes and looks at me. “If there’s anyone she’s least likely to date, it’s Coach.”
I give him a curious look. “How do you know that?”
“The lore goes deep,” he says, and doesn’t add anything.
As I’m setting my alarm, I notice I have unread text messages. Most are from the team, which I ignore. But there’s a surprising one which draws my attention.
Beasty
*clears throat*
The message was sent two hours ago. I doubt she’s awake right now, it’s a little past eleven at night. I still reply back so she knows I got the message.
Drew
Is that an invitation?
The message shows as delivered and I’m about to set my phone down when the bubbles appear at the bottom of the screen indicating she’s typing.
Beasty
To do WHAT??
Drew
How will I know? You’re the one sending suggestive messages.
Beasty
You know what? I’m not going to engage. All I want to know is if you have a spare key to my apartment.
Drew
You mean the apartment you shared with my sister?
Beasty
No, Andrew, the apartment I own in Hawaii to which you’re not invited.
Drew
Ah, no. I definitely don’t have a key to that one.
Beasty
Andrew.
Drew
Juliet.
Beasty
Do you have the key or not?
Drew
If you want it back, I’ll bring it to family dinner next time.
Beasty
…. You can keep it.
You know
For emergencies
Drew
I’m flattered you think I’m not going to break into your apartment to kill you and that you trust me enough to help you in an emergency.
Beasty
Lavinia convinced me. If you want to blame anyone, blame her.
Drew
I guess we’ll find out what I do in an emergency if there’s ever one.
Beasty
You’ll be the last person I call.
Drew
Forever grateful for that. I’m sure I’ll have better things to do.
Beasty
Breaking my heart
Drew
You have a heart?
Beasty
Better than yours.
“Are you smiling?”
I glance up to see Ford looking at me incredulously. It’s only then I realize I am smiling. Fuck. I’m smiling while talking to Jules. Double fuck.
“It’s just a muscle twitch,” I say. I power off my phone and plug it in to charge.
“A muscle twitch that causes you to smile?”
I turn my back to him, walking over to my luggage to grab sweats and a t-shirt. “Yeah.”
“How silly of me to think it can be anything else,” Ford says drily.
I shoot him a look as I walk to the bathroom. I close the door behind me and shove a hand through my hair. We’re in the playoffs, I can’t have any distractions, least of all her.