Crashing Hard (Loving the Sound Book 2)

by Kat Obie

  Corey came up to them right away. He had a big grin on his face and Jenna handed the drinks to him. He then said to Aubrey, “Petey is by the counter over there.”

  As Aubrey headed over to the counter, he pulled Jenna close and whispered, “What’s going on, beautiful? You look like you want to kill someone.”

  “I kinda do. Sorry, babe. I wanted to put on a poker face.”

  “What happened?”

  “Aubrey accused me of being a puck bunny and actually said to my face that she was only with Petey, or Aaron as she calls him, for the money.”

  “I’m sorry, beautiful. I can’t believe she said that to you. I’ll talk to Petey about it one day. Just play nice with her for now.” He cupped her chin and pulled her in for a kiss.

  She felt better that Corey knew about everything, but she still felt like an asshole for letting her emotions be seen like that. “I can play nice with her. I promise.” She was ready to put on her plastic smile and customer service persona. She wouldn’t let Petey’s girlfriend undermine her. She then asked, “Do you need me to do anything?”

  “I think we’re almost ready for everything. So first will be a skills clinic, then we will let people take photos with me and the Cup. Petey will be doing autographs while I’m doing photos. Then we will team up. Then the two of us will switch. Are you still cool with helping out with the raffle?”

  “Sure thing, baby.”

  All of a sudden a boisterous voice shouted from the entryway, “Curry Powder, what’s up?”

  The two of them turned toward the hallway. Jenna immediately cracked up at the nickname for Corey. That was a new one. The guy who shouted it looked to be about Corey’s age. He was lean and in shape. From the stick he was carrying he would be the goalie today.

  “Hey! Lucas, it’s good to see you. Come over here and meet Jenna.” The guy came over to the two of them. “Jenna, this is one of my best buddies growing up. Lucas is now the goalie for BU.”

  “Don’t forget, prospect for the Titans. Who might you be?”

  Jenna had to laugh. He was so sure of himself but then again, he was trying to get into the NHL, cockiness seemed to go hand in hand. She knew Corey did a year at BU too so it wasn’t surprising that they would have a couple prospects on their team. “I’m Jenna. His girlfriend.”

  “No shit. How come I didn’t know about it?”

  “You live under a rock. Now come on, you get your gear on. We will be starting up soon. Yo, Petey, come on.” He gave her a quick kiss and said, “Chill out in the stands first. Invite Aubrey with you.”

  Jenna nodded. She walked over to the counter where Aubrey was with Petey. She made sure she had a smile on her face and said, “So Corey recommended that we move over to the stands. The kids should be coming soon.”

  “I’m fine here.”

  Jenna shrugged and was happy to let her do her own thing. So she headed out to the stands. She loved watching Corey play so it would be interesting to see him teaching others. It was also amazing how in a matter of fifteen minutes, the place was packed with kids and parents. He commanded everyone’s attention but he was so super happy and cheerful. She loved it and it was clear that both he and Petey were having fun. Lucas was a little bit separated since he was in the net the entire time. It was just a fan fest. She was even working the raffle the whole time that Petey and Corey were doing their photos and autographs.

  Corey

  The day at the rink was exactly what he was hoping for. The only thing he hated was how Jenna was bothered by Aubrey. He still wasn’t sure how to talk to Petey about it. He was concerned by what Jenna said about Aubrey thinking she should have the money. Jenna wouldn’t lie about it and he thought that Petey was getting strung along. But that would be a discussion for later, not tonight.

  They were driving home with the Cup for the backyard feast. This was strictly for friends and family. He was glad that Lucas was able to come up for the day. He hasn’t been keeping up with Lucas the way he should. But it was great him and his band had no problem providing the music for the backyard feast.

  “Tonight you will hear Lucas’s group from high school.”

  “Dude, why aren’t you up there singing?” asked Petey. “You were damn good at the wedding. I can’t believe you never sang at karaoke. You are a thousand times better than Lager is. You know he won’t let you skip out on singing now.”

  Corey shook his head. While he liked the praise, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to perform again. “’Cause I want to party. I don’t want the stress of performing. Can’t we pretend I didn’t sing at Scotty’s place?”

  “Oh, hell no!” Petey said with a laugh. “We aren’t going to forget that you can actually perform. Hell, if I didn’t think you would kill me, I would send your name in for the Masked Singer.”

  Jenna started to giggle. “You should enter him. He would be so good.”

  “Don’t you dare.”

  “Why the hell not? You could totally do it. Plus they probably wouldn’t be able to guess who you were.”

  Corey wanted to kill him. It was insane. There was no way he was ready to perform on a platform like that. “No. You won’t even see me sing for the Chicklet guys. Can’t we just listen to the Brass Monkey Asses and be happy?”

  That’s when the whole car just started to bust out laughing. Even Aubrey, who was so deadly silent the whole car ride, started laughing. It was refreshing to see her giggle and have some fun with them. It helped to break up the awkwardness about everything. He was glad that Jenna was true to her word and played very nice with Aubrey. He loved having the Stanley Cup sitting in his cup holder. Okay, it more only had an edge in the holder and sat in the middle of the console.

  He carried the Cup into his house with pride. He shouted when he came into the house, “Mom, Dad, come on over.”

  His parents came into the room. He held out the Cup with his team and his name etched on it for them to see. His dad asked, “How does it feel?”

  He smiled and said, “It’s almost better then sex.”

  “What, seriously? How close to sex are we talking? Do you need coaching?” asked his mom.

  “Mom! Seriously!”

  “Well, you just compared getting your name etched into a glorified trophy to being almost as good as sex. If your sex life is so good, you wouldn’t be comparing the two.”

  Jenna hugged and swung her arms around his waist and said, “Oh, he’s doing good in bed. He’s really good. I bet it’s more seeing his lifelong dream coming true.”

  He was glad that Jenna was on the same page. “Mom, there is nothing wrong with my sex life. It’s wonderful. Can you blame me? I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a kid. Now I need to get another one.”

  The front door opened and Lucas said, “Hey, guys. I brought the band. Where do you want us to set up?”

  “Backyard. Do you still remember the way?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Lucas stopped and gave his mom the best hug he could with a guitar case and an amp in his hands. “Hey, Mrs. C. It’s good to see you again.”

  “It’s good to see you too. Go get that stuff set up, we need to catch up. Although are you playing the field or have you finally settled down with a steady girlfriend?” his mom said as he started to send them on their way through the hallway.

  “Still playing the field, you know me.”

  “That’s not right. I was expecting more from you,” she said with mock disapproval.

  Of course, Lucas had to ask, “Why’s that Mrs. C?”

  “Even Cor got a girlfriend. You and Jenna have been dating since what, late January?”

  Corey and Jenna exchanged a brief look, almost to ask each other what they were going to consider the first date. Was it when they hung out in Philly or when she finally said they were dating? Then he realized that was the official dating period. His mom just knew how he was pining for a girl. “February, Mom. We met in January.”

  Petey shot him a look. He wasn’t going to tell his mom how h
e hit Jenna the previous spring. That would get him into so much shit. Thankfully, Petey didn’t say anything even though he clearly didn’t like the omission. But that’s why he was the best of friends. “Wow, I wouldn’t have thought that Curry Powder was seriously dating one person for that long. Don’t tell me you aren’t drinking anymore.”

  “Never. I just cut back in season.”

  “Dude, we have drums to set up. Move out the way,” shouted Shane. “Sorry, Mrs. C!”

  “Mom, don’t you think you need to fill the cup with your mac and cheese?”

  “No. We still have time and I won’t have you be eating it all before your Aunt Cindy’s family and Grandma gets here.”

  “What about Uncle Stanley and his brood?”

  “Coming later. Brock has a soccer game.” He loved Uncle Stanley and still couldn’t believe that he had four kids now and they all played soccer. Uncle Stan was practically a big brother growing up and they even used to play on some of the same hockey teams for a while. But then again, that was how good he and Lucas were. The only ten-year-olds in a group of teenagers on Uncle Stan’s team and more talented than them. “Good. I can’t wait to see him.”

  “Go get cleaned up.” He nodded and ran up the stairs. Jenna followed suit. He was glad that they could get some alone time. He needed to check in on her to see how she was truly doing rather than the pretend stuff he saw early on.

  When he got up to the bedroom, he shut the door and locked it. “Hey, how are you holding up, beautiful?”

  “I’m fine,” she said.

  While he may be new to the whole relationship thing, he knew that when a woman used that phrase, that they were anything but fine. So he got close to her and asked, “Are you sure, beautiful?”

  “I’m totally cool. I promise. While I will never be a fan of Aubrey, it felt good to tell her how much of an idiot she was when she tried to claim that she wasn’t invited to Alice and Scotty’s wedding.”

  “How the hell did that come up?”

  “She was pissed that I was at the wedding and apparently had no clue that I’ve known Alice since university. I can’t believe she tried to tell me that I’m a puck bunny and was just scheming to get with a guy. I just feel bad for Petey. She’s a bitch.”

  “I feel bad too. You don’t even hear some of the shit she pulls on Petey. I just wish they would stay off again. But I will say one thing, she makes me realize that I am so damn lucky to have you. You defend me, you aren’t an easy lay by any stretch in the world and you are amazing. Super amazing. I have to say I’m so damn lucky to have you. You know that, right?”

  “I do. I’m so glad that we can celebrate this together. Today has been great. It was cool to see how much fun you and Petey were having, you seemed to be great coaches. You guys totally feed off each other.” Then she smirked and said, “Okay, I need you to ask you, why does Lucas like to call you Curry Powder?”

  Corey had to really laugh. But he didn’t want to give it to her right away. She needed to work for it, just like how he had to work for their relationship. “Take a guess.”

  “I know part of it comes from your last name. But I don’t think it’s just that.”

  “So you know how sometimes curries can be hot and spicy?”

  “Oh, right.” He could see it click on her face. It was pretty funny to see that happen. “You go on hot streaks with scoring and you guys call it getting spicy with your hands. It’s kind of perfect, but what made him think of that in the first place?”

  He had to smile. “Let’s just say someone spiked his food a couple times with some superhot curry powder.”

  “You didn’t!”

  “I totally did. Come to think about it, I’m probably due for a prank. So be careful tonight. Don’t set your glass down around him at any point.”

  “I know, babe. We should get down to the party.”

  He started to kiss her passionately. He knew he was the one being a tease and he was going to hate himself for the boner. He wanted to make sure she knew how much he appreciated and loved her. He respected the hell out of her too much and wasn’t going to make her uncomfortable by having sexy time in his parents’ house.

  18

  Corey

  The summer was flying by but he loved their new normal. He hated the idea that he would be heading back to Cleveland to train with his own teammates. He still had to sort out his contract situation and what would happen with his relationship with Jenna. It was starting to stress him out. He didn’t want to hold out but the Sound weren’t quite giving him the terms he wanted and being a restricted free agent just sucked.

  On his way home from the CrossFit gym, he got a call from his agent. “Yo, what’s the news?” Corey knew that his agent, Matty Sloan, wouldn’t be calling without an update, so hopefully it was a good one since all summer long it was basically just bad news.

  “Apparently you might have an offer sheet.”

  “Wait, what? Which team?” While his stats had been on the steady rise, he wasn’t the best rookie out there. They didn’t think he had the wow factor that would lead to an offer sheet.

  “Philly. Apparently you have been impressing the coaches around there and they asked if you might be interested in it. Should I pursue it?”

  “Yeah. Go ahead.”

  He was shocked. That could solve his problem of having to move out of Jenna’s place and be separated from her. As he walked into the little row home, he took off his sweaty shirt and threw it in the chair, then headed up the stairs to the shower. His head was spinning. It was a quick shower and then he got changed into a formfitting T-shirt that showed off his muscles and simple pair of jeans.

  He cracked open a crawler from the fridge. He needed the thirty-two ounces of the IPA just to relax so he wasn’t a ball of stress when Jenna got home for the day. Knowing that she wouldn’t be home for a bit, he needed to talk things through with Scotty. He was one of the few vets he trusted who could offer clarity. While he liked training in Philly, it wasn’t the same as the Sound. He missed hanging out with his brothers. Not to mention, the Sound were winners and stood a huge chance at winning back-to-back Stanley Cups. Quite frankly, Philly didn’t have that. But he wouldn’t have to go back to a long-distance relationship with Jenna if he stayed in Philly.

  He dialed Scotty’s mobile. Scotty picked up his phone after a few moments. “Hey, what’s up? Are you back in Cleveland?”

  “Not yet. I’ll be back in town next Thursday. Do you have time to chat?”

  He heard Scotty move away, probably to create some privacy from Alice. “Yeah. What’s going on?”

  “Um…so I got off the phone with my agent.”

  “Did you finally sign and are going to come to camp on time?”

  “Nope. Instead there’s something else on the plate and it has me torn. I know it’s probably too early to say anything but there is a potential offer sheet on.”

  “That’s great, man. Do you know any details?”

  “Not yet. Sloan said it was an initial approach by Philly. Apparently I have impressed people around here.”

  There was a low whistle. Scotty knew more so than anyone else that Philly was the one team that would be appealing to Corey. Hell, it was the one team that Scotty would consider going to—well, them and Nashville. “That’s great. So what do you want to happen?”

  “No idea. I love the Sound. You guys are my brothers and it’s been great. But…”

  Scotty jumped in and stated the obvious, “Jenna’s there and it won’t make dating as complicated.”

  “Exactly. I loved spending the summer here with her. I hate to say it, but I delayed my return to Cleveland since I don’t want to go back to long-distance dating until absolutely necessary.”

  “Well, I can’t tell you what to do and what to want. But I will remind you of two things. The Sound isn’t likely to let you go on an offer sheet. They have too much to give up for that to happen. So the conversation is likely to be dead in the water. The fact there i
s an offer sheet even in the talks will help your contract situation. Get the money, man. So what are you going to do about your relationship with Jenna?”

  “We will go back to long distance. I just hate that it will go back to lots of phone sex with only occasional visit from her.”

  “Dumb question, have you even thought about asking her to move in with you?”

  “Not really.” It seemed like the obvious solution but he knew that she liked her job and home so he didn’t just want to have the expectation that she would move.

  “Why not? Aren’t things going well with her?”

  “Yeah. They are great.”

  “So what’s keeping you from asking her?”

  “I just never even thought about it. I mean seriously. She has everything here. A place to live and a job.”

  “But she works in IT. Couldn’t she work remotely from your house?”

  “Probably. I never thought about it.”

  “What’s the worst that could happen?”

  “She says no.” He realized that he wasn’t afraid of getting shut down. Their relationship was so stable that it wouldn’t end up with a breakup. It would be the same thing as last season.

  “Exactly. You go back to the status quo. There’s no harm in asking her.”

  “True. Very true. You’re right, I should ask her. How did you get so smart?”

  “’Cause I did it first. I hated the idea of going back to the status quo and having to leave her place every night or have her leaving mine. So I asked her to move in. Could always bribe her with a puppy. It worked like a charm with Al.”

  He laughed. While he wasn’t opposed to having a puppy in the future, it would be ridiculous to lure Jenna out to Cleveland with one. Jenna had always been shyer about commitment and wasn’t as likely to just jump into moving in with him. He loved Jenna with all the world, but getting her to come out on a part-time basis seemed more likely. “Yeah, I don’t think she’s going to just dive in and go for a puppy like Al. But you’re right, I should ask her when I talk to her about the offer sheet.”