Power Play (BTU Alumni #1)

by Alley Ciz

  Jake’s smile was so big it looked like it was splitting his face in two. “I guess today is my lucky day. I get to wake up with my girl and meet my favorite goalie of all time. Does life get any better?”

  She quickly turned around and swatted him in the chest. “Shhh,” she hissed through her teeth. “Be careful with the whole ‘my girl’ stuff, the enemy is around.”

  He was too quick for her. Before she could pull her hand back, he grabbed her wrist and ran his thumb across the palm of her hand before letting go. As he released her hand he gave her a little wink.

  Her only reaction was to roll her eyes and shake her head as she turned to open the front door.

  As she made her way through the house she noticed the doors to the den were shut. Normally she would have checked out why they were closed but she had more important things to take care of first. She took a deep breath as she made her way toward the sliding glass doors in the back of the house. She could hear laughter and Aerosmith’s Mama Kin coming from outside so she knew that’s where she could find her parents.

  Robert and Ruth Donnelly’s summertime barbeques were legendary. They would handle all the usual holidays like Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day, but they were also known for throwing random ones when they knew Rick was going to be around. But why of all days did they have to have one while she had bruises on her body?

  Abruptly she stopped and turned around causing Jake to bump into her. He tilted his head in question for why she suddenly turned around.

  “Tell me the truth. How bad is it?” She asked running her hand over her throat.

  He removed her hand and replaced it with his. “It’s noticeable but it’s not as bad as you think.”

  “Promise?”

  He ran his fingers across her neck one more time because he could. “Promise.” Almost reluctantly he let his hand drop.

  She walked to the back doors and went to see her parents. She expected the backyard to be packed with the amount of cars she saw parked on the street, but there was only about a dozen people. Including her parents, Jake’s parents, her godfather and his wife, Sean and Carlee, Maddey’s parents, and Skye’s parents.

  She said hello to everyone and made introductions for Jake. She saved her godfather for last.

  “Hey, Uncle Rick,” she said as she gave him a big hug.

  “If it isn’t my favorite goddaughter. How’s it going Pumpkin?”

  She laughed at Rick’s greeting. “I’m your only goddaughter you fool, but I can’t complain.”

  She looked behind her for Jake. “There’s someone I want you to meet,” she told Rick.

  Pulling Jake by the arm she directed him to stand next to her. “Uncle Rick, this is Jake, Jake, I’d like you to meet my godfather, Rick.”

  “Nice to meet you sir,” Jake said as he reached out to shake Rick’s hand.

  “Breathe,” she whispered to Jake.

  “Same here,” Rick said returning the hand shake then turned to look at his goddaughter. “Is this the guy you said is going to break all of my records one day?”

  “Yeah.” She smiled as she watched the shocked expression that crossed Jake’s face.

  Sure, to him Rick Schelios was a world famous All-Star goalie, but to her he was just her godfather, and they talked all the time. So what if she mentioned Jake in their conversations, it wasn’t a big deal. Yeah, right.

  Jake looked down at her. “I thought you said I was just okay?”

  She laughed and shook her head at Jake. “Well I couldn’t have you getting an even bigger ego, now could I?”

  “No we couldn’t have that,” he responded with a laugh.

  “Even if she never said anything, the stories I’ve heard from your teammates were enough to spark my interests. I think I’m going to have to come to a few games this season and check you out myself.”

  “Oh? I’m surprised Ryan and Jase told you highlights about other people other than themselves, shocking,” she said with a laugh.

  “It wasn’t just your brothers. Billy and Nick told some good ones and then that Tucker kid sure had me going with some of their antics.”

  Rick’s statement brought her up short. “When did you talk to all of them?”

  “A little while ago, before they went inside for a team meeting.”

  Uh oh.

  Jake watched Jordan’s entire expression change.

  This was not going to be good.

  “You knew, didn’t you?” She asked with accusation and hurt in her voice.

  “Yes. Ryan called me this morning. But listen—”

  He didn’t get to finish because she quickly turned on her heel and stormed off in the direction of the house. She knew where they were. This secret meeting of theirs was the reason why the doors to the den were closed. Her gut told her something was fishy when she saw them closed but she ignored it. It would be just like her brothers to try and “protect” her and have a meeting about her without her.

  She stomped her way down the hall. She could hear Jake behind her trying to keep up. She reached the pocket doors to the den and shoved them open with as much force as she could muster.

  The sound of the den’s doors being practically thrown open caused everyone to turn around and look. On the other side of the doors stood Jordan practically vibrating with anger.

  Ryan and Jase stood in front of the couch leading the meeting. She stared daggers at them.

  “WHAT. THE. HELL?” Jordan bit out.

  Ryan looked past her to Jake and saw the same “oh shit” expression mirrored on his face. She didn’t miss the exchange.

  “Don’t look at him for help.” She strode through the room purposely toward her brothers. “He’s in enough trouble now for helping you guys.”

  She took in everyone else in the room. The team all had nervous expressions on their faces. It was almost comical.

  Almost.

  “Clearly, you guys are talking about me, so can you please tell me why you decided to have this conversation without me?” she asked the room at large.

  Ryan was the one brave enough to answer. “We didn’t want you to have to relive it again.”

  She looked at her older brother dumbfounded. “Do you really think that after last night I’m not reliving everything already?”

  When nobody had anything to say to that, she pressed on.

  “To be honest, it’s almost a relief. Now everyone knows and we don’t have to be all secretive about why I stopped coming around… Yes, this whole thing sucks, but I’m done running away from it. We tried that and it didn’t work. For two years I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  “I’ve had nightmares about that night and what would happen if I ever ran into him again. Now we know.”

  She sucked in a lung full of air. “What makes me angry, though, is that you decided to talk about it without me. I’m not a child… you seriously need to stop treating me like one.”

  The room went completely quiet. It was obvious the new guys weren’t sure how to react.

  Tommy almost killed her that night at the hockey house. It was an absolute miracle she didn’t get hurt more seriously from her tumble down the stairs. She could only imagine how her brothers told the tale.

  “Jordan,” Skye called out to her.

  Skye waited for her full attention before she asked the question everyone needed the answer to.

  “What happened last night?”

  Jordan wasn’t sure she would have been able to answer that question if anyone else had asked, except Skye. Belatedly she realized she didn’t even tell Jake everything that had happened the night before. They were more focused on other things. The memory made her blush.

  She turned to face the room at large.

  “I guess it’s safe to assume you all now know the details of my breakup with Tommy?”

  She watched as everyone nodded and then continued.

  “He pushed me against the wall hard enough to knock the wind out of me. Then, grabbi
ng me by the throat, he pinned my body with his and shoved his tongue down my throat. I couldn’t breathe. All I kept thinking about was I needed to find a way to breathe or I would pass out. The only time he paused his attack was to tell me I was his and I needed to remember that.”

  What happened next was too embarrassing to tell.

  Now came the hard part.

  “For the past few weeks I’ve been getting these weird phone calls and texts from an unknown number. I guess now it’s safe to assume they were all from him. Because this morning I had these messages in my voicemail.”

  She took her phone out of her pocket and hit play.

  Noise from Rookies could be heard playing in the background.

  “Oh Sweetness, you look good. Two years is too long to go without seeing you. Now all you need to do is get it through that thick, pretty skull of yours that you’re mine. Eventually your brothers will leave you alone long enough for me to remind you of that.”

  There was a long stretch of silence, and by silence, only the sounds of Rookies could be heard before he spoke again. His voice even more menacing than before.

  “If that asshole doesn’t learn to keep his hands to himself I’m going to break them.”

  Jordan looked to Jake while the last part of the message played. They both knew who Tommy was referring to. A part of her was grateful she didn’t let Jake listen to the messages until he was in a room full of people. She wasn’t sure how he would have reacted otherwise.

  “The bastard.”

  “He’s twisted.”

  “I should have killed him when I had the chance.”

  Ryan, Jase, and Jake all spoke at once.

  Surprisingly she couldn’t help but laugh. It was shocking how much Jake was like her brothers. She just hoped they wouldn’t turn against him when they found out he was now dating their sister.

  “That wasn’t the only message he left,” she told the group.

  “Play them,” Ryan said.

  “You’re really trying my patience, Sweetness. You need to stop hiding from me in your ivory tower.”

  “And this is the last one,” she said as she hit play for the third time.

  “If you think your little lookalike will keep you from me you are surely mistaken.”

  “The fucker was watching you the whole night,” Tucker said before anyone else.

  All of a sudden Jordan felt completely, emotionally drained.

  “Okay then. Now that everyone knows everything, I’m going to go change and then I’m going to try and forget it ever happened.”

  She quickly made her way out of the room and up the stairs to her room.

  JAKE LISTENED TO Jordan’s voicemails with the rest of the group. He caught her worried look when Tommy obviously spoke of him. Fortunately everyone was more focused on the broader scope of what was said.

  As he listened to the creep talk like he owned her, it made him wish he kicked his ass the night before. But Jordan came first.

  The room fell silent again with Jordan’s departure.

  Billy was first to break the silence. “Holy shit did you see her neck?”

  “What kind of bastard would do that to a girl?” Tucker asked.

  “And I thought what happened that night at the hockey house was bad, but this is on a whole other level,” Nick commented.

  The room fell back into a strained silence. Jake badly wanted to go after Jordan but he knew it was important to be with the team to develop a plan of action.

  “So what’s the plan you guys have come up with so far?” He asked the room at large.

  “First things first, we have to figure out how Tommy got into Rookies,” Ryan said.

  Skye spoke up from her seat. “Actually, Aunt Ei found that out last night. With turnover and everything, not all the bouncers knew of Tommy. I guess after so much time has passed…” Skye trailed off.

  “That’s ridiculous. How could they be so irresponsible?” Ryan said.

  “Ryan…” Jase said turning to his brother. “It’s been two years since everything happened. We haven’t even heard anything from Tommy in all that time. Mom and Dad moved, we changed hockey houses, Jordan went off to school. It’s understandable everyone relaxed.”

  The tension in Ryan’s shoulders eased at his brother’s logic. He was right.

  “There is something that worries me though,” Jake mused.

  “What’s that?” Jase asked.

  “He was all about taunting her before he attacked her. Why no voicemails after he got away?”

  “The fucker is clearly unhinged,” Tucker said as if reading his mind.

  “The important thing now is keeping her safe. I guess we’ll have to make sure someone from the team is with her at all times in case Tommy decides to make another appearance,” Ryan stated.

  Maddey stood up from her seat so fast she practically jumped out of it. “No. Absolutely not!”

  Ryan shot his girlfriend a puzzled look. “What do you mean no?”

  “Just as it sounds, no.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stood her ground. “You cannot do that to your sister. It will drive her crazy and then you know what, she’ll kill you.”

  “Babe, listen…”

  “No, you listen!” Maddey cut him off and walked over to poke him in the chest. “Now I know the situations aren’t exactly the same, but it’s the best example I can think of.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “My brothers tried to play that game with me. They can go off into god forsaken places and do god knows what no matter how dangerous it is but god forbid their baby sister wants to go to school in the city. It drove me nuts and almost drove a wedge between us. If you do this, Jordan may never forgive you.”

  Ryan tried to interrupt her spiel but she wouldn’t let him. She put up her hand to stop him.

  “I do agree there should be something done at least when we all go out to make sure he’s not out there stalking her, but… if you try and do any of those things behind her back it will not be good.”

  “You’re right.”

  “I know,” she said with a smile.

  Ryan couldn’t help but laugh at Maddey. “God you are just as stubborn as my sister.” He reached out to put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to his side.

  “Well, I love her so I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “So how are we going to make this work?”

  “It’s actually going to be easier than you think,” Skye said from her seat in the back of the room.

  “After what happened with Tommy the first time, she didn’t really want to be by herself much. So getting her to be with people isn’t going to be a challenge.”

  “It’s all in how you go about asking or telling her what you want to do.” Maddey finished Skye’s thought.

  Nobody spoke for a few minutes.

  Jake had a sudden burst of inspiration. Ever since Jordan agreed to be with him, as long as it was a secret, he had been thinking of ways he could be with her without raising suspicion. This was the perfect opportunity.

  “I have a suggestion.”

  “Go ahead Jake, I’ve got nothing,” Jase replied.

  “Ever since she started teaching the kids their swim lessons we have been splitting the driving. So it’s real easy for me to check on her at the pool. Plus I can have her help me watch Carlee and Sean to keep her busy some days.” He held his breath while he waited for Ryan and Jase’s reactions.

  “Actually, that’s a pretty good idea,” Ryan replied.

  “Also, she has been spending a lot of time at my house because it’s the summer. There’s no way for Tommy to know where I live because you guys didn’t even know me back then,” Maddey stated.

  “And now that you and Maddey are dating you have more of a reason to be around us,” Skye told Ryan.

  “Ry,” Billy said to get his attention, “Jordan has been like a sister to all of us on the team since then and I’m sure the new guys feel the same way. I mean, come on, she’s a p
retty cool chick.”

  All around the team nodded in agreement.

  “So we will just make sure we do a lot of things as a team and make sure we keep Jordan involved.”

  “Yeah, Tommy’s crazy, not suicidal. It would be nuts to make a move with the whole team around. He’s gotta know after what he pulled last night we would close ranks,” Nick added.

  “I agree. He’s lost the element of surprise now. We’re all going to be on the lookout for him now,” Wade said.

  “Bro, they’re right,” Jase faced his brother. “By keeping Jordan in the loop, it saves us all sorts of drama. Just look at how angry she was that she wasn’t included in the meeting.”

  “I agree.”

  “Plus Jake’s right. With him living right next door he can keep an eye on her without her feeling suffocated.”

  Jake couldn’t believe his good fortune. He had the perfect way to be with Jordan on a regular basis and it didn’t even have to be hidden from his friends.

  Now what they were actually doing during their time together was a whole other story.

  Jordan practically ran to her room and shut the door. She went over to her dresser that had bathing suits in it and braced her arms on it.

  When she looked up and caught sight of her reflection in the mirror above the dresser, she let out a startled gasp.

  Her neck looked terrible. She gently lifted her fingers up to run along the bruises and cringed at how bad they looked. She was surprised her mom didn’t freak when she saw her earlier.

  It was time to stop thinking of the negative and focus on the positive. She changed into her zebra print bikini, pulled on a pair of jean shorts and a loose fitting t-shirt.

  She opted to leave her hair down to help cover some of the bruising and went to leave her room to go back outside.

  When she opened the door she saw Sean and Carlee down the hall and called them over. She bent down to be eye level with her little brother.

  “Hey buddy.”

  “Hi,” Sean sulked.

  She reached to fluff his hair. “So I heard a funny story last night.”