Page 13 of Playoff
"No, you're not. But when a guy sits down beside you, you usually shut him down."
"Well, this guy was nice. Not interested in hockey—not a fan of the team. He ordered a bourbon and toasted Mrs. Garvin with me."
"You drank bourbon?"
I held up my hand, fingers almost touching. "Just a bit. I wasn't drunk." I'd been fully able to make my own decisions.
Justin cocked his head. "So, after the bourbon…"
I bit my lip. "I went to his hotel and slept with him."
His jaw dropped. "Jess? You okay? That's not like you."
It wasn't like me. But tonight I’d needed something. "It was a crappy day. Mrs. Garvin, then finding out that Denbrowski is coming, and Mom burning up my phone? I needed something for me."
He pulled me back into his shoulder. "Ah, Jess. You deserve a lot for you."
"We both do, but we have to deal with what we've got."
He sighed. "What did Mom want?"
"I don't know. I didn't answer the phone, didn't listen to the messages. I'll deal with that tomorrow. Meantime, are you going to be able to play with him?"
He stared at the far wall, eyes on the TV, but it was an empty black screen. "It's not his fault, so I’ll try to keep what his parents did off the ice. He's a loose cannon, not the kind of player I like, but I don't have anything against him personally. It's just, that name brings up a lot of bad memories."
I hugged him. Denbrowski might not have done anything, but his parents had blown up our world. Justin had borne the worst of it. "Think the press are going to catch on and ask you about it?"
"Probably. They'll ask him too."
For a moment, I felt sympathy for the guy. If he really hadn't been involved, but faced questions about it anyway, that was unfair. I suspected he hadn’t been part of it because it had been a big case and the authorities had investigated it to death. But I didn't know, and I had enough people to care for already.
"What was your team thinking, bringing him here?"
Justin shrugged. "They're thinking we lost Ducky, our best goal scorer. Denny gets the puck in the net. He’s got a reputation for partying hard, but not sure that’s recent. He's just not a team player and doesn't defend for shit."
Since Justin was a defenseman, that would impact his game. And if the guy was replacing Ducky, they'd be on a lot of shifts together. "Sometimes life really sucks."
"It does, but you deserve good things, Jess. You gonna see that guy from tonight again? You were safe, right?"
I pulled out my phone, deleted the note I’d made before I went to the hotel. "I had the hotel and room number here, plus my phone tracker was on, so you would have known how to find me. What happened to yours?"
His face flushed. “I turned it off. Didn’t want to talk to anyone. So, are you going to see him again?" he repeated.
"Nah. I didn't even get his name. He's just passing through." He was, wasn't he? Must be, staying in a hotel, that tan. But that was a lot of luggage. Oh well, didn’t matter. "Right now I'm not ready to take on someone else."
Justin pulled back to look at me. "A relationship shouldn't be taking someone on. It should be someone who helps you as much as you help him."
I opened my mouth to interrupt, but he shook his head.
"When you find someone, you go for it. Don't pass up the opportunity because you think you have to be here to protect me from Mom and Dad and whoever else."
I let the remark pass, but I couldn't leave him. Mom and Dad took advantage of him when I wasn't there to intercede and keep them from asking for money. If they spent as much energy trying to build up a life for themselves as they did on stupid schemes to either find the Denbrowskis and their money, or risky investments to recoup their losses, all of us would be better off.
"You should be in bed. Practice in the morning."
He grinned. He didn't do that often enough. "It's optional."
I rolled my eyes. "Like you’re going to stay home."
