Page 25 of The Hat Trick

She groans, covering her face with her hands. “Nothing, it’s stupid.”

“Tell me.” I remove her hands.

“I just, I’ve never done anything like that, and I wouldn’t want to share you with another woman. Even if I was there. God, I’m ridiculous.”

I smile, angling her head to make sure she doesn’t look away from me again. “Good thing, that’s not what I’m asking. This is for you, Chandler. It’s all for you.”

“Stop being so sweet to me, I can’t take it.”

I hold her against my chest even tighter and feel as she drifts off to sleep. I’ve never done this before either, but for some reason after seeing her tonight and seeing their chemistry I need it. I want her to have everything she desires, even if that’s both me and my teammate.

10

After morning practice, we are all in the locker room changing before we go back to the hotel for our pregame rituals, which usually includes a nap for most. I, on the other hand, rarely nap because I feel like when I wake up, I’m even more tired. Instead, I try to relax, check in with my siblings if I can, and go over game play.

We all load onto the bus that will take us back to the hotel, Vince sits next to me, which isn’t unusual, but he’s been acting a bit off all day. I figured he’d be in a great mood since Chandler came here to see him. I’m worried that something happened, and that it’s going to affect him going into the game tonight.

Once we’re on the road I confront him about it, “You good, man?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m great.”

“Okay, you’ve just seemed off this morning.”

“Just tired, I didn’t get much sleep.” He tries to bite back the small smile.

“I bet not, so everything is okay with Chandler, then?”

“Oh yeah, everything with her…yeah, it’s great. I did want to talk to you about something though, just not around the other guys.”

Fuck.

I can’t say I didn’t see this coming in some way. Maybe that’s why he’s been off, I knew he was going to confront me about flirting with his girl last night. I’ll admit the drinks made me a bit looser than I would normally be. I’ve always been the responsible one whether that was growing up, or on all my hockey teams I’ve been on. I was always known as the buzzkill, but I don’t care as long as everyone is safe, and where they need to be when they need to be there.

Last night was a rare form of me having more than just one drink and flirting with a woman in front of my teammates. Especially since that woman is one that my teammate is already seeing. I didn’t think much of it at the time because Dumont didn’t make a move to stop either of us, but it’s obvious now it bothered him, and he wants to confront me about it alone.

“Okay, sure.” I attempt to hide my anxiety, like always, but it’s clawing at me the whole drive back.

I’m not that guy, not like McQuaid. I don’t cause drama, I keep the peace with everyone, and I hate that I might be the reason one of my teammates hates me now. As we ride the elevator up with a few other guys on the team I get off on my floor, and Dumont follows me. We walk in silence toward my room, neither of us say anything until the door is shut. He probably doesn’t want to lay witness to him fighting with me. I’m a tall guy, six-foot-six, which means I have almost a half a foot on Dumont, but he’s a defenseman and could take me down easily.

Neither of us are big fighters, but I’ve seen the damage he could do, and I’m not looking forward to being on the receiving end of it.

I decide to speak first, hoping if I take responsibility it’ll help. “Look, I think I know what this is about, and I’m sorry I was hitting on Chandler, don’t worry I would never touch her or anything.”

“What?” He looks genuinely confused.

“Last night, I know you noticed I was flirting with her. I don’t know why I was, obviously she’s beautiful, but I wouldn’t do anything to step on your toes.”

He smiles. “She is beautiful, isn’t she? You should see how beautiful she is when she comes.”

“Wait, what? Dude, no, I wouldn’t do that to you, don’t worry about it.”

“What ifshewants that, though?”

I narrow my eyes at him. This has to be a trap, because I don’t know where he’s going with this otherwise.

“What’s going on?” I shake my head, needing some clarity.

He just smirks before throwing himself onto a chair, and kicking his feet up on the small ottoman. “What would you do if she wanted you to touch her?”

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