Page 40 of Playoff
I had to make my usual report upon returning to Toronto. Agent Miller was at the airport. The hotel I’d been at for the first couple of days had continued to receive messages, and now the concierge at Fitch’s got some too. If people had spent as much time checking out my parents as they did harassing me, they might not have lost their money.
Thankfully, we had a few days off for the All-Star break. From what I’d overheard, JJ was going as a spectator, since his pal Cooper was representing the Blaze. Ducky had been invited but was out with his injury. Petrov was there for a skills competition. Some of the other guys were going, and others were taking advantage of a few days off to rest up or spend time with family since there were no practices.
I had my own plans for the break. I wasn’t going to be the guy who joined the team and caused it to tank. That meant I needed to figure things out with JJ. He was avoiding me, but I knew someone who could help.
The morning after the road trip, I took the first step.
Me: I need to talk to you.
I waited impatiently for a response. Then I realized it was a weekday, so Jess must be at her job, and might not be able to respond. I went downstairs to work out in the gym in the building, checking my phone frequently. Finally, I got a notification.
Trouble: Why?
Me: It’s about your brother.
Trouble: What about him?
I could almost feel her hesitation, but this was important.
Me: He can’t play with me.
Dots came and went before she responded.
Trouble: I don’t want him to know I’m talking to you. It will make it worse.
I obviously didn’t want to make the situation worse. No one could know we’d hooked up, and no one could know we were meeting. But this was the only idea I had to patch things up enough that the team could function. Being the guy who torpedoed the Blaze wasn’t going to help my market value once free agency opened up.
We had to meet somewhere private, and she probably wouldn’t be okay meeting in the condo she shared with JJ. Almost anywhere in the city, I’d now be recognized. The safest option was for her to come to my condo, but it needed to be a time when Fitch was out for a long while and I wasn’t. That made it tricky. We practiced together and played all our games together. We weren’t attached at the hip—he went out on his own, but he didn’t give me a heads-up if he was meeting someone. He could walk back in any moment, and that would make things worse. Asking when he would be out for a couple of hours without returning would be a little suspicious.
But I knew one time he was going to be out of the condo.
Me: Come here when the skills competition is on. Fitch is going to Ducky’s.
I could have tagged along, even if I wasn’t specifically invited, but clearing things up with JJ was more important. Unless Jess was going to be there?
The bubbles again and then her response.
Trouble: Okay.
Fitch grabbed a bag with beer and pretzels to take with him to Ducky’s. “Sure you don’t want to come?”
I shook my head. “I’m good.”
He narrowed his eyes at me but shrugged.
As soon as he was out the door I texted Jessica that the coast was clear. Then I paced while I waited for her.
The condo was clean—still a little spartan since Fitch had just bought the place and neither of us had time to decorate. I had bedroom furniture shipped from LA, but the rest of the place was Fitch’s stuff. He liked clean lines, light colors, and no clutter. You could take the Swede out of Sweden, but…
I heard a knock on the door and walked over to let Jessica in.
She was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt, with a button-up sweater over top. Running shoes on her feet, hair loose. No makeup. She looked like the good girl next door, which wasn’t my thing, but still… When she got out of the boring clothes, she was an uninhibited and sexy woman. My gaze lingered over her curves, remembering what she looked like. How she’d tasted and sounded.
She glared at me. “Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“Look at me like that.”
