Page 66 of Playoff
“Heard a noise. That your shy hookup?”
“Maybe. You didn’t see her?”
“No.” He glared at me. “Is she married?”
“No, no. Nothing like that. Just keeping a low profile.”
“Will she be back?”
“No.” Unfortunately. Jess was fun, as well as sexy.
“Be careful.”
Instantly I wondered—had he seen Jess, despite what he’d said? “Why?”
“Secrets get out.”
I rubbed my hands over my face. Good thing this was over. But something leaden had settled in my guts. Damn it, what was it with Jess?
Chapter 28
The only Denbrowski
Alek
* * *
I refused to indulge in guilty feelings at practice the next day. Jessica was allowed to sleep with who she wanted to. We were being discreet, so as not to upset her brother, but I wasn’t harming her. We both had a good time, neither thought it was more than it was, and it would end. No, it was already ended.
But to make sure I wasn’t on the trading block, I played nice in practice. Lots of passing, fewer shots taken on my own. I played as defensively as I could when we skirmished.
The team was heading out on the road tomorrow. Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. The good part of that was not having to cross the border. When I came back I wouldn’t have anyone checking again on whether my family had contacted me. The downside was that most of those cities were fucking cold.
We lost in Winnipeg by one goal. And yeah, my fault. I should have passed to Deek but I thought I had the shot. Coach reamed me out, but we won in Calgary and Edmonton and I got three goals between the two games. I had two assists as well and blocked a shot in our end. I was a fucking team player, for those games at least.
Vancouver reminded me of Jess, since I knew she was from there and her family lived in the area. I overheard her brother explain to Cooper that he was going to visit their grandmother. I sent Jess a message about that. As soon as I hit send, I knew it was stupid. JJ would tell her about it himself. I wasn’t supposed to be keeping in touch with her anyway. She’d probably removed my contact information by now. But she responded.
Trouble: I’m glad he’s getting to see her. Do you know if my parents are coming to the game?
Me: No, why?
Not like JJ was telling me his private business.
Trouble: If they’re there, they’ll either ask him for money for something stupid or make him feel guilty for not giving them money for something stupid.
Was there any way I could find out?
Me: Want me to ask around?
Trouble: No, that would be weird. They probably asked him for tickets, and he won’t tell me. I can ask Cooper to run interference.
Of course the team captain was the guy to deal with this. Cooper would, but it bugged me. My parents were shitty, but it still troubled me when other people’s were. And knowing JJ’s story, which he would fucking hate, made it worse. But what could I do? I could imagine how his parents would respond if I shoved my way in.
There were some boos when I skated out onto the ice for the game. I got that sometimes, from people who knew about my parents. I didn’t let it bother me. If they could afford tickets to this game, they weren’t hurting too badly financially.
Still, I was more tense than usual waiting for the puck drop. The Johnsons were probably in the stands, judging me.
Jess was watching the game, wasn’t she? It was her home city.
