Page 84 of Best Man
Niko jumped to his feet and hugged his best friend. “Welcome back, man! How was your trip?”
“Fucking unreal,” Jax said, his eyes sparkling. “Thanks again for hooking us up with the PJ, bro. What a great way to kick off the trip.”
Jax had recorded Piper’s wedding gift surprise and posted the video clips on his Instagram. The series of videos was hilarious and amazing—she’d gone from complete confusion and utter fear they were going to miss their flight when Jax pulled into the “wrong” airport, to squealing and jumping up and down once he told her they were flying in a private jet, to living the absolute life, drinking champagne and eating fancy chocolates, while they cruised at forty-thousand feet in the air.
“It was nice, right?” Niko asked.
“Dude! It was incredible. We felt so relaxed. You know they pump pure oxygen into the cabin, right? So you’re not so tired when you arrive?”
Niko nodded—it was one of the best things about the Gulfstream. “Of course.”
“They say it’s like flying at two thousand feet instead of forty. And man, you can really feel the difference,” Jax said. “Normally, flying long-distance like that takes its toll—especially on Pipes, because of her narcolepsy—and we need a day or two before we feel normal again. So we usually schedule that two-day buffer into our trips. But man, we showed up feeling great, day one. That jet bought us an extra day of vacation.” He hugged Niko again. “So thanks again, man. Amazing gift. Piper sends her love, by the way.”
Niko smiled. “I am so glad to hear that. It looked like you two had a great time. The pictures looked amazing.”
“Yeah, dude. I brought my iPad with me. If you wanna get lunch after camp, I’ll show you all our other pictures.”
“Definitely. Let’s do that,” Niko said, figuring that lunch was as good as time as ever to tell him what had to be said. “You look great, man. I like your tan.”
“Yeah? I’m peeling like a motherfucker, though,” Jax said as he took off his shirt. Sure enough, the burnt skin on his shoulders was flaking off.
Parisi sneaked up behind Jax. “Damn. That paint jobsucks, Big Rig. You should ask for a refund”—he brushed a cluster of dead skin off Jax’s shoulders—“because the clear coat is flaking off already!”
“Get outta here already.” Jax laughed and gave the clown a shove, as if he were clearing a goon out of Vaughnsy’s crease. He turned to Niko. “Anyway. How was the rest ofyoursummer?”
“Good, good,” Niko said. “I will, uh, tell you more about it at lunch.”
“Sounds good, bro.”
***
“Whew. I gotta admit—I think part of me is still in Hawaii,” Jax chuckled, gingerly lowering his massive frame into his chair. They were grabbing lunch at their usual post-practice joint—the steakhouse across the street from the arena. “I wasn’t quite ready for that.”
“I know, right? Going to be sore tomorrow,” Niko said.
Truth was, Niko’s quads were already burning. Coach Quinn had skated the squad hard on day one, which wasn’t a surprise. Like a lot of old-school coaches, Q loved to skate the boys into the ground on day one to send the team a message:get ready to work.
The two friends ordered their steaks and made small talk about camp. Who turned heads in drills. Who surprised, and who disappointed—though there were remarkably few of the latter.
“This year feels really promising,” Jax said. “It feels like everything’s finally coming together for us, you know? All the drama and bullshit this team has been through over the past few years is over and everyone’s in a good place. It’s like we’re finally ready to take the next step. I can feel it, man. This is our year.”
“I feel the same way,” Niko said, but his thoughts wereanywherebut the year ahead. His heart raced, his head full of worries about what he had to tell Jax.
Jax lowered his voice and leaned closer as if to share a secret. “Dude. What if we win the Cup this year? Can you imagine?”
Niko chuckled. “Right? That would be amazing.”
Jax leaned back in his chair, his eyes growing suspicious. “You alright? For once in your life, it’s like you don’t have anything to say.”
“Oh, I’m fine.” Niko changed the subject in a hurry. “Let’s see those honeymoon pictures.”
The diversion worked. Jax pulled his iPad from his briefcase and swiped through hundreds of photos of him and Piper in Hawaii. The newlyweds looked so happy together, whether they were hiking or exploring a coral reef or eating somewhere fancy or flying around the island in a helicopter or simply lounging on the beach.Ugh,how badly Niko wanted to take Paulina somewhere like that—where the beaches were pristine, the waters crystal clear, and the skies blue! To spend a month together in paradise? With plenty of amazing things to see and do, but best of all, where they could simplybewith each other?
Two more weeks before we can be together again …
Still, it wasn’t like he was all alone in the world—not anymore. He and Paulina texted each other constantly and they talked on the phone every single night, for an hour or more, before they were too tired to keep talking. Sometimes, she fell asleep on the phone with him—which he thought was insanely cute. She also liked to send him naughty photos throughout the day, too—the sexy little flirt! God, he loved her. She was smart and fun and thoughtful, andman,their chemistry in the bedroom was off the charts. He finally had someone who understood him. She really was the one he’d been waiting for all along.
But now he had to explain all of that toJax.And … well … who knew how he would react?
