Page 12 of Two for Holding
Breezy smacked Jax upside of the head.“And to taking care of him if he gets his head bashed in one too many times or fucks up a joint so bad he has to stop earning millions.Anyway, when you might get uprooted any dayandyou have all the domestic responsibility, there’s not much opportunity for finding your own career.”
Jax looked set to argue.Tom couldn’t see that going well, so he intervened.
“Vanessa is really lucky.You’ve put a lot of thought into understanding her.”
Abruptly, Breezy blushed and stared down at his feet.“It’s a big ask, y’know?My mom’s a homemaker, and it didn’t always make her happy.You gotta be super sure of someone if you wanna try and go the distance.”
“Divorce is a thing.”
Tom jabbed Jax in the side with his elbow.
“A thing I plan to avoid,” Breezy says.“I need to fix this.”
He wandered over to where Vanessa stood, surrounded by other women, explaining something to Vanderbilt’s wife, Cheryl, with big, expressive hand gestures.On Cheryl’s other side, Dmitriyev, their goalie, and Howie listened raptly.They were both ensconced on Phil’s couch, sandwiched by beautiful blondes.
That boded ill.
Tom hoped none of the blondes were someone else’s wife or girlfriend.
He made a mental note to talk to Howie again before he got any ideas.
Talking to Dmitriyev would be a much more daunting prospect.He’d put the conversation off until he absolutely had to address it.The language barrier alone… Tom shuddered and turned back to Jax, raising his eyebrows.
“I think you made an enemy for life, there.”
Jax shrugged.“Guess you found out what I’m bad at, then.”
“Women?”
“Rich women.”
“You’re rich.”
“Yeah, well.I just don’t get the whole WAG thing.It seems…I dunno, fake.How are you supposed to tell if they’re doing it for the clout and the money?”
Tom frowned.He lacked the dating experience to know for sure, but he’d seen so many teammates get married and have kids, and he had to believe they were happier than he was.“I’m sure they all love their partners.”
Jax squinted at him.“Spoken like a man who has never had someone suck his dick and then threaten to post pics on the internet.”
The words “suck his dick” seemed to come out of Jax’s mouth in slow motion, his full, full lips pursing and releasing and his pink tongue peeking out from between his teeth on the “s” sound.
Tom shook his head, trying to clear the image from his mind.“That happened to you?”
“Why do you think I got traded?”
“Oh.”Oh,no.“I thought you, uh.I thought you wanted to come here.”
Jax gave him a look so venomous it made Tom want to shrivel up and die.“I got drafted third overall in Philly.I had a house by the Schuylkill.”
“The what?”
“Theriver, dumbass.I had at least three guys in town willing to drop everything when I texted them.I had a good thing going until…whatever.It doesn’t matter.I’m here now, and I guess we have a better shot at a Cup than I ever did there.”
Three guys in town.“What did you need three for?”The words left Tom’s mouth before he could reconsider, and then he wanted to kick himself.
Jax raised his eyebrows and made an obscene gesture.
Tom flushed hot and turned away.
