“Jay, they don’t think that.”
“Well, I wouldn’t blame them if they did. I half thought about it, but I had too much to lose, even back then, when I had nothing except your family and a USHL team contract dangling in the wind.”
“You’ve done well for yourself,” he says, and I can tell in his voice he really means it.
“Is that what you called me up to say?” I chuckle, trying to hide the lump in my throat this conversation is giving me. It isn’t what I expected to be talking about with him.
“No, but we haven’t talked in a while.”
I’ll miss his official bachelor party due to my schedule, but we’ll have a day or two before the wedding to hang out. It sucks I have no chance between games to catch up until right before the big day, but I know he understands.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be there soon, have you heard from Ben?”
“I called him up the other day, he’s doing good. He and his missus were having a few issues, but he’s okay now.”
Ben’s married with two kids, and I haven’t seen him since my last visit East a couple of years back, though we do text from time to time.
“Fuck, those times were good,” I muse.
“I think Ben’s mom missed you more than him when you came back from your first rookie year to visit.”
I splay a hand over my face as I switch the ignition off. “Nah, I think she just appreciated the fact I did the dishes when I stayed with them.” The past makes me shift a little uncomfortably in my seat. It always does.
None of them know, except Ben, that his mom’s assistant and friend, Tricia, and I did more than we should that visit. Again, I wasn’t even drunk, but I’d had a couple of beers one night after a barbecue at Ben’s place for some of us guys to catch up. I helped clear up when everyone was gone, and one thing almost led to another.
Tricia was a full-blown hottie that I’d just met that very night. She looked after herself and was fit and bubbly. Okay, she was ten years older than me… and fuck, maybe it wasn’t right, but at the time I wasn’t thinking about anyone but myself. As usual, there I was, being a selfish asshole, getting it on at their house. Luckily, we never got caught, well, not by Ben’s parents.
And I sure as shit felt weird being around Ben since that night. I don’t know what would have happened if his parents ever found out I almost had sex with her in their house with Tricia.
“Are you sure about that? His mom’s assistant, Tricia, sure talks about you highly.”
I laugh it off. “She does? Maybe she remembers how I put on my best manners at Ben’s parents’ place.” Okay, that’s a stretch of the truth. So I wasn’t very well mannered when I hoisted Tricia up onto the bathroom counter and would’ve gone at it right then and there if Ben hadn’t accidentally walked in.
Jesus fucking Christ. If those walls could talk.
It makes me feel like a bit of an asshole for Ben’s sake. And I guess in a lot of respects, I am one.
“Well, everyone liked you, man. You were the most popular guy in school, for real.”
I smile. “You sure you’re not getting all weird on me?”
He laughs. “Just telling it like it is. Now, don’t break a leg dancing with my sis ok, we need you both in top form for the wedding.”
“Got it,” I laugh. “Wish me luck.”
CHAPTER 9
Jade
I text Jay while Beth and I are finishing up our lunch. Beth is quite capable of giving me a ride home, there’s still time to change before the dance class, but something about the way Jay kept asking me to message him when I’m done echoes through me. It makes sense we just go straight from here since we lined it up to start right after practice finished.
“Are you sure you don’t need a ride?” Beth asks.
“Nah. Jay’s picking me up and we’re going to that dance lesson for the wedding.”
A well-rounded smirk suddenly appears on her face. I try my best not to react because she will only pounce on anything I say, but my eyebrows still lift at her expression. “We’re the maid of honor and best man,” I remind her.
“Shouldn’t be too hard then to get reacquainted on the dance floor.” She covers her mouth with her hand, trying to suspend her laugh. Boy oh boy, was she there that night Jay and I got it on with the dirty dancing escapade, and she’s not about to let me forget it.
