Picks & Pucks (14 page)

“Well, I….” I sighed and shook his hand. What the hell kind of excuse could I use to tell him no? “I don’t like hockey players” wasn’t going to wash, because he would immediately ask for some sort of explanation.

“Is it okay if I take a quick shower?” CJ asked.

“Fine.”

He raced up the stairs three at a time. The demons barely had time to get organized before he came back with wet hair and dressed in pajama pants, a tight T-shirt, and once again no underwear. The demons pointed and giggled, making sure I focused on his crotch. I buried my face in my hands and called myself an idiot several times.

“I’m just going to grab something to eat. Do you need anything?”

“No,” I said. “I’m good.”

When he came back into the room, his arms were loaded with three bottles of water, some cookies, and a large bowl of buttered popcorn.

With several open chairs and a loveseat in the room, CJ decided to sit right next to me. Not on the opposite end of the couch, but
right next to me
. His knee brushed against mine, sending the butterflies in my stomach into a major freak-out.

We watched the movie in silence, which was hard, since I had a stomach full of fluttering bugs. Every so often I snuck a peek at him and watched him eat his popcorn. His lips glistened with butter, and I wanted to lick it off. I tried to reason with the demons, telling them it was because my popcorn was dry and boring. But inside, a tiny demon told me I wanted to kiss the guy; the butter had nothing to do with it.

My mind dropped into the gutter when I remembered a story I had read where the main characters didn’t have any sort of lubricant. They used butter. I wondered if that was even possible. Not that I wanted to try it, because really, I didn’t want butter in my ass. Although, if CJ….

“No,” I mumbled, “definitely no butter.”

“Did you say something?” CJ asked.

“Um, nope. Just watching the blood fly across the TV screen. It’s kind of gross.”

“Are you coming to the game this weekend?”

“I normally don’t go to hockey games.”

“You should come. I could get you a ticket.”

“I’m pretty sure I can get in for free, CJ. My dad is the coach.”

“I know, but I don’t have anyone to give my tickets to. I thought you could sit in for my family. Bring your girlfriend.”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Bring Eli or Janae.” He frowned and stared at the TV. “You know what. Never mind.”

His dark hair fell over his eyes, making me want to tuck the loose strands behind his ears. The demons moved closer, teasing me by caressing CJ as they flew around him. He shuddered.

“Fine, I’ll go.”

The demons stopped and floated away from him.

He smiled, and I may have melted like the butter coating his lips.

“So, you weren’t kidding about changing your long program?”

“No—it’s totally insane, but there’s something about this music that strikes a chord with me. And most people have to practice and practice to get a program down in their heads, but for some reason, I can remember entire programs with only a few run-throughs. My coach thinks I’m a robot. She’ll probably have a stroke or kill all of us. We’re changing the short program as well. Eli already has the music.”

“For the long program, you should wear black pants and a black button-down shirt with a tartan sash around your waist. You could have a couple of blue slashes cut into the fabric of the shirt to represent the war paint they wore on their faces. You could even tuck a scrap of fabric into your pocket like the one Wallace carried throughout the entire movie.”

“That’s brilliant.”

“I know.” He grinned at me and bumped my leg with his knee.

“Cocky bastard,” I mumbled, but I couldn’t hide the smile that spread across my face. I also couldn’t ignore the heat racing up my leg. CJ hadn’t moved away from me. If anything, he’d moved closer. My imagination kicked into high gear and wondered what it would feel like to have him sit on my lap.

“Shhh,” he said. “This is my favorite part.”

I looked up and watched as the future queen met William Wallace. He asked her why she was helping him. I watched CJ mouth the words
.

“Because of the way you’re looking at me now.”

CJ sighed, and I almost fell off the couch. “You’re a romantic sap.”

“So what if I am?”

“You’re a hockey player. Pretty sure it’s in your contract that you are not allowed to have feelings.”

“Oh God, Justin. Everyone doesn’t fit into a neat little box.”

“Hockey players do. You’re all cut from the same mold.”

“From what I hear, you’re one hell of a hockey player.”

“But I got out before the masses could change me into something I’m not.”

“You have a very narrow mind if that’s the way you think.”

I sputtered and stared at him. I wasn’t narrow-minded, just practical in my assessment of fucking hockey players. “I do not have a narrow mind.”

“Then don’t hang labels on me without first getting to know me. I may surprise you.”

“How come you switched schools?” I blurted out.

He shook his head. “I can’t talk about that right now.”

“That’s convenient,” I said.

I regretted the words the moment they came out of my mouth. CJ hung his head and stood up, gathering his empty water bottles and half-eaten bowl of popcorn. “I’m tired,” he said.

On the TV screen, William Wallace was being gutted. I could relate to how he felt. I tried to think of something to say to CJ, but words failed me.

N
IGHTMARES
OCCUPIED
my evening, so I wasn’t exactly rested when morning broke. I arrived twenty minutes late getting to the arena. Janae was skating, working through some spin for the program. The music blared, filling the arena, and I stepped on the ice and glided over to her.

“You’re late,” she said.

“Bad night. The demons wouldn’t let go.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really. I managed to piss off CJ.”

She shook her head.

“I’m not very good at making new friends. I always think the worst of everyone. And he’s a fucking hockey player. Nothing good ever happens when I’m around a hockey player.”

“Maybe you should tell him that.”

“I’m not discussing my history with hockey players. What do you know about him?”

“Not a lot, but Dad told me he’s had a tough year.”

“Haven’t we all,” I said. “I can’t deal with him right now. Let’s skate.”

“Eli and I got a ton of shit done last night.”

“I know what I want to wear.”

“Wear?”

“Yeah, for the long program. I want black pants, a black button-down shirt with blue slashes on the chest, and a tartan sash around my waist.”

“That sounds perfect.”

“Believe it or not, it was CJ’s idea.”

“I’ll put the call in to Tanja and have her get started.”

“You’re positive this is the right thing to do? I mean, we haven’t even told Marina. She could shoot us all down.”

“She won’t. It’s all falling into place, like it was meant to be,” she said.

“I’m telling her this was all your idea when she freaks.”

“Whatever,” she said. “Let’s get started so we have something to show Marina.”

We spent two hours setting up the entire program. By the end of my morning session, we had a pretty good idea of what we both wanted. Eli showed up near the end of practice with several cool ideas for choreography that kept us on the ice for an extra hour.

Janae finally sent me home for lunch. When I opened the front door, CJ almost bowled me over on his way out. His face was red, and I saw some demons chasing after him as he ran down the road.

Everyone around me seemed to have their own demons. I needed to apologize for being a dick to him.

After lunch, I searched for CJ but couldn’t find him. In between workouts and practice, I chased after him, only to have him walk away or ignore me. When he didn’t show up for dinner, and called Janae to tell her something came up, my desperation to apologize made me take drastic measures. I grumbled about stupid hockey players and decided to plant my butt in front of his bedroom door. No way would he be able to sneak by me.

Two hours later, my ass ached and my eyelids refused to stay open. The dream hit before I knew I was asleep. Thankfully, the nightmare didn’t last long, because someone was shaking me. Before I knew it, I was clinging to him and burying my face in his chest.

“Justin, wake up. You’re dreaming,” the voice said. Slowly, I calmed down, feeling better from the strong arms holding me tight. “You’re okay. I’ve got you.”

Oh shit.
I recognized the voice.

“I’m sorry,” I gasped and pushed away from him. “I thought you were….” I panicked and couldn’t think of anyone.

“It’s okay,” CJ said. “What were you doing sleeping against my door?”

I rubbed my eyes and leaned against the wall, taking a couple of deep breaths as the stupid demons whispered about the strength of CJ’s arms.

“Waiting for you. I wanted to apologize for my big mouth. Your personal life is none of my business.”

He sat down next to me and patted my knee. “I think we’re both under a lot of pressure, so apology accepted.”

I nodded and let my head fall back against the wall, closing my eyes.

“You should go to bed,” he said. “I’m sure you have early practice, and I have a game tomorrow.”

“I’ll be there,” I mumbled.

“Where?”

“At the game.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” I opened my eyes, and CJ was staring at me, making my stomach twist uncomfortably. The demons formed a conga line and danced up and down the hallway. I tried to kick at them, but they skipped over me and made kissing noises. I jumped to my feet. “Thanks for the tickets,” I said hurriedly. “Good night.”

“If you have any more nightmares, just shout and I’ll be there.”

My eyes widened and I pursed my lips, slowly backing into my room until my knees hit my bed and I collapsed backward. He was just being nice. I probably freaked the shit out of him by frothing at the mouth while I was asleep. I curled up under the covers and put it out of my mind. Being friends with a hockey player was weird enough. I was not going to do anything to test the boundaries.

P
RACTICE
HELPED
me forget about last night and the weird feelings bubbling in my stomach from CJ. Janae and I argued a lot about the steps leading into spins and other silly things for the long program. The fact that we only had a few days until Marina showed up was driving us crazy. Plus Janae wouldn’t be around tomorrow. Several of her students were competing this weekend, and she had to be there to support them. She wouldn’t be back until late Sunday night, which left me to fend for myself both at practice and at home.

Janae finally decided that Eli was taking her place. He would be at my practices on Sunday.

“Fine.” I snorted and left the ice to get changed. Eli showed up a few minutes later, telling me he had been appointed my coach and tonight we were going to get drunk. I had to rain on his parade.

“We’re what?” Eli roared.

“Going to the hockey game.”

“But you said….”

“Look, I can’t take the chance of getting busted using a fake ID in some college bar. I promise, after the game, we’ll go home and get drunk. I’ll tell you anything you want to know about whoever.”

An evil glint shone in his eyes, and I was pretty sure I was going to have to share some of my dirty bedroom secrets, and possibly the size of Danny’s dick.

“I want a show of good faith,” he said.

“What does that mean?”

“Let me ask a question right now.”

I closed my eyes and waited.

“Are you a top or bottom?” he asked.

Giving him a straight answer was the only way to move this conversation forward. “Mainly a bottom, but I have topped.”

“Did you top Danny?”

“That’s two questions.”

“You’re making me go to a hockey game.”

“Yes.”

“Yes, you topped him or yes, we’re going to a hockey game?”

“Both.”

He smirked and swallowed a giggle. “We’re actually going to the game tonight?”

I nodded.

“And in exchange, I can ask you more questions. No limits.”

“No limits.”

This is so weird,” Eli said. “You haven’t wanted to go to a game since… well, ever.”

“I know, but CJ asked me, and you should have seen his face. I couldn’t say no. We’re sitting in as his family.”

“He does have a nice face and a lot of other nice things.” Eli got a blank look, and I had to pinch him to get him to quit thinking about CJ.

“Hey,” he said, rubbing his arm. “You do not have exclusive rights to look at hot guys.”

“I think I need to meet Taylor.”

He grunted. “We were supposed to accidentally meet up with him tonight, but you are obsessed with hockey boys again.”

“I am not.”

“Well, then, since you want to meet him, you have to come to my English class. I have a presentation next week on public speaking.”

“What does that have to do with me or Taylor?”