49. Drew
FORTY-NINE
DREW
I stare down at the email I’ve just received, the words barely making any sense. I push my glasses up my nose, turning to look at Jules. She’s curled on her side, her bare back to me, breathing slow and deep. As always, her feet are peeking out from under the blanket.
I asked her once why she doesn’t tuck her feet in and she’d replied “who am I to deny a monster their foot fetish?”
She’s a madwoman and I’m in love with her.
It’s strange that a few months ago I was all set to live my life alone because I couldn’t imagine being interested in anyone, not so much to spend my life with them.
This whole time, she was right here, fighting with me and now I can’t imagine my life without talking to her over our morning coffees, listening to her talk to Bailey when I’m in a different part of the house, all her stuff scattered around the house making it a home.
I realize now that I was barely existing before her and I’ve only started living my life now.
That doesn’t mean her madness doesn’t drive me crazy. As much as I want to give her whatever she wants, there are some things she should just leave alone, even if she thinks she’s doing it for my benefit.
Setting my phone down, I lean closer to her, kissing her temple. It’s still dark outside, but I have to get back to my team.
Jules stirs slightly, her breathing changing as she wakes.
“Ssshh, go back to sleep, baby,” I whisper.
“No, I’ll get up. Bailey has to go for a walk,” she murmurs sleepily.
I press my smile into her shoulder. “Bailey is at home with my parents. We’re in Vegas, remember?”
She sits up suddenly, blinking at me sleepily. “Oh my god, did we get married?!”
I’m too distracted by the sight of her tits to pay attention. There’s just enough light streaking in through the half open bathroom door that I can make out their pale shape and the darker bruises around the sides where my fingers pressed in last night.
“No, but good to know how you feel about marrying me,” I reply sardonically. “We’re here for the game tonight.”
Relieved, she curls her body into mine and pulls the sheet over her head. “I wasn’t worried.”
I scoff a laugh. “Sure, of course.”
She tucks her feet under the blanket and presses them against my legs. I flinch. Her feet are ice cold.
“Jesus, fuck!” I curse. “You have ice bricks for feet.”
She giggles softly, stretching out in bed. I want to ask her why she did what she did, but she’s still half asleep and I have to meet Ford for our pre-training workout.
“Ford’s probably waiting for me,” I say. “I’ll see you later?”
Under the covers, she presses a kiss against my arm which I take as her acquiescence. I slip out of bed into the cold air of the room. Getting dressed, I head down to my room where Ford is already awake and waiting for me.
“Let me get ready and then we can go.”
I grab my workout gear and step into the bathroom. Ford is scrolling through TV channels when I come out and he clicks the TV off before we leave the room.
We head down the corridor toward the elevators. The team usually works out at the arena before getting in a practice skate before the game starts. As captain and alternate captain, Ford and I are usually the only ones awake at this hour.
“You good?” Ford asks, as we travel down in the elevator. We exit on the amenities floor and Ford looks at me in question.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I shake my head like he has no reason to be asking me this question, even though he has every right to ask me the question as my friend and teammate.
“Couldn’t sleep last night?” He smirks at me.
I flash him my finger in response to that question.
“I think I heard Sage heard making a date with Adam,” I say. “Do you know anything about that?”
Ford scans our room key on the door to unlock the gym. At this time in the early morning, there’s no one here, which is exactly when it’s the perfect time to work out in a public gym.
“Your attempt to rage bait isn’t appreciated,” Ford replies. “I’m not interested in who Sage goes out with.”
I bark a laugh. “Since when?”
He’s probably never going to ask her out, but he’s still interested and there’s always a possibility. I once thought there was no possibility of Jules wanting me and I was wrong.
Ford reaches for a pair of dumbbells. “Since I learned she didn’t move back to Boston alone.”
“Dude, you know she has a daughter. She’s not going to leave her in California.” Ford is the last person on Earth I’d ever expect to settle down with a family. I’m sure his crush on Sage lessened significantly just knowing she had a daughter.
Ford shakes his head. “Not her daughter. I’m talking about the succubus.”
I give him a strange look. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Turning to me, he places his hands on his hips. “Her cousin aka the succubus. You’ll know what I mean if you ever meet her.”
I look away from him, reaching for the dumbbells he’s discarded. “You’re crazy.”
“I was using those,” Ford protests.
“You dropped them, so now they’re mine.”
“That is a classic answer for someone who grew up with a sibling,” Ford says.
“Right. Remind me again how many siblings you have?”
He looks away in thought, then shrugs. “Honestly, I stopped counting. I know of six, but there might be more. The Everett men like to reproduce, which is a fucked up think to admit about your own family, and not the flex most people think it is.”
Ford’s family issues are the perfect distraction from my own issues. As is the twinge of pain in my shoulder each time I lift harder. Most days, it’s not so bad and I can tell myself it’s a hazard of the game, which it is.
“Exactly how long have you known Sage?” I ask, narrowing my eyes on him. It can’t be a recent crush if he’s given nicknames to her cousin.
“Don’t worry about it.”
After we finish in the gym, we head upstairs to get ready. I have an appointment to see the team’s physical therapist before the game and I find her waiting for me in the medical room at the arena where she’s set up shop temporarily.
“How’s the shoulder?” she asks the question as soon as I walk in.
“It’s fine.”
Ariana’s looking down at my chart on her tablet and glances up at my response. “You do realize I can’t treat you if you don’t tell me your problems?”
“It hurts a little, but it’s nothing I can’t handle,” I say.
I have a very high pain tolerance so it works in my favor. Ariana set her tablet down and motions for me to get on the table, which I do.
“Have you been doing the exercises I recommended and icing your shoulder?” She’s pressing her fingers into my shoulder and back. I hold in a wince when she digs into a particularly tender and sore spot.
“Yeah, every day without a miss,” I say. Especially because of a Beast living in my house now and she glares at me any time I so much as wince while moving my shoulder.
Lavinia once said that I’m scared of Jules, and maybe she’s on to something. I’m more terrified of her than I am of disappointing my parents, my teammates, and millions of rabid hockey fans.
Ariana leads me through a series of exercises to test my motions and once she’s satisfied that my arm isn’t going to fall off, she sends me on my way with the advice to keep doing my exercising and stop lying to her.
***
After the worst game we’ve played since the season started, the team decides to head to a bar to celebrate our win. We did a piss poor job of winning the game, but we did manage to win so we are going to celebrate.
“Do you want to make a toast?” Roman asks, holding up his beer.
“May we keep beating Vegas from now until the end of time and send their goalies home crying.” I clink the neck of my bottle against his and the rest of the guys do the same.
“What the hell did you say to him?” Holden asks Ford.
Ford shakes his head. “That’s between me and the little fucker.”
“Whatever it was, the tears were worth it,” Roman says.
“Do you think Coach is going to be angry at the way we played?” Kai asks, looking at all of us in turn.
“When isn’t Coach angry?” Reese shrugs. “The man claims he’s aged more coaching the team than he has raising his two girls.”
I take a sip of my beer and turn to Holden. “How come your girlfriend didn’t come? The girls’ invited her, right?”
Holden shifts in his seat at the mention of his girlfriend. He’s being so secretive about her, as if we all don’t know exactly how the two of them got together. Fuck, it was all the news for a while when the season started.
“She’s jealous of me,” Reese says, giving Holden the side-eye.
“She’s not jealous of you,” Holden says with a sigh.
“She thinks you pay me more attention than you do her,” Reese says.
“She’s probably not wrong,” Ford replies drily.
I hide my smile behind my bottle because I don’t want to be accused of playing favorites.
“I pay both of you equal amounts of attention in very different ways,” Holden defends.
“Uh-huh.” Reese takes a sip of his beer, still side-eyeing Holden. “All I’m saying is, I’ve sensed some tension between her and me.”
“That just means Holden’s at fault because he hasn’t done anything to fix it,” Kai says.
Reese points a finger at him. “Exactly!”
“No one’s ever going to believe this is what a bunch of hockey players talk about after a game,” Roman says.
Reese turns him, putting on a fake smile. “Well, Roman, we can talk about books but no one here wants to do that.”
Ford throws his arm around Reese’s shoulders. “Reese, man, I love you like a brother, but we’re never having a book club again. You’ve already tried to kill us once and that’s enough for me.”
“If your family gossip is to be believed, trying to kill your brother once is merely an act of love,” Holden replies.
“What is wrong with your family?” Kai asks, turning to Ford.
“I don’t know, Kai.” Ford shakes head in mock sadness. “Throw the psychological dictionary at them, I’m sure a bunch of things will stick.”