Page 33 of Nix
Nix stomped toward the locker room. He had never been in a game fight before. His hand was already hurting and where were his gloves and stick? Someone would get those for him, wouldn’t they? He turned to the trainer, Jon. “My equipment?”
“I got it.” Jon waved Nix’s stick while holding his gloves under his arm.
“Thanks,” Nix said sincerely.
Jon grinned at him. “Proud of you, Nix. That was a good fight.”
“Yeah? At least I didn’t make a fool of myself.” Pushing open the door, he entered the empty locker room.
“No, the team is proud,” Jon told him.
Nix stalked over to his locker and started to undress.
“I want to check you for injuries,” Jon said, joining him.
“I’m fine,” Nix said even though he didn’t know if that was true. He felt off. What if he got suspended? Crap! This was bad. And now that the adrenaline was wearing off, his legs were starting to shake.
Nix dropped down on the bench. He was getting hot. Too hot. Starting with the laces on his skates, he stripped down.
Grabbing the towel, he wrapped it around his waist as Jon joined him.
Jon hummed to himself as he pushed on Nix’s sore ribs. Fucking Crowly and his stick. “I need you to look at this light. I want to check you for a concussion.”
“Okay.” Nix followed Jon’s commands until the trainer sat back on his heels.
“I think you’ll be fine. If you start to have any double vision or headaches, let me know immediately,” Jon told him.
“Sure,” Nix agreed. He would pretty much agree to anything to just be left alone. Something wasn’t right.
“Go ahead and shower. The game is almost over,” Jon said with a pat to his knee.
Nix yanked his shower bag from the hook then slowly made his way toward the showers. He hung the bag and his towel on the hooks provided. Turning the water on as hot as he could stand it, Nix stood under the spray as his actions caught up with him.
The coach would be mad. His teammates, what would they think? In one loss of control Nix might have ruined his whole career.
No! That wasn’t right.
Men got in fights all the time. Part of the reason that the audience liked their games better than the NHL was because of the fighting and laxer rules. He would be okay.
Everything would have to be okay.
Nix washed his body, hair, then just stood under the water until the shaking got worse. He smacked off the water and reached for his towel. Nix dried himself off and wrapped the towel around his waist. He picked up his shower bag before dragging his feet back to the locker room.
There were large screens around the locker room showing the remaining of the game.
Two minutes left.
Nix sat on his bench, utterly exhausted. Resting his head back, Nix watched his teammates but especially Evan.
What was happening between them?
Had Evan somehow figured out that Nix had feelings for him? Would things change between them now? Evan had truly become Nix’s best friend. Nix liked his other teammates, but it had been Evan who he spent the most time with.
They shared meals, got coffee together, Evan was his taste tester for all of Nix’s new baked attempts. It might not have been long. Nix knew it was sudden. Still, Evan meant something special to him.
Closing his eyes, Nix let his mind wander back to every wish he’d had in the last several weeks.
Late at night when Nix was lying in bed, he would think about Evan. If his bestie knew about his desires, they probably wouldn’t be friends any longer. Out of all the consequences he faced, Nix was most afraid of how Evan would respond. Except Evan had called him a good boy. That surprised Nix and confused him more than anything else.
