Page 95 of Two for Holding
“Is she hot?”Howie asked.
Jax thought for sure Tom would clam up, would hide in his turtle shell.But then something magical happened.Tom laughed, loud and bright.
Jax had to turn to him.He had to see the lines around Tom’s mouth, the crinkle in the corners of his eyes.He never wanted to look away.
“All right,” Tom said.“I’ll open it.But I’m not telling you anything.”
He picked the package up and ran his fingers around the edges, searching for an opening.One of the equipment guys gave him a pair of scissors.Apparently, this was an event for the whole teamandthe crew.The locker room fell totally silent as he lifted the top off the box.
Tom pulled out the contents.
Howie groaned in exaggerated disappointment.“Bo-ring!”
Vanderbilt pushed to the front.“Are you kidding?Those are cashmere.That’s fucking expensive as shit.”
Hayes and Howie stared at him while Dmitriyev nodded as if this should have been obvious.
“What?”Vanderbilt shrugged.“I like high quality menswear.”
Tom pulled the top sweater out of the box carefully, thumbing the fabric.There were three total, one in blue to match Tom’s eyes, one in black to match Tom’s hair, and one in cream because Jax thought he would be incredibly soft and comfortable in it.He’d gone a bit wild on the site, deciding between different styles and colors for almost the entire flight back from Arizona.
He’d only wanted Tom to have nice things.
“Just saying, if someone got me something from Prada, I’d want, like, bling, not some sweaters.”
Breezy cuffed Howie around the head.“That’s not important.What doyouthink, Crow?”
Tom looked up from the sweaters.He didn’t seem aware he was still running his hands across the fabric.“I love them.”
Jax’s heart did something it had previously only done during a VO2 max test.
Breezy beamed.“Well, then.”
“If y’all are done with…whatever this shit is,” Trout barked.“Warm-ups.Now.”
“Ignore him,” Hayes muttered on the way out.“Bet no one’s ever given him a present in his life.”
Oddly, the team hit the ice thrilled by the whole thing.Jax had expected confusion, maybe even some resentment.Instead, everyone was excited, laughing and joking during warmups.Seattle’s season had not gone well so far.Their star forward had an undisclosed upper body injury, which probably meant “concussion we’re hoping isn’t serious.”Their defense tended toward the slow side of things, and their goaltender lacked experience.No way they’d match the Sea Lions in a really good mood for the first time in a month.
Still, Jax hadn’t counted on a seven–one blowout.
He had a three-point night, assisting on two of Tom’s goals.He got one of his own on a breakaway in the starting minutes of the third.
He should have been on top of the world.Instead, he felt exactly the same as he had in the morning—anxious, empty, and less surefooted than he’d been in years.Tom careening into him to celebrate after every goal, reminding Jax he’d never again hold him without six layers of hockey gear between them, did not help.
Postgame, the locker room filled with buoyancy the way only a win could ensure.
“Drinks!We are all going for drinks,” Breezy shouted.“Keep your suits on.We’ll hit the clubs after!”
Vanderbilt cheered.Who knew the only thing it would take for him to act like part of the team again was Jax humiliating himself and Tom in front of the whole locker room?
While Tom did postgame media—the curse of the captain, and the guy who’d just gotten his second hat trick of the season—Jax wanted desperately to congratulate him.He also wanted to apologize for the stupid sweaters, but he couldn’t with everyone around.
Olivia Starling, still in her Bobcats hat, had a question.“Tom,” she asked, overly familiar.“Before the game, Jax was telling us about the team’s new sponsorship project.How do you feel about it?”
Tom smiled his media smile, not the real, shy little thing Jax liked so much he wanted to wallpaper pictures of it all over his bland, terrible hotel room.“Jax and Breezy—sorry, uh, Chris—have started something really great in their work with the shelter.I haven’t been out there yet myself, but I’m scheduled to go next week.I’m excited to see what the kids have learned about hockey so far.”
“Crow’ll make them run sprints and learn to use a foam roller,” Mooney yelled from across the locker room.
