"Here's McHugh cycling, around the boards. He shoots! Oh, save by Henderson!" Carlos Sapana, the sportscaster, animates as he talks into his microphone headset.
I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. I lightly chew on my mouthguard as I watch my guys pass the puck around.
"Shit, Hancock, shoot it." Greyson mumbles under his breath.
I place my guard back in its place as I stand up, grabbing my stick.
Chris and I jump on the board before Greyson joins, preparing for our shift change.
The second Hancock's feet lift off the ice, I jump down and skate towards the play.
Chris gains possession of the puck as we match strides.
"Henry!" He yells as he passes it to me. The puck glides across the ice before it hits my puck. I skate with it with ease before sending it back to Chris. Chris send sit to Greyson who sends it back to me.
The puck grazes my stick before hitting the wall. "Shit." I mutter underneath my breath before getting pinned up against the wall to fight for it.
I go to move my stick further down when it doesn't budge. I turn my head to find Steve Bridgers holding onto it. "Motherfucker."
"How's that new wife treating ya? I bet she's cheating, too." I dig my skates further into the ground as we battle for the puck. Where the hell is the ref? He pulls my stick back as he says, "If she's not cheating on you now. She will be with me.", and I jab my elbow into his side.
Gloves go flying, then fists follow. One minute I'm dodging a punch, the next I'm throwing it.
Bridgers spits blood onto the ice. "I bet that bitch would look real pretty hanging from my-"
I lunge forward and before I can get another punch in, the ref yells, "Hey, that's enough!", as he pulls us away from each other.
"Glad to see you've got some balls now, Henry." Bridgers snickers and I just barely glide forward before Chris steps in front of me.
"Chill, man. You got a few hits in, don't make it worse."
It takes the rest of the period before my jaw unclenches. It's the goddamn playoffs, the ref should've called the stick grabbing the second it happened. We don't have time for this shit. We're here to win.
"Henry!" Coach yells as he burst through the locker room door. I freeze, water bottle in midair, eyes wide. He stops in front of me and I stand up. "I don't know what the hell happened out there..." He points his finger at me. "But that's how you take care of a fucking cheater, boys!"
The whole locker room cheers and I grin. Coach gives us a speech before Greyson takes over.
I lean against Chris, listening to Greyson hype everyone up. "What'd we come here to do? We came here to win. So, we're go out there, and do just that. Who's gonna win?"
"We are!"
And we fucking did. The rest of the game went pretty smooth sailing. We're going to the Final Play-Off game, baby.
"I got two assists and a goal on a power play."
"I pulled the game up right before your goal. If that isn't perfect timing, I don't know what is." Katherine told me as I walk towards the elevator from the bar. "You going out with the guys?"
"I'm leaving the bar right now actually. We stayed at the hotel tonight. Figured it wasn't safe to be out after we just beat Seattle." I explain, scanning my keycard before hitting the button for the sixteenth floor.
"You better not be leaving just because I told you to call me after the game. I didn't mean literally right after." Katherine practice scolds me.
"Come on, K. You should know by now I don't stay out late. The world doesn't revolve around you." The last bit was laced with sarcasm.
"Eh, I beg to differ."
I chuckle, stepping out of the elevator. "Nah, I just wasn't feeling it." Truth be told, I went into panic mode and immediately got Katherine on the phone to get it under control. I wonder if she noticed my shaky voice at the beginning?
"The girls still haven't talked to me since last week."
"That's shitty. Let them be immature, that's on them." I go to flip the lock, then remember Evan will be up in about an hour or so to have cyber sex—which is when I'll jump in the shower.
"It's just annoying. They're so petty. I feel like I'm in high school. Anyways, Soph is staying here tonight again so no need to worry about me. I'm not alone. I think Olive misses you. She keeps sleeping in your bed."
My heart melts for the little kitten. "And where are you sleeping?"
"In my bed."
"And why?"
"Because it's weird to sleep in your bed without you in it." Also probably because I'm not entirely sure what's happening between us, and I know she won't either. But that doesn't mean I don't want her in my bed, even when I'm not there.
"Well, feel free to sleep in my bed if you want. You know, just so Olive has some company." Hopefully she can take a fucking hint.
"Oh, yeah. Wouldn't want the poor thing to get lonely."
"Definitely not. How could you let such a tiny thing be so sad? Poor little Olive." I go as far as to fake a sniffle.
"You're ridiculous, you know that."
"I've been told a few times."
"So, gonna tell me what the fight was about? It's the second one since we've been married and each time you've thrown the first punch." Dammit, I was hoping I was in the clear.
"I thought you only got on and watched right before I scored."
"The girls had it playing on the TV at work. I just happened to be mixing my clients color when it happened. Also, Soph and Evelyn were sending me BookTok thirst traps about it."
My brows furrow as I open one of those mini bags of Cashews. "Bookwhatnow?"
"BookTok. It's TikToks about books. You know, edits, recommendations, reviews, sneak peaks. The good side of TikTok." Katherine sighs into the phone, like she's disappointed I didn't know what BookTok is.
"Oh, yeah. I know what that is."
"Liar."
"Guilty." I take a seat on the edge of the bed and pull my neck tie loose.
"What happened? And what happened the last time? You dodged my interrogation then, but not now, buddy boy." Katherine evilly chuckles and I get nervous.
"Er, just some not nice things were said."
"Like what?"
I sigh. It's better to just tell her. "Both times I've gotten into a fight is because the jackasses don't know how to respect women... Specifically you. Just a bunch of comments about sleeping with you." Katherine's silence makes me nervous.
"So, what you're saying is, you get jealous when other men want to sleep with me?"
"What? No. Wait- Yes. No. Fuck." I drag a hand down my face as she giggles. "I got pissed because they were disrespectful and they're both dicks who don't deserve anyone like you. They weren't just saying they wanted to sleep with you, Katherine. They wanted to treat you like a whore."
"Oh."
"Yeah... Oh."
*
I shouldn't have told Katherine what happened. She almost immediately hung up and has been super dry with her texts ever since.
I don't think I was in the wrong? I mean, Lloyd Baker was fucking asking for it. It's one thing to say he wants to sleep with her, but to bring her health into it? Hell-to-the-fuck- no. Not on my watch, honey.
"She's not mad. She's probably just busy." Or she's mad at me. Or worse, she's in the hospital. Fuck, fuck, fuuuuck.
I pull out my phone and shoot her about three thousand texts.
Me: are you mad at me?
I try to fall asleep on the plane but it doesn't work.
When we land, I realize not a single one of my messages sent because the airline WiFi sucked. God, I'm stupid.
10:37 am
Kit Kat: text me when you land :)
Fuck, I am so so so stupid.
I grab my luggage from the luggage claim and make my wait out. The minute I walk outside the doors, paparazzi bombards me.
"Out of the way." Security steps in front of me and leads me to a driver.
"Jake! How did it feel winning?"
"Jake! Can we get a statement!"
"Jake, will Katherine be at the Final Play-Off game?"
"Mr.Henry, what do you want to say to the people?" I halt in my place and turn to the reporter. He holds a microphone out and I step forward.
I look right at the camera and grin smugly. "Yeah, hi. Jake Henry, here. And I'd like to kindly tell the people to stay out of my relationship. It's none of your business how healthy Katherine is and it's none of your business if she will be at the game. You can all piss off for all I care." I flash one more smile before climbing into the SUV.
"Jake Henry! What the hell did you do?" My mom yells when I walk into my kitchen.
I shrug. "Nothing."
"Then why is there a video going around of you telling everyone to piss off?" Mom crosses her arms and gives me the look. Aw, man. Not the look. Ruby bites back a smile from behind her.
"Because I'm sick of everyone being in my goddamn business all the time. I just want to play hockey and live my life in piece."
"I've never seen you get so defensive for a girl." Mom says, squeezing my arm. "You really like her, don't you?"
"I think I accidentally called her baby on the phone the other day." I admit, slumping down on a barstool like a pouty toddler. "She didn't even acknowledge it."
"Oh, you sweet, naïve little boy. Bless your heart." Ruby pats the top of my head. "I guarantee, that she was a total blushing mess. Girls literally die a little inside when their boyfriend calls them that."
"Really?"
"She was probably freaking out too. And trying to figure out if you meant it, or if you realized you said it." Ruby adds and I nod.
"Where is she anyways?"
"Went to the grocery store. Said something about making dinner." Mom says and I nod.
Mom and Ruby hangout for a little bit longer before leaving and Katherine arrives home.
It's like we're just hanging out for the first time again and I don't know how to act around her. Do I hug her? Kiss her? Are we're in the boyfriend/girlfriend stage even though we're married? It's all just a big blur, really.
I need to come up with marriage stages for us.
"Hi." Katherine's voice is soft and pulls me back to reality.
Oh fuck it, I'm kissing the shit out of this girl.
Word Count: 1,859