Page 12 of Eternally Yours
Thoughts of the petite brunette consumed me no matter what I did or where I went. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours, and she already felt like a drug.One I’d willingly consume over and over again.
I ended up spending the night staring at the ceiling above my bed, wondering when I’d have the chance to see her again. And when my alarm clock rang at 7:30 in the morning, I had managed to get in roughly four hours of rest. Not nearly enough if you ask Coach Jefferson, and that’s probably why he was up my ass all morning.
Our first official game of the season is in two weeks, and as the centerman and captain for the New York Griffins, I need to shake this feeling off and focus. My teammates need me if we want to make it to the playoffs this year.
Now that training is done for the day, I sit at my stall surrounded by my two wingers and best buds while the rest of the team goes about their business.
To my right, Clay Burkley, our left winger and alternate captain, is in the process of dressing after a shower. And to my left is our right winger, Greyson Ford, whowas traded here from Toronto four years ago. He sits on the bench, removing his equipment at a snail’s pace.
I, for one, am already set to leave; I just have to wait after these two doofuses since we carpooled to get to the arena this morning.
“What’s got you by the balls today, man? You’re all... jittery, it’s not like you,” Clay says as he places his feet through the leg openings of his sweats.
“I think I met my wife,” I answer blankly, staring ahead. The more I repeat the words in my head, the more I realize just how accurate they are. It terrifies the fuck out of me.
Clay freezes instantly, pants halfway up his thighs and an expression of surprise lining his features at the revelation.
Beside me, I sense Greyson shift in my direction before he says cautiously, “And does your future wife know this?” As if he’s afraid I might hit him in the back of the head if he misspeaks.I might.
“Of course not! We just met. I don’t want to scare her off.”
Clay finishes getting dressed and sits on the bench, scratching his head like he’s trying to process my words. “Okay, back up. You just met her, and you’re already certain she’s going to be your wife?”
I scrub my face with my hands, trying to sort through my thoughts, but the answer comes easy. “Yes.”
He leans forward, placing his elbows over his knees, and claps his hands once. “Well, I guess you got it easy, don’t you?” There’s a hint of sarcasm, but I ignore it.
“Yeah, I just have to figure out how to win her over first,” I say, nodding to myself, going over the different possible ways to achieve my goal in my mind.
Greyson stands, finally ready to hit the showers. “All right, that should be easy enough. First, is she at least into you?”
“Of course, she is!”
“Yeah, you see, I would lose that kind of attitude if you plan on getting the girl.” Clay chuckles, placing his head in his hands as I furrow my brows his way.
“Okay, okay, we get it. She’s into you. Then that makes it simple, just ask her out.”
I look back promptly at Greyson and straighten up. “Right, yes! That’s what I’ll do. Thanks for the help, Ford.”
Before he walks off to the showers, I hear him mumble something along the lines of, “Doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out.”
I reach into the side pocket of my duffle bag for my phone and begin swiping through my contacts, only to stop short once I reach the name‘Chad’. “SHIT.”I really am an idiot. I never even asked for her number...
Clay leans against the back of the bench, interlocking his fingers behind his head and stretching out his legs in front of him. He closes his eyes and says with a smug smile, “What’s the matter, Hayes? Trouble in paradise already?”
“No, I just forgot to get her number,” I grumble.
A belly laugh gushes out of him, making him fold in half. He holds his stomach with one hand and slaps his knee with the other, gaining the attention of the few players still around. Then he comes back up, gasping for air and wiping the tears from his eyes.
I slap him in the chest, which only makes him laugh harder. “SHUT UP, BURKLEY! It’s not a big deal, I know where she lives.”
His laugh dies down. “Okay, well, that’s at least something. What are you gonna do? Show up to her place?”
“Mm, I don’t know, she has a roommate. What if she’s crazy? I don’t want to risk it,” I tell him, scratching at my temple and trying to come up with some way of getting to my Minnie.
“What if you send her something with a note and your number attached?”
I snap my fingers and point his way as I bob my head at the idea. “That’s actually a great plan! Thanks, man.”
