Page 178 of Hockey Halloween
She gently shoved his chest and he didn't move at all. It was a hockey player thing.
"I'll call you after the party."
He leaned down and kissed her again, a quick peck goodbye before sneaking out the back door as if he was still hiding what was going on from Chase.
Jessica could only stare out the window and watch him drive off, worried about what Xander would face at the team's Halloween party knowing one of the players was now very much aware that their mom was in a relationship with their team's captain.
Xander
Xander pulled his Land Rover into the parking lot for the restaurant the team had reserved for their Halloween party. Sure, he could've valeted it, but he needed some time to sit and think before walking in.
Seeing Jessica was going to be the highlight of his day. After all, this long-distance thing was getting rough but she was still living and working in Toronto so that was how it would be for now. And yes, they had been sneaking around. It was a bad idea and they knew they would have to come clean soon considering how far their relationship had come. This wasn't a one-night stand anymore. Jessica was someone he really wanted to be with for a long time.
Then it all blew up.
He was so stupid to take a chance like that, but it was the first time Jessica would be alone after arriving in Denver so why not swing by and see her after Chase left? They just never expected that Chase would come back so soon.
Stupid green unitard costumes that didn't have pockets.
At least Xander lucked out by pulling rank so he didn't have to dress up in one of those things. But getting caught making out withyour girlfriend by your girlfriend's son while you're dressed as a garden gnome was pretty awful too.
Xander took a deep breath and slowly let it out. He had to go in now. There was no escaping it. So he bitterly snatched his stupid hat off the passenger seat of his SUV, opened the door in a huff, and slammed it shut a little too hard before stomping off to this stupid party.
The party was in full swing once he made his way into the back room of the restaurant reserved for the team. He could pick out some of the married players as they showed up in cutesy couples costumes with their wives. Some of the players had decided to go for elaborate costumes while others barely looked like they had put in any effort. Xander understood that as he usually was one of those guys. But this year, he agreed to be part of a "team" costume for the "team" or whatever.
He had to give Alyssa credit for finding a solution when he absolutely refused to dress like a green unitard house plant. He almost backed out of this plan too, but Tyler's girlfriend had come through so he had no choice but to be a garden gnome.
That also meant he had to show up, which was a bit inconvenient when he found out Jessica was going to be in town after he had already committed to this party. So he made a stupid irrational decision that led to him rushing over to his teammate's house to have sex with said teammate's mom not thinking that his teammate would find out.
And now he had to go into this party pretending everything was fine.
Alyssa saw him as soon as he walked in, a huge smile spreading across her face. She looked so happy to see her plan in action with the captain of the team walking in with the garden gnome costume her boyfriend had somehow talked Xander into wearing.
"Amazing!" she yelled as she waved him over.
Seven men in green unitards turned to look at Xander, smiles framed by rose petals and daisy petals and ivy leaves. Well, smiles except for the face of the sunflower who scowled at him. Xandercouldn't blame him. Chase had every right to not be sunny towards his captain.
"Holy shit, captain," Tyler said. "I didn't think you would actually go through with this."
"And I can't believe you're all wearing those green things."
The guys laughed — except for Chase. "Alyssa made us stems for a reason," Davis the rookie said with a wink.
Alyssa looked so delighted at the whole scene. "We need to get a picture!"
She wandered off to grab the photographer while one of the flowers handed Xander a soda. The captain famously didn't drink alcohol during the season. Although he kind of wished he could just get blistering drunk and call a cab to take him home. It would help him deal better with Chase staring daggers at him.
He only looked away when the photographer finally showed up and Alyssa instructed everyone to smile. Xander went along with it. She had put work into getting these hockey players to all fall in line for a costume and it was a pretty good idea.
It also seemed to have distracted Chase enough that he started to socialize with his teammates more and went wandering into the crowd at the party to talk to people. He was laughing with friends and Xander even noticed him head to the dance floor at one point. Not that Xander was watching him.
In exchange, Xander let him be. This wasn't the place or the time to talk to him about the man his mom was dating or the details of how Xander met her. He was sure Chase would blow a gasket when he found out about how they started dating after that night on the Moms Trip.
Things were turning out OK for the night. Xander mostly stuck with the coaches and drank more Cokes, talking about life outside of hockey like how good Denver's baseball team was looking in the playoffs or the ski trips being planned for December — for the coaches at least. The players knew they couldn't do stuff like that during the season in case they got hurt.
It was only after a few hours that Xander realized he hadn't checked his phone for messages. He headed back to the hall for thebathrooms at the restaurant to have some privacy, hoping he would find a note from Jessica. Sure enough, she had sent him one an hour ago.
I'm so sorry about tonight. Please don't say anything to Chase? We can talk later. Miss you already
