Picks & Pucks (21 page)

“Yeah,” Eli said with a mouthful of waffle. “These are so good.”

CJ held out a plate with a fluffy waffle and a couple strips of bacon, along with a bowl of berries. Our fingers brushed when he handed me the food. The butterflies woke up and flew in circles.

“You did this?” I whispered. “For me?”

“I did,” he said, grinning. His dark hair fell over his eyes, so I reached forward to sweep the offending locks away. His stare was so intense I almost pushed his hair back over his eyes.

“Thanks,” I said and lowered my head as the blush heated my face. I sat down and concentrated on eating breakfast and not thinking about the incredibly sweet thing CJ had just done for me.

The breakfast was great, but it ended much too soon with Marina pointing at her watch, telling me to get my bags together. I trudged upstairs and quickly finished packing. I stared at my bed and thought about what had happened last night. Since CJ wouldn’t be leaving for another night, I jotted a short note and put it on his pillow. I hoped he would sleep in here tonight.

I sighed and turned around, running into CJ.

“Is that note for me?”

“Yeah, for tonight. Don’t read it until then,” I said. He placed his finger under my chin and kissed me.

“CJ, they’re going to know about us,” I protested, pushing him away.

“Is that so wrong?”

“I don’t know?” I admitted.

“Whatever happened in your past must have been pretty awful,” he said.

I shrugged and placed my arms around his waist, squeezing. “I’m going to miss you.”

“Kick some ass this weekend,” he said.

“You too,” I answered. “I have to go.”

CJ sat on the bed, took off his T-shirt, and tossed it at me.

“For luck and sleeping.”

I shoved it into my bag and went downstairs. Eli and Taylor hugged me until I thought my lungs were going to shoot out my mouth.

“Call, text, FaceTime, anything, Justin,” Eli said.

“I’ll see you in a few days,” I said. “You better get my short program in order. I want every step in place.”

“Got it,” he said and handed me an envelope. “Open it in your room.”

I stuffed it into my suitcase.

My dad was the last to say good-bye. He wished me luck and pulled me into a tight hug. “I am so proud of you.”

“Thanks, Dad,” I said. “Good luck with the team this weekend.”

“Take care of my kids, Marina,” he said.

“We better go,” Marina said and hustled us out the door.

Unlike my last plane ride, this one was uneventful. No demons rode on the wings, trying to strangle the life out of me. I had only Marina and Janae, who sat close together, staring at a computer screen, trying to figure out ways to increase the point value of my programs. Marina was always striving for perfection, and now Janae was getting sucked into the search for the unachievable. Eli was probably sitting at home doing the same thing. My team was going to drive me crazy.

Marina had arranged for us to be picked up at the airport and whisked to the hotel with little fanfare. A few skating fans hung about the airport, but we quietly slipped away. They were probably here to see Brian Fonta anyway. After all, he was the current national champion and world bronze medalist.

“We have practice ice at seven tonight,” Marina said. “You head up to your room and relax.”

“Good idea,” I said. I was in the elevator before Marina could change her mind.

The room was an average hotel room. It contained the standard television, chair, desk, bathroom, a telephone hooked to the wall, and one giant bed that looked like it could hold at least three full-grown people. Only tonight, I would be sleeping alone.

I flopped on the bed and thought about the days and nights ahead of me. I had almost completely relaxed when Janae banged on my door, shouting about a change in plans. I needed to get dressed and be downstairs in fifteen minutes for several interviews.

“Are you serious?”

She barged into my room. “Marina said get changed or she’ll drag you downstairs in your cute undies,” she said. “Her exact words.”

“Fine,” I grumbled. “Find something for me to wear.”

She opened my suitcase, took out CJ’s T-shirt, and placed it on the bed. I knew she was dying to ask, but she kept her lips zipped and found me a nice pair of jeans and a button-down shirt. We were downstairs in eleven minutes. Marina grinned at us before we were whisked away for interviews at the arena.

I cringed when the first person I spotted was Brian Fonta, heading into the rink. The guy was a prick with a capital P and an ego that stretched around the world, and I didn’t feel like making nice with him.

“Behave,” Marina said before we got out of the car.

“Do I have to?” I whined. She eyed me with a steely stare. I straightened my back and walked into the building directly toward Brian.

“Hi, Brian,” I said, offering my hand for him to shake. Flashes from several cameras went off.

“Justin,” Brian said, eyeing me warily.

“Good luck this weekend,” I said. He banged into a girl, and she scowled at him. Marina chuckled and pushed me into a small dressing room.

“Very good, Justin,” she said. “You shook him up by being nice to him.”

“I should get a reward for that. It left a sour taste in my mouth,” I said, frowning.

The door opened, and Janae slipped inside. “What did you do to Brian?”

“I was nice,” I said.

“Switching things up,” she said and laughed. “He’s a bit twitchy.”

The rest of the day passed smoothly. The interviews were easy. I was nice and sassy, just like they wanted me.

Practice went well. Brian spent a lot of the day distracted by my presence. His coach chewed him out several times, which brought a smile to my lips.

The true test for me came when we went back to the hotel. The bed still looked large and uninviting.

I emptied the contents of my suitcase and noticed the envelope Eli had given me. I tore it open, and a letter dropped to the floor. The entire hockey team, including Danny, had signed a good luck note for me. I carefully inspected Danny’s signature, spotting the tiny x in the o of his last name. He had done it a few times when we were together, but I’d never asked him about it. I traced his name, and a few stray memories floated through my head.

The letter ended up on the floor when I placed my hand on my collarbone where CJ had marked me. And just like that, all thoughts of Danny disappeared, replaced by CJ.

The night wore on and my back started to ache from sitting in the chair. I couldn’t avoid the bed any longer. I pulled on CJ’s T-shirt, crawled into the big empty bed and curled up. Remembering all his touches and tender kisses from the night before helped, but I still missed him.

The demons filled my room. I tossed and turned for hours before I slipped into an uneasy sleep. Several times during the night, I woke up to check my phone, hoping to see a text or phone message from CJ, but I had nothing.

Morning came with still no word from CJ. In between practices and a few more interviews, I pouted and checked my phone every fifteen minutes. Marina and Janae scolded me for not being at the top of my game. I lied and said my bed was lumpy and I didn’t sleep well.

“Your bed wasn’t lumpy, just empty,” Janae said.

My mouth fell open and I snorted.

“Call him,” she said and walked away.

She was always a nosy person.

After dinner and five minutes of listening to Marina tell me I needed a good night’s sleep, I hightailed it up to my room, put on CJ’s shirt again, and burrowed under the blankets, trying to keep warm. I drifted in and out of a semi-sleep when my phone finally rang.

I grinned and scowled at the same time when I saw it was CJ. He immediately apologized, telling me the plane had been delayed so they didn’t get there until late at night. I complained about my lack of sleep. He echoed my whining, complaining that Kris snored so loud it rattled the pictures on the wall. At least I had my room to myself.

He wished me luck and told me he’d call me later to find out how things went on the ice.

“I miss you,” I mumbled into the phone before I hung up. I didn’t know if he heard me or not.

“Did you sleep at all?” Janae asked when she stopped by my room.

“Some,” I said. “The bed is uncomfortable.”

She groaned and smacked me on the head, but didn’t push me to say it out loud.

“Let’s go,” Janae said. “Marina is already at the rink.

For the first time in my life, nerves gripped my stomach. The poor butterflies struggled to make room for the new sensation. I frowned and clutched my skate bag.

“You okay?” Janae asked.

“Yes,” I mumbled.

“It’s okay to be nervous, Justin,” she said.

“This is worse.”

“Everyone gets nervous. It means you want to do well,” she said and patted me on the back. “You’ll be fine.”

“Easy for you to say,” I grumbled.

“Think about CJ when you skate. He makes you light up,” she said.

I huffed, not knowing if I should be scandalized or even how to react to her statement. She snickered and poked my collarbone where he had marked me. A strange sensation gripped my heart, and I had to bite my lip to keep from smiling.

“See,” she said. “You look better already. There’s Marina. Let’s get in costume.”

She had to give me a shove before I moved. I was still focused on the strange feeling circulating in my body.

That evening a very excited CJ called, passing his phone around the room to some of his teammates, who all congratulated me for my win in the short program. I didn’t know how to handle the excitement of the players. Or the fact that CJ was telling the guys he was talking with me on a daily basis.

When the room quieted down, he asked me if I was in bed. I told him I’d been staring at the ceiling for forty-five minutes. He suggested I put the extra pillows on my bed against my back and pretend they were his body pressing against mine.

“Good night, CJ,” I said. I added a whispered “I miss you” before I hung up.

The demons all raised their eyebrows and wondered what the hell I was doing.

“I have no idea,” I admitted and rolled over, pulling a pillow with me.

T
HE
NEXT
night, despite being tired, I skated one of the best programs I’d ever done.

“Congratulations, Justin,” Brian said before I climbed onto the highest step to be presented my gold medal. “Don’t get too comfortable up there.”

“Too late. I’m thinking about engraving my name on the top step,” I said, waving at the crowd as they cheered. I think I could hear Brian grinding his teeth.

The moment I stepped off the podium, I wanted to go home, but I had to stay and perform in the Skating Spectacular on Sunday night. The cost of winning the competition was going to keep me from seeing CJ until Monday.

When I got back to my room, I decided to check in on the hockey game. The game was still in progress, and we were winning, but I found tons of comments about the brutality of the game. Several players had been ejected, including Danny.

I sent CJ a text, telling him to call me no matter the time. I drifted in and out of sleep until my phone rang. I immediately asked him if he was okay. He gave the standard “I’m fine” answer, making me frown and wonder if he was telling the truth.

He changed the subject, asking for details about my competition, and once again passed the phone around the room for the players to congratulate me. He finally told me to go to sleep.

The demons invaded my dreams, giving me nightmares about people hurting CJ.

T
HE
TRIP
home took forever. The plane was delayed, and I actually thought about renting a car and driving home.

“He won’t be there,” Janae said, as I dragged my phone out to check the time.

“Who?”

“CJ. I talked to Dad, and their plane won’t be in until after eleven. They had bad weather and were held over. They spent the night in the terminal.”

I made some unintelligible noises, trying to tell her I wasn’t thinking about CJ.

She rolled her eyes.

“There’s nothing going on,” I said sternly.

“You keep telling yourself that.” She stuck her tongue out and put her headphones over her ears.

Marina occupied my attention by going over some video of my new program Eli had sent her. It helped take my mind off CJ. When the wheels touched solid ground, I was grumpy and in need of sleep. All I could focus on was that he would be back home tonight and, hopefully, I would be curled against his warm body.

The baggage took forever, and Janae messed around, talking to Marina until I jabbed her with my skate. She chased me out to the car. We finally got to the house, where she kindly reminded me CJ wasn’t home. I called her a nosy old bat and stomped upstairs.

I took a shower and sat on my bed, leaning against the headboard and staring at the clock on my phone, listening for any noises downstairs. Several times, I poked my head out my door, only to be greeted by silence. When I finally heard the door open, I flew out of bed and stood at the top of the stairs. He talked to Janae for a few minutes before telling her good night. I debated going into my room and pretending I was asleep, but that was just stupid. I wanted him to know I’d missed him.