Page 19 of Two for Holding
The other young guys took their cue from him and added their own chirps.Jax held his breath, waiting for their reticent, easily flustered captain to retreat into his shell.But when he looked over at Tom, he was smiling with his whole face, his eyes shining, and his nose crinkled a little with laughter.
“All right, all right, settle down.We haven’t won this yet,” he said.Still, the corners of his mouth remained curled up.
East ignored him and kept the party going.He turned up the music—from Nelly to 50 Cent—and shouted, “You listening, fellas?We keep it up, and we’re gonna party like it’s your birthday!”He hopped down off the bench.Maybe if he hadn’t just been yelling at the top of his lungs, or if Trout hadn’t been watching him closely, he’d have been able to hide the way he winced as he landed.
“Easton!”Coach Trout called.“That the knee?”
“I’m fine, Coach.”
“You sure?”
“Yep.”
Jax studied him.He seemed fine, but hockey players had been known to lie about these things.He glanced over to Tom, who watched East with concern written all over his face.God, he showed every feeling so clearly in his expression.It was truly miraculous he’d gotten this far in life.
His tells gave East away as well: he favored one leg.Jax only noticed because he watched closely as East circled the room, exchanging pats on the back and getting the guys excited.
Despite all the hype, they didn’t get off to a great start in the third period.Jax took a face-off against the Arches first-line centerman and lost.It happened.Even he wasn’t perfect.The guy had been talking his head off, all the usual shit guys said on the ice to get Jax off his game.But he’d ended on, “Bet you begged them on your knees to trade you to Cali, huh?Only thing your big mouth is good for.”
To Jax’s own annoyance, he flinched and lost the face-off.
Jax had hardly processed the puck being gone when Tom barreled into the man, gloves off.
“Tom!”he yelled, but Tom was locked in.He tried to drag Tom back by the jersey, but another one of the Arches got in on it, trying to start shit.And then the D-men made it across the ice, and East bullied his way between Tom and the opposing center, taking Tom’s place in the fight.The center shoved, East hit the ice with his bad knee on an awkward angle, and that was all she wrote.
The refs finally whistled.
Jax almost laughed.Of course, the refs did nothing to penalize the initial chip.No one was miked up, so the audience couldn’t hear anything, and when a tree fell in the forest, no one cared if it was a homophobic shithead.They didn’t whistle when Tom did the stupid thing and dropped his gloves either.No, they waited until someone actually got injured, for maximum watchability.
East made it off the ice without a stretcher at least, supported by Tom on one side and Jax on the other.Coach Morris observed the whole thing with a thunderous expression.
“Congrats, Calabrese.You’re in the first PK unit.”Morris didn’t bother looking at Breezy as he promoted him, watching instead as East walked down the tunnel supported by Coach Trout and a physical therapist.
“Shit,” Breezy muttered.“Shit, shit.”
The good vibes were going down the drain, and they were going fast.Jax tried to nudge Tom into action, but he stared down at his feet while a referee debated whether he ought to get two minutes for charging or five minutes for fighting.
Jax got up and clapped his hands together.“Come on, guys.We’re up by two.All we gotta do is hold the lead for our man East!We can do it for him.Breezy, you can do it for him.”
Breezy still looked a little nauseous, but he nodded.“For East.”
Jax nudged their shoulders together.“Now, come on.You’re on the penalty kill.Get out there.”
Breezy hopped over the boards, a little shaky but gaining confidence as he went.Jax watched him for a moment before turning his attention to Tom, sitting in the penalty box.He was staring at Jax, but the second Jax caught his eye, he turned away.
Why had he dropped his gloves?He had to have known it wouldn’t end well.Did he actually want the Gordie Howe hat trick?Jax studied Tom briefly, a picture of misery, not a man proud of or pleased with his accomplishment.So why had he done it?For a guy who never fought—a smart player with a two-goal lead—what could possibly make him do something so stupid?Jax thought back, tried to remember if there’d been anything special, anything noteworthy.The Arches center, now sporting a bloody nose but otherwise undeterred, grinned snidely at him across the ice and mimed a blow job.
Right.He’d been chirping Jax about his mouth.Distasteful, homophobic, and, unfortunately, not at all unusual.Jax shouldn’t have let it distract him, but it was a little too close to the truth.
It still didn’t explain what Tom had been thinking.
Unless… Jax checked Tom again, watching the same center with his lip curled in a sneer.Jax pursed his own lips.He didn’t like that expression on Tom’s face.It was made for laughter.What a shame he rarely showed it.
But why would he decide to break a career streak of no fighting because some idiot in Missouri thought Jax had blow-job lips?Jaxhadblow-job lips.In a nonwork context, he’d been known to remark on it himself.
The penalty ended.Jax vaulted over the boards with Tom and Vanderbilt.They won the face-off this time, but Jax couldn’t seem to get Tom to meet his gaze, to read him the way he had before.
In the end, they won the game 2–1.A decent showing, for all they could have done more in the third to make it a real blowout.East waited for them in the locker room with his leg propped up on the bench.He gave them a lazy salute and made sure to pat Breezy on the arm for a job well done.Breezy sported a massive bruise on his thigh from a blocked puck but was so high on adrenaline he hardly seemed to notice.He wanted to celebrate the win (or more likely, his appearance on the first PK unit without choking and fucking up).Mooney and Howie were instantly down.The energy it took to play a full NHL season and party all the time… Jax was only a few years older than those three, but he could already feel it waning.
