Page 50 of Breakaway

“Hey, with Morgan coming here, I don’t want her to see my place the way it is.”

“You mean like a bachelor pad?”

“Exactly. And your place could use some cleaning, as well.”

“I haven’t had any complaints yet,” Ben responded with a devilish grin.

“Well, I thought cleaning my place would be a good place to start.”

“Start what?” Ben asked, before taking a drink of his beer.

“I think it’s time to turn over a new leaf. With Morgan moving out here, I think it’s about time I started acting less like the player everyone thinks I am, and more like who Travis Anderson really is.”

“I get what you’re saying, but I also have no idea what you’re saying,” Ben said, his faced twisted in confusion.

“There they are!” JJ called. He hurried to their table, followed by others from the team. “The hot shots are back from Pittsburgh!”

“I’m surprised you boys are slumming it with us minor leaguers,” Teddy said.

“Oh please,” Ben scoffed. “We’d never forget about you hosers!”

The waitress brought their food to the table, and the rest of the guys ordered.

“And can we get three pitchers of beer for the table? And keep them coming,” Jamie inquired.

Teddy was busy on his phone. “Alright, the girls will be here in twenty minutes. Maybe we should order some appetizers to soak up all the alcohol?”

“Hey, can we also get one plate of nachos, mozzarella sticks, and some pretzel bites?” Chase yelled to the nearest waitress.

“Oh, please,” JJ replied. “Have you ever seen them actually eat that much?”

“True. But we’ll eat them,” Chase said.

“What girls?” Travis asked Ben.

His friend shrugged.

Turning over a new leaf with these guys was going to be harder than it sounded. When the beer was flowing and the girls trolling, his teammates had already stopped listening to anything he was trying to say. Travis enjoyed a beer as much as anyone, but he had driven himself here tonight, so he’d definitely be sticking to the legal limit with the alcohol.

“You invited these guys?” he said to Ben.

“Yeah, but they invited the ladies,” Ben answered. “Good thing Morgan isn’t here yet,” he added.

Good thing, yes, but Travis wasn’t laughing. He didn’t need this so close to her moving here. This was exactly what he was talking about. But leaving now would make him look bad, which was why he always found it easier to sit in the corner or in the back and let the other guys party and pick up girls. No one paid any mind to what he was doing, they all just saw what they wanted to see: that he was as much of a player as they were.

The rest of the food arrived, and the beer. Then the girls showed up. He recognized a few of them from the rink, puck bunnies who only had one goal—to go home with a hockey player.

He was going to stay a few more minutes and then go home. For the last half hour, he’d been sitting back, watching the ridiculous activities from afar. It was actually amusing to be the sober one, watching the drunk action from the sidelines. He burst out laughing at the look on JJ’s face after a girl, who’d obviously had too many drinks already, tripped and spilled her pink drink down JJ’s front.

Suddenly, two girls teetered towards Travis and draped themselves over him, one sliding onto his lap before he could even move. Oh, hell no. Travis lifted her off, standing up quickly and taking a step away. “Sorry ladies, you have the wrong guy. I’m already taken, but Ben over there might be interested.”

He wanted to tell them that they needed to learn to respect other people’s personal space, but he bit his tongue. At one time, he would’ve been too gentlemanly or too embarrassed even to remove the girl from his lap, and on the rare occasion, too horny to resist whatever came next. But he’d never been a player like the other guys, and he needed to make that widely known, starting from now.

He weaved his way through the tables, where girls were snapping selfies and drinking as much as his teammates. He got Ben’s attention and mouthed, “I’m out.”

Quickly, he slipped out of the bar and headed home. If the guys noticed he was missing, they could rib him about it tomorrow. Who cared what they said, anyhow? They should know that there wasn’t any room for puck bunnies in his life. Once Morgan was here, it would be obvious anyway, because she’d be on his arm whenever they went out. From now on, his focus was on two things: the game and his relationship with Morgan. And he was looking forward to it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

---