Picks & Pucks (11 page)

“You said that twice.”

“I may need to say it a few more times before it seems real.”

“You okay?” His voice sounded shaky.

“Eli, I’m fine with whatever makes you happy. I’m here for you however you need me to be. Well, except naked. I really don’t think I could sleep with you.”

“Oh, that’s okay. You’re really not my type,” Eli said. I didn’t know if I should be offended or relieved.

“I always thought your type had boobs and other girl parts.” I snickered.

“I think I like all parts. I’m an equal opportunity sort of guy.”

“I can live with that,” I said, smiling at him. Noise on the ice drew my attention away from Eli and immediately I found number seventeen.

“You’re staring again,” Eli said. He poked me with a banana. “Eat your fruit or I’ll tell your sister you’re looking at hockey boys.”

He peeled the banana for me, and I leaned back in my seat, pretending to deep throat the thing when he put it in my mouth. Eli laughed and nudged me with his elbow.

“You might have to give me some pointers,” he said. “The first time I tried that, I coughed my head off. Definitely a mood killer.”

I stared at him with the banana still in my mouth. D-man skated by and banged on the glass, almost making me choke on the fucking banana. He shed his glove and flipped me off. I wasn’t sure if I choked because of Danny or Eli’s comment about blowjobs.

“He’s jealous of that fucking banana,” Eli said.

“Of course he is,” I muttered.

“Someday, you are going to have to give me some details on that whole thing. I mean, he may be an asshole, but he is hot. Does he have a big—”

“Eli!” I shouted.

“Sorry,” he said. “Hey, how do you choose who gets fucked when you date a guy?”

“Oh for chrissakes, I’m not having this conversation with you right now.”

He frowned. “But I need to know. I don’t want Taylor to think I’m not up on the gay lingo and stuff.”

“Are you serious about this, or are you fucking with me? Do you even know if the guy is gay?”

Eli didn’t have a chance to answer. “Hello, boys,” Janae said. She sat down and plucked the banana out of my hand and quickly shoved the last part into her mouth.

“Gross,” I said.

“Hi, Janae,” Eli said. He immediately fluffed his spiky black hair and licked his lips.

“Give it up, little man,” Janae said.

Eli huffed and folded his arms over his chest, pretending to pout. They used to do this all the time. I think Eli was just doing it now because he knew it drove me nuts.

“I thought you were jumping the fence,” I said.

“Why is there a fence?” Eli asked.

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Janae asked. “Wait. Forget I even asked.”

“Eli wants to try cock,” I said.

“Oh, that.” She shrugged.

“You know?”

She glanced at Eli.

“She knows,” Eli said. “Let’s change the subject. I’m tired of talking about the interests of my dick.”

Janae rolled her eyes. “So how’s the team look this year?”

“Justin’s been eyeing number seventeen,” Eli said.

I punched him in the leg before he could move away. “I have not.”

“If I have a bruise,” Eli threatened. He made a fist and smacked it against his open palm. I snorted.

“Okay children, knock it off,” Janae said. “You”—she pointed at Eli—“go to class. And you,” she said, turning toward me, “stop looking at hockey boys. You’ve had enough problems with them.”

I stuffed the rest of my salad in my mouth and ignored both of them. So, I’d looked at one hockey guy. It wasn’t going to be the end of the world. Everyone was allowed to look. It didn’t mean I liked the guy or was going to go to bed with him. I didn’t even know him, and that was how it was going to stay.

Eli stood up and patted my head. “It’s been real, but like the lady said, I have class. Catch you later, Justin, and quit looking at the boys.”

I flipped him off, and he laughed all the way out of the arena.

“Why am I friends with him?” I asked out loud.

“I’m glad he told you,” Janae said.

“He didn’t give me much, but I’ll get more out of him later.” I wanted to ask her some questions, but I knew she wouldn’t say anything. It was Eli’s place to tell me what he wanted me to know.

She tugged on my sleeve. “Let’s go. I have video of your programs ready to go, and then we’ll hit the ice.”

“Okay.”

We gathered up the trash from lunch. On my way up the stairs, I glanced back at the ice and locked eyes with number seventeen. The heat of a blush roared up my neck. I lowered my head, raced back down the stairs, and jumped over the boards to the tunnel. I ran down the corridor to change into my skates, pretending number seventeen didn’t exist. Distractions were not on my workout list.

Janae was already on the Olympic ice sheet, leaning against the boards and impatiently tapping her clipboard.

“Finally,” Janae said. I sneered at her and sat down while she queued up the video on her computer. We spent the next thirty minutes discussing my programs. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I wasn’t satisfied with either of the programs. I’d worked hard on them over the summer, but something was missing. Nothing was special about either program, and I didn’t have answers on how to change them to make them better. With a little more time and some tweaking, I would probably learn to love them. At least that’s what I told myself every time the music started.

“Let’s see what you’ve got this afternoon,” she said. She gave me fifteen minutes to warm up. The jumps felt solid, better than they had since the debacle with Danny. I sighed in relief when I hit the triple axel, because if I landed my jumps, Marina wouldn’t ask a million questions about the state of my psyche. I had no desire to discuss my love life with my coach.

When I hit a quad toe, triple toe combination, Janae punched the air and almost fell down.

“God damn, Justin, where the hell did all that come from?”

“I have no idea, but it felt good.”

“Good? It looked fucking great!” she squealed. “Let’s do a few run-throughs, but replace the quads with triples. Remind me to give Eli a kiss or a boy, whatever he wants. Talking to him seemed to draw you out of your funk.”

“You better be careful,” I said. “He might want both.”

I laughed and skated to the center of the ice, posed, and waited for the music to start. Those fucking quads drove me crazy. Some days, like today, they felt easy to crank out. But most days, no matter how hard I tried, they weren’t there. I didn’t think humans were created to elevate, spin four times in the air, and land on the ice on one thin blade of steel.

We hadn’t decided if we needed the quad triple combination in the short to win the national title. My component scores were usually pretty high, but if I took the trip to the Olympics, we would definitely need the combination in the short and at least two quads in the long program. My head hurt thinking about all this shit.

The music ended at the same time I completed the spin. The program was lovely and very mechanical. The best word I could find to describe it would be boring.

“What’s wrong?” Janae asked. She handed me a bottle of water.

“Nothing. I keep thinking about the quad toe combination.”

“You know Marina won’t decide until closer to nationals. If you were skating today, I’d definitely tell you to include the quads. We still have time to make you comfortable with the damn things.” She gave me an encouraging smile.

I nodded, and practice continued with more run-throughs and several more discussions about the quad. We changed a few connective steps leading into one of the jumps in the long program to increase the point value. Janae was thrilled, but I was still unsettled.

“Marina is going to love it,” she said, jotting down some notes on her phone. “I’ve got to cut out a little early. Are you coming home for dinner? Since Danny moved out and practice officially started, Dad is going to stop over.”

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” I said.

“So, is Eli really working with some of your skaters?”

“Yes, he’s great with the music. He comes to practice and watches the skater. The next practice, he’s back with music in hand, and it’s usually a big hit with the skater and me.”

“I wonder what music he would pick for me?”

“Maybe you should ask him.” She smiled brightly and took her skates off. The minute she left, I changed the music and did some free skating. It was relaxing to let the music dictate my movements and jumps. I spent some time working on my stroking and deep edges. The time got away from me, and when I finally stepped off the ice, I realized it was going to be impossible to eat a leisurely dinner and get the rest I needed before I was scheduled to return to the ice.

I made an executive decision and decided to run home instead of doing five miles on the treadmill. My body protested when I stepped outside and the wind slapped me in the face. The calendar said it was the beginning of October, but I could feel the chill of winter in the air.

I shivered. Even though I was a winter sports athlete, I despised the cold. Once snow showed up, it seemed to steal all the warmth from my body, unless I was in a steamy shower or snuggled in bed with someone. Since I was currently a free agent, there probably wouldn’t be a lot of warmth in my bed.

The demons snickered, but I brushed them away. I didn’t need any more thoughts of Danny invading my mind. That love affair was over.

The house came into view, and I rejoiced, sprinted the final block, and raced up the steps to get inside. I dug my key out of the secret pocket on the waistband of my sweatpants, unlocked the door, and stepped inside, where I promptly fell over three large suitcases.

“What the ever-loving fuck,” I shouted at the empty house as I stared up at the ceiling of the entryway. The tile floor chilled my bones and I rolled over, pushing myself back to my feet. I resisted the urge to kick the suitcases for tripping me. I settled on a stern look and went upstairs.

Danny had taken all his stuff, and those weren’t the same bags he had carried out of the house. Eli would have told me if he was moving in with us. Janae was currently single, so it wasn’t a boyfriend. The only other person I could think of was Jack. Janae was going to owe me big time for not telling me Jack was back in town. He was supposed to be on the other side of the world, playing hockey, but if this was his stuff, it meant something bad had happened, and he was going to be in one hell of a shitty mood. I didn’t know if I was up for his drama. He’d creep around the house, muttering what a stupid jerk I was for quitting hockey. He’d also say things about my sexuality just to get a rise out of me. I didn’t have time to fight with him.

“Shit, I get rid of one demon and another shows up.”

I took a quick shower before I climbed into bed. The minute I settled down, my eyes fell shut, and I dreamt about dark eyes and bad-boy hockey players. Unfortunately, a loud ringing in my ear and a stupid hard dick that ached for attention interrupted my rest.

“Yeah?” I grumbled into the phone. It took me several minutes of shouting hello before I figured out Janae had sent me a text message, telling me to get up and come down for dinner.

“Hello, darling,” Eli said as he strolled into my room wearing some strange sweater that looked threadbare.

“Quit calling me ‘darling.’ It’s weird. And what are you doing here?”

“Janae called and said she made a feast fit for a king, and since I am the king, I came.”

“The king of what?”

“Take your pick. Now let’s go eat,” Eli said, swatting my ass and fluttering his eyelashes.

“This whole trying to be a diva has got to end.”

“See,” he whined. “I just don’t know what the boys like. I need your expertise in the field.”

“I’m about the last one you should ask about attracting anyone. Do you see anyone by my side?” I asked. “Janae would tell you to just be yourself,” I said as we made our way down the stairs.

Eli jumped down the final three steps. “I can’t even talk to Taylor. He makes me sweat and funny noises come out of my mouth when I try to speak.”

“Do you even know if he’s into guys?” I’d asked the question once, but I’d never gotten an answer.

“Haven’t figured that out yet, but I overheard him telling some girl he was going out to Bucks on Friday, so you and I are going to spy on him.”

“Bucks? You never told me we were going there,” I said. Bucks wasn’t even the name of the bar—it was what the students called the special on Friday night. You could get a pitcher of cheap beer for $2.50. Years ago, the pitchers had actually been a buck. The name stayed even though the price increased.

“You never asked,” Eli said and stuck his tongue out at me. The piercing in his tongue clicked against his teeth. I had this weird thought about what it would feel like to have someone go down on me with a post in their tongue. I shuddered and shooed that thought out of my head. The demons roared with laughter and taunted me with sexual images of Eli and his fucking tongue post.

“Christ,” I mumbled and sat down at the table.

Janae cleared her throat. “Do I have to remind you that you are underage and it probably wouldn’t be a wise decision to go to a bar?”

I filled my plate and ignored her. “Where’s Dad?” I asked.

“Couldn’t make it. I’m dropping off food at the arena when we head over there.” Janae filled her plate with chicken tetrazzini. “So,” she said, “tell me about Taylor.”

Between giant bites of food, Eli told us about his dream guy. I learned Taylor was tall and quite cut, but not a muscle guy, because Eli didn’t think he could handle someone with arms bigger than his thighs. I rolled my eyes and told him that limited his choices, since his legs looked like twigs. He ignored me and launched into a vivid description of Taylor’s brown hair, which apparently had blond streaks from the sun, sort of like mine, but more styled.

“Thanks,” I said, running a hand through my hair.

It took him a full five minutes to describe Taylor’s beautiful hazel eyes. The way it sounded, he had counted Taylor’s fucking eyelashes.

“I thought his eyes were brown?”

“No, that was the guy at the bar. Taylor is in my English class.”