Page 5 of Two for Holding
Management.The press.Slutting it up all over the league.Management.Why would— That didn’t make any sense.Why on earth would Tom talk to management about—
As the plane dipped over the San Francisco Bay, looping around to reach the runway from the right angle, Tom’s stomach sank all the way past his twingy hip into his knees and to his feet.Jax thought he’d tell people because he had a problem with it.Jax thought Tom didn’t like him because he’d slept with a man.Jax thought he was a homophobe.
A panicked laugh tore its way out of his throat before he could stop it.
Phil tore his eyes away from Candy Crush to shoot a questioning raised eyebrow Tom’s way.
“Just remembered something funny.”Even to himself, Tom’s voice sounded strange, high and tight.It must have been a tricky level though.Phil seemed satisfied.
Tom got through the remaining trip on autopilot.He could barely remember the walk home; luckily, he lived right by the rink and didn’t have to drive.The minute the door closed behind him in his swanky, four-bedroom, empty apartment, Tom sank onto the floor and tried to remember how to breathe.
two
Kayleigh [off-screen]: Can you explain your hockey nicknames?
Breezy: Sure!So, usually it’s, like, your last name and then someone adds a letter or makes it shorter.Like, we call Phil Easton “East.”And my name’s Calabrese, but that’s pretty long, so people call me Breezy.
Jax: Also, he keeps it light and breezy![laughs]
Kayleigh: And what about you, Jax?
Breezy: He doesn’t have one.He’s just Jax.
Jax: Nothing “just” about it, bro!
Breezy: Damn straight!
[Jax and Breezy fist-bump]
Top comments:
grant16rules: guess I’m a sea lions fan now.No one keeps it real like just Jax!
clions2010: @grant16rules—You’ve gotta be kidding me.Keeping it real?The man is as fake as they get.Not even his hair is real.Can’t believe we traded THREE draft picks for a self-impressed pretty boy
(Video posted in The Rookery, the direct-to-consumer streaming service of the San Francisco Sea Lions and all associated teams, on 10/29/2024)
Something was wrong with the captain.
Not that Jax would claim there had ever been anything especially right about Tom Crowler.Except for his hockey.His hockey was fucking beautiful.
In general, Jax thought hockey nicknames were dumb as shit, as evidenced by his being “Granite” up to his rookie year in the NHL because the last name “Grant” didn’t offer up a lot of nicknames.Rock-based puns were for defensemen’s nicknames, not two-way forwards.Thankfully, he’d been able to make “Jax” stick in the big leagues.
But the captain’s nickname was “the Crow.”And damn, if it didn’t make a weird sort of sense when Jax watched him swoop in out of nowhere, all six foot three of him suddenly appearing right on top of the puck in the middle of a tricky play, snatching it out from the opposition.For such a big guy, he could skate stupidly fast, and the way he worked his angles made his footwork seem light.
If you asked Jax, Crowler had been robbed of the Calder his rookie year.No one ever had asked though; everyone who asked Jax about the Calder only wanted to know if he thought he deserved it, to which the answer was, “Yeah, actually, I did.”
He’d gotten eighty-three points his rookie year.Damn good showing.
Crowler barely lost out to some Russian goalie wunderkind in 2011.Similarly, he spent the last seven or so years in the league making the top five but never quite winning the Art Ross.Two years ago, Jax beat him by three points with a sweet-as-hell hat trick in his last regular season game.
Come to think of it, maybe he did know why Crowler hated him so much.
Hate, Jax could deal with.Hate was an acceptable emotion to have toward Jax Grant, hockey superstar.Sometimes Jax hated himself too.
But whatever was wrong with Crowler became less straightforward than hatred after Edmonton.Jax knew, because he was beingnice.Looking Jax in the eye, saying good morning.Offering fucking bananas and disappointing bran muffins.
Alarming behavior to say the least.
