"Good. Let's get you dressed. I want to get home and take Gordie for a walk." His gaze wanders my body again. "I could use a hand in the shower, making sure I hit all the right spots."
I tilt my head. "You're psycho."
"Only for you." He offers me a hand and I take it. I won’t lie, my ankle is aching like hell as we skate back to where our things are. But it was worth it.
Huh. Looking back, I don’t think my ankle ached at all when I was busy being kissed by Alex. It seems like if I’m sufficiently distracted, I don’t feel pain.
With a little smile, I grip Alex’s hand, giddy. This guy really likes me. I like him right back.
And our future seems more certain than it was this morning. Heck, I’ll take that any day.
Chapter Seventeen
Thorne
After being in a bubble of laughter and good sex with Mollie all summer, the first day of training camp is a rough reminder of the ugly realities awaiting us in the regular season. Beck asked me this morning why Mollie is still living with me. And being the sonofabitch that I am, I told him that she was picky.
That was my great excuse.
Thankfully he let it go after I mentioned needing someone to look after Gordie while I’m playing away games.
I’m going to have to figure something else out soon. Especially because Mollie has been talking about Indie’s friend, who’s looking for a roommate. I really need to get down on both knees and beg her to stay.
My house didn’t seem lonely before, but now I’m sure that it will be.
As my body starts warming up, anticipating putting in the hard work to prepare itself for a long season, Mollie arrives on the ice at the same time as Konstantin Kuztnetsov.
As If I needed one more pressure point in this clusterfuck of a morning.
She has her phone out, standing out of the way to shoot video of Konstantin Kuznetsov as he steps on the ice. His dark hair is held back from his angular face bya hair tie, and he's wearing a Havoc practice jersey in white and dark gray. He looks like he belongs here.
My hands curl into fists. It took me ages to earn my place on this team, to feel like I belonged here. But Kuznetsov steps on the ice and owns it.
I can't help but hate him for it.
My gaze snags on Mollie as Kuznetsov skates over and says something to her, too low for me to hear. She smiles and says something back.
That's it. Now I fucking hate him. Sure, I don't have any right to feel like a possessive beast over a guy talking to Mollie. But as she runs her fingers through her hair and gazes up at him, I smolder inside.
Not only has Kuznetsov appeared to make trouble on my team, but now he's trying to fucking flirt with my girl.
And I'm going to murder him for it. Maybe metaphorically, maybe not.
Luckily, Coach Cross and Coach Ryan blow their whistles in tandem. "Huddle up!" Coach Cross calls. "Let's go, let's go!"
The rink is filled with bodies. The usual team of twenty-five heavy hitters are there, plus the AHL players hoping for one of the empty spots on the roster. There are a few entry-level players that haven't been assigned to the farm team yet, and a few PTOs contracted to be here for camp. The coaches are all here, watching every single player like a bird dog with an eye on the horizon. The training camp is as much about player development as it is about making sure our conditioning is up to snuff.
Beck and I circle around Coach Cross as he calls out general instructions for what he wants to see. "Got it?”
“Yes sir,” we all say.
“Okay. I want to see some clean skating. Leave your bad habits at the door. Let’s see some hustle!”
I take off at an easy pace, allowing everyone else to catch up. Beck is right beside me, his eyes on this season's rookies. There are only a couple that have made the team so far. The rest are going to be selected over the coming days.
Usually, I'd be focused on all the new blood, trying to assess what the team needs and whose techniques need work. But Kuznetsov skates gracefully up beside me. He's a big dude so I have no doubt that he'll crack skulls if he needs to. Given that he put a guy in the hospital, this seems a obvious. But his crossovers also seem particularly effortless.
The man was born to be on skates. It's something that Mollie is no doubt noticing about him, too.
