I was twenty years old and had * whenever I wanted it. I had one regular, but it wasn't like we were dating. We never had that kind of relationship.
There were plenty of times throughout the season and off season I got my dick wet with the willing puck bunnies that pressed against the glass, but I never made a habit out of it.
Callie, on the other hand, she was a friend. Not a girlfriend by any means, but I'd taken her out a few times and tangled in the sheets more times than I could count.
She was a goddamn freak in bed, too. I'd show up at practice with a swollen lip, and it hadn't been from the game.
Callie was also a regular with a few other guys, too, so it wasn't like she was looking to settle down. I dug that because it was just like me. Shoving guys into the boards all night and roughing them up left me amped at times. That game against Minnesota Wild left me that way. It was the way of the game, and before long we found ourselves unwinding at a club downtown. Though I wasn't twenty-one, that night it wasn't questioned. Liquor flowed, and soon I found myself with a girl on my lap and then my mouth all over her, trying to forget. I thought maybe this time I could finish. Back at my condo, yes, I said my condo, with her head in my lap, I still couldn't get off, and I was getting kind of pissed. The chick was, too, and ended up leaving. I couldn't blame her.
It was unlike me to bring her back to my place, but I thought that if I was at home, maybe it wouldn't be so bad and I could relax. Nope. Nothing changed.
So not only did I hyperventilate during sex, now it wasn't fucking working. I was pissed.
Still horny, I tried calling Callie, thinking if anyone could get me to relax it would be her.
It didn't work. We went at it for something like forty-five minutes, tried everything, and I still couldn't get off. My mind kept going back to Ami and that night. I need that little gadget in those Men in Black movies where they erased your memory. I really needed that little device.
"You want me to try sucking your dick?" Callie asked.
I laughed, my movements stopping. She was always so crass. "That's okay. I'm good."
Callie rolled to the side and then completely off of me. "You kind of suck right now."
"Sorry." I really was because I really wanted to get off. Like I said, it was pissing me off.
Callie grabbed her phone beside my bed and sent someone a text when I went to the bathroom. I came back, put on a pair of sweatpants, and noticed Callie was on my couch now, smiling, phone in hand, and it dawned on me. Her big chocolate brown eyes always gave her away. "You tell Leo and I will kick your ass, Cal."
Callie smiled and I knew she'd already dished the dirt on me to him.
"You little fucking brat." Taking a seat next to her, I reached for the remote to the television, wondering how much he already knew.
"I'm sorry. He asked, and Leo is kind of sneaky when it comes to getting things out of people."
"Why do you tell him everything?" I looked at her out of my corner of my eye. "Why would he ask that?"
She shrugged as though I shouldn't care and snuggled into my side. "Let's order Chinese."
We ate, I explained my problem to her, she laughed some more, and teased me, which only added to me being pissed off at the situation instead of helping me.
"You should be talking me through this shit as my friend."
"Hey, I never claimed to be that kind of friend." Callie rolled her eyes, tucking her legs up on the couch. She got comfortable and twirled her fork in the container of noodles. "We fuck. That's usually all we do. Since when do you want advice from me?"
Giving a shrug, I placed my own carton of food on the coffee table.
"Does this mean you want your jersey back?" You couldn't miss the little sense of regret in her voice.
"No..." Leaning forward, I kissed her forehead. "...You keep that."
Callie gave me a look and then picked her food back up, a contemplative look coming over her. "So, who's the girl?"
"Ami…" Just saying her name did things to me, and fuck if I wasn't annoyed by that. I looked at my food on the coffee. See? I couldn't even eat. "She's really fucking me up."
"And this Ami, does she know you've got a thing for her?"
"I don't know. Probably not. I can't stop thinking about her, and then I think about what happened and that it's wrong I even have feelings for her, you know?"
Callie gave me the same glazed over look Leo did at times but surprised me when she asked, "What happened to her?"
"The night before Christmas Eve when we got back into town after playing the Red Wings..." I looked to Callie to see if she was following me. She nodded, twirling her fork in the noodles, her legs propped on my thighs. "Well, I was walking home and found her nearly dead in the alley, so I took her to the hospital. She was raped and beaten to shit. Fractured skull and broken bones…it was awful."
Callie blinked. Her expression held an emotion I couldn't register, almost like sympathy.
"Her parents were killed in a plane crash last year so she has no one else."