“Why don’t we exchange numbers. It doesn’t sound like the worst idea in the world.”
He tapped my shoulder with his stick. “Fuck yeah, man. Wanna go get some wings after this?”
I stared, then burst into laughter because I realized I could do that. I could have some fucking wings and not care. “My treat,” I told him.
“NHL money?” He grinned at me. “I’m definitely taking you up on that.”
The wings wereat a restaurant across the street from the rink. And that happened to be owned by Alex’s brother. We got a very nice table on the rooftop patio, which was accessible with an elevator. I hadn’t considered that Alex’s family might make things more accessible for him when I hadn’t been making many things accessible for myself.
We lounged, and it felt nice. Different. A little odd because I wasn’t used to this. I hung out plenty with the guys on my team, but my mind had always been elsewhere. It was on the game, or the presser I’d have to do later, or how I was going to fill in the hours of my free time.
Most of the guys had husbands or wives to go home to. They had families and kids and hobbies.
I felt lost at sea so often that I forgot to enjoy the quiet moments.
“You alright?” Alex asked.
I blinked at him, then ducked my head and took a swig of the iced tea, which was too cold for how unseasonably chilly it was up on the roof. The patio heaters were a nice touch though.“Sorry. It’s been a weird week. I’ve been coming to the rink for a while, and I didn’t think anything like this would happen.”
“Meeting a nosy rando?”
“Making a friend,” I said, then stopped. “Sorry. I mean, we just met and?—”
Alex lifted his glass. “To making friends via socially awkward, legless nerds who don’t know when to keep their mouth shut.”
I burst into laughter, then took another drink before settling back in my chair. “I didn’t do this a lot before my injury.”
“You were kind of like an ice king, yeah?”
“Something like that. I didn’t do well with people. Now, that’s my entire day.” I fiddled with the edge of my plate, staring at the chicken bones now picked clean. It felt weird to indulge.
I could feel Alex studying me, and then he took a breath and said, “There’s something else.”
Damn. He was good.
“I met someone. I have no business doing anything with him, but we can’t seem to stop ourselves. He’s a patient,” I added, “but we didn’t meet that way. We had a…thingbefore he was hurt.”
Alex didn’t look affronted. “I get it.”
“Do you?”
He laughed loudly and passed a hand down his face with a groan. “Yeahhhh, so. I kind of fucked two of my college professors. They were a married couple and really into messing around with grad students.”
I blinked at him. “Um…”
“I used my GI bill to pay for my business degree, and I did one of those quickie, get your MBA in a year programs, to get it over with, you know? I wanted to actually have some idea about what the fuck I was doing when I bought this place. The wife was a French teacher, and she used to come into his office everytime I went in to see him during his office hours. I thought it was great fun.”
He did look pretty pleased with himself.
“Were they older?”
“Oh, yeah. But that was always kind of my thing. My wife’s got fifteen years on me.” He shrugged and sipped his beer. “They weren’t less hot. Trust me.”
I swallowed heavily. “You don’t feel like you were taken advantage of, being that young?”
He scoffed. “I knew what I was getting into. I mean, the idea of it is kind of shady. He could have royally fucked me over for grades—or I could have fucked him over for As. You know? But neither of us did. We just had a grand time after hours. They came to my wedding.”
I choked. “Wait. Were you dating your wife at the time?”
