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“I forget most of their names, but Cindy has been friends with one of them forever. Emma someone or other,” Ty continues.
I freaking knew it. My stick halts on the ice.
“You all right, man?” Ashton nods toward me.
“What?” Ty looks over at us.
I shake it off. “Nothing…”
“Back to you and Cindy…” Jay goes on. “Does Coach know you’re bagging her?”
Ty shakes his head. “I’m not bagging her,” he whispers, checking over his shoulder. Coach is yelling at some of the other guys out of ear shot for the moment. “I justwantto bag her, among other things.”
She’s sweet, that’s for sure. Most of the guys in the team think she’s hot. She’s around a lot and works in the team's offices. I didn’t know she had any interest in Ty Peterson, though, so that’s news to me.
“What are you shitheads whispering about over here?” Coach roars, coming up behind us. “If your passes worked as fast as your fucking mouths, we might actually get somewhere in the next game!”
We all shut up as we move onto more drills. I push harder, trying to eliminate thoughts of Emmerson out of my brain.
She’s back in Seattle this week? I wonder for how long, and if it’s just a girls trip?
Our communication has been limited over the years since she left. A birthday text and a call here and there, but that’s about it. And to be honest, what do you say to the person who ripped your heart out? The sad fucking fact is when she left, I didn’t just lose the love of my life, I lost my best friend too.
I wallowed for months. It wasn’t a good start to preseason with my new team when I moved to Nashville, but I had to push past it and accept that she really had changed her mind.
When we spoke to each other for the first time a few days after our apartment was empty, she made it clear that it was difficult for her to do what she did, and she was sorry, but it was for the best.
I was in too much fucking shock to do anything. I resented the fact she gave up on us so easily, and I believed her when she said she’d been offered a great position down in Florida she wanted to pursue… and she didn’t want to hold me back.
I’d been hearing that a lot from her before we broke up, and I don’t know where she got that from, because I never thought of it that way.
Things have changed over the years. I’ve been through enough puck bunnies now to know my way around a woman… Hell, I didn’t think I was that bad to begin with… but I am definitely more experienced now. More worldly in some ways. I’ve grown up a lot.
A lot of things have changed. I have tattoos. I party. I have wild nights with women I don’t know. I hate to be the walking cliche, but it is what it is.
As I became more known and more and more liked, I noticed how easily things came to me; the money, the cars… the women… It was all a novelty at first.
It took me a long while after Emmerson, but eventually, I buried myself deep in other women any chance I could get to try to take away my memory of her. The more I fucked around with nameless women that just wanted to bag an athlete, I realized I would never love anyone like I loved her.
And now she’s coming to a game? What the actual fuck?
Ashton can tell I’m rattled, but we continue our drills and then get ready for the scrimmage. I can already feel the intensity ramping up inside my body… all from hearing her name. I try to shake it off as I loop around Tyler, snaking forward. As Ashton makes a quick pass to me, I take the puck down the ice and score a goal.
Coach Carter is happy, at least, and the other guys are too. I accept my teammates fist bumps and high fives.
“That’s more like it, James!” Coach hollers toward me with an approving nod.
I’m the starting forward on the team, and fuck I love to score goals.
I shrug my shoulders toward Ty, as if to say,sorry, man, try again next time.
There’s also no way he was snagging, bagging, or doing anything with Coach Carter’s daughter. She is strictly off limits, and everyone knows it.
I’m not sure if he has some kind of death wish, or if Cindy is going to be wearing his colors, because it all remains to be seen. I guess he probably wouldn’t be talking about it to the three of us, the closest ones to him on the team, if it weren’t true.
He’s smart enough to not go shouting his mouth off about it. Shit like that can get you thrown off the team faster than you can blink.
Nobody wants that, especially going into the Cup. Even though last week’s game wasn’t exactly our best, we still won. Not that it’s anything to gloat about, but we are in the playoffs after all.
