Jake was beat, but that didn’t mean he got a pass for practice the next morning. Starting to figure out who Kelly was took longer than he’d expected, and he really hadn’t come away knowing anything more than he did going in, but her living room was spotless. The drive back to his apartment had taken almost an hour, even at two in the morning.
His mind didn’t shut off until at least four, which made getting up and trying to function at the nine o’clock practice a little difficult. He’d somehow made it through an hour of drills. The fact that he could still stand on the ice was a miracle, one not lost on his captain.
“My wife tells me you followed Kelly home last night,” Curtis said.
“I managed to get her real phone number, too. Should we alert the media?”
Lack of sleep made Jake a little punchy. Curtis didn’t deserve the bit of venom in his voice, but he was starting to get annoyed with the busy bees taking an acute interest in his life. He understood Kelly was technically family as far as Nina went, but both he and Kelly were adults and could see each other if they wanted.
Curtis took off his helmet and set it down on the dasher in front of the bench. Jake had stopped to get a drink of water and had almost made it back out on the ice to work on some stickhandling. Before taking a drink himself, Curtis squirted water over most of his brown hair, turning it almost black. When he was done hydrating, he tossed the bottle into the bench area and turned around to lean against the boards.
“I didn’t come over here to tell you how to live your life. I said my piece yesterday. If you don’t want to follow my advice, I can’t make you.”
Jake looked over to his teammate skeptically. He got the feeling there was some kind of reverse psychology going on. Curtis’ face was blank as far as Jake could see, until he cringed when a rookie made the mistake of getting in the way of a slap shot. Since Jake was watching Curtis, he saw the action after the fact, which included Long grabbing his left side as he crumpled to the ice.
Everyone at some point got hit with the puck, so there was a collective groan as the rest of the team shared in with the remembrance of that kind of pain. Since Jake hadn’t seen who shot the puck and how hard it hit, he had no idea what the range of damage could be. Suffice to say, there’d probably be a nice bruise.
“Skate it off, Long,” Curtis yelled and clapped, along with the rest of the team, as the kid got up and skated towards the bench.
If the hit was enough to take him down, a trip to the locker room was in order to have it looked at. Most of the veterans would have stayed on the ice, but chances were the nineteen-year-old wasn’t used to getting a feel for his injuries without someone telling him what was wrong. Not that the vets in the game were great at that. Jake knew guys who’d had fractures after getting hit and kept playing. That usually wasn’t the smart move, but no one wanted to admit injuries.
Curtis smacked Long on the back and gave him an “attaboy” as a trainer helped guide the kid off the ice. Long clutched his side, trying to hold back tears that lined his lower eyelids. Jake leaned towards a broken rib, or at least a severely bruised one. He didn’t know Long well, but he didn’t get the feeling he was on the dramatic side.
Some guys exaggerated injuries, mainly during games to get calls in their favor. If a stick was anywhere near their face, their head whipped back, and they pretended to check for blood. It was common, even if Jake thought it was childish. In practice, that kind of stuff didn’t happen, but Jake was curious just how bad the injury was, so he could get a feel for what kind of player Long was. There were still a few preseason games left, and a chance he wouldn’t make the team, but he had shown some skills from what Jake had seen. If he didn’t make it this season, he'd be there next.
“Man, did you see that hit. I swear that puck was going one-oh-five.”
Brady skated over to join Jake and Curtis by the boards, quickly grabbing a water bottle and taking a swig. He exhaled loudly as he put the bottle back on the dasher.
“Getting a little creative with your numbers there?”
Curtis’ words earned him a punch to the shoulder as Brady mimicked him by leaning against the boards. Brady was the shorter of the two, by a whole two inches, but he was wider in the chest, and seemed to have a little longer reach. Jake thought it would be an interesting matchup if the two ever decided to throw the gloves. Since they’d always been on the same team, the chances of that were slim, but the way they hassled each other made it easy to picture the two of them eventually facing off.
“Nah, I was practicing my slappers, just in case I get tapped for the All-Star game this year. My goal is one-oh-nine.”
Jake and Curtis both scoffed at the idea, earning them a glare from Brady. Hearing the shot came from Brady, Jake questioned the severity a little. Not that a puck at any velocity didn’t hurt, but Brady wasn’t the hardest shot on the team, even if he had dreams of hitting one-oh-nine.
“Well, if you don’t mind waking up from your little dream world, I was just going to ask Jake if he wanted to give us a hand tonight.”
The chuckle that came from Brady should have told Jake all he needed to know about the offer Curtis alluded to. He’d spent time with the guys with the team, but hadn’t been singled out for anything, so he was intrigued by the idea.
“I don’t want to give us a hand tonight, so good luck recruiting people. Maybe Jake can just take my place.”
Brady leaned forward from the boards and gave Jake a pleading look, with a smirk on his face. Jake didn’t have a good feeling, but it didn’t hurt to hear them out. He had plenty of excuses he could quickly throw out if the guys’ night of fun wasn’t something that interested him.
“You’re not getting out of this one, Brady. It’s your fault our wives decided they needed a night on their own and put us in charge of the kids.”
The man supposedly at fault groaned being reminded of whatever the guys were talking about. Nothing Jake had heard sounded that horrible. He’d spent the night in the suite with Curtis’ kids, neither one of which made much fuss. Jake didn’t understand why either guy would grumble about being stuck with the kids without their wives around.
“I’m pretty sure I could sell a cold coming on. Your wife wouldn’t let me near the munchkins if she thought I was sick.”
“And I’m pretty sure your wife would cut your dick off if you didn’t let her have her night of fun.”
Jake sensed something in the scoff Brady responded with. He was sort of lost in exactly what was going on, so he was more than likely reading too much into it.
“Night of fun? Three women sitting around watching movies I wouldn’t be caught dead watching does not sound like a night of fun to me. If Kelly wasn’t involved, they’d probably do something interesting, but all temptation has to be stuffed in a deep closet with Cousin Kelly around. I feel bad for her, but my wife isn’t going to be satisfied sitting around watching movies all night, which means, this is not going to be a one-night thing.”
Brady shook his head through his whole ramble. Jake perked up as soon as he heard Kelly was somehow involved. Hearing the slight hostility in Brady’s voice as he talked about her made Jake’s fingers curl into a fist.
Curtis cleared his throat. When Brady looked over to him, he nodded his head in Jake’s direction. Brady’s eyes softened a little, but it was easy to tell he wasn’t thrilled about the plans for the night.
“Sorry, dude. Rumor is you have a thing for Kelly, which I guess is why Curtis is trying to loop you in.”
“Go see if you can injure someone else and leave us alone.”
Pushing Brady away from them, Curtis turned to face Jake. While there wasn’t a lick of apology in Brady’s eyes, Curtis showed at least a little.
“He can be an idiot, but he’s good to have around if you need a laugh.”
Curtis sighed as he returned to his position watching what was going on out on the ice. Jake followed suit and waited for the official invite he knew was coming.
“As he already alluded to, the girls are leaving us with the kids tonight, and I thought maybe you’d like to help out since Fiona and Simon are half of those kids. Nina actually tried to stick them all with Brady, because he’s been hinting about them having their own kids, but I’m not sure I trust him with mine, let alone two who have no problem walking around.”
Jake had just taken a sip of water, causing him to cough at the thought of Brady alone with four kids. You didn’t have to know the guy for years to know how hilarious the idea was. The thought of Brady having kids was even funnier.
By no means was Brady the youngest guy on the team. Jake was sure he was over twenty-five, probably a few years older than Jake. Age didn’t seem to make a difference where Brady was concerned, though. He was a jokester in the locker room, often hiding things and surprising guys to get a rise out of them.
The idea of Brady being able to look after a kid, let alone four, sounded insane. Jake had heard, and witnessed a little, that Nina and Brady had an interesting relationship, but he couldn’t believe Nina would purposefully put the kids in danger. She had to have known Curtis would bail his buddy out.
“So, basically you’re stuck babysitting five kids tonight and are looking for a little help from someone who wasn’t seen running around the locker room three days ago with a pair of boxers on his head.”
Curtis laughed, and Jake could see his head nod out the corner of his eye. Jake was still thinking about what Brady said about keeping Kelly away from all temptations. It made sense, but the Kelly he’d met didn’t want to be treated with kid gloves. A night out at the movies instead of being cramped up inside wasn’t going to push her over the edge.
At least Jake really hoped she was stronger than that. He could see how hitting a club might trigger some issues, since most of the pictures he’d seen of her had been in clubs, but dinner and a movie seemed mild.
“That is exactly what I’m looking for. Brady’s like a brother to me, but he’s not quite there when it comes to being a reliable babysitter. I wouldn’t trust Nina with the kids either, no matter what my wife says. She’s one of those women who will eat her young if she ever caves to Brady’s whim.”
Jake wasn’t going to touch that comment. He’d noticed some animosity between Curtis and Nina, but he had no idea where it stemmed from and had decided it wasn’t any of his business.
“And you’ve decided I’m someone you can trust for help in that department?”
Back in Dallas, Jake had served as babysitter for his sister’s kids more than once, so he was sure he was up for the job. The fact that there was a tie to Kelly made his decision a foregone conclusion, but he was interested to learn more about Curtis’ motives.
It was already clear that he didn’t approve of Jake’s focus on Kelly. So, the fact he was trying to give him a way to connect with her charges was surprising. No matter what he said about Brady, the two of them could handle the kids without an extra pair of hands.
“You can’t be worse than Brady, so yeah, I’ve determined you can help me out. Plus, you’re one of the only guys on the team that either doesn’t already have commitments or runs off to a bar as soon as practice is over, looking to set up a date for the night.”
“So, I’m not childish, and I don’t go around sleeping with everything that moves. I guess that does make me a winner.”
It had been years since Jake had outgrown both of those habits. He liked having a good time as much as anyone else, but each birthday meant he was inching closer to thirty, and he hadn’t found anyone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Thirty wasn’t some kind of drop-dead time for that to happen, but Jake wanted to pursue relationships he thought had a chance of going somewhere.
That didn’t explain why he wanted to see where things could go between him and Kelly. For the time being, he was fine with just being a friend she could learn to lean on.
“You know what I mean, dude. Most of these guys are still looking for a shot to make the team, and they love bragging about it to get a woman in their bed. You, on the other hand,” Curtis poked Jake in the arm, “didn’t take a hint when a woman gave you the wrong number.”
“She made a mistake. I already told you she gave me the right number last night.”
Jake had verified it immediately, just to be sure. He’d thought about texting when he got up that morning to ask how she’d slept, but he didn’t want to wake her up and wasn’t sure what a typical Thursday was like for her. Fiona probably had school, so she wouldn’t get to sleep in, but that also meant she was probably busy getting the kids ready for the day.
He didn’t want to push his way into her life. She had settled some, but mentioning that she hated being in the city and that her life was basically ruled by what was best for the kids told him that things were very much still up in the air for her. With Fiona pushing back at every move, Kelly didn’t need more headaches. Headaches were more likely to push her over an edge than the girls’ night out Jake had thought about.
“Just be careful on the Kelly front,” Curtis said, starting to skate away. “And be at my house at seven.”
Jake thought about asking if he should bring anything, but decided Curtis probably had that under control. Taking a deep breath, Jake decided to get on with the stickhandling drills he’d been sidetracked from. It took him a few minutes to realize he’d never actually agreed to the babysitting. Shaking his head, he smiled at that fact.