Page 5 of Game Winner
“Even so. There’s no excuse for me getting distracted and messing up.” His cheeks puff as he blows out a sigh. “I just came back from the broken foot two weeks ago. Haven’t scored a goal since I went out. The fans are saying I’m useless. I think my teammates would agree with that.”
“No.” I climb over the boards and plop my ass down next to him. “You’re not useless.” I bump his shoulder. “You had some bad luck is all.”
“Like an entire career of it.” He tugs off his glove and rubs his forehead. “I wonder what I did to piss off the hockey gods because getting injured every single season sucks.”
I don’t know what to say that might ease his pain, only that I want to make him feel better. “Maybe you could look up some rituals to try? You know, to reset things.”
Tyler snorts, and the sound is so ladened with dejection, a sky full of gray clouds would be less gloomy. “Like what? Dancing naked under a full moon?”
“If you like.” I throw him a cheesy smile and waggle my eyebrows. He doesn’t laugh, but one corner of his mouth twitches. It’s not what I was hoping for, but it’s something. “Or you could do something right now—well, as soon as we get through our post-game stuff—and come out with me. Have a drink. You’ll be in friendly company. Gio and Phil. Sage. Probably Morgan and Remy.”
Tyler knows all of them from playing against us over the years. And since the Stallions are playing us again tomorrow night, he’ll be in town anyway.
“That’s your ritual? Drinks with the opposing team?” The other side of his mouth twitches.
Seeing the clouds start to lift gives me the same adrenaline rush as when I’m staring down a forward charging the goal, and my skin prickles with the anticipation of a win. “You have a better idea?”
He doesn’t answer my question. Instead, he rests his hand on the ledge, brushing the front of my jersey. “It’s been a while since I’ve talked to them. With Sage, Remy, and Morgan moving up to the Metros… I’d wondered if you all were still sharing a house.”
“We are. No one’s ready to leave yet.” And I’m happy about that. They’re used to my quirks, I’m used to theirs, and we’re all comfortable around each other. They’re the brothers I never had, because my brother was and is a jerk. “Bax will be there too, and a few of his friends.”
“The guy who banged into the glass?” He scrunches his nose, making him look more adorable than like the intimidating hockey player he is, and shakes his head. “I don’t know… I’m kind of reliving it enough right now.”
“We can talk to him and get the full story. Then make better memories and put it behind you.” I rest my hand on his leg, just above his knee. “Please come.”
He blows a puff of breath out in resignation, and I know I have him. “Text me the address.”
“Good.” I hop back over the boards as he stands. Together we make our way down the bench and part when he turns to the visiting team’s tunnel, disappearing from sight.
Time tonight with him, and Bax… A buzz strums through me with every beat of my pulse, and I lick my lips. A thrill rushes up my spine. Yeah, I can’t wait.
A cold blast of air rushes in each time the pub’s doors open. Welcoming the chill, I scan the pack of newcomers for Tyler. He’s due to arrive any minute, and I don’t want him wandering through this expansive place looking for us.
Though Sage doesn’t like the cold, and winces every time the icy air comes our way, he and his boyfriend Rhys insisted on keeping me company. Thanks to the chill, and the fact that they’re ridiculously in love, they’re wrapped up in each other, moving to the music streaming through the speakers.
I raise my voice to be heard over the music and conversations around us. “When you said you’d found the perfect pub for Layne’s party, I figured you meant a typical bar. Not this.”
The place is more like a club, with neon lights, a dance floor, dark corners, gleaming chrome fixtures, and supple leather seats.
Burrowing deeper into Rhys’s body, my friend just smiles. “It’s very Layne.”
The man of the hour is in the center of a throng of people, dancing, with his head thrown back, a shot glass in his hand, and the biggest smile on his face. Though my attention falls, as it has since he got here, on Bax, dancing beside his friends. “I guess it is.”
“What’s up with you and Bax? Gio said he caught you looking at him several times throughout the game.” Sage raises one eyebrow that somehow conveys,give me the dirt,anddon’t you dare try to bullshit mein the one slight motion.
“Not several.” Tucking my hands into my pockets, I keep my focus on Sage. No matter how much my gaze is drawn to the tall, sexy, muscle-bound man on the dance floor. “There was a hockey game going on. I kind of had to pay attention to it.”
Laughing, he nudges me in the side. “It’s just that you haven’t mentioned anyone before, and we’ve all noticed the way you look at Bax.”
Since I came to the team, my focus has been playing the best hockey I can and trying to make the Metros. I haven’t dated much and haven’t had a steady boyfriend. I don’t mind my friends’ scrutiny, but I’m not sure how to answer him. “Doesn’t mean anything’s going to happen.”
The doors open again, and Tyler steps through. His blue coat and hat are the color of the sky at twilight. A few steps into the entryway, he hesitates, and his gaze skips around the room as he takes in the space.
“Ty!” I wave, hurrying closer.
The uncertainty pinching his features eases into a smile, and he strides toward me. “I wasn’t sure I had the right place.”
My arms are halfway around him before my action reaches my brain, but he doesn’t hesitate, only falls into me like he’s done it a thousand times before. His cold cheek brushes mine, and the scent of ocean and salt tickles my nose. The feel of hisarms wrapped around my body is right and good and our hug is over far too fast.
