by Amber Lynn
Jason wasn’t looking for a relationship. He’d tried that once and the heartache that followed wasn’t something he was willing to dabble in again. He devoted himself to playing hockey and grabbing a few beers from The Blue Corral when he didn’t feel like hanging out in his apartment. Since the bar was two blocks from his building, it made sense that it became his watering hole.
“You’re not going to call that either, ref?” Jason stood up, letting his errant thoughts dissipate, and banged on the door in front of him. No one was listening, but it made him feel slightly better.
A pretty blatant trip was missed by the blind ref as his team tried to get some offense going. They’d pulled the goaltender, so it was five-on-five, but their net was vulnerable. A fact proven when the other team took advantage of a guy struggling to get back to his feet and threw the puck towards the other end of the ice.
The puck missed the net by about an inch, but the defense had to hurry to get back for the icing. With fifteen seconds left in the game, there was time for one more faceoff and a scramble to try to get the puck in the net. It wasn’t something Jason was going to sit down for, so he, like about everyone else in the arena, remained on his feet as the puck dropped and the seconds wound down.
He wasn’t surprised when the buzzer sounded without his team tying it up. The loss fit his mood, so it was partially satisfying that he wasn’t going to have to pretend to be excited for another win. Ever since the craziness with Kate and Erik, his team effort seemed to suffer. Whether they won or loss, the effort it took to pretend he cared was taking a toll on him.
Jason collected his helmet and skated out of the box. He would’ve liked to have some more words with the refs, but they were already heading off the ice. That was fine. All Jason wanted to do was grab a shower and head back to the hotel. They had a flight out early the next morning, and Jason was ready to go back home. The solitude of his apartment would be a welcome sight.
It wasn’t as easy as just getting a shower. First there was a quick huddle as a team, and then the media descended. Jason hated answering questions, especially after games like the one he’d had. The slash wasn’t the first call against him and he’d been on the ice for one of the other team’s goals, so needless to say, it wasn’t one of his best games.
The crappy game wasn’t the only reason he didn’t like talking to the media. They’d hounded him after the news came out that Kate had left him for Erik. Since they’d probably announced they were finally getting married after they got word that he’d signed the papers, the questions were bound to start back up.
It didn’t matter that Jason had kept his mouth shut when it came to his private life. He didn’t even fill his mom in when she called asking for information right after the news broke, instead deciding to let her believe everything she heard in the news. She seemed fine with that decision and had only said she was there if he needed to talk. As far as the media wanting to know his side of the story, what happened on the ice was open for any discussion people wanted to have, but his personal life was his own business.
Maybe it was the vibe he was giving off, but as he sat on the bench in his assigned stall, surrounded by microphones and cameras, not one person brought up the nuptials. Either news hadn’t traveled to the West Coast or someone had been warned it was best not to bring up the topic. Jason was happy whatever the circumstances were because the interview only consisted of three questions before people moved on and he could jump in the shower.
If they weren’t thousands of miles from Nashville, he would’ve rented a car and drove home that night instead of waiting for the flight the next morning. As much as he liked most of his teammates, he didn’t feel like having company.
“I believe it’s scientifically proven that it doesn’t hurt you to smile, Mills.”
Jason had already splashed enough water on him to classify as clean and was in the process of pulling a pair of black dress pants on. Kyle Boomer sat next to him, staring at him with eyes that expected a response. Jason glanced over at him for a second and continued the motions of getting dressed.
Kyle’s light brown hair was still wet from his shower, making it look almost black. It didn’t look like he was in any hurry to get dressed, but Jason was, so he ignored the statement.
“Really?” Kyle pressed. “What’s got your panties in a bunch?”
It wasn’t right to take Jason’s frustrations with the world out on his teammate, but he couldn’t muster the gumption to carry a conversation. Getting his suit on was taking all the concentration he had to spare.
“I just want to get back to the hotel, order some room service with a case of beer as an appetizer and call it a night.”
Jason looked back over at Kyle to see the sad smile that had settled on his face. His brown eyes were almost as tired as Jason felt. Kyle had been the first guy to welcome Jason to the team after he was traded, and Jason liked to think they were friends. The guy seemed to understand where Jason’s limits were and didn’t usually try to push.
“Skip the appetizer and come out with us for once. Vinnie wants to check out a club his sister told him about down the street, so we’re all heading that way.”
Jason flinched at the idea of going to a club. Bars that played music and had a handful of people dancing was one thing. A place where dancing was usually a requirement wasn’t likely to have him gracing it with his presence anytime soon.
“I think I’ll stick to going back to my room. I have a phone call I want to make anyway, and I don’t think dance music in the background is going to work in my favor.”
It was a different excuse than his common statement that he just didn’t want to go. Jason didn’t owe anyone an excuse, but for some reason he wanted the guys to know he had plans. He wasn’t sure if someone was going to pick up the phone on the other end, but he was focused on making an attempt.
Standing up to finish buttoning his shirt, Jason sighed as he rotated his shoulder. He’d taken a pretty hard hit into the boards, and even though it wasn’t a major injury, it was a little sore.
“You’ve got a phone call you gotta make at ten o’clock at night? Isn’t your mom in bed by now?”
A few of the other guys laughed at Kyle’s joke. Jason groaned and shook his head, grabbing his jacket and putting it on quickly while he did.
“You keeping tabs on my mom again, Kyle? I thought my dad talked to you about that.”
If Kyle wanted to rib him, Jason had no problem hitting back. A lot of guys got bent out of shape if someone said something about their mom, but Jason tended to shrug it off. His parents had been married for thirty years, so other than a blush if one of the guys started flirting, there was little chance his mom was going to dump his dad for a teammate.
“I’m sure one of these times his warnings will stick. So, obviously you aren’t rushing off to call your mom. Any hints on who you are calling?”
Kyle didn’t seem like he wanted to let up, which was different than their usual interactions. Jason didn’t blame him. If someone he was relatively close to revealed absolutely nothing about his private life, he’d eventually want to pry too.
“Maybe if I’m still on the phone by the time you get back to the room, I’ll let you know who I’m talking to.”
Jason didn’t wait for a response as he grabbed his wallet. Kyle was his roommate on road trips, so there was a chance he’d show up while he was still on the phone. It wasn’t very probable, though. The only number he had to call was a bar, and chances were good the owner of said bar didn’t like his employees slacking on the phone all night.
No one got in his way as he left the locker room, but there were some snickers from a few of the guys. Jason rolled his eyes and kept walking. The hotel they were staying at was three blocks away, so it would’ve taken longer to wait for a cab than walk.
Jason was still getting used to the mild winters in Nashville. Wearing a t-shirt in the middle of January felt weird, and he assumed southern California saw even warmer winters
. The air that hit him as soon as he got to the outside world was a testament to that. He didn’t have a thermometer handy, but he would’ve guessed it was around sixty.
While Jason walked, he concentrated on finding the number for The Blue Corral using his phone. The notion of calling the place and asking for Hope was borderline stalking in his mind. Chances were they’d see each other the next night, but Jason thought it’d be easier to talk outside the bar environment. That was why he’d given Hope his number in the first place.
He worried that her lack of calling meant he wouldn’t be welcome at the bar. As far as he knew, he hadn’t done anything to get on her bad side, but there had to be a reason why she hadn’t at least texted. Something letting him know she was going to be busy would’ve been fine.
He wasn’t sure how much he’d tell her about his life if they did talk. He just knew that he’d watched her with the other patrons and he trusted her with some of his troubles. She didn’t go around laughing at others’ misery and it didn’t seem like she shared everyone’s secrets. It’d taken him almost a year to decide on someone to talk to, and surprisingly it wasn’t one of his teammates or family members.
The smell of onions and beef cooking hit Jason’s nose, bringing his attention away from his phone as he tried to determine if tacos from a stand across the street from the hotel sounded like a decent dinner. He figured any room service would take a while to find its way up to him. Just thinking the thought caused his stomach to rumble, making his decision for him.
It was almost eleven, but since the city never slept, there were five other people already in line for food. The wait gave Jason a chance to look at the menu to see if he’d stick with his initial idea of getting five tacos or if he wanted to mix it up a little. There was a slight temptation to throw in some loaded nachos, but when he got to the front of the line, he stuck with the plan.
Taking his bag, he made quick work of crossing the street and navigating the lobby of the hotel. The bar was full, causing people to spill over to the various leather seating areas sprinkled around the lobby. Jason didn’t see a single person who didn’t have a glass of some sort in their hand. The numbers seemed pretty evenly split between the people who looked to be drinking for fun and those who were drowning their sorrows.
Jason ignored everyone, even the women he noticed trying to catch his attention. Not many people would admit it, but he was really tired of being noticed and propositioned. He hadn’t worn a wedding ring for months, not that it helped matters when he wore one.
After Jason made it to the elevator without being accosted, he let out a sigh of relief. The entire hotel must have been in the lobby, because Jason was alone in the glass elevator. While he waited to get up to the sixth floor, he punched in The Blue Corral’s number and hit send.
He didn’t expect Hope to answer, so he wasn’t disappointed when a male voice answered the phone. With how smoky the bar was most nights, Jason wasn’t surprised that there was a deep rasp in the guy’s voice.
“We’re getting ready to close. Call back tomorrow.”
“Can I talk to Hope?” Jason hurried to ask before the line went silent. He had a feeling the person on the other end wasn’t going to give him much opportunity to continue the conversation.
Rather than ask for any details, the guy yelled Hope’s name loudly before disappearing from the other end of the line. The lack of screening the call was a little unsettling. There was a chance Hope regularly had calls coming in, but Jason didn’t remember a time when she was called away from her duties.
It felt like a couple minutes flew by before anyone paid attention to the call. The bar closed at two on Saturdays, so last call should’ve gone out already and the ushering of people to the door had to be almost done. Jason usually didn’t stay until last call, but he’d figured out the routine the few times he had.
“Hello?”
Jason had just entered his room when he finally got to hear Hope’s voice. He smiled as he threw his food on a table and made his way over to the bed to sit down. There was a microwave in the room so he wasn’t too concerned about the tacos getting cold while he talked.
“I know I shouldn’t call you at work, but you didn’t give me your number and you’ve neglected to use the number I gave you last week.”
“Jason.”
Her response was short, and it didn’t seem like she had anything else to add to it. Jason let silence fill the air for a few moments just to make sure she wasn’t momentarily speechless.
“That would be me. Is there a reason you haven’t called to quiz me? I got the impression you wanted to the last time we talked.”
“I’ll call you back in fifteen minutes,” Hope said quickly, and then the muted sound of music playing in the background disappeared.
Jason looked down at his phone to verify it said the call had ended. He wasn’t sure whether to believe she’d call him back, but the wait did give him a chance to eat his tacos before they got too cold. Hope’s shortness didn’t give him warm feelings, which made scarfing down a handful of tacos a little dangerous if the nervousness he felt in his stomach decided to get bigger. He had to do something, though, or he’d go insane counting the minutes.
Chapter Four
Hope stared at her phone, halfway scared it would somehow ring on its own. She’d finished her duties at the bar and had walked the few blocks to get to her apartment. All of which had been done in a haze. Even standing in the safety of her living room, Hope hadn’t been able to snap out of the fog that filled her head when she heard Jason’s voice.
After getting his number, she had planned on waiting a few days, then proceeding to have a fun back and forth text match with the man of mystery. That idea dissipated on day two of his absence.
Beckoning customers usually kept Hope busy at work, and that night hadn’t been any different. She didn’t have time to check out what was on any of the ten televisions around the bar. Each night they were tuned to various sporting events, with a rare occurrence of someone turning on the news. Knowing what she did, it was surprising that the news was what caught one of the patron’s attention.
Jim sat at the bar most nights. His hazel eyes never really showed a lot of life, but that changed when he noticed one of his comrades making the highlight reel. As far as Hope knew, Jason and Jim had never spoken. One wouldn’t know that from the way Jim stood up and started yelling about his buddy on TV.
If it had been anyone else causing the raucous, Hope would’ve ignored it. Jim was seventy-five and his body had seen better days, so Hope had been worried she’d need to call an ambulance if she let it continue too long. When she saw what the fuss was about, her reaction was just a little different than Jim’s.
It felt like all of the oxygen had been cut off from her brain, and maybe even her whole body, because a tingling sensation started at her fingertips and worked its way everywhere. Hope didn’t know if it was just the fact that she saw Jason on the screen in front of her, or the fact that he was in the middle of a fight at center ice, that caused her body to shut down, but she knew she had never dreamed that Jason would show up on one of the televisions in the bar.
There had been nights after work that she’d sat up and wondered what he did for a living. He clearly had the physique to be an athlete. That was easy to see when he wore suits that molded to his body. There were tons of guys who rotated through the bar on a nightly basis that had nice bodies, though.
Hope hadn’t settled on any single occupation, but she focused on either a lawyer or a spy of some sort. There was something about him being a strong silent type that made her think he could be a chameleon if he wanted. Being a well-known hockey player dashed her little fantasies of him outsmarting bad guys and saving the world.
Still looking at her phone, Hope saw that she had less than a minute to call him back if she was going to be true to her word. She didn’t want to lie to him, because she was sure he’d eventually be back in town and show up at the bar. It was better if t
hey got over the awkwardness she was feeling when they were on opposite ends of the country, instead of three feet from each other, so Hope went ahead and hit send on the number she’d stored in her phone.
Butterflies in her stomach fluttered like crazy as she held her breath and waited for him to pick up. Until Jason, she hadn’t run into any celebrities at the bar, at least not that she knew of. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to act around them.
During the day, she worked at her family’s bakery, and one time she thought she recognized someone from a movie when his head was down and turned slightly away from her. Thankfully, it turned out to be someone else, but even the thought of having to speak to a movie star had caused her throat to close up and mild hyperventilating to begin.
“You called back.”
There was something about the genuine happiness that Hope heard in Jason’s voice that made her legs weaken. Thinking better of having the conversation while she was still standing, Hope made her way over to the green lumpy mass that took up one of the walls in her living room. Most people would call the article of furniture a couch, but Hope couldn’t bring herself to be that generous. She really needed to go shopping for a new one, but the green beast had been her grandmother’s and she couldn’t bring herself to get rid of it.
“Yeah.”
Hope wasn’t sure what to say, so she settled for a quick affirmative to his statement. She already felt like an idiot and the conversation hadn’t even started. Hopefully, Jason was tired after his game so he wouldn’t feel like talking very long.
After learning who he was, Hope had hit the internet to find out more about the man. Jason did everything he could to not be noticed, which didn’t mesh with what Hope thought of when the word athlete was uttered. She thought they were closer to the life of the party than quiet mouse in the corner.