Tom was surprised at how much he enjoyed spending time with Aurora. He never thought it was possible that he would actually enjoy himself with her. Yes, she had her moments when she was funny—though, the majority of those moments were unintended funniness—and she always knew how to fix a situation that needed fixing. It wasn't any wonder why Michael kept her around, because she was damn good at her job and wanted to make sure everything was taken care of. Her job was to make his life easier. Since Tom tagged along all the time, it was as though his life was easier simply by association.

The fact that she was able to cancel his cards, get a new set of keys for his car, and file a police report on his behalf, all in two hours, told Tom that Aurora was vastly underpaid and, if Michael didn't treat her right, Tom might be tempted to persuade her to work for him.

Yeah, right.

Aurora couldn't stand him. And that was fine. But as he drove to the Ice Palace the next morning, he could not help but feel slightly dejected at the thought. Could Aurora really not stand him? Was she helping Tom out because it was better for her in the long run when it came to Michael? He shook his head. It shouldn't matter. She shouldn't matter. Just because they had a good time together, just because she picked him up from that awful party, didn't mean they were suddenly friends or anything.

He parked the car and stepped outside. The sun was just rising and the ocean started to sparkle with gold. There was a chill in the air, even in the summer, but Tom barely noticed. He loved the cold. He lived in the cold for so long, and playing ice hockey since he was four helped him adapt to the low temperatures.

"Hey, man."

Tom looked over at the person who greeted him and he grinned when he saw Xander Vane and Oscar Solis.

"Hey," he said.

"This is your first morning skate with Cherney, right?" Xander asked as they headed inside.

"Where's your brother?" Solis asked.

"On his way," Tom said. "Yeah, my first skate. I'm surprised he hosts things like this in the off-season."

"Ken Brown instituted it," Vane said. They turned and headed to the locker rooms, walking side by side. "Probably his last year, before…you know. Anyway, he figured that the off-season was the most important time in a hockey player's life—only because there were so many temptations. He decided to implement a voluntary off-season training program that kept his players in shape. Seraphina kept it going. She's very serious about his legacy and keeping the Gulls true to his vision."

"Yeah, she's an amazing woman," Tom agreed. They headed into the locker room and got dressed.

"Don't let Thorpe hear you say that," Vane said with a wink. "Our captain is rumored to be dating our boss. It's basically official but they can't come out and say anything because that would be weird, you know? The boss dating a player." Xander shrugged. "I mean, I don't care. Good for both of them if it makes you happy."

"You're only saying that because you're plowing Worthington's sister," Solis said.

"I don't care that you're on my team, I will beat the shit out of all of you," Xander said, his eyes narrowed and focused on Solis.

Tom didn't think he should even laugh due to how serious Xander sounded. He couldn't blame him either. Solis was probably just joking but he couldn't talk about someone's girl that way, especially a teammate's.

"I didn't realize it was that serious," Solis said.

"I didn't realize it was any of your business," Xander snapped.

"Don't worry about him," Peter said as he stepped into the locker room. "Solis is just mad his number is about up. If you aren't taken by Seattle, I'm losing two hundred bucks."

Solis flipped him off.

Tom cracked a smile as he started lacing up his skates. It felt good to be in this locker room with the guys. It felt good to be in his gear, even if he did have to wash them.

Once he was ready, he stood up. He glanced at himself in the mirror and paused. Something was missing. When he realized it was Michael, he nearly lost his balance. Where was Michael? More than that, why did Tom feel the need to worry about Michael being here with him in the first place? He was his own person. He was a grown adult—as Aurora liked to remind him. He didn't need Michael here to make him feel adequate.

He headed out of the locker room and onto the ice. It was empty, the silence hanging over them like a blanket. Only he and Zachary Ryan were on the ice. He felt his stomach flip at the sight of him. Zachary Ryan was arguably one of the best centers in the NHL, unless Ryan Hart was involved. He was The Darling, after all. Honestly, Tom preferred Zachary Ryan because the guy was big and skilled and wasn't afraid to drop the gloves if he needed to. He didn't let anyone do the fighting for him, which he appreciated.

"Hey, man." Zachary sprayed ice on Tom's shin as he came to an abrupt halt in front of him. "You're Tom Tucker, aren't you? You made that sick pass to your brother to tie the game last season, right? Pittsburgh versus Edmonton, I think it was. The NHL channel wouldn't stop the replay."

"Yeah." Tom felt himself start to grin. He didn't like to admit that he was affected by praise from Zachary Ryan, but that would be a lie. Zachary Ryan was one of the best centers in the NHL. To hear him compliment Tom was enough for Tom to fanboy—at least, internally. "Yeah, that was me."

Zachary Ryan put out his hand. "Good to meet you, man."

Tom popped off his glove so he had better access to shake Ryan's hand. "Good to be here," Tom replied, and meant it.

"So," Ryan said as they both put on their gloves and started skating slowly around the rink in order to warm up. "How do you like everything here? What are your thoughts?"

"Um…" Tom let his voice trail off, not sure how to respond. How could he say this was the best fucking experience he had had so far in his career without sounding too desperate?

"Sorry, man." Zachary patted Tom's shoulder. "Not trying to put pressure on you or anything. We're just happy that you're here. Normally, I'd be in Canada right now. I've wanted to introduce my girlfriend to my parents for a while now, but we haven't had the time, what with winning the Cup and traveling and now our off-season workout regime. It's good to meet other guys, even ones that kicked your ass."

Tom grinned. "Honestly, I love it," he said. "It's beautiful here. The people are chill. And the team is focused but there's a light quality among you guys."

"I'll tell you a secret," Zachary said, leaning in close. "It's living close to the beach. I came from Canada last year. Things were intense—which isn't exactly a bad thing. But it is nice to feel free, if that makes sense. You don't feel like you're encased in a box. The fans care about you but they probably wouldn't recognize you in the street, and, if they did, they're not going to bug you. They'll ask for a picture, maybe an autograph. It's a great place to live and meet people. You and your brother are single, right?"

Tom nodded. "For now," he added.

Zachary grinned. "I guarantee you won't be within your first season," he said. "And I don't mean because you'll have puck bunnies clamoring to get into bed with you. I mean, that will happen, but you'll meet a nice girl too. One you'll want to introduce to your parents. One you'll fall in love with. I'm not trying to sound sappy about it, but I've got to be honest. There's just something about Southern California and the women the water produces." He shrugged. "Must be the salt."

Tom chuckled but his heart wasn't in it. It wasn't as though Zachary had said anything wrong. He hadn't. In fact, Tom was ecstatic that Zachary would even pay him any mind in the first place. But at the thought of being with someone romantically… Tom wasn't sure he was ready for that. And quite honestly, he didn't understand why that was.

Tom continued to skate up and down the rink, just as he had yesterday. His thighs were killing him. He wanted nothing more than to take a hot bath and relax, maybe get a massage to ease the kinks out. Instead, he was back on the ice, just like everyone else was—including Michael.

Tom frowned when he saw his brother. Michael had yet to reach out to him yesterday about what he thought about morning skate with Cherney. They hadn't discussed opinions, pros and cons, personal likes and dislikes the way they had before they signed with Pittsburgh. He missed that time together.

From the corner of his eye, he glanced over, only to see Aurora by the door, talking to Michael. It looked like he was telling her something—probably what he wanted to do for the day. When she finished, Michael hopped back up on the ice and nearly bumped into another player. Tom didn't recognize him as one of the Gulls. He thought it was one of the Stars but couldn't be sure. Up until he watched as the player put his hand on Aurora's shoulder and leaned in really close, Tom hadn't cared one way or the other.

Before Tom realized what he was doing, his feet led him off the ice and straight over to Aurora.

"What do you think you're doing, bro?" Tom asked. His face was contorted into a scowl he didn't try to control.

The player threw his hands up. "Nothing, man," he said. "I didn't realize she was already spoken for. I'll back off, man. Sorry. Jeez."

He pushed past Tom to get on the ice. Tom looked over at Aurora who was already looking for him with obvious confusion on her face.

"What the hell was that about, Tom?" she asked, her voice flat.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I interrupt something for you?" he replied. He didn't understand why he was giving her attitude, but he was and he couldn't control himself. It was probably better if he got back on the ice and pretend like this never happened.

Before Aurora could push him for more answers, before Michael could look at him with that look that tore Tom's gut up inside, he got back onto the ice and skated hard. Because the truth of the matter was, Tom had no idea why he reacted that way in the first place. And that scared him more than he wanted to admit.