by Ellen Devlin
“So, tonight, he starts in chirping at me again. I hear you’ve still got your puck bunny, are you sure you’re the only one hitting that, I think I’ll look her up after the game tonight and get some.” He took a drink of his beer. “You know what I did? I swear to God, Liz, I didn’t even think about it. I laughed and said, ‘It would be funny to watch you try.’ He was so surprised he missed the pass that was coming to him.”
Zee laughed, looked at Tom, who was grinning like crazy, and laughed again. “Holy shit, Micky.”
Liz was staring at Tom, wide-eyed with her hand over her mouth, like she couldn’t believe it, and giggled.
Joe sat back and said, “It’s about fucking time, Tommy.”
In a playful tone, Zee asked, “This doesn’t mean that you’re going soft, right? Because you and I might have our differences, but when we’re on the ice, I always know I can count on you to beat the shit out of someone who puts me into the boards with a dirty hit.”
Tom looked a little surprised and pleased at the comment, while Joe threw his head back and laughed.
“Christ, they don’t know you at all, Tommy! How is that possible?” He turned to Zee. “Tommy has been his team’s self-appointed enforcer since before they were old enough to even be allowed to body check in games. God, he got himself in trouble.” He was still laughing. “I used to wonder if he liked the hockey or the fighting.”
Tom was grinning.
“Don’t worry, Zee. He could always laugh and fight.” He looked over at Tom. “He just forgot how to laugh for a while.” He shared a brief smile with his brother.
Liz put her hand on Tom’s thigh under the table and leaned against him; he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head.
Zee turned to Joe and said, “So did they tell you about the time Liz called him on a road trip?”
“Seriously, Zee?” Liz protested. “I’m right here. I can hear you.”
Joe said, “Is this something I actually want to hear?”
“Yes, definitely. I’m a younger brother too, ya know. You want this kind of dirt on your older brother.” Zee was in his element. The two of them got off on a brief tangent about the perils of having older brothers.
Tom was watching this exchange with a twinkle in his eye.
“What has gotten into you?” Liz asked quietly, squeezing his inner thigh gently and smiling at him.
“You.” He turned his head and looked down at her. “It turns out that it’s a hell of a lot of fun being yours.” He bent down and kissed her, taking his time about it.
“Jesus, you two!”
Zee laughed at Joe’s protest.
“Okay, I’m out.” Liz gave Tom one more firm kiss and said, “You guys have fun. Joe, please remember that Zee exaggerates and that I can neither confirm nor deny any knowledge of whatever he tells you.” She looked briefly at Tom and added, “And based on this one’s mood tonight, I’m going to add that I can neither confirm nor deny anything he tells you, either.”
Tom just grinned at her.
Joe and Zee stood up for goodbye hugs, and then she leaned back into the booth for one last kiss from Tom.
As she walked away, she heard Zee say, “So we end up sharing a room on this road trip…”
***
Liz woke up to hear her phone vibrating on the nightstand. Bleary, she answered when she saw that it was Zee calling. “Everything okay? What’s going on?” She looked at the clock and saw that it was two a.m.
“Holy shit, Liz. He’s funny!”
Zee was definitely drunk. Liz could hear Joe and Tom laughing in the background and heard Tom asking to talk to her.
“Oh my God, Zee, are you guys still out? You sound plastered. Please tell me you’re getting cabs home.”
“Yeah, of course, we’re waiting for an Uber or something right now. I’m not sure. Some ride. Somewhere.” He giggled. In a very exaggerated whisper, he said, “Micky sang karaoke. It was awful.”
Liz started laughing, not sure whether to believe this drunken banter or not, until she heard Tom say, “Give me the phone,” and then directly to her, “It was awesome. You have never heard me sing. It was glorious.”
“What did you sing, sweetheart?” She was laughing, secretly hoping someone had taken a video of this.
There was a pause, and then she heard him ask the other two guys, “What did I sing? I don’t remember.” Pause. “No one remembers. Doesn’t matter. It was awesome.”
“Is Joe conscious?”
“Hang on.” Then muffled, “My brother, she wants to talk to you.”
“Hey, Liz.”
“You sound almost coherent. Where are you guys going?”
“Oh, I’m drunk, just not like these two. We’re all going back to your apartment.”
In the background she heard Zee call out, “Slumber party! Liz, come join us!” followed by Tom laughing and explaining to him there was no fucking way that was happening.
“Aspirin, Tylenol, and Advil are in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Drink water. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Joe.”
“Hey…wait…Tommy wants to talk to you again.”
Tom got on the phone again. “I love you. You know that, right?” He suddenly sounded concerned, in the way of the very drunk.
“Yes, sweetheart. And I love you. Keep having fun.”
“Oh, and Zee’s okay. You were right. He’s only mostly an asshole.” He started laughing as Zee started complaining and took the phone back from Tom again.
“I was going to say something nice about Micky, but now I’m not.”
“Good night, Zee.”
“Wait! Wait! I want a sexy voice good night!” She heard Tom saying, “Fuck no!” in the background.
“Sorry, sweetie, that was a one-time deal. Love you, have a good night.”
She disconnected the phone, trying to remember how long it had been since she had gotten a drunk phone call from friends out partying. It had been a really long time.
***
She was already at work the next morning by the time she heard from Tom. She answered the phone with, “Hey, handsome. How’s that headache feeling?”
He grumbled, “Fuck. Please sound less chipper.”
She laughed.
“Zee and I just left your apartment. Joe is flying out later tonight. Can we get together for dinner before he goes?”
“Of course. Just let me know where and when.”
“Sorry about the late night call. I know you had to get up early for work today.”
“Totally worth it. I’m really hoping that one of the other guys took a video of you singing karaoke.”
There was a long pause. “Fuck.” Another pause. “Are you sure that happened?”
“All three of you seemed to agree last night. You said that you were, and I quote, ‘glorious.’”
Tom barked out a laugh and then groaned from his headache. “Shit, that was a hell of a night. The only thing missing was Becks.”
“Yeah, but that wasn’t for lack of trying.”
Another pause. “What do you mean?”
Liz laughed. “Really? You drunk dialed him last night too. He already called me this morning to tell me about it. Apparently you tried to get him to come meet you guys at the karaoke place. Something along the lines of, ‘Come sing with me, my brothah!’” She gave an imitation of the crooning voice Chris had used, which made him laugh again.
“Shit, stop making me laugh. God, I haven’t been this hungover in a long time.” He chuckled. “Thank you. That was awesome.”
“I’m so happy, Tom. I’ve got to run. Drink a lot of water, all right? I would like you to be feeling good tonight, when I’m back in my bed in my apartment.”
“Got it. Water. And a nap before practice. Love you, sweetheart.”
“Love you too.”
***
They had a lovely dinner. Joe convinced Tom that he did, in fact, sing karaoke, although there was no video, much to Liz’s disappointment.
Apparently, he sang “Cherry Pie” by Warrant.
“I would have paid good money to see that,” Liz lamented.
“It was…special.” Joe smirked. “But holy shit, it was great to see you really having fun again, Tommy.” He chuckled. “Wait until I tell Col about your new singing career…” He started a horrible imitation.
“Don’t you dare! Bastard!” Tom was laughing. “Shit, the stories she already tells are bad enough.” He got a sudden horrified look on his face, as if he just thought of something. “You wouldn’t.” Joe was grinning. “Fuck, no. Joe, you wouldn’t.”
Liz had no idea what was going on.
“Let’s just call that collateral, then, shall we?”
Tom closed his eyes. “What do you want?”
“Game tickets. Of course.” Tom laughed. “And whatever else I think of as time goes on.”
“Fuck.” He shook his head.
Liz finally said, “Do I want to know what this is about?”
Tom glanced at her, looking a little uncomfortable. “I don’t need my sister hearing some of the things that Zee shared last night.”
Liz laughed out loud, and Tom added under his breath, “Jesus, what would she do with that story?”
Tom and Liz walked Joe to his rental car to say goodbye. Joe hugged Liz tightly. “Thank you.” He looked at her. “I feel like you gave me my brother back.”
She smiled back at him, just a little teary. “Safe travels. Remember, next time bring Anita.”
Tom and Joe shook, hugged, Tom put Joe in a headlock and rubbed his knuckles in his younger brother’s hair, and they finally said goodbye.
As Joe drove off, Tom pulled Liz close to his side, breathed in her hair, and kissed the top of her head. “That was amazing. Thank you.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chris and Tom thoroughly enjoyed watching the women come down the stairs dressed for the formal. Even knowing from last year how transformed she could be, Tom was still struck speechless when he saw Liz. This year’s gown was a sea-foam green, at least that was what Paige had called the color, and it was a one-shoulder design that made Tom think of something a Greek goddess would wear.
“It is very satisfying to see my fantasy man speechless,” she teased.
“You are so beautiful.” He said it so sincerely she blushed, which made Paige laugh.
“Wow, Micky, you’ve still got it. You’re still the only person I’ve ever seen who can make her blush.”
As they were heading toward the front of the house to get coats and wraps to get ready to leave, Tom put his arm around Liz and said, “We could skip this whole thing, and I could just take you home and make you blush more.”
Liz smiled up at him but noticed that, as much as he was trying to be playful, there was already an underlying strain in his face. She turned to look at him. “Do you have something for me? I’m thinking it would be a little bigger than a business card? Perhaps magnetic?”
He smiled, fished in his pocket, and handed her a card key. “I got 403 again. Good memories.”
“Definitely.” She smiled and slipped it into her purse.
He clenched his jaw for a moment and said, “I don’t know why this is so fucking hard for me. We’re not even there yet, and I can already feel myself getting pissed off.”
Liz tilted her head and looked at him. “Well, according to both you and Chris, you never liked this kind of thing, even when you were kids, like awards ceremonies and such, right?”
“Right. But I never wanted to randomly kill people at them, either.” He was still making an attempt at joking.
She gently took hold of the lapels of his tux coat, looked him in his eyes, and said, “This was the part that Michelle wanted.”
Tom grabbed her by the wrists suddenly and almost violently, holding her hands still. “What?” he asked, his voice and face a mix of confused emotion, anger, and hurt chief among them.
Chris and Paige had walked back to see what was keeping them and heard and saw the exchange. Liz heard Chris say under his breath, “Jesus, Liz,” and he started toward his friend, but this time Paige was the one who put her hand on his arm. She looked at Chris and whispered, “Wait.”
“This. The formal events. The charity balls. The press attention. Meeting important people. All the trappings of being with a famous pro-athlete. That was the part that she wanted.”
He slowly released her wrists, staring at her.
Liz took a chance, hoping she wasn’t going to push this too far. “And she wanted it so badly she didn’t want to wait for it to be with you.”
Tom spun around, looking for the nearest chair. He was feeling dizzy and slightly sick. They were near the kitchen, so he sat at the table.
Liz followed him and sat down next to him. Tom had his elbows on his knees, looking at the floor, breathing hard. Chris and Paige moved to the doorway; after a few seconds, Paige got a glass of ice water and put it on the table next to Tom before retreating back to the doorway with Chris. Chris’s face was strained, still looking like he wanted to rescue his friend.
After a few moments, Liz reached over to stroke her hand through Tom’s hair, tucking it behind his ear, touching the way it curled slightly at the back of his neck at his collar. She wanted to speak, to tell him he was worth so much more than this, how wrong Michelle had been, to reassure him how much she loved him. But she had the sense that Tom just needed to work through this in his head, so she stayed quiet despite the pressure in her chest and simply continued to stroke his hair.
After a minute or two, he sat up, drank the ice water, and looked at her. “Would you care?” he asked, his voice raspy, his face rather pale.
“About what?”
“If we never went to another formal event. If you never met the owner of a pro sports team. If there were never any press pictures.”
She put her hand up and stroked his beard. “Of course not. Tom, I’m only going to this thing tonight because you’re going. If you weren’t there, I’d rather be wherever you are.”
He took and gripped her hand and said, “And if I retired from hockey tomorrow?”
She searched his eyes, surprised by the question, and said, “Then I would get to see you a whole lot more. And we could watch games together.”
“And I would no longer be your fantasy hockey player.”
She felt everything in her chest twist at his words. “Oh God, Tom, is that what you think?” She smiled and felt tears gathering and knew she wasn’t going to be able to stop them. “Sweetheart, quite a while ago my fantasy stopped being a six-foot-four hockey player and started being Tom McCullin.” She sniffled. “You idiot.”
He smiled that half smile and said gruffly, “You’re supposed to call me a bastard first.”
She punched him in the shoulder. “Paige, I am in desperate need of tissues. Please. Because this guy is a bastard.”
He smiled. “Yes, and an idiot.”
“Yes.” Paige brought her a box of tissues.
“And I love you, Liz.”
“I love you too. Are we okay?”
Tom stood up, stretched, and took her in his arms. “We are okay. Thank you.”
As they walked toward the cars, Chris pulled Liz back for a moment. “How did you know?”
“Which part? That it was Michelle who was making him insane about these things, or that he wasn’t going to put his fist through your wall when I said something?” She gave him a wry smile.
“Both.”
“The first was an educated guess. The second—I had no idea. I just hoped.”
Chris smiled at her and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Magical fucking superpowers, Liz.”
***
On the drive there, Tom glanced over and said, “I’m concerned about something, and I want to clarify.”
“Anything, sweetheart. What’s wrong?”
“I just want to make sure that, in case our talk this evening has helped me and I am not feeling as angry during the event tonight…w
ell, I want to make sure that doesn’t mean I’m getting laid less. Because I’m not sure that’s a really good trade.” His crooked smile was adorable.
Liz was so relieved she laughed out loud. And then ran her hand up the inside of his thigh. “Oh, no. I’m good with that.” She ran her hand higher. “Shit, I love that you wear silk boxers under these.”
Tom floored the accelerator as her hand started tracing patterns around the silk and everything underneath it. She was enjoying the changing shapes underneath his fly altogether too much, and he was suddenly very interested in arriving as quickly as possible.
“You’re making me crazy.”
“You’re the one who asked if you were still getting laid. I’m just making sure you understand. Completely.” She squeezed gently and then started making slow complete strokes through his pants.
“Jesus, Liz.” He was starting to sweat. “I do want to make it to the hotel.”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure I could make this last a long, long time.” She slowed down and lightened her strokes, so he was being teased by her fingers and the silky fabric. And then she reached lower between his legs and cupped him, rolling and squeezing very gently. He was fighting to keep paying attention to the road. They weren’t very far from the hotel, but he was having trouble remembering the directions for some reason.
She dragged her nails across him from the bottom of his balls all the way up to his tip. If he hadn’t been wearing clothing, it would have been agony, but through the two layers of fabric, one of them being silk, it was making him throb.
She let him go as they pulled up to the valet and smiled at him wickedly, and they made a very fast trip to the room before even heading to the event.
***
Tom was indeed much more relaxed all evening and would have been even without their regular trips to visit Room 403. But true to her promise, Liz did not skimp on her distractions. By the time they sat down to dinner, there had already been the pre-event encounter plus one more, so Tom was feeling very mellow already.