“Hey, I got that nickname because of the smooth way I slither on the ice. It’s just fitting in my personal life too.” He laughed.
Viper had been my teammate for three years now, and in that time, we’d grown pretty close. He always had my back, no questions asked and I had his; however, I didn’t always agree with his actions. He was too out of control, even for me. Lord knows I’ve done some stupid shit, but he was just plain old reckless. And he tore through women like a kid opened birthday presents, then tossed them aside when he was done the same way. Kat had been around for several months, the longest one yet, as far as I knew. I stayed as far away from their drama as possible. I didn’t understand their relationship. He cheated on her constantly, yet she kept coming back.
“Okay, Viper, I need you to kick my ass in the gym today. I want to be so sore my brain won’t function after this workout.”
“Sweet!”
After an hour and a half of dead lifts, shoulder presses, bicep curls and about a thousand crunches, I cried mercy.
“Had enough?” Viper laughed.
I lay on the gym floor, chest heaving, arms and legs spread out like a snow angel, staring at the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. “Yes, no more arms, but I’m not nearly done. Let’s hit the rink, Fabio.”
“You’re on.”
I put my goalie pads on and prepared for Viper to shoot 90 mph slap shots, snap shots and wrist shots at me. When I was in the net, my brain went somewhere else. I was in the zone and that’s exactly where I wanted to be right now, far away from reality. My eyes zeroed in, focused solely on keeping that three-inch piece of vulcanized rubber from getting past me, by any means necessary.
Two hundred shots or so later, Viper skated over to me and spit his mouth guard into his glove. “How ya feeling? You good?”
“Not yet, let’s do some more.”
“Brody, now my arms are going to fall off. Come on, man, let’s call it a day. I gotta get home and make sure Kat didn’t destroy all my shit.”
I let out a frustrated sigh. “Fine.” I took off my helmet and tossed my stick and gloves on top of the net.
“What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing. Why?”
Viper looked annoyed. “Well, you missed a third of the shots I hit at you. Clearly, you suck today. Why don’t you want to cut your losses and go home?”
I did miss a lot of shots and Viper pointing it out just irritated me more.
“Eh, I’m off my game today, had a shitty morning.”
Viper called out incredulously, “You and me both! What happened?”
I eyed Viper cautiously, not sure I wanted to talk about being turned down with the biggest playboy on the team. Vulnerability wasn’t my strong suit.
Oh, fuck it.
“Um … a girl. I was into her and she shot me down. Didn’t really say why, seems like she doesn’t like what I do for a living and it’s really pissing me off.”
“I didn’t know you’d been seeing anyone,” Viper responded.
“I haven’t, just met her last week when I was stuck up north in that damn storm. I wasn’t even looking for anyone. I was driving along, minding my own business and bam! Now I can’t stop thinking about her.”
Viper was quiet, staring off into space.
I sighed. “Go ahead, asshole. Give me shit about it, I can handle it.”
“I’m not giving you shit, I was just trying to remember if in my whole life, there’s ever been a girl that I couldn’t stop thinking about. There have been girls I thought about for a night then forgot them shortly after I fucked them, but thinking about someone for a week? No way. That’s worth fighting for, dude. Season’s over, you have time. Turn the tables, prove her wrong. Then make her beg.”
Viper was right and I couldn’t say that often. Kacie didn’t know me, how could she possibly know that I was a dead-end road? She was making a snap judgment based on what I did for a living and if I wanted any chance with her, I had to show her who I really was.
“Now remember, you guys, you have to be quiet in here. Whispering only, okay?”
Lucy and Piper bounced along excitedly next to me as we made our way into the library. It was Princess Day at preschool storytime, and while the girls sang about tiaras, I was going to find a quiet corner to do some studying. Even though it was summer, I wanted to try and get a jump on next fall’s classes, but I hadn’t picked my textbooks up in over a week. Microbiology was going to eat me alive if I didn’t get my head out of the clouds.
I left the girls in the multi-purpose room with a woman who was way too old to be dressing up like Cinderella and found a secluded table along the window, overlooking the lake. I got all set up and cracked open my laptop. Up in the corner of my screen, the search bar still had my last search saved.