Page 26 of Hockey Boy
“Nervous you can’t handle us?” Daniel throws back, lifting his chin.
Brooks merely chuckles. “We all know I can handle any one of you. But I promised Sara I would take a real break.”
“And whatever Sara wants,” Daniel starts.
“Sara gets,” War finishes.
I laugh. My brother is so whipped, and he doesn’t even care.
“Exactly,” he says. “Now, are you going to stay here and sing, or can we grab some food?”
Both of my wingers look at me. They’re my closest friends, but here, in this arena, they know I’m in charge. It’s a responsibility I relish and, quite frankly, need. While everyone else is happy when the season comes to an end, especially after a grueling Stanley Cup run, I find myself coming out of my skin.
Darkness settles in far too easily when I’m not busy. I meet with a therapist annually—a team requirement—who has suggested that I stick with the activities I enjoy, even when I don’t feel up to it. After Lennox appeared earlier this year, I went from annual therapy sessions to weekly. Though I canceled this week’s appointment, I am following my other routines—namely avoidance and hockey. “Yeah, let’s grab food.”
Half an hour later, we’re seated at a round table at a local pub.
Brooks bumps me with his elbow. “How was the cake tasting?”
My chest tightens as memories of yesterday flood me. Outside of being on the ice, I feel more comfortable sitting beside Lennox than anywhere else. “It was interesting.”
War spins the amber bottle in front of him slowly. “Interesting?”
With a long pull of his beer, Brooks leans back in his chair. “Heard Lennox hid out in the bathroom. She and Sara kicked me out of my own apartment last night so they could eat cake and talk. There were a lot of whispers and giggles before that, though.”
I can’t help the smirk that spreads across my face. “She may have mentioned something about orgasms. Her face went beet red, and then she disappeared into the bathroom.”
“How the hell did orgasms come up in conversation during a cake tasting for”—War air quotes with his hands—“your wedding to another woman?”
I smirk. “I asked her if she was having a good time. Instead of responding, she stared off into space, so I asked what she was thinking about.” I chuckle. “And that’s the answer she gave me.”
Laughing, Daniel taps his beer bottle against mine. “See? You still got the magic touch.”
“It’s the glitter dick,” War says with a smirk.
Daniel immediately deflates. A bunch of us went out and got piercings before Daniel joined the team, and he’s been jealous of it since he found out.
I nearly chickened out, but the only way to get out of it was to give him a truth. And the question he asked? Yeah, there was no way I was admitting the truth. So a Jacob’s ladder it was.
I shift in my seat, remembering the pain of the entire ordeal.
War clears his throat. “When did you and Lennox break up?”
“Right before college.” I avert my gaze and pick up my beer to give myself something to focus on.
“Why?” asks Hall.
Such a damn good question. It’s one I still can’t answer. How did I go from being Lennox’s whole world to being no one in the blink of an eye? How did she go from someone whose every thought I could read to a stranger I’m conning into spending time with me? We were best friends first, and now we’re acquaintances at best. It’s ridiculous how the universe plopped her back into my lap like this. What are the odds that she’d become best friends with a woman who would later become my brother’s fiancée?
Slim to none, that’s what. Yet I’m not surprised at all.
Lennox Kennedy was always meant to be mine. My soulmate, my better half, the person who made even my darkest moments feellight.
But saying all of that would raise a hell of a lot of flags, especially when it comes to the depressive thoughts that plague me. Thoughts I’d never share with my guys. So I affect my most casual response and shrug. “Why does anyone break up after high school?”
War smirks.
“Aw, Lep,” Hall says. “We have more in common than I thought.”