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The majority of the team sit around a massive circle with the fire in the centre. There’s a light breeze but so far, the chill has managed to stay out of the air but I know, come a few hours, it’s going to be freezing.
So far, I’ve caught Max’s curious eyes on Elle at least a hundred times. He got up from his chair at least three times and started beelining for her when she got up to grab a drink, lucky for me his eyes landed on mine before he got there and decided to change his course of action. She doesn’t need him in her life and if she’s going to have a hockey player in it, it’s going to be me, not a twat like Max.
I'll have to have a quiet word with him when I get a chance.
Elle sits next to me and I want nothing more than to pull her into my lap and tangle my fingers into that silky blonde hair. She laughs as she listens intently to all the stories being told around us when a bag of marshmallows comes around the circle. Her face lightens up as she leans as far back in her chair as possible to grab a stick off the ground. I have to latch onto the side of her chair to stop her from toppling over.
“Thanks,” she laughs with absolute joy in her eyes as she starts to squish the marshmallow onto the end of the stick. “I’ve always wanted to do this?”
“What? Roast marshmallows?” I question.
“Yeah,” she giggles.
“You never did this growing up?”
No,” she says averting her eyes. “There were a lot of things I missed out on.”
A sadness comes over her and I desperately want to poke and prod until I have all the answers I need but now isn’t the time. It makes me wonder if this is maybe what Cassie was talking about when she said that Elle’s had a rough life.
She thrusts her marshmallow into the fire and watches as it roasts before pulling it back and blowing on it to cool down. She peels the sticky pink goo off the end and pops it into her mouth before licking her fingers and making me positively hard.
I adjust myself as she turns to Jax with that same curiosity in which she looked at him earlier in the day. “So, what’s your story, Jax?” she asks.
“It’s one I’m glad has almost come to its happy ending,” he grunts.
“How so?”
“Well, a few years ago, Cass and I broke up and she moved to New York for a while. Things got a bit rough after that, then after their parents died, the triplets went and brought her back and the rest is history, I’m marrying her in a few months.”
She nods her head slowly and gives him a smile that doesn’t meet her eyes making it clear she’s deep in thought. She turns to me with sorrow shining through her eyes. “Your parents are gone?” she asks quietly.
“Yeah, babe,” I say. A tear falls from her eye and I reach across to wipe it away. I always hate talking about it but maybe if I open up, it might encourage her to do the same. “It’s ok. Mum was a few years ago from breast cancer. She fought for as long as she could but in the end, she couldn’t hold on. Dad went with a heart attack nearly two years ago.”
“I’m sorry,” she murmurs as her eyes fall back to her lap.
She silently sticks another marshmallow onto her stick and places it over the flames. She sits in silence, just watching the fire.
It must be at least midnight when her yawns are coming every two minutes. I get up and start heading over to the truck only I hear light footfalls rushing to catch up. I turn to find Elle right behind me. “Where are you going?”
“Come and see,” I say.
She falls in beside me and I wrap my arm over her shoulder. Being away from the fire, the cold night’s air is suddenly a lot more obvious, especially now that the sound of her teeth chattering is all I can hear. “You ok?” I ask through the silence.
She nods her head but I know something is still heavy on her mind. I let it go as we reach the truck. I open the back door and pull out one of the many air mattresses that lay on the back seat.
“Seriously?” she asks.
“What? You think management is going to let a shitload of professional athlete’s sleep on the ground?”
“No, I guess not,” she chuckles. “But at least my job would be safe for a while.”
“Stop stressing about your job so much. The fact that Tony even considered you for the senior position means you’ll be around for as long as you want to be.”
