Page 17 of Ice Daddy
While the athletes waited for the bill to be settled, cell phones emerged from their pockets and glowed atop the table. They only had a few more hours of downtime in Nashville, and the top item on the agenda was figuring out the destination for the night. The group had already decided they wanted to go to a strip club.
“You up for the titty bar, Lance?” Brooks asked.
He hemmed. “Probably shouldn't. With this PR agency breathing down my neck, I've got a funny feeling I'd get spotted and it'd bite me in the ass somehow.”
Radar elbowed him. “Well, I don't want to go to the strip club either.”
“Because Ella would kill you?”
Radar laughed. “I don't think she'd care, as long as Itold her about it. She might askwhyI'd go to the strip club, since she keeps me plenty happy at home—”
Lance waved his arms through the air. “Gross, man, that's my sister. I don't want to hear about that stuff.”
Radar grinned. “Point is, if you wanna hit up that Zickell's place again, I'll go with you.”
Lance cracked a smile. “You don't mind?”
“Not at all. But I would like it if you told me what your deal with that place is.”
Lance smiled. He was slightly embarrassed to admit it. “Just a girl. Met her there.”
“When?”
“Couple years ago.”
“And what's so great about her?”
Lance laughed. “Great lay.”
Radar gave him a playful shove. “Moron.”
“Hey, you can't tell me thatyoudidn't think about specific girls back in your bachelor days.”
Radar paused to think it over. “Actually? I honestly don't think I did. With girls, I was always one and done. I never had any sort of desire to see a girl a second time.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, dude.” He paused. “Only with Ella. But that was obviously different.”
Now Lance felt compelled to be a little more honest. “I don't even know, really. I barely know anything about her. I just want to see her again. That night we had together was sohot,man.Hell, I know it's stupid.”
“It's not stupid. It'ssurprising, but I don't think it's stupid.”
“God,she was a great lay,” Lance said again, eyes rolling back in his head.
Radar gave him one last shove.
***
While half the team went to the strip club, and the other half returned to the hotel, Lance and Radar made one last trip to Zickell's. The bar and grill was dead at lunch—but now, bodies were crammed and the joint was hopping.
The sight of so many people got Lance's hopes up. But after a quick tour around the restaurant, he returned shaking his head at his teammate. “Nope.”
The two Brawlers stood, nursing their drinks and shouting small talk over the music. Lance stared into his beer, a bubble of resentment rising inside him. The disappointment of coming back here to come up empty-handedagainwas the wake-up call he needed. It was stupid, wasn't it?Hewas stupid! Thinking he'd somehow run into some girl he knew nothing about.
God, the more he thought about it, the more pathetic it made him feel. He was Lance Couture, professional hockey star worth millions of dollars. He could have any girl he wanted. What the hell was the point in getting caught up over some random girl from Nashville that he didn't knowanythingabout? It wasn't like him at all, and that scared him.
Lance chugged the rest of his drink. He was ready to go home as soon as Radar was done with his drink. This place was noisy and packed and really, the entire atmosphere was grating.
